I can’t tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing…and I’m
just going to put it out there…I’ve fallen out of love with the NFL. My wife
thinks this is a good thing, but something inside of me feels strange that I’m
on a break from the most popular game in America. Yes, this is crazy.
It is the offseason and training camps don’t kick off for a
month and the regular season is still almost two and a half months away, but
I’ve lost my passion for the NFL. Case
in point, I didn’t know the Broncos (with Peyton Manning as their QB!) had a
minicamp until after it was over. Ask
anyone who knows me, this is not normal behavior.
Maybe when the regular season rolls around I’ll feel
differently, but I’m not certain that this will be the case. I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and I
can’t just pin it down to one cause…so please let me think this through.
I hate contract negotiations and holdouts, but these issues
are neither isolated to the NFL nor just to sports in the U.S. As I noted last year (sorry about the lack of
posts) fans were the ones who got cheated last summer during the ‘tense’
Owners-Players Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations…where only
one preseason game turned out to be missed.
One thing that I can’t stand right now (which has been going
on for months) is “Bountygate”. The mere
existence of alleged bounty programs makes me sick. Paying for good hits, fine…aiming to
intentionally knock players out of games, not fine. If someone gets hurt in the normal course of
play, that is one thing, going out to intentionally injure someone, possibly
causing debilitating, permanent injuries is not. In the NFC Title Game three seasons ago, QB
Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings was allegedly a major target of the New
Orleans Saints and pictures of his postgame ankle turned a lot of
stomachs. Yes, Favre didn’t miss a snap,
but had Favre not thrown a late game interception when the Vikings were at the
edge of K Ryan Longwell’s field goal range, Favre’s availability for the Super
Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts would have been in question.
Another issue I’m struggling with is concussions and the
lawsuits about them. A class action
lawsuit has been filed linking together numerous lawsuits again the NFL over
head injuries. I’m sorry; every person
who’s ever played football (at any level) or watched it in person or on TV has
realized that it is a violent game.
Injuries occur when individuals collide…especially when the individuals are
huge and moving at high rates of speed. This isn’t breaking news. Let’s also not forget that through the years,
players in the NFL have been rewarded handsomely as paychecks have done nothing
but rise.
What I do find ironic is that at the same time former
players are suing the NFL over concussions, current players (like James
Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers) are complaining and threatening to retire
over punishments for making illegal hits…some of which caused concussions! Hypocrisy at its finest.
Yes, Go Broncos….I’ll still cheer for them, but every game
won’t be must see TV. Kelly McGillis got
that lovin’ feelin’ back…it remains to be seen if I will.
