Why do you still watch the NFL?

[The Crusher]

I watch it because my wife makes "football food" when games are on. I'm afraid if I stop watching she might not football food anymore. So GFY.

[joewilly12]

5 minutes ago, The Crusher said:

I watch it because my wife makes "football food" when games are on. I'm afraid if I stop watching she might not football food anymore. So GFY.

[Larz]

Excuse to eat, lay around and make fun of the trolls

[Obrien2Toon]

Gambling

Ill still sit and watch all day on saturdays

always loved college more anyway.

Sundays only check on games I bet, and come on here for the meltdowns, TomShane posts

[BrickTamland]

Bc I love football, Ff and 

[Ken Schroy]

I used to watch every NFL game I could. But now it's mostly the Jets.

[dcJet]

The pass interference calls make me want to turn off the game as they are so inconsistently called and the receivers get away with murder. 

Teams now just chuck it deep and have the receivers fish for contact.  That's BS.  They should make it reviewable or scale back the penalty like in college ball.

 

 

[whodeawhodat]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Be honest: you share this same emerging sense of apathy regarding most sports these days. I know I do. I’m not really sure why, either. Probably saturation. 

come here, sit down next to me @T0mShane 

[bla bla bla]

1) game is too Offense heavy. It's almost impossible to play defense and honestly I think it is a joke that we still do kickoffs at this point. Just take the ball at the 20 and save me the commercial and the play that takes no time off the clock.

2) commercials, way too many. I'll watch the Jets but have redzone on too, for me that's the only way to watch football now

3) penalties and ref blunders. As soon as a play happens I'm looking in the corner to see which penalty is being called. This is an aggressive game, let these guys go at it. I want to see less holding calls on the offensive line and I want corners to make contact for the first 10 yards.

4) celebrations, this is 2 part so hang in there. I hate that every tackle or first down deserves some sort of dance or gesture. I would however love to see taunting not get called. Let the players hate each other again, everyone is friends now-a-days. I love the TD celebrations that are creative, I got a kick out of the potato sack race from the chiefs.

5) I wish I could watch sports without it getting political, I watch sports to escape the drama of every day life. 

6) The game is so violent which unfortunately causes problems like the Jets had last year and Giants are having this year. The players quit once they are knocked out of playoff contention to protect their bodies. No real fix for this one just an unfortunate side effect that causes some games to be unwatchable.

I actually like college football more at this point, or at least the game of the week/ranked teams playing each other. There is a fresh pipeline of young players every year, guys play hard every game because they are trying to make it to the next level, the fans are so much better at the college level. MetLife sucks since they don't allow signs into the stadium and the PSLs have priced fans out of the building. Had season tickets for about 15 years and we always looked forward to seeing everyone we sat with. Now MetLife is full of corporate tickets and companies who bring clients to games rather than the blue collar guy that is taking his kid to a ball game.

/end rant

[pdxgreen]

I wasn't really bought up in a football household.  My father played basketball in high school and I played baseball.  Stopped playing football after one year and didn't really carry it farther.  Any interest I have in the game is basically just to carry me over to baseball season.

[freestater]

12 hours ago, BrickTamland said:

Bc I love football, Ff and 

...and what?

 

...and whatttt?

 

...and WHAT!?!??

 

[Jet_Engine1]

I have 4 decades invested in the Goddamn Jets. Im seeing the investment through, good or bad.

 

I started doing FF about 10 years ago and it keeps me involved. Beyond that, where I used to sit and watch 12 hours of Football over the course of a weekend, now I watch (or listen) to the Jets game. And maybe a game here or there if the kids are otherwise occupied and my wife doesnt have stuff for me to do.

[Butterfield]

I still watch football because I find it enjoyable.  I enjoy the chess match aspects of the game.  

I for one am also fine if casual fans tune out.  It would be nice if it would go back to the niche sport it used to be.

[bgivs21]

Love watching the Jets, but outside of that any game I'm watching is for Fantasy Football purposes. 

[shawn306]

12 hours ago, Ken Shroy said:

I used to watch every NFL game I could. But now it's mostly the Jets.

This.....

The 4:00 games I am usually in an out of. Sunday night, with the Baseball playoffs and now the Rangers I don't think i have watch a Sunday night game yet this year.

The games have been really bad this year or just not interesting enough for me.

 

[bitonti]

the truth is honestly i watch it out of habit and because I am addicted.  Because it's getting too cold to golf every weekend.

Not because it's enjoyable. Or because it's fair, or the Jets have a chance.

The Pats cheating (and subsequent coverups) murdered any love I have for this game on the professional level. I used to get in my car and go to the lot with the rest of you guys until one day I was at the spygate game like "what the hell am I doing here?"

It's not fair, we will never win. the Jets will always be the tomato can. 

