Just at the minute when you’ve refuted the caricature of liberals as elitist snobs lacking humor, someone on Daily Kos pens an awful screed bemoaning the supposed horrors of the NFL. These are the people who see fun in nothing, who piss and moan at the fact that people are voluntarily giving up money to be entertained for four hours at a pop. That while the stadium game is a con, it happens because people love their sports team and make the lives of their local politicians hell if they do anything to jeopardize the relationship. The wet blanket who wrote this entry is one of those types who bawls that in a world with war, bad politicians, and hunger, there’s just no room for football.
Please, shut up. It’s possible to be a good progressive American, donating money and time to making the world better, and simultaneously take 4 hours on a Sunday to see a defensive lineman beat the snot out of a quarterback — and you’re no less of a person for it. And you aren’t a humorless walking stereotype.
The NFL is a horror for two basic reasons:
1.) The CFL is better.
2.) Don’t they lead the four major team sports in fellonies?
Oliver: You’re not a football fan; you root for the Redskins. (h/t Will Rogers)
Also, it used to be three hours on a Sunday, till Fox/CBS/ABC had to plump out the broadcasts with ads to offset the broadcast rights fees.
Oliver,
Thank you for the post. People can bitch and moan just about anything. Its almost as if they don’t want to enjoy ANYTHING!
I saw that too, and my head almost exploded. Besides, a Noam Chomsky lecture is just as useless as football…
Chomsky: I mean, you listen to radio stations where people call in — they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues.
So I really am nowhere near as smart as Chomsky, but I am surprised to hear him say this.
they have the most exotic information [more laughter] and understanding about all kind of arcane issues This is not “manufacturing consent”. Being able to remember arcane trivia and model it? That is evolution of homo sapiens in action.
Oliver can tell you about every Redskin game. My mom could tell you about every actor and every movie. Others can tell you about every baseball game, or every car model ever made, or every war ever fought, or every stamp, or every coin, …
That “man” has some weird ability to remember everything about all sorts of arcane things?
That’s evolution.
I suspect it has to do with remembering which plants make you vomit, where the watering holes were last year, where the animals can be found, and how to find your way back through the mountains.
So I blame our Intelligent Designers and not our Capitalist Overlords.
Never been much of a sports fan myself. Not so much because of the sports themselves, but because of the excesses of the players, owners, networks, etc. I don’t get why someone has to be paid an obscene amount of money for x years to play a game. I know, I know, these are professional athletes, highly trained and all that. I’d just like to see them doing useful things with thier largess instead of Mercedes golf carts and such.
Having said that, you gotta give the guy props for the piece; it was well written, even if you diagree.
Although the author of the comment may have been a bit shrill and humorless, his points of argument are mostly correct. Before anyone starts bashing me as a football hater or sportsophobe, I should mention that played high school ball and have been a fan of most sports since I was quite young. I still play recreational hockey at almost 50 years of age and closely follow my high school team’s progress each season. I still firmly believe that sports can be a wonderful vehicle for building self-confidence and learning discipline, sacrifice, and the importance of teamwork – as well as a hell of a lot of fun.
Unfortunatlely, sports beyond the high school level – and particularly major professional sports such as football and basketball – are little more than profit-oriented exercises dressed up in expensive athletic gear. I’m not sure how anyone can argue with the proposition that most major professional sports teams regularly receive subsidies and giveaways that are economically harmful to the communities in which they play, as well as favorable legal treatment (such as exemptions from antitrust legislation) that most politicians would never consider granting to other, far more useful and economically productive industries. For every Robert Kraft that builds a stadium with his own money, there are a dozen Jerry Joneses and George Steinbrenners who are easily rich enough to afford to build stadiums for their teams but who still resort to extorting public funds to finance their private businesses. And too many folks who would cry to the heavens if their municipality offered subsidies for a car dealership or a restaurant chain have no problem with giving away money to billionaire team owners.
Childhood hero-worship of athletes is endearingly innocent and naive, but far too many people fail to shed that naivete as they grow into adults. They spend countless hours watching, discussing, and ruminating about their favorite teams and players, most of whom, ironically, wouldn’t give their fans the time of day and, indeed, often view fans as a nuisance whose main utility is to fund their paychecks. Professional sports team largely play their fans for suckers and fools, reassuring them how important they are even as the team jacks up ticket prices after a losing season or packs up and moves to a more profitable venue.
