Do you hear what I hear?

[Sterling84]

Did anyone else (watching last night's Rams v Steelers game) see the "Joe's Diner" promo touting the Pats run for perfection AS THOUGH they'd already beaten Miami?

Then again, near the end of the broadcast Gumble read another promo basically doing the same thing? Inviting us to tune in for history next Saturday night?

Where to begin?

You......I'm sorry. You JUST.CAN'T.DO. THIS.

We all know the Phins don't have a chance, but this is the Any Given Sunday league right?

OMG.

And we all know what this is REALLY about. Now that Dallas-GB is over, the NFLN had several more horrible games on the slate and one more chance at a "Must see" game the final weekend. They want to get the word out to see the Pats go for 16-0. (Don't ask me how running promos for a network ON that network helps viewership but whatever).

If I were the Dolphins I'd just.........I dunno.

Anyone else see this?

[Jezus_Ghoti]

I didn't see it, but it's pretty clear why the NFLN is hyping that game.

Much of the public is not going to be happy that they can't see the (likely historic) game since it's not on basic cable. I expect that we will see the NFLN push very hard over the next week to get a favorable deal with cable providers (who are probably going to be swamped with calls from angry football fans). When is the league going to have this kind of leverage again?

Thank goodness I live in Canada and all the NFLN games are on TSN.

[Audiodrama]

The NFL Network isn't doing this to insult the Dolphins or the rest of the NFL -- they're doing it because it's in the best interest of their business. They have what can potentially be one of the most important regular season games in NFL history, and they're going to hype it as much as they can. It's not a lack of respect for the Dolphins, they just want huge ratings.

[Sterling84]

The NFL Network isn't doing this to insult the Dolphins or the rest of the NFL -- they're doing it because it's in the best interest of their business. They have what can potentially be one of the most important regular season games in NFL history, and they're going to hype it as much as they can. It's not a lack of respect for the Dolphins, they just want huge ratings.

Granted. All of that. But you can't honestly say it's not disrespectful. "Intent" or not.

IN fact, I'd go so far as to say, if Fox, ESPN, NBC or CBS crafted a similar promo it would be yanked and possibly fined. You could say "continue their quest for perfection" or something along those lines, but not what they aired last night.

Anyone else see it? There was no ambiguity of the language. The Joe's Diner one even had a TV on the counter, with a "Sportscaster" saying "now that the Patriots have defeated the Dolphins......."

Sure, you could argue a suspension of disbelief or creative license and I wouldn't dispute it. But this IS the league who runs the network, the league the Dolphins play for. They have a conflict of interests here. The NFL has a responsibility to leave the fiction and alternate universe stuff to other people and play their cards close to the vest.

*EDIT - Plus, how does hyping the game, ON a network few people have access to, hope to reach those people?

If I could grant a Christmas Miracle (atheist sarcasm at full blast) it would be a Dolphins victory Sunday. And that, is with no "disrespect" to the Pats. Clearly the league's best team. It's with my full ire and disrespect for the NFL itself.

[Audiodrama]

The NFL Network isn't doing this to insult the Dolphins or the rest of the NFL -- they're doing it because it's in the best interest of their business. They have what can potentially be one of the most important regular season games in NFL history, and they're going to hype it as much as they can. It's not a lack of respect for the Dolphins, they just want huge ratings.

Granted. All of that. But you can't honestly say it's not disrespectful. "Intent" or not.

IN fact, I'd go so far as to say, if Fox, ESPN, NBC or CBS crafted a similar promo it would be yanked and possibly fined. You could say "continue their quest for perfection" or something along those lines, but not what they aired last night.

Anyone else see it? There was no ambiguity of the language. The Joe's Diner one even had a TV on the counter, with a "Sportscaster" saying "now that the Patriots have defeated the Dolphins......."

Sure, you could argue a suspension of disbelief or creative license and I wouldn't dispute it. But this IS the league who runs the network, the league the Dolphins play for. They have a conflict of interests here. The NFL has a responsibility to leave the fiction and alternate universe stuff to other people and play their cards close to the vest.

You can't compare the NFLN to a third party network, because they're not a third party network. They run the league. It's in the league's best interest to have the Patriots win out and go 19-0...that'd be the biggest story in years. They're doing this to promote their business, and nothing else, I assure you.

[Audiodrama]

The NFL Network isn't doing this to insult the Dolphins or the rest of the NFL -- they're doing it because it's in the best interest of their business. They have what can potentially be one of the most important regular season games in NFL history, and they're going to hype it as much as they can. It's not a lack of respect for the Dolphins, they just want huge ratings.

Granted. All of that. But you can't honestly say it's not disrespectful. "Intent" or not.

IN fact, I'd go so far as to say, if Fox, ESPN, NBC or CBS crafted a similar promo it would be yanked and possibly fined. You could say "continue their quest for perfection" or something along those lines, but not what they aired last night.

Anyone else see it? There was no ambiguity of the language. The Joe's Diner one even had a TV on the counter, with a "Sportscaster" saying "now that the Patriots have defeated the Dolphins......."

Sure, you could argue a suspension of disbelief or creative license and I wouldn't dispute it. But this IS the league who runs the network, the league the Dolphins play for. They have a conflict of interests here. The NFL has a responsibility to leave the fiction and alternate universe stuff to other people and play their cards close to the vest.

You can't compare the NFLN to a third party network, because they're not a third party network. They run the league. It's in the league's best interest to have the Patriots win out and go 19-0...that'd be the biggest story in years. They're doing this to promote their business, and nothing else, I assure you.

[Sterling84]

The NFL Network isn't doing this to insult the Dolphins or the rest of the NFL -- they're doing it because it's in the best interest of their business. They have what can potentially be one of the most important regular season games in NFL history, and they're going to hype it as much as they can. It's not a lack of respect for the Dolphins, they just want huge ratings.

Granted. All of that. But you can't honestly say it's not disrespectful. "