The State of the Mind: Part Two
October 24th 2010 13:46
The League
"We're not automobiles. We're not machines. We're humans." That was Ray Lewis, talking about the NFL's proposition to increase the NFL's regular season schedule from 16 grueling games, to 18. I wonder if after this week in the NFL with all those concussions, if the NFL is second-guessing adding extra games? Here's my answer...probably not.
The NFL has practically become the picture on the side of the word Power in the dictionary. The Monday night game between Tenessee and Jacksonville, two teams with rather small tv markets compared to most professional sports teams, had a higher rating in a match-up that turned into a blow-out win for the Titans than the MLB's American League championship game, which pitted two teams from major markets, the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers (Dallas). That's crazy. You could say it's "the year of the pitcher", and use that as the reason for baseball's ratings drop, but there's no second-guessing the NFL's power-house of a product that they're selling. But to me, the NFL is starting to become too power-hungry, and it's hurting the people that really matter the most to deliver the entertainment of an NFL game: the players.
With all these so-called "illegal" hits last week, it's obvious that the NFL, and anyone humane for that matter, doesn't want to see players suffer horrible injuries in games. But at the same time, the NFL loves to market all these bone-crushing hits. It's not that big hits in the NFL are part of the game. They are the game. It's what the NFL is all about, so it's a little hard for the NFL to draw a line between something that is dirty, and to what, in case of fans, is pure entertainment. I've heard dozens of people say "look at how it was back in Greece" and they start talking about how thousands of spectators would show up for whatever violent spectacle was being shown. That to me is, besides being quite a few years later, is not that far from how the NFL is looked at. It's like a battle on the gridiron. You can't expect a defensive player going full-speed to stop short and try to just wrap someone up all the time. There are certain measures that need to be taken for safety, but you can't expect a player to put a shoulder into someone without the head being close by.
With the 18-game schedule idea in place, I look at this in two ways. The NFL wants to pile on the doh, everyone knows that. I also see that, no matter how many games they play, 8,18, or 28, they're still going to go all out no matter what, with no letting up. And the NFL heads are using that to their advantage, and in my opinion, using the players. They should be happy with 16, but they know they have enough men that want to play in this league, and despite being the empire that they are, don't even pay as well as the NBA or the MLB. A great writer Jemele Hill wrote the other day that "money over integrity will only further jeopardize the health of NFL players" and added,"It doesn't make sense to jeopardize the credibility of the most well-run professional league in sports."
The NFL and it's owners are so greedy that if they don't get what they want before next season, they'll not only go into a lockout, but they will not give any further benefits to retired players until the league is back and running. This is their attempt to try and push the players union into giving into their demands in the new bargaining agreement that the two sides are trying to come to terms on, and it doesn't seem to be getting far. It's another reason why I think the NFL is more worried about stacking it on then they are about whats going on down on the field. You can say I'm wrong, but it's just my opinion. Do I think Roger Goodell is a horrible commisioner, no, he's been firm in handeling player's actions in off-field incidents, but it doesn't mean he's not power-hungry.
Another thing I have a problem with is the NFL and the officials not being on the same page. While the NFL fines James Harrison 75 grand, there was no flags thrown on either hit he made. the truth is, the NFL doesn't really know where to draw the line in terms of what is legal and what is not. It's a violent sport, nothings going to take away from it being that way, unless you start playing two-hand touch. It's part of the reason NFL is so much higher than the MLB right now in terms of ratings. You see pitchers out-thinking hitters. America doesn't want that. This world is very violent, and the NFL goes perfect for it. That's not the least bit of a diss on football, that's just how it is. So the NFL will continue to ponder what is just an advanced action from an era of advanced athletes, and what truely is "dirty". Look at it this way, if the NFL does have a lockout, atleast no players will get injured.
"We're not automobiles. We're not machines. We're humans." That was Ray Lewis, talking about the NFL's proposition to increase the NFL's regular season schedule from 16 grueling games, to 18. I wonder if after this week in the NFL with all those concussions, if the NFL is second-guessing adding extra games? Here's my answer...probably not.
The NFL has practically become the picture on the side of the word Power in the dictionary. The Monday night game between Tenessee and Jacksonville, two teams with rather small tv markets compared to most professional sports teams, had a higher rating in a match-up that turned into a blow-out win for the Titans than the MLB's American League championship game, which pitted two teams from major markets, the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers (Dallas). That's crazy. You could say it's "the year of the pitcher", and use that as the reason for baseball's ratings drop, but there's no second-guessing the NFL's power-house of a product that they're selling. But to me, the NFL is starting to become too power-hungry, and it's hurting the people that really matter the most to deliver the entertainment of an NFL game: the players.
With all these so-called "illegal" hits last week, it's obvious that the NFL, and anyone humane for that matter, doesn't want to see players suffer horrible injuries in games. But at the same time, the NFL loves to market all these bone-crushing hits. It's not that big hits in the NFL are part of the game. They are the game. It's what the NFL is all about, so it's a little hard for the NFL to draw a line between something that is dirty, and to what, in case of fans, is pure entertainment. I've heard dozens of people say "look at how it was back in Greece" and they start talking about how thousands of spectators would show up for whatever violent spectacle was being shown. That to me is, besides being quite a few years later, is not that far from how the NFL is looked at. It's like a battle on the gridiron. You can't expect a defensive player going full-speed to stop short and try to just wrap someone up all the time. There are certain measures that need to be taken for safety, but you can't expect a player to put a shoulder into someone without the head being close by.
With the 18-game schedule idea in place, I look at this in two ways. The NFL wants to pile on the doh, everyone knows that. I also see that, no matter how many games they play, 8,18, or 28, they're still going to go all out no matter what, with no letting up. And the NFL heads are using that to their advantage, and in my opinion, using the players. They should be happy with 16, but they know they have enough men that want to play in this league, and despite being the empire that they are, don't even pay as well as the NBA or the MLB. A great writer Jemele Hill wrote the other day that "money over integrity will only further jeopardize the health of NFL players" and added,"It doesn't make sense to jeopardize the credibility of the most well-run professional league in sports."
The NFL and it's owners are so greedy that if they don't get what they want before next season, they'll not only go into a lockout, but they will not give any further benefits to retired players until the league is back and running. This is their attempt to try and push the players union into giving into their demands in the new bargaining agreement that the two sides are trying to come to terms on, and it doesn't seem to be getting far. It's another reason why I think the NFL is more worried about stacking it on then they are about whats going on down on the field. You can say I'm wrong, but it's just my opinion. Do I think Roger Goodell is a horrible commisioner, no, he's been firm in handeling player's actions in off-field incidents, but it doesn't mean he's not power-hungry.
Another thing I have a problem with is the NFL and the officials not being on the same page. While the NFL fines James Harrison 75 grand, there was no flags thrown on either hit he made. the truth is, the NFL doesn't really know where to draw the line in terms of what is legal and what is not. It's a violent sport, nothings going to take away from it being that way, unless you start playing two-hand touch. It's part of the reason NFL is so much higher than the MLB right now in terms of ratings. You see pitchers out-thinking hitters. America doesn't want that. This world is very violent, and the NFL goes perfect for it. That's not the least bit of a diss on football, that's just how it is. So the NFL will continue to ponder what is just an advanced action from an era of advanced athletes, and what truely is "dirty". Look at it this way, if the NFL does have a lockout, atleast no players will get injured.
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