How can fans let the NFL know the officiating is garbage?

[BradyFTW!]

what????? no BASEBALL!!! Why you scurrilous commie, I'll have you investigated by the FBI..!!

I enjoyed baseball right up until advanced analytics kinda ruined it. Once everyone figured out that working pitch counts was the best way to win, IMO baseball became a boring four-hour exercise in who could get the most walks called--relatively arbitrarily--by an umpire while he tried really hard not to have a heart attack.

 

[Joker]

I thought Brad Pitt kinda sucked in "Moneyball" too.

They killed the Golden Goose Gossage when they outlawed the steroids. Chicks dig the long ball and all that. Even die hards like me are getting disgusted with the slowed pace of the games now. I mean, what the hell is wrong with the baseball world when the Yankees can't even buy a championship for 300 million?

 

[RayClay]

sorry...showing my age, Cap'n...although I think Trout Mask Replica is PERFECT as a symbol for the current NFL regime...

Not safe as milk?

 

[RayClay]

Considering how few games are decided that way, that's about as useful as writing off football because "if you like 9-6 games decided by who can punt longer and kick a couple of eventual field goals, then that's what you like".

It was a throwaway remark. I should have used cricket or chess, like I did before, but I'd get an angry chess afficianado.

For the record, I'm an old AFL fan (is there another kind) and i was glad when they opened up the game a bit from the 3 yards and a cloud of dust period, but i generally enjoy good defense as much or more than offense. Even named myself after a tenacious defender.

I'm definitely not going to use curling as a symbol, though. Those fans are vicious.

 

[SB39]

The real existential threat to the NFL is all of the concussion stuff that's coming to light: if I'm them, I'm genuinely scared that that's going to screw up my talent pipeline, and that the generation of kids coming now won't produce as much football talent and won't be as invested in football since they never played it.

As long as there is money, there will be no shortage of insanely talented people doing everything they can to make the team.

 

[RayClay]

I enjoyed baseball right up until advanced analytics kinda ruined it. Once everyone figured out that working pitch counts was the best way to win, IMO baseball became a boring four-hour exercise in who could get the most walks called--relatively arbitrarily--by an umpire while he tried really hard not to have a heart attack.

I used to be a big baseball fan and worked at Fenway a few years when I was a kid. When Punch and Judy hitters like Brady Anderson were hitting 40 hrs per year and a bunch of average sluggers were surpassing Babe Ruth's records, it's time to roll up the tarp.

Aaron deserves credit for consistency and longevity only and the juiceheads records are all suspect and even though maris had one big year, none of them touch Ruth and it ruined the credibility (along with corrupt Selig) of the entire game. Nice of the rocket to wait until he left town to start juicing too.

 

[borg]

For anyone attending the Broncos-Pats game, dress up as a yellow flag and run out onto the field and shake PayMeATon's hand....and thank him for the "New NFL"

 

[BradyFTW!]

I thought Brad Pitt kinda sucked in "Moneyball" too.

They killed the Golden Goose Gossage when they outlawed the steroids. Chicks dig the long ball and all that. Even die hards like me are getting disgusted with the slowed pace of the games now. I mean, what the hell is wrong with the baseball world when the Yankees can't even buy a championship for 300 million?

Honestly, I would've been okay with letting the steroids slide or with cracking down, but what I'm not okay with is going somewhere in between. You can't crack down just often enough to give the appearance of doing something, without making any substantive steps toward cleaning up the game. So, basically, the MLB played that about as poorly as possible.

I used to be a big baseball fan and worked at Fenway a few years when I was a kid. When Punch and Judy hitters like Brady Anderson were hitting 40 hrs per year and a bunch of average sluggers were surpassing Babe Ruth's records, it's time to roll up the tarp.

Aaron deserves credit for consistency and longevity only and the juiceheads records are all suspect and even though maris had one big year, none of them touch Ruth and it ruined the credibility (along with corrupt Selig) of the entire game. Nice of the rocket to wait until he left town to start juicing too.

And now there's apparently another report coming down the pipeline that'll name a bunch of other current stars as juicers. I'm just praying that Jeter's on the list, but beyond that I really don't care. I hopped back on the bandwagon last year for the playoffs, purely because I still love Pedroia, Ortiz, and Lester, but I don't even care that they suck this year. I agree that the game itself just hasn't held up well: whether it's the time of the games in the working-the-count era, diminished attention spans in general, the lack of action and movement, juiced up players making cross-era comparisons basically impossible (although I'd argue that segregation and the dead ball era kinda already did that), etc. etc. The whole thing just isn't a recipe for modern sustainability.

 

[BradyFTW!]

As long as there is money, there will be no shortage of insanely talented people doing everything they can to make the team.

I'm sure that all of the boxing associations across the country used to say the same thing. Part of the equation is that when a lot of parents stop letting their kids play pee wee football, those kids will grow up being less attached to football and there will be less money there. As boxing already proved and baseball is in the beginning stages of proving, these shifts can happen within 1-2 generations. It'll take long enough that the current owners probably don't care a ton, but their kids who stand to take over in the next 30 years might.

 

[gruffypatsfan]

I thought the officiating was as bad enough as it is and already heavily in favour of the offense, and now they have made it even more so. I have loved watching the NFL since 1999 but it's becoming more and more frustrating, it would be hard not having Pats games to look forward to and would be hard to stop watching but these rules are becoming unbearable.

 

[RayClay]

Not safe as milk?

Don't like the Captain?

 

[pencilneckgeek]

I think you are all selling the casual fans short. They don't just want scoring. They want savage brutality and cartoon violence. I think there's hope yet for the NFL in the 21st century.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Hockey is my other great sports love. And it's ironic because for years the NHL has been trying to infuse offense into the game because it actually NEEDS it. Football HAS it already, and still wants more.

But nothing beats playoff hockey. The energy those guys play with for 20-25 games straight isn't human.

Hockey has wisely been careful when trying to add offense. They understand there needs to be balance between team play and superstars. Football seems desperate to turn the game into glorified pitch and catch.