The NFL is losing its mojo

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

I think the top 10 WR in the league now are probably better then any other years top 10 in nfl history

 

[JDSmith]

Or, perhaps you never saw it when it was great. Today, it's just really bad football.

Look at boxing. I saw Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Leonard, Hearns, Duran, etc. Boxing changed for a variety of reasons, and now it's barely on the radar. More people actually watch the Neanderthal-like UFC.

The movie "Idiocracy" is suddenly a documentary.

You had me until there. Knowing how to grapple and kick in addition to punching doesn't make the UFC more Neanderthal-like - which I assume you are implying is less technical and refined. Take a BJJ class and you'll be amazed at how technical submission grappling is. It's more or less the antithesis of unrefined.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled rant.

 

[Vtwin]

The NFL experience has declined a great deal for me over the last decade in large part for the reasons listed in the OP. I don't know if even the Cowboys will hold my interest after Romo is gone. Been a fan since the early 70's.

However, the NFL has something going for it besides lack of competition. The connections are passed from generation to generation. Every day future NFL fans are born into current NFL families. Bonds are formed and memories made over allegiance to the right colors. The young fans are indoctrinated into the NFL cult before they are old enough to notice the stuff us old guys notice. By the time they are paying attention they don't have experience with the "good old days" that we do to compare. These are the 'good old days' to many.

 

[gimmesix]

The huge popularity is based on its history, not what it is now. Of course, people aren't turning away cold turkey. They're too emotionally connected. But people are looking around at each other like "this is the NFL?".

We know it's a fraud, an imposter. This isn't the game it used to be. The uniforms look the same, and the they still tackle, and yada, yada, but the quality of execution is far from what it used to be. It's a sloppy mess of mistakes wrapped around a few great athletic plays.

The hardcore fans are wise to it.

Who be these people?

I'm not happy about some of the rule changes or the officiating, etc., but that doesn't mean the game is one less iota exciting to me for different reasons. Now, this season has been wearisome because of what my team has gone through, but this hardcore fan is just as excited to watch the Dallas Cowboys play as I was 40 years ago.

No matter what changes are made, it still comes down to the same thing: Can my team beat the other teams and win the ultimate prize. I don't think the NFL can lose its popularity unless it somehow manages to take that away.

Again, that doesn't mean it's a perfect product, but please show me one in sports that hasn't been altered in some ways over the years, both to it's good and it's detriment.

 

[T-RO]

And this league is slowly losing me. I'm thankful that I got to see it when it was once so great.

I've watched maybe 10 hours of football this whole season...An all-time low for me.

It's been a revelation, but I'm finding I enjoy my Sundays significantly more w/out the NFL. I won't try to convince anyone of anything, just sharing my sentiment.

Once Romo is gone I won't be watching anymore.

 

[tyke1doe]

I think maybe its the shine that Is dimming on the star after all these years of stupid decisions bad play from players and coaches who are completely lost. 20 years of being awful will do that for you. cowboy games for me are getting easier and easier to not watch and to not keep up with jerry and Jason and the merry band are making it that way .

I'm kind of this way too. I remember racing home to watch a Cowboys game or altering my schedule and my family schedule around Cowboys games.

I don't do that any more. Maybe it's a sign I'm aging, or it may be I'm just frustrated by losing, and I'm becoming disinterested. Yesterday, I went Christmas shopping even though the Cowboys game was on. I didn't rush home to catch the opening kickoff. I was perfectly fine watching just the third quarter and on. I've already check out on the season because after the Carolina game I officially considered this season a loss cause and saw absolutely no way we'd run the tables to win the division.

Now I'm looking forward to the draft. I may not even watch the Jets-Cowboys game if I have something else to do.

 

[tyke1doe]

Or, perhaps you never saw it when it was great. Today, it's just really bad football.

Look at boxing. I saw Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Leonard, Hearns, Duran, etc. Boxing changed for a variety of reasons, and now it's barely on the radar. More people actually watch the Neanderthal-like UFC.

The movie "Idiocracy" is suddenly a documentary.

Boxing's demise was that it didn't continue to bring in the younger generation. It stopped putting matches on free television, introducing the sport to younger watchers who don't have the money to go pay-per-view.
All the great matches are on pay-per-view.