I have no desire to eliminate professional sports, but it would be nice if die-hard fans like Oliver could bring themselves to adopt a more mature and sophisticated attitude toward the overall importance of pro sports in society. We *should* demand that professional sports teams be better corporate citizens and show more consideration and gratitude toward the people who enable athletes, coaches, and owners to enjoy their opulent lifestyles. Anything less – especially from people who demand comparable behavior from other business owners and corporate entities – is simply hypocrisy.
N.B. – Don’t take it personally Oliver – I usually enjoy your blog a great deal, but please don’t give a pass to pro sports owners for showing citizens the kind of contempt that you find so upsetting from other public institutions.
when athletes charge little kids for an autograph, that pretty much does it for me.
Hey, I slam sports owners who aren’t man enough to build their own stadiums. Before he died Jack Kent Cooke built Fedex Field with his own cash.
I’ve often felt uneasy about the joy sports brings to my life. When the guilt starts growing I usually remember this passage from baseball writer Roger Angell.
“It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitative as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look — I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring — caring deeply and passionately, really caring — which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete — the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball — seems a small price to pay for such a gift.”
Angell was writing about the 6th game of the 1975 World Series (which will be in my memory as long as I have memories) but applies equally to a last second hook and ladder play, an overtime statue of liberty, or 47-yard field goal as time expires. (The Patriots win the Super Bowl!!)
I actually feel kind of sorry for Jason.
Being of a more dilletante nature than most afficianados of pigskin mania, I prefer my testosterone with champaigne and cognac and not beer. A little pate´ and brie is not amiss, either. I have observed and appreciated many a fine play gazing around the blurred, raised pinkie.
Is sombeody flashing back to Brad Johnson … and Patrick Ramsey?
Personally, I’m not in the least surprised.
The idea that you’re sitting around your living rooms, eating tons of popcorn and potato chips, when there are government (read “evil Republican administration”) actions to be protested, poverty to be cured, and global warming to be fought (perhaps by higher levees?) is unconscionable.
How dare you enjoy anything when there are wrongs to be righted?
Hehe
Another reason not to gripe too much about the atheletes raking in the cash is that they, particularly football players, are out there destroying their bodies every Sunday; there’s a reason most NFL careers last only a relative handful of years. They’re doing the hard, even brutal, work, and if we peons in the stands are willing to shell out all that loot, better the fully-unionized workers get it than the capitalists.
I do have to toss out the standard lefty complaint that “Redskins” is an appalling name for a sports team, particularly the one playing in the nation’s capital. It’s a freaking racist slur, and the only reason it’s allowed to continue is because there aren’t enough Indians around to gripe loudly enough about it.
I don’t like football but, I like baseball and I like to paint. whichever way we choose to spend time being happy and having fun is good. I feel really at peace in my garden on a sunny warm spring afternoon. It doesn’t mean I don’t care. but, it cannot be all doom and gloom.
I get tired of people who are so intense and also so unreal. the ones who do not really understand the way politics work. they scream and whine if a dem politican is not making a fool of himself on the floor. Or working things in a backroom way to get things done.
They scream if you don’t bleed for the cause.
If you laugh, drink wine with friends and share a joke. If you feel at one with nature for a moment and at peace.
Please.
For them, I say,
Oh, grow up!
Also, it used to be three hours on a Sunday, till Fox/CBS/ABC had to plump out the broadcasts with ads to offset the broadcast rights fees.
Which, of course, lead to the untimely death of Futurama. Then again, this isn’t suprising coming from the channel of Bill O’Riely and 4Kids TV.
Hey, I slam sports owners who aren’t man enough to build their own stadiums. Before he died Jack Kent Cooke built Fedex Field with his own cash.
There’s another problem I have with pro sports, the stadium names. I wish I could go see a ball game at the Astrodome not “Minute Maid Park” or “Reliant Stadium”. I don’t mind if they’re named after people, but for the love of god, stop naming stadiums after companies, it’s so distasteful.
Jason Miller needs to attend a Renaissance Faire. He needs to watch a joust, where guys beat the crap out of each other while girls with heaving cleavage jump around getting the crowd to cheer for their guy. There’s no corporate sponsorship. There’s no recruiting funds. But the concept is the same. A bunch of guys beating the crap out of each other for your entertainment while hot chicks flash their tits at you. There is something genuinely thrilling about that, and since I can’t have jousters in my livingroom each weekend, I’ll gladly welcome the football broadcast. It’s like a clan war without kilts. And the physics of throwing a ball to the place where a guy is going to be is just beautiful. (Well, when they friggin manage it, anyway).
