Posted on 12/03/2016 10:57:12 PM PST by righttackle44
When I called my father back home in Oregon on a recent Sunday, he rattled off his thoughts about the election, the health of his two dogs and queries about holiday plans. But, as the child of a sports-loving house (Go, Ducks!), I was most surprised by what my dad wasn’t talking about on Sunday — football.
He’s not alone in his waning interest. This season, ratings for professional football are down 27 percent across all of the major networks: ESPN, Fox, NBC and CBS, according Forbes. The decline in the ratings underscores a bigger truth that no one wants to face: Nothing lasts forever. And that includes the popularity of professional football, which now may be experiencing the slow, inevitable crumble of a Roman-style empire.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I’m surprised it’s lasted as long as it has.
Insurance companies through way high insurance premiums will kill the sport.
Too many concussions, as well as the usual knee, back, problems etc.
Actually, yes, illegals watch football, quite a large amount. I am the only legal American on this construction crew of 14 guys and I am the only one who doesn’t like football. Go to Brownsville, where the concept of “legal” is non-existent. Everyone I know stays glued to football but me, almost all of whom are illegal.
He’s already on one. Saw it the other day he’s just not front and center.
Very creepy.
NEVER mentioned the boycott. Not once.
Author is an idiot.
MLS will make it, by directing its efforts to a smaller fan base. A stadium built in a neighboring town for the NY Red Bulls is MUCH smaller than Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands (where they played before); it is a sustainable model (though the womens’ leagues have little chance due to lack of interest).
That is what killed it for me years ago; too little football interspersed with too many commercials. Rather than watching football, one can only have it on while doing something else (including WATCHING something else).
Add to the aforementioned, the fact that the game has become too sterile. Very few “winter” games played in the elements. that made football unique. Seems like everyone’s in a cozy dome. No mud, no snow, no rain, no wind, no fun.
I read the summary of the games so I am able to carry on conversations with other people but I have quit having the games on.
I was talking to a client last week, a big, big Giant fan, and I confessed I hadn’t watched a game this year and he said he hadn’t either. He attends church regularly and is what I would call a very moderate Republican.
Anything that decreases the big media’s income is good.
Agree on most: no timeout prior to a FG attempt; quit with the friggin flags on every play; get rid of most PI/defense penakties; let QBs take the hit.
Luke showed promise before getting injured and Callaway will be back. Not all is lost. Appleby chucking 3 ints didn’t help (not that they would have beaten the Tide anyway) last night, and the fake punt was a disaster. We’ll see during the bowl game if they can get it together - otherwise it’s “wait till next year”.
(Cough cough) Cowboys (cough)...Hate to say it, but it’s been so long since the Pokes were worth a damn that I’’m enjoying the hell out of this year!
Not the Giants! No dome, no cheerleaders, cold games late in the season...
Yes, and it goes back at least as far as Keith Olbermann's tenure there. Once he got hired away from ESPN to become a 'real" journalist, all of these hack sportswriters suddenly saw liberal politics as their ticket to the big time.
At “Go Ducks” I knew from that moment forward this was a puff piece for liberalism. Being a former avid watcher of NFL prior to Kaepernick kneeling I can assure you my boycott is related to his actions and the leagues response to such. Now, I go fishing or hunting on Sundays.
Besides, you have a guy who supports a college football team underwritten by a multinational corporation built upon the backs of extremely cheap foreign labor. Really?
“Nobody cares about soccer. Its a boring communist European sport, and its boring.”
And cricket. Cricket is boring beyond belief.
The person I posted to cares about soccer.
Please tell your wife I feel her pain. GEAUX TIGERS!!
I think football’s demise actually started a few years ago, and fits a pattern. When sports start to become a spectacle outside of the game, or the team, then the whole things starts to unravel, in my opinion.
Witness NASCAR: ever since the ‘80s, you have front drive cars becoming rear drive on the track, cars that are no longer based on any ‘stock’ anything, engines that are no longer based on any production architecture, etc. The sport became more about driver personalities and endorsements, off-camera drama, etc.
Witness Baseball: ever since the players’ strikes, has it ever really returned to prominence? Add to that the drug scandals and other drama, and they completely lost my interest.
Witness Football: Between the incessant commercialization during the game, the hyper-focus on individual players’, the off-camera drama, and now the political bulls*t, I just no longer care to watch. Not to mention the whole liberal ‘safety’ push of the game just turns my stomach. My own father and I have been griping about this point for the last several years.
Not surprisingly, we only watched one game together over Thanksgiving. I don’t want to know about a QB’s political stance, or the latest girlfriend scandal, or someone’s tweet about some controversy, or watch those a-holes do a dance in the end zone every time they score. I don’t want ‘sanitized’ rules-of-engagement on the field, or pink gloves that support some bulls*t cause-du-jour. I don’t want my beloved Redskins cow-towed into changing their name so “not to offend”.
NFL is losing my interest, and I suspect the interest of a lot of fans. I really, truly hope they can turn it around. Tell me the players’ and teams’ stats, and focus on the game. Minimize all the other crap, and COACHES PLEASE, reign-in your overpaid drama queens. The show-boating, the too-many tattoos, the ridiculous long hair, the camera drama....there is a lot you can do to let this game be about FOOTBALL.
I remember game that showed a shot of players sitting on their helmets on the sideline. MY dad said when he played nobody sat on their helmets. They folded them up and tucked them in their waistband.
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