It's a love hate relationship and lately the hate is winning over the love.  I gamble harder than ever (and the more I hate the league the better I do). But if they announced in the news that this CBA was violated because of the Kaep lawsuit and all the games were canceled there would be a part of be that would say "good. Screw them, that's what they deserve." 

[bitonti]

1 hour ago, Jet_Engine1 said:

I have 4 decades invested in the Goddamn Jets. Im seeing the investment through, good or bad. 

1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment

[Jet_Engine1]

19 minutes ago, bitonti said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment

A lot of words to, in essence, quote one of Clauswitz maxims of war;

 

Never reinforce failure. 

 

 

[jackhuntr]

Out of habit mostly, it wouldn't be fall without it, and keeps me from doing Sunday honey-do stuff.

[chirorob]

15 hours ago, The Crimson King said:

Football is a very special sport in a way. It gives you an excuse to shut out the world 16 or so times a year. Each individual game is it own season and stands on it's own. Baseball needs to be watched in bunches to truly get the most out of it, full series, season long battles of pitchers vs batters, etc. Football though is a chess game played with pieces that don't always move as directed. 

Is the product as entertaining as it was? Well not really. Hasn't been since the AFL merged in. In fact, no sport is, as it used to be regular folks that are just talented at whatever athletic endeavor they are busting their butts to  pursue and now it is multi millionaires babying themselves because there is a lot of money involved.

My biggest complaint isn't what has been discussed so far in the thread but the part of sports that has deteriorated the most over the years .. the fans. You never would have heard silliness like losing on purpose or the general know-it-alls that have been taking over fanbases in all sports that think coaches and GM's are idiots while the truth is that this game is hard and carries no guarantees and the folks that work in it are the very best in the entire world. I won't even go onto how rude and inconsiderate fans are at the stadium (in general) as this is endemic for all of society (in general)

I asked the Mrs why she thinks we still watch these games. She said, "The Tailgates and you have to do something after the Mets season ends". I guess that is as good a reason as any to keep on going

The social element is huge.   You can just talk sports with people.   Baseball to me is the ideal, "have on in the background" sport.   Be out at the pool, eating, playing with kids, with the game on in the back ground.

Football is chess.   It truly is.  I love the strategy of it.  I'll agree about the losing on purpose thing.  Win you lose, you develop a losing mentality, look at the Browns.   That team has been trained to lose.  Re-training that will be so hard to do.  Stats have a place, but the know it alls live in a bubble.  Sports have a huge emotional component to them, and when your team loses, and is used to losing, it expects to lose.  The Pats, when they are down by 10 in a game, they aren't down.  They are pissed, but they still expect to win.    Great teams expect to win, they work to win.  They hate to lose, and they certainly don't play to lose.

[greenwichjetfan]

15 hours ago, T0mShane said:

Be honest: you share this same emerging sense of apathy regarding most sports these days. I know I do. I’m not really sure why, either. Probably saturation. 

On a global level, sure. With age and the pursuit of happiness, apathy for sports overall is up because you learn quickly that, as Yellin put it- "just about everything I do with my day now is more important than the outcome of the game ."

However, in terms of just enthusiasm for the entertainment value of sports, NFL is down for me; whereas college football, college and pro basketball, and even baseball is up. The real reason I still watch pro-football is for the strategy and gamesmanship. It's unrivaled in any other sport. 

[Fantasy Island]

18 hours ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

I'm a Jets fan, i love fantasy football, I bet on games. Pretty much the same reasons why i watched games 20 years ago. The other option is being one of those guys that look miserable shopping with his wife on Sunday afternoons. 

As for the quality of play, the quality of play is far and away better than it was back in the day. Think about the HOF QBs we have in this era (Brady/Rodgers/Brees/Ben) Borderline HOF Qbs (Elli/Rivers) up and coming QBs (Carr/Wilson/Cousins/Watson/Goff/Wentz/Dak) great athletes (Cam/Mariotta). 

Go  back to  2000 and outside of Peyton and Favre, you had guys like Jeff Garcia/Elvis Grbac/Culpepper/Vinny/Beurlein/Brunell/Collins leading the NFL in passing yards. No thanks!

There are too many teams now and the product is not as good as it once was.   The rules, the refs, and blatant cheating by kraft's team has really brought it down.

[Fantasy Island]

17 hours ago, joewilly12 said:

Carl you are right and you seem like a good guy, human social interaction is good for the heart and soul, if you need help we are here for you. 

Go to a Walmart on government check day (1st day of the month) and you see what Carl means.  OMG it is the worst!!!

[Adoni Beast]

Because baseballs over, NBA is horible, NCAA basketball is a one and done nightmare, I'm busy on Saturdays in the fall, I'm not Canadian, I'm not European or South American, I can't find Rugby readily accesible on my cable plan.

