Posted on 12/31/2014 4:31:01 AM PST by C19fan
’m a New York Giants fan. So besides erecting a makeshift shrine to Odell Beckham Jr. and soaking in schadenfreude at the expense of Philadelphia Eagles fans, I haven’t found the last couple of weeks of the NFL regular season super interesting. And yet, many teams that were eliminated from the playoffs appeared to pack stadiums – despite frigid temperatures and the promise of mediocre football. That prompted an argument over this question:
Who goes to the meaningless NFL games at the end of the season and why?
(Excerpt) Read more at fivethirtyeight.com ...
In my opinion, they are all meaningless. Bread and circus for the masses to keep them thinking about politics.
But to each his own.
There are a lot of people who just like going to the games, regardless of whether they are meaningless or not because they just like to watch the sport, regardless of the meaning.
I don’t phyiscally go to games in my area because the Redskins are too expensive with tickets, parking and food; however, I watched every minute of their final game debacle because I like to see who does well and who doesn’t. Unfortunately, it was mostly Cowboys doing well but I still watch the games.
Cheerleaders!
Exactly right: bread and circuses.
The sheep are too wrapped up with the antics of their favorite stars to worry about what’s happening around them.
I agree with you—I loathe the NFL & NBA. MLB is slowly making it’s way up to meaningless for me as well.
The only NFL Game I ever attended was Super Bowl VII, where Miami completed their perfect season by beating the Redskins at the LA Memorial Coliseum. My uncle, who owned a large chain of banks in Florida, couldn’t attend, so he sent us his four tickets.
However, I usually only go to games in September/October these days. Who wants to sit in a frigid meaningless game in December?
The NFL experience you get at home with high def, surround sound, replays, highlights from other games, insights from the announcers, cheaper food makes watching games at home much more appealing.
However, tickets to meaningless games are cheaper and if you have a kid, what do they know about meaningless games? They are excited just to be there.
With sites like StubHub and Criagslist, it's easy to get tickets to games your team is playing at a visitor's stadium. Especially if the game means nothing to the home team.
In my opinion, they are all meaningless. Bread and circus for the masses to keep them thinking about politics.
Heh, you saw the original Rollerball too? ;-)
I got rid of television in 1997. If I enjoyed watching pro sports I could not have done that.
I will say that over the holidays I saw a game or two at a friends place on a 55” 240 hz flat screen and was amazed not only by the picture, but by the quality of the optics of new cameras as well as the suspended camera viewpoint.
I asked the folks there, in all seriousness, with this new viewpoint and quality, why would anybody go to the stadium to see the game unless they were more interested in the stadium experience (e.g. tailgater parties) than the actual game?
At one time I had NYG season tickets. As I got older and started raising a family, the all-day tailgate party wore thin. Spending $100.00++ to freeze your butt off watching overpaid athletes lost its appeal.
Now the only time I go to a professional sports games is when I am comped tickets and one or more of my kids wants to go. I often receive offers for late season NYG and Yankee games and almost always decline. Even with free tickets, transportation and food can easily run North of $50.00 per person and a 3 hour event takes 8 hours out of your day.
Truthfully, I have lost interest in most pro sports (although I will watch a Green Bay game if it is on) and would rather be doing something productive instead of wasting the time watching TV.
Agree
As a friend once put it” I’m not paying $100 to watch a millionaire dribble a ball”
That just about says it all, doesn't it?
I go to every Giants home game. I drive 3 hours each way. I’m a NY Giants fan, win or lose. I’m Blue in football and Red in politics.
Each time I see an over crowded stadium I can’t help but cringe at the thought of it being a target of that peaceful religion.
Finding any of the games “meaningful” is beyond me. Pretty much tells why this nation is on such a mess. It’s men are little boys.
I always have enjoyed going to baseball games more. Miss going in fact and most of those games are meaningless. But it's the atmosphere. Going to the games is fun.
But I don't care it's fun and for some it's a once in a lifetime chance to go to the game.
I went to two games in the old RFK stadium 20 plus years ago. One a Monday night game that was rather boring and one to a regular Sunday afternoon game. It's exciting. I moved away before the Ravens arrived. But I did get to go to Camden Yard several times. I really enjoyed that stadium. It was so different at the time they built it.
One time when we were there, we meet a triple AAA scout. When I was a kid we went to Cleveland Indians games. It never got old. it's just something about the place. It was electric and exciting to go to the ballpark.
My two cents.
LOL. I don’t think the Jets have played a meaningful game in years, have they?
The two things missing from the NFL (and NCAA) home experience are the impact sounds and the full-field view as the plays unfold. Not enough to make me spend hundreds of dollars to freeze my a$$ off watching a meaningless game, but I do enjoy going to the stadium on a warm day, early in the season, when the game still means something.
I myself lost interest in attending live sporting events long ago. However, NFL season tickets are quite expensive, and if you’ve invested in them, you want to feel you’ve gotten your money’s worth, so you attend the games. Sort of like boat owners (in the Great Lakes region) I’ve known who rent a dock and are there as often as they can, to get the most out of a short boating season.
Just a thought, but in the overall scheme of things, what NFL game is NOT meaningless? I mean, who really cares? There’s always next year, next season, next game. And aside from some statistics on a page that will sit on a shelf and collect dust, so what?
I pity the people whose lives are so small they’re defined by the score of some child’s game played by men who don’t care if they live or die.
And the same goes for baseball, tennis, blacksketball, golf, and yes, even hockey.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.