Hovering over the self-destruct button

The NFL's popularity has more-or-less eclipsed that of all other sports combined. (Of course, most sports fans are fans of more than one sport.) This isn't news. All of the major TV networks partake of the NFL. It is in fact what makes them major networks. Even natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy are momentarily ignored to get a game in in New Jersey. Other natural disasters like the Democratic National Convention might cause the Opening Night of the NFL to be moved up a day, but that was only to curry political favor.

Almost the entirety of national sports talk radio revolves around the NFL. The sport has it's own network (such as it is). There is an unknowable amount of income redistribution involved each week in all forms of betting associated with the game. Events that occur in-game and out of game involving NFL players are national news. No other sport is going to significantly diminish the NFL. No other televised event is going to compete with the NFL. Nothing.

That's why it keeps teetering on the verge of self-destruction. It's what happens to everything that reaches it's full potential, from nations to individuals. Why does Caesar Augustus arbitrarily limit the size of the empire only to set the stage for collapse later? Who decides "that's all, no further?" Why can't a sport just get successively more popular? Who knows?

What I do know is that it happened to the MLB. A lethal series of labor/ownership disputes culminating in the cancellation of the 94 World Series killed the sport's popularity. (Yes, there have been other problems.) While the NFL was more popular well before this, baseball was not looked down upon as it is now. I personally totally resent the unspoken current belief that baseball is somehow a kid's game that one outgrows before moving on to more serious "adult" sports. (That would actually describe soccer, by the way.) The MLB somehow learned from its mistakes and hasn't had a problem since, but it's too late now to regain its prestige. (I say "somehow." They damn near had a stoppage in 2001, after 9/11, after one of the best World Series ever. Almost happened again the next year, until Angel fans of all people, threw a small riot right before it happened, sending both sides back to the bargaining table.)

Is the NFL really trying to destroy itself? Well let's see. Last year there was a pointless lockout. What was that about? Who won? I remember sports talk radio becoming increasingly nervous as it dragged on. They might have had to start talking about other sports!

As the season started and then wore on, there was only one topic of discussion: Tim Tebow. The only object of this attention was assassination because of his faith. Whatever quality his skills as a quarterback were, all he did was lead his team into the playoffs and a first round victory over the Steelers. All this government/media complex Agenda against him did was get him run out of town and piss off Christians. I get a bad taste in my mouth over the NFL just thinking about it.

Oh, and then the concussion scandal in the off-season. Why, all these players hitting each other might be an unhealthy lifestyle. Gee, we should all feel really bad about watching football because we're watching these guys brain damage each other. Now the league is facing lawsuits from former players (the current players wouldn't dare). I'm not sure what the basis of the suit is other than the NFL has a lot of money. It's not like these guys didn't know this was a potentially dangerous sport, and the league has made safety improvements over the years. Personally, I think these players should sue each other. The league didn't give them a concussion, other players did.

What do we start this season off with? Another labor dispute. This time with the referees. Everybody got a bug up their ass about the "integrity of the game," and "player safety." These are two items at the bottom of the list of reasons why they watch the games. To be blunt, I couldn't tell the difference between the replacement refs and the regular refs. A bunch of lousy judgement calls and non-calls over unenforceable/indecipherable rules that decide games. I've questioned the "integrity" thing for years. It's probably just me. Ever noticed that with ever increasing replays during the game, calls are still blatantly gotten wrong? One has to question the real purpose of replay. At least it generates CONTRAVERSY, the almighty goal of the media.

Then there was the murder/suicide last week. I'm not going bother with any of the details of the incident. After all, they still played the game the next day since the guy wasn't famous. Somehow this was blamed partly on concussions before Bob Costas, showing himself to be a true tool of the Agenda, made a political rant out of it, basically decrying the Second Amendment. Whatever the merits of the argument, was a half-time show the place to do it? Polarize your audience some more. Nicely done.

Let's start discussing major rules changes to help lessen concussions. Float out some trial balloons on eliminating kick-offs. Let's open Pandora's Box to fundamentally changing the game. But that doesn't matter. Let's break down the three classes of football fans.

The Old Fashioned: They actually watch the games and root for their favorite teams to win.

Traditional: They're watching the ticker and only care about the results for the points spreads and wins and losses in their office pool.

Modern: They're watching NFL Red Zone. Winning and losing and the score only vaguely matter. They only care about player stats for their fantasy teams.

With these kinds of fans, the format of the game is irrelevant. Good ahead and change it all you want.

Now there's some kind of vehicular manslaughter case involving the players this weekend. Gee, I wonder what Bob's hard-hitting rant will be this Sunday. Maybe something about Global Warming and how people need to stop driving cars. Let's use football as a vehicle (pardon the pun) for promoting all sorts of causes, like wearing pink to show our solidarity with gay marriage. It's great to see NFL players "come out of the closet," so to speak. . . What? Breast cancer awareness? Really? Well, I wasn't aware of that. Learn something new everyday.

What was the point of all this ranting? Let me tell you: Everything except the games themselves! That's what the NFL has totally become, everything but the games! Even the Superbowl is all about the ads and the parties. The teams participating are irrelevant to most of the people watching. I remember a radio host actually saying last year, "Thank God for Tebow, otherwise there'd be nothing to talk about this season." Yeah, there's plenty of buzz surrounding the NFL, none of it involving great performances on the field every week. They can't improve the sport. They can't make it more popular. The only thing left is to destroy it. Are the self-destruct warning bells going off for you now?