[ScarletKnight89]

I still love the sport and even though I don't agree with the protests it doesn't effect my viewing habits. Sundays are the best day of the week during the NFL season.

But the NFL is beginning it's decline in my opinion and is going to become less and less popular as we move forward. This CTE issue is a legitimate problem that I don't think the league is ever going to have a real answer for. It's a violent sport by nature. People are and will continue to turn away from playing it.

I think Mark Cuban has a pretty good take on the league and it's future unfortunately, they've diluted the product. Games on Thursday, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, games in Europe, all day Sunday. Football doesn't feel as special now as it did a few years ago.

I still love the sport but I can see why the ratings are down. The Thursday Night Football games are stupid. The games are generally always terrible, the players hate them, and it dilutes the product.

[nyjunc]

1 hour ago, ScarletKnight89 said:

I still love the sport and even though I don't agree with the protests it doesn't effect my viewing habits. Sundays are the best day of the week during the NFL season.

But the NFL is beginning it's decline in my opinion and is going to become less and less popular as we move forward. This CTE issue is a legitimate problem that I don't think the league is ever going to have a real answer for. It's a violent sport by nature. People are and will continue to turn away from playing it.

I think Mark Cuban has a pretty good take on the league and it's future unfortunately, they've diluted the product. Games on Thursday, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, games in Europe, all day Sunday. Football doesn't feel as special now as it did a few years ago.

I still love the sport but I can see why the ratings are down. The Thursday Night Football games are stupid. The games are generally always terrible, the players hate them, and it dilutes the product.

I would say the Sun Night games have contributed, usually bad football on prime time.  the CTE war on football is hurting, the protests are hurting on both sides- some protest b/c someone like Kaep isn't signed, others would protest if he was and protest the protests by not watching.  It's all hurting us and I think another reason is we as a Country are slowly turning into Europe and the media is leading a war on football while pumping up soccer.  we are turning into a soft soccer country slowly but surely.  The protesting/rioting crowds tend to be more soccer fans.  we see stupid signing and chanting during games that we see in soccer games, it's awful and our real Nat'l pastime is being ruined b/c of it.

 

for me personally I still love football and always will, I am not nearly as crazy as I was in my younger years.  I have more fun watching my son play than I do the Jets though I still love the Jets.  I think just getting older, having more responsibilities has made me care less and less though I still care more than I should.

[UntouchableCrew]

Football is like pizza. Even when it's bad it's still good!

[GATA]

I enjoy watching football. 

Is there a wrong answer here?

[munchmemory]

Main reason for me is that I have a fascination with overweight middle aged men in headphones.

[UnitedWhofans]

I think the off the field issues have been more interesting than the on the field stuff

[slats]

23 hours ago, chirorob said:

I don't watch that much.  I'll watch the Jets, but that's about it.

I used to watch any game.  Now, it seems like every game has BS pass interference stuff, and a BS roughing the passer penalty that just, skew the hell out of the game.   I understand protecting the QB, but it's too far.  

This has definitely gotten worse. I've really come to hate the NFL's pass interference rule. A 50 yard penalty for throwing to a WR whose jersey got tugged? It's ridiculous. And the QB basically has a strike zone where you can hit him; outside of that it's 15 yards and a first down. 

I understand the need to make player safety a priority (legal liability and no other reason), but it's gone off the deep end. 

[UntouchableCrew]

1 hour ago, slats said:

This has definitely gotten worse. I've really come to hate the NFL's pass interference rule. A 50 yard penalty for throwing to a WR whose jersey got tugged? It's ridiculous. And the QB basically has a strike zone where you can hit him; outside of that it's 15 yards and a first down. 

I understand the need to make player safety a priority (legal liability and no other reason), but it's gone off the deep end. 

I agree with this. The sheer number of penalties has gotten out of control. The 2nd Jets/Dolphins game was almost unwatchable.

[Apache 51]

The diminished violence other than hockey.

[Kevin L]

6 minutes ago, Apache 51 said:

The diminished violence other than hockey.

IMO, this is a huge reason people are watching less. Football used to pride itself on having large, angry men delivering punishing hits on each other. Those days are long gone.

I'm all for player safety, but when the league makes big hits illegal, and no one is sure what a clean, hard, legal hit is, it can't help but hurt the product.

[Apache 51]

21 minutes ago, Kevin L said:

IMO, this is a huge reason people are watching less. Football used to pride itself on having large, angry men delivering punishing hits on each other. Those days are long gone.

I'm all for player safety, but when the league makes big hits illegal, and no one is sure what a clean, hard, legal hit is, it can't help but hurt the product.

Right, by the same token it's not our bodies being abused.