Posted on 08/12/2018 12:09:57 PM PDT by Rummyfan
On January 1 of this year, I penned a piece the gist of which was that despite the awful player protests during the national anthem, I was going to watch the NFL playoffs. The post garnered me the heaviest excoriation I’d yet experienced since starting at PJ Media in 2015. The essay provoked more disagreement and disapproval than any previous or subsequent submission. Out of hundreds of naysaying and sometimes nasty comments, both here and at Instapundit, I think a grand total of one person stated in cautious agreement that he wasn’t going to let a bunch of spoiled millionaire athletes keep him from watching the battle to reach the Super Bowl.
That’s OK. Excoriation comes with the turf, as it were. If you can’t take extreme blowback from the public at large for your published opinions, go blog for Better Homes and Gardens.
There was one comment in particular that stood out from all the rebuke and made me think about the protests and NFL boycott in a way I hadn’t before. The commenter opined that my take on the issue was dated, coming from an older generation for which sitting around watching football games together was an important aspect of social life. He or she suggested that because of all the ways we get information now, the shared sit-down in front of the boob tube is not the hearth fire moment it used to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
The ecstasy of giving up the NFL for good!
I sense loads of hostility here towards the NFL. We apparently (me for sure) used to watch and enjoy the games. Then the game disrespected us. We made choices. I haven’t herd anyone say I won’t buy that beer, braut, car or truck. We just don’t watch the game so the commercials aren’t seen. Hockey, baseball, and college football show the same commercials. They haven’t disrespected us. Yet!! The Not For Long League can go suck a rock.
Not much on wiki on him after his playing career except a few acting and coaching stints and those ended long ago. He was born in 1940 so he is 78 now.
This will be an interesting year for the NFL. Their bulletproof brand took a hit last year. They reacted with spin and damage control but they are still in trouble relatively speaking.
Not a hard decision at all.
They know that is exactly what they are doing and that is WHY they are doing it!
I’m trying to remember who played in this year’s Superbowl and then I realized how stupid it was to even think about it! Same thing for this year!
It was the sickening glorification of ray lewis which first turned me off from the nfl; everything since has reaffirmed my choice.
We watched the Super Bowl only because of the Eagles being involved. Glad they won, and would not have watched any other team combination.
I don’t know what I’m going to do this season. What I really don’t understand is why the majority group of players who aren’t pulling these antics haven’t told the “kneelers” “fist raisers” and “sitters” to knock it the heck off. They had their chance to make their point (whatever it was?? Inequality? Bad cops? Can’t wear pretty pony socks?) and it didn’t turn out very well, so just play the game and stop pulling this hurtful, disrespectful crap.
The boycott may be ongoing but the teams are gaining in revenue.
Financially they don’t seem to be hurt at this point. But time will
tell after we see a couple more seasons.
TV ratings down, team revenues up: have protests really hurt the NFL?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/20/nfl-anthem-protests-revenue-tv-ratings-attendance
snip
Twenty-nine of the NFL’s 32 teams made the top 50 list, which
was topped by the Dallas Cowboys whose worth is estimated to
be $4.8bn, more than double the $2bn Forbes valued the team at
in 2013.
“NFL owners are minting money thanks to hefty TV contracts and a
favorable labor deal with the players,” Forbes gushed in its report,
noting that the $3.2bn in income the league took in last year “is $500m
more than the combined earnings” of all NBA, NHL and MLB clubs.
Of course they are in trouble.
Players hate their Nation. Go somewhere else.
Having played for 8 years on various levels, I'm not given up what I enjoy to virtual signal
Virtue signaling is often described as a conspicuous display of moral values, or some such. That's what the protesting players have done, and furthermore, the league has tacitly added its collective voice to that conspicuous display by choosing not to stifle it. Fine, their decision has been made - and all such decisions come with hazards and costs.
For the average person who finds this offensive, clicking over to some other TV channel is *not* a conspicuous act. Neither is choosing to use money for something other than season tickets. Both are simply examples of recognizing that one's interests are better served elsewhere, and moving on accordingly.
Enjoy the game... while it lasts.
I did ????....
You are imaging something I never implied even remotely
Where did you get that from my post and comment???
re-read what I posted...
That is something the city of San Diego should be proud of.