I spend my days fighting the good fight, making a piss poor living at it. I don’t really care if a guy who is going to be crippled for life makes $20 million dollars to entertain me. Actors can get that kind of money repeatedly, and if their movies suck, they STILL get paid. Athletes at least have to perform reasonably well for the cash. What really pisses me off is that this guy thinks we should spend all our time working for a cause or to better the world. Maybe I just want to relax once in awhile, okay? Maybe I want to spend the day with friends, with my kids and their friends, sitting around munching good food (I’m more about stuffed grape leaves and thai appetizers for my superbowl than nachos – just as long as there’s something really bad for you like deep fried wings rolled in spicy sauce, it’s okay) and watching two of the “best” (don’t get me started) teams play the final game of the year. I deserve at least one day off from saving the world.
“There’s another problem I have with pro sports, the stadium names. I wish I could go see a ball game at the Astrodome not “Minute Maid Park” or “Reliant Stadium”. I don’t mind if they’re named after people, but for the love of god, stop naming stadiums after companies, it’s so distasteful.”
The Canucks sold the naming rights to GM so the official name is GM Place. However, most people I know call it the Garage.
Don’t like the official name, come up with a good nickname.
Also, I just noticed someone said the CFL is better than the NFL: WTF are you smoking?
If it weren’t for the games, considering Cheney mouthing off (again) about those opposed to the Bush escaltion as terrorist supporters, learning the cia and dod are looking at our bank records and etc. etc. etc. I’d maybe have to jump out a window or something. How about Da’Bears!!!!!
Also, I just noticed someone said the CFL is better than the NFL: WTF are you smoking?
Posted by: Oliver Willis | Jan 14, 2007 12:50:50 PM
Shorter playclock, you can return missed field goals or punt them back, you have to give a point to get out of the end zone, the WHOLE backfield can be in motion, the end zone is deeper than 10 yards, no fair catch, more players on the field WITH a smaller bench…AND three downs means teams “go for it” more often.
Mmmm… sounds like more of a SPORT, doesn’t it?
“Also, I just noticed someone said the CFL is better than the NFL: WTF are you smoking?”
“Shorter playclock, you can return missed field goals or punt them back, you have to give a point to get out of the end zone, the WHOLE backfield can be in motion, the end zone is deeper than 10 yards, no fair catch, more players on the field WITH a smaller bench…AND three downs means teams “go for it” more often.
Mmmm… sounds like more of a SPORT, doesn’t it?”
I’d like to add to that one more point…
No sudden death overtime. (I think Seahawk fans know what I’m talking about.)
WTF is that about? Sudden death overtime makes sense in Hockey where each time has an equel chance at scoring, but not in football. The team that gets to go first has a huge advantage.
Check out how the CFL does it, it’s much, much better.
The CFL has to resort to that gimmickry because its players aren’t very good. If I want to watch wacky football from sub-par players, then I watch Arena football so I can get ridiculous 100 point games. But to posit that the CFL is even decent, much less better than the NFL, is crazy.
Plus, it’s Canadian.
“Plus, it’s Canadian.”
Careful OW, with today’s weather they could skate down from Canada, pull your jersey over your head, and pummel you.
Eh?
Hey, the Hanson brothers are still out there somewhere.
“The CFL has to resort to that gimmickry”
Gimmickry? I fail to see what gimmicks the CFL is using. There are differences in the rules, but that’s hardly the same as gimmicks.
On the other hand, the NFL is geared towards a slower game, a much slower game. It’s too conservative. It’s like comparing trench warfare to the blitzkrieg.
(By the way, didn’t the Patriots use a trick play last night in their win? Kind of disproves the, ‘gimmicks are for losers’ position.)
Go Pats!
The direct snap to Faulk was a play the Pats have used many times before. It would only be a trick to a team coached by Marty.
“The direct snap to Faulk was a play the Pats have used many times before. It would only be a trick to a team coached by Marty.”
But it is a trick play, a play designed to trick your opponent. The fact that it is common shows that the NFL is not above tricks.
However, the NFL is a league than punishes creativity and rewards conservative playbooks.
Only use I have for the NFL is sitting in a bar and listening to all the Dallas Cowboy fans whining on every single call that doesn’t go their way. I’d mutch rather watch Aussie Football, but there isn’t much on the tube anymore.