Boxing also stop cultivating its stars. Remember Wide World of Sports? That used to be the venue for boxing talent. And the Olympics showcased up-and-coming boxers you could get behind and root for, like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr., the Spinks brothers, etc.

I don't even remember seeing boxing in the past few Olympics. If they were broadcast, it appeared it was on some obscure channel.

On the other hand, notice how the UFC does it. It puts good matches on television then promotes the top card on pay-per-view. It focuses on its stars and creates an audience and a following round them.

It also doesn't duck putting its best against its best like box did/does. How long have boxing fans been clamoring for a Pacquio v. Mayweather fight and how long did that take?

Boxing is now trying to return to its roots by putting more matches on free television. But I think it may take awhile because more people are gradually preferring MMA to boxing.

 

[RxMan]

1990: 13 (with only 28 teams)
1991: 13 (with only 28 teams)
1992: 14 (with only 28 teams)
1993: 13 (with only 28 teams)
1994: 14 (with only 28 teams)
1995: 13 (with only 30 teams)

"Every year there are 11 to 14 teams with winning records. No big change there."
Like I was saying.

 

[erod]

I think the top 10 WR in the league now are probably better then any other years top 10 in nfl history

Now that is ridiculous. If anything, they're worse.

1993: Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Chris Carter, Tim Brown, Andre Reed, Sterling Sharpe, Andre Rison, Herman Moore, Haywood Jeffries...

1977: Drew Pearson, Lynn Swann, Cliff Branch, Steve Largent, John Stallworth, Harold Carmichael, Haven Moses, Mel Gray, Ken Burrough, Sammy White.....

 

[erod]

"Every year there are 11 to 14 teams with winning records. No big change there."
Like I was saying.

11 out of 32 (34%) is quite a bit different than 14 out of 28 (50%).

 

[DandyDon1722]

A few observations.

I know a lot of people who follow and have followed the NFL for years and I honestly cannot think of one who has turned away from it - not one. In fact the biggest change I see is the growth of female fans. At the sports bars I Go to Im amazed how mang girls are really into football.

I agree the product is not as good and I believe it mainly due to the CBA restrictions on practice and looking out for player safety. Yeah fat free ice cream doesn't taste as good as real ice cream but it's still ice cream and ultimately it's better for you.

When college football is good it's really good but it's more often bad than good.

Over officiating is a problem but to assume it will continue like this in the future is shortsighted. The league is fully aware of the criticism being leveled at it and they'll work on improving it.

The next big game changer that will hit the league and I mean big - will be virtual reality. From what I understand it will put you almost on the field 360 degrees in 4K high definition and enhanced audio. The experience will be stunning. You will never forget the first time you experience it when it happens I don't know how it will affect attendance but it's coming. Grade school kids today are touring the Roman Coliseum in VR and its in the infant stages.

In the new concussion movie one of the lawyers tells the doctor "You have no idea what you're up against. The NFL owns a day of the week. That day used to be owned by churches - not anymore. An entire day of the week is owned by the NFL morning til night." It sure does.

Also look at the money Americans spend on football and the economic implications. College, pro and even high school. Travel tickets food, lodging,etc. Sports bars count on football to carry their entire year. Look what football does for university endowments and fund raising. Between the bowl games and playoffs from coast to coast hundreds of millions will be spent if not more.

In today's age of fractured viewing anytime you get 25 million people watching the same thing is hard to comprehend and as others have said - it's generational.

Are there cracks in the wall - sure and I completely agree the product isn't as good. But football is so socially ingrained it isn't going anywhere and it will never have a problem finding those guys who want to play it, at least not in our lifetime.

In fact if it comes to affluent families steering their kids away from football - all that does is remove Johnney Football.

 

[DenCWBY]

I think the top 10 WR in the league now are probably better then any other years top 10 in nfl history

I think their gloves are much better but the receivers themselves, not.
Routes are sloppy and they are dropping a lot of throws. Allworth, Biletnikoff, Moss, Rice, Largent, Irvin, Pearson and many others rival today's receivers easily. They got hammered over the middle and after 5 yards and still played amazingly well. They were on the field all the time, not just for certain packages. They never tapped out after a 20 yard pitch and catch. Just sayin

 

[erod]

A few observations.

