[johniegrad]

I am an NFL fan. Packers are my team. But I have to admit feeling a down turn in my interest like many others.

I watched the NHL playoffs extensively this year and had more fun watching sports than I have had in years. I like their product.

[Alberta's Child]

Charles Barkley — who is a freaking NBA announcer — showed up at one of the games in the Stanley Cup finals and was interviewed briefly by an NBC reporter in the stands. He said he was a big hockey fan, and the Stanley Cul playoffs were so much better than the NBA playoffs this year. LMAO.

[hinckley buzzard]

Funny you should mention it. Hockey is a great sport, all the excitement of the NFL once you learn the game. But history repeats. NHL used to be on TV wall-to-wall, but TV viewership died from overexposure. NFL is following in NHL's footsteps.

[pepsi_junkie]

I am an NFL fan. Packers are my team. But I have to admit feeling a down turn in my interest like many others.

I used to watch every NFL game I could, two or three on Sunday and another on Monday. I couldn't get enough of it. But like you, my interest level has waned. I now mostly watch my home team and maybe one other game on some weeks only. I have some theories why I've lost interest:

• The NFL got rid of real training camp. It used to be a month or more longer with lots of real hitting. Now it's minimal contact drills. The result of that is that the players are not ready for the start of the season and the first month of the season frankly sucks. It's basically preseason level football with guys still figuring out the playbooks. If I gambled I would avoid betting in September like the plague because it's full of weird upsets. And the gutting of training camp is why.
• By the time the NFL product starts getting good (October) it's time for pink everything. At first it was one or two teams and it felt like they were supporting a good cause. Now it seems like they want to sell more jerseys and it turns me off.
• After suffering through the awful September and the self righeous marketing scheme of pink October, politics becomes apparant. Politics of the players is irritating, the announcers and the pundits talking of nothing else makes it more so. I don't watch to get a lecture and I don't want one.
• Officials. They shouldn't be deciding the outcome of games. They shouldn't be giving away huge plays with bogus interference calls based on nothing contact. They do in every single game. The long bomb used to be an exciting play, now it's just a penalty. Boring and infuriating.

That's just a few.