I love football. I played it as a kid and in university. The terminology of football offences is the second language I speak along with English. Every male in my immediate family has some tie to the game. Almost all my closest friends at some point wore shoulder pads and a helmet. I even met my wife through my connection to the game. Basically everything that is good in my life came from some connection to the sport.
And yet here we are approaching Super Bowl Sunday and I have almost an allergic reaction to the sport. Super Bowl Sunday to me has been like a holiday — a second Christmas or early birthday. Some of my most vivid memories as a kid are of my parents and uncle hosting Super Bowl parties.
Yet now the lead-up to the big game feels more like a funeral procession. In recent weeks I’ve gone from indifferent to the games on Sunday to slightly repulsed by them. I watch out of habit. But I don’t enjoy it. When I deconstruct my viewing of the NFL I’m not sure: Why do I even do it? I also can’t discern when or why this lethargy towards the NFL started.
Maybe it’s because the concussion trend isn’t just talk to fill airwaves — it’s on the verge of being an epidemic. In a collision sport there will be injuries and some of those injuries are going to be to the head. But after watching Matt Moore re-enter a playoff game a minute after appearing to get concussed, it seems the concussion protocol is more about protecting the league from a PR and legal-culpability standpoint than it is about protecting players. Over time this type of thing is getting harder to ignore.
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Or maybe my aversion to Sunday’s game is because it’s seems to have become a celebration of the New England Patriots. To me “the Patriots way” has come to signify a cold, wins-above-all-else mentality, especially after they signed Michael Floyd knowing he had pending DUI charges against him. Not even the compromising video of Floyd released by TMZ was enough for them to change course.
A repeat offender, Floyd changed his story multiple times as to why he was drunk after being found asleep at the wheel with his car at an intersection.
I felt good about sports teams having a moral compass when the Arizona Cardinals promptly released Floyd following his most recent DUI.
Than I was quickly reminded that in the cut-throat culture of the NFL, providing goods and services to a team trumps being a good human and servicing your community.
Maybe I’m less interested in football these days because I don’t want to explain to the women in my life how I can support a league that will be scouting Greg Hardy playing in the new spring Independent league after everything he’s done.
Or one that employs Kansas City Chiefs playmaker Tyreke Hill, whose offences are just as repulsive as Hardy’s.
Maybe I want out because I realized that the fans really don’t matter. Two teams in the last two years have announced moves, and one more could be on the way — not because of a lack of fan support but a lack of taxpayer compensation.
As a minority, do I want to support a league where the Rooney rule promoting affirmative action is needed but just a formality? Where John Lynch is granted a premier job because he’s part of the old boys’ club, yet minorities are few and far between in front offices even though they’re the majority on the field?
Maybe Marc Cuban was right after all. Two years ago as the NFL was expanding its television package, he warned that the golden goose the NFL had would not last forever:
[blockquote]I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion. I’m just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy. Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule No. 1 of business.[cite]Mark Cuban, speaking to media in March 2014[/cite][/blockquote]
Most, including me, laughed him off assuming the combination of betting, daily fantasy and production value would give the NFL the North American sporting conch for the foreseeable future. However, ratings have declined so much that they’re the No. 1 issue Sports Illustrated media writer Richard Deitsch is watching moving forward.
The other truth nobody is willing to acknowledge — the games aren’t good. The Thursday-night games have been excruciating to watch. Teams have less continuity and fewer veterans because the NFL hard cap is so punitive. Couple that with less practice time because of the CBA and the average team just isn’t as cohesive as in previous eras.
And it’s not the players — the players are clearly more athletic than ever. And other leagues are producing quality football. The most recent Vanier Cup and Grey Cup games were two of the best sporting events that I’ve watched in a long time. But this year’s NFL playoffs have had two games out of 10 that were even remotely compelling.
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Sure, there is part of me that wants to rubber-neck and watch the awkward scenario of Roger Goodell and Tom Brady sharing a stage together if the Patriots win. But there is no hero in the dynamic between the two, and I don’t believe either when it comes to Deflategate. One ruled with an iron fist and made up rules as he goes. The other destroyed evidence but claimed to be innocent while throwing lower-level employees under the bus. Frankly, the two deserve each other.
Realistically, I’ll watch Super Bowl LI because — as I’m not the owner of a Nielsen box — I’m not sure what my personal protest would prove. I’ll watch for the commercials, for the TV production and human-interest stories.
I used to be the guy who hated Super Bowl parties because I wanted to watch for the X’s and O’s. Now I’m the party pooper watching with his hands over his eyes. I’ll watch for fear of missing out. Plus, there is no escaping the game if I plan on opening up my Twitter timeline on Sunday. I’ll watch because I’ll get texts from friends assuming I’m watching.
The NFL product isn’t as good as it used to be and you don’t feel good after watching it. Or at least I don’t, and I imagine the decline in interest shows that others feel the same way I do.
I love football but I’ll be forced to hate-watch the Super Bowl. And that’s not a good sign for the NFL.