I know a lot of people who follow and have followed the NFL for years and I honestly cannot think of one who has turned away from it - not one. In fact the biggest change I see is the growth of female fans. At the sports bars I Go to Im amazed how mang girls are really into football.

I agree the product is not as good and I believe it mainly due to the CBA restrictions on practice and looking out for player safety. Yeah fat free ice cream doesn't taste as good as real ice cream but it's still ice cream and ultimately it's better for you.

When college football is good it's really good but it's more often bad than good.

Over officiating is a problem but to assume it will continue like this in the future is shortsighted. The league is fully aware of the criticism being leveled at it and they'll work on improving it.

The next big game changer that will hit the league and I mean big - will be virtual reality. From what I understand it will put you almost on the field 360 degrees in 4K high definition and enhanced audio. The experience will be stunning. You will never forget the first time you experience it when it happens I don't know how it will affect attendance but it's coming. Grade school kids today are touring the Roman Coliseum in VR and its in the infant stages.

In the new concussion movie one of the lawyers tells the doctor "You have no idea what you're up against. The NFL owns a day of the week. That day used to be owned by churches - not anymore. An entire day of the week is owned by the NFL morning til night." It sure does.

Also look at the money Americans spend on football and the economic implications. College, pro and even high school. Travel tickets food, lodging,etc. Sports bars count on football to carry their entire year. Look what football does for university endowments and fund raising. Between the bowl games and playoffs from coast to coast hundreds of millions will be spent if not more.

In today's age of fractured viewing anytime you get 25 million people watching the same thing is hard to comprehend and as others have said - it's generational.

Are there cracks in the wall - sure and I completely agree the product isn't as good. But football is so socially ingrained it isn't going anywhere and it will never have a problem finding those guys who want to play it, at least not in our lifetime.

In fact if it comes to affluent families steering their kids away from football - all that does is remove Johnney Football.

I agree with virtually all of that, but I also think the sport has peaked, and young hardcore fans are much fewer and further between than older hardcore fans like you and I.

I'm finding myself drifting ever so slightly to the casual fan base, and those folks aren't necessarily there for the long haul anyway. (NASCAR had this huge influx of casual fans in the 90s, and now they all left and races are being held in front of 1/2 the crowds these days).

Stadiums aren't as full these days, I'm noticing, and when the casual crowd gets their fill, it will be interesting to see where it all stands 10 years from now, after litigation and participation drops hits the sport hard.

 

[Nightman]

You had me until there. Knowing how to grapple and kick in addition to punching doesn't make the UFC more Neanderthal-like - which I assume you are implying is less technical and refined. Take a BJJ class and you'll be amazed at how technical submission grappling is. It's more or less the antithesis of unrefined.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled rant.

I think he means that you hit an opponent several times after they are knocked out.

In boxing you get knocked down and you get a 10 count to clear your head.

In MMA if you get knocked down it is followed by a knee or elbow or barrage of blows.

It doesn't bother me, everyone is a consensual adult but it can be brutal.

 

[cajuncocoa]

The NFL is a beast. Far and away the most popular fan sport in America. It destroys anything in its path when it comes to TV ratings and overall attention.

But that is entirely based on what the NFL has been for the past half century. What it was, and what it's becoming, are two different games. And folks are starting to notice.

I watched a lot of football yesterday, as I have for the past few years with the NFL Sunday Ticket. Each week this season, I've been wildly unimpressed with what we're seeing around the league. Sloppy, frustrating football mired with too much inconsistency and mistakes from players, coaches, officials, and just general play.