Now, when other cities vote down stadium funding, and most season ticket holders turn in their season tickets, I will believe there is an NFL boycott.
I watched not one minute of the NFL last year, and it didn’t hurt one bit.
It was only the second Superbowl I missed starting from the first one. I missed the other because the game was in Houston in the early 70’s and local station was blacked out by the Rozele rule. I seriously doubt I’ll ever watch another NFL game
Same here. Pro football started changing years before these protests. It became more like a circus rather than a sport. It started with the scantily clad cheerleaders, then women sideline announcers, all the various causes (like wearing pink in October - ugh!), the silly end zone dances, the players’ complete lack of sportsmanship (beating their chests, running to the nearest camera) standing over some guy they just tackled as if they had conquered him, etc.), and now this useless protest that is an insult to law enforcement people everywhere.
These jackasses are so dumb, they don’t even care to find out the truth about these issues. They also have no clue as to what exactly they expect to accomplish by all this, or is this now a perpetual protest show?
Trump called their bluff on prison reform by asking NFL players for a list of prisoners they thing should be pardoned. The players responded with mealy-mouthed generalizations about reform in general. They couldn’t present a single name of anyone they thought had been wrongfully convicted of a crime.
I will not see or hear anything that is related to the NFL.
Didn't miss a thing last year and am finished for the rest of time.
Join the movement to have free Sundays, Mondays and Thursday nights!!!!!!
Played HS and College football. Two concussions and I am lucky to not have any problems. Know the game but don't recognize the pro game. It is thugball, with legalized muggings in the backfield and the secondary. My Dad called NBA and NFL “Blackball!” And he was not a racist.
Call me “Done with It!”
‘It’s all about athleticism over skill.”
Wrong Gator, it is brute strength and ignorance with malice aforethought over skill!
Ballerinas are an example of athleticism.
I think it will happen, I think it is on its way to happening. I don’t think it will all be directly related to boycotting because of players kneeling in disrespect.
As the article reminds us, football was a big social event for many years. Parties and holiday meals were planned around games. The men and some women would gather in front of the game and share moment by moment- different ages had something in common.
What strikes me, at least with those we know is the most likely to have stopped or stop watching football due to kneeling is the older men in the family. That seems to have a domino effect on that family watching football. My husband actually stopped watching NFL before the kneeling started, he was fed up with the thugs and rule changes. After he quit watching it was a trickle down effect. My stepson and son in law and our daughter both quit watching. With three adults in the family no longer watching other activities were planned and by the time the Super Bowl came around last year no one in my family watched it. We used to have big parties, it was like another holiday.
I think I realized football was becoming a thing of the past last Thanksgiving when we went to my daughter and son in law’s and the TV was not on. My teen grandson didn’t even ask to watch it. Those not involved in getting the meal ready gathered on the porch for an old fashioned visit.
I don’t think the NFL will die right away but I do think the beginning of the end was last season. As more turn away and find things to replace it, then more family members give it up to join the others. It has lost its social standing. The few I know still watching are watching alone, and find it hard to even talk to others after a game- because so many no longer watch.
The older, die hard fans seem to have been the glue that kept families tuned in to football, they are the likeliest to be insulted by NFL actions, and statements by players and management.
One of my daughters works at a company that gives out event tickets. Her company has not made any statement about the protests one way or another- but have stopped giving out NFL tickets. I don’t know if those at the top of the company are protesting or just afraid they will upset people who are angry if they offer them NFL tickets.
In the end it doesn’t matter if people stop watching because they are protesting or because they want to join the family in other activities. It doesn’t matter if companies stop giving out tickets because the company doesn’t approve of the actions of the NFL or because they think their clients might disapprove. All of these are lost fans for different reasons; I guess you could call it a trickle down effect.
If there is no family connection to watching football, where will new fans come from? My children and grandchildren began to watch football with my husband as babies. We haven’t had a game on in our home in over 2 years, no one has even mentioned it. We just do other things.
At some point this has to effect advertising, TV revenue, NFL related merchandise.
A better indication of fan support is ticket revenue and merchandise sales. I don't know about merchandise but I was shocked to see how many NFL teams have reduced their ticket prices this season. That is NOT a sign of good health for a sports franchise.
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