Brother None said:
Don't you think the geographical spread is a huge boost to the NFL's popularity as a whole? Sure, sucks for stadium attendance in small markets, and sucks for cities like yours, but do you honestly think the sport's reach/popularity would improve by sticking all times in the crowded North-East? That's bullshit.
Not in Jacksonville and Buffalo, Florida and New York already had 2 teams and Jacksonville and Buffalo are shithole towns.
I could care less about the NFL's reach if it's going to mean expanding into already saturated markets like that and then not get attendance anyway, and I'm really not keen on Goodell's designs to expand to outside North America. Toronto or Mexico I see as viable. But beyond that (Tokyo, London?) is a logistical nightmare. I get jetlag just hearing the name Narita. If you look at a map the geographical coverage is still lacking. From the Mississippi to the Rockies is not very well represented.
The NE is the densest, and also the richest per capita. Basicaly we get screwed for no other reason than our proximity to NYC and Boston. I'd be all for supporting a viable alternative that does come into our market, but the UFL is hard to get excited about.
So wait, are you arguing that's a good thing and that this is how we should treat our QBs too.
No, I just think it's an interesting contrast in how the league has fashioned rules governing different positions are treated as it regards health and longevity.
You follow the Pats now, and hence there's no need for the NFL to cater to your media market specifically.
So upstate NY fans still don't have 2 NY teams to chose from? JAX fans don't have 2 in-state teams to chose from? The Patriots are unique in that they aren't really a Boston team, they are nominally and geographically a New England team, and as such the only "home" team I have. That doesn't stop all the NYC teams from flooding our market too. Shit the Giants used to play in the Yale Bowl in New Haven for many years.
Yeah I can drive 90 minutes and see either a Jets/Giants or Pats game. That's valuable hangover sleep time on a Sunday morning you're asking me to sacrifice man!
I'm just venting that we live in a totally viable pro market but we take a backseat to minor league towns due to bullshit geographic reasons. I'll excuse GB due to longevity, unique ownership, and the fact that have a rabid following. But it sucks to see a backwater shithole like JAX get an expansion team and not support their team, while we get shafted with some fly-by-night UFL scraps that fell off the table.
edit: The biggest indignity of all is that
the Patriots were to become the Hartford Patriots and they pulled out at the 11th hour. They basically used Conn. to bluff Mass. lawmakers into shelling out for a new stadium and infrastructure. We also lost our NHL team to a city that has no ice.
edit: The UFL may have the perfect storm brewing if the NFL is dumb enough to lock out. They'll never be (nor do I think they have designs on being) a competitor, but a viable alternative. A lockout could propel them to the next level of interest. If there was no NFL season and some players jumped ship things could have potential for something greater.
Also I'm surprised how many fairly good yet flawed vets are being let go heading into this uncapped year. I can't remember a year with so many quality starters being released (granted they are older guys that want long term deals). I thought more teams would be opening the coffers, but it doesn't seem like anyone is chomping at the bit.
I think we're actually going to see the opposite happen (outside the usual binge spenders Snyder and JJ). I see a lot of teams spending at or below the cap floor now that there won't be one. You're going to see a MLB type situation where small market teams like Buffalo take their shared TV contract money and pocket it instead of reinvesting. Probably more profitable than pissing away money on has-beens like LDT or slackers like Peppers.
Also, I'm starting to turn the corner on Tebow, again. Much like Favre, I'm now more sick of the incessant, shrill complaining from the peanut gallery then any perceived or manufactured personal affront these guys could ever possibly commit against me. Anytime the American mainstream latches onto something like this so fiercely, it's always a sign for me to disavow it and step away.
Sure, he's a maddeningly squeakey clean, goody two-shoes.
Yes, he's everything that fatass, lazy, excuse-making, middle America is not, and that's probably where the hate comes from. He's Mr. Perfect. He's what the fat fucking slob in line at Walmart can never even entertain the thought of becoming because that might require some personal fucking discipline and the ability to say no Twinkies and get off the sofa. Tebow makes us all look like lazy, morally vacant retards and we hate him for it. Same reason fat chicks hate Barbie dolls. It makes them look bad and feel inferior in comparison.
Are we as a nation incapable of evaluating this kid's ability to succeed at the NFL level without slagging him personally every step of the way? The snide, snarky haterism and flak that this kid catches is unprecedented. I don't really care about his religion or the fact that he's an overgrown Boy Scout. I think people are too wrapped up in throwing poo at the kid to see that he actually can accomplish something in the NFL (even if it is as an H-back. I personally love a weapon like the H-back position).
I think a lot of people are missing the point: Can he play football at the NFL level? Is he a QB or an TE/WR/H-Back/Slash?
If I had to wager, he probably does belong in that Tommy Frazier, Vince Young, Charlie Ward type "athletic, winner College QB" category. But the way they get on this kid, I would never question the way another Heisman/Champion QB like Ward never even entertained the though of joining the NFL.
If you're a college kid and have half a brain, you'd be dumb not to sign with the MLB or NBA over the NFL if you can. Longevity, guaranteed contracts, , more groupies, free steroids. Bo knows.
And I realize that people get on Tebow not because who he is, or who he tries to present himself as, but how outlets like ESPN canonize him like the second coming and just beat you over the head with how great he is. But the pendulum is swinging the other way for me now. The Tebow haters are becoming so shrill it's making me want to support the kid.
I would love to see Tebow come to the Pats (you wouldn't be allowed to pick him higher then where Brady went on principle's sake) just to piss off the haters. The combined Pats/Tebow loser-backlash hatred would reach unprecedented levels. Most of the criticism people level against both just reeks of losers ensconced in outright denial to begin with.
Besides, even if you hate Tebow wouldn't you want a saintly choir boy like him under the thumb of a ruthless, diabolical, Machiavellian like Belichik?
Be interesting to see how he handles things since all his lieuts. are long gone and he's running the show himself. This team just bleeds coordinators. They all suck as HCs too - Crennel, Weis, Mangini, McD. Nice how KC has become Foxboro West.