Some points to that effect:

• Only 11 out of 32 teams have winning records. Most of the league is awful.
• Quarterback play is horrendous. Matt Cassel is actually average.
• College is producing very few quarterbacks capable of the NFL game. When Brady, Brees, Peyton, Romo, Roethlisberger, and a couple others retire, it's going to get uglier.
• Officiating is horrible because of unclear rules that are being interpreted by a league office in disarray.
• Defensive holding/illegal contact is out of control. It's determining game outcomes.
• Pick plays still go rampantly uncalled. Refs call too much of what they shouldn't and not enough of what they should.
• Overblown statistics due to rules.
• Practice is virtually outlawed, so tackling is awful and football conditioning is poor.
• Injuries are out of control partly because the CBA doesn't allow for proper preparation.
• Too many look-at-me bonehead plays and penalties. Players today are just football stupid.
• "Concussion protocol" and the rules surrounding legality of hits will continue to increase.
• Parents in affluent areas are pulling their kids out of football in droves. It'll soon be a "poor" sport like boxing.
• Broadcasting that over-exaggerates performance, statistics, and fantasy football points.
• Way too many commercials.
• Far too much "social awareness" in broadcasting, which is now centered on new and casual fans.

This once great league is being torn apart by (partly legitimate) concern over CTE and the resulting rules ambiguity and CBA restrictions on proper football training. There seems to be political movement to eliminate tackle football as we know it.

Couple that with fans that are losing trust in the integrity of what they are watching, and recognizing that it's starting to look very different than what it once did. The passion for it is steeped in what the NFL used to be, not what it is. Hardcore fan support is slowly starting to wane as we come to grips with where this is headed.

I know it is with me. And this league is slowly losing me. I'm thankful that I got to see it when it was once so great.

I would add too much militarism to that. I'm fine with honoring the military on certain days, but at times, the NFL looks like a branch of the armed services. I know on this board I might be in the minority on this, but that's how I feel.

 

[erod]

I would add too much militarism to that. I'm fine with honoring the military on certain days, but at times, the NFL looks like a branch of the armed services. I know on this board I might be in the minority on this, but that's how I feel.

The military pays millions of dollars to the NFL for that promotion, which most people don't realize.

 

[erod]

I think he means that you hit an opponent several times after they are knocked out.

In boxing you get knocked down and you get a 10 count to clear your head.

In MMA if you get knocked down it is followed by a knee or elbow or barrage of blows.

It doesn't bother me, everyone is a consensual adult but it can be brutal.

It's grotesque and barbaric.

 

[JDSmith]

I think he means that you hit an opponent several times after they are knocked out.

In boxing you get knocked down and you get a 10 count to clear your head.

In MMA if you get knocked down it is followed by a knee or elbow or barrage of blows.

It doesn't bother me, everyone is a consensual adult but it can be brutal.

I can see that, if that's the point he was making. Although it's definitely more primitive to allow a person to 'clear his head' after he just suffered a concussion - which is exactly what a flash knockout/knockdown in boxing is. Boxing is a sport that's virtually designed to induce brain damage, from the gloves (which are only there to protect the taped hands and allow harder punches), to the standing 8 count. It's a recipe for concussive brain injury and long term CTE. I'd argue that the format of boxing is much more barbaric than that of MMA in all but the most superficial aspects. Far better to eat a few hammer fists while on the ground than it is to be allowed to 'collect' yourself to the point where you can follow the most rudimentary of commands - you pretty much have to nod and put your hands up when told for the ref to allow you to continue - and use that as a sign of brain health.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Or, perhaps you never saw it when it was great. Today, it's just really bad football.

Look at boxing. I saw Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton, Leonard, Hearns, Duran, etc. Boxing changed for a variety of reasons, and now it's barely on the radar. More people actually watch the Neanderthal-like UFC.

The movie "Idiocracy" is suddenly a documentary.

Ufc fighters are more skilled than Muhammad Ali and the average heavyweight would destroy Ali (in his prime) in a fight ( :

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

I think their gloves are much better but the receivers themselves, not.
Routes are sloppy and they are dropping a lot of throws. Allworth, Biletnikoff, Moss, Rice, Largent, Irvin, Pearson and many others rival today's receivers easily. They got hammered over the middle and after 5 yards and still played amazingly well. They were on the field all the time, not just for certain packages. They never tapped out after a 20 yard pitch and catch. Just sayin

C'mon Steve largent or Julio jones ? The athletes are so much better in today's game that they're KILLING each other out there. Which was part of the original posters rant that we now have cte to deal with. So it's like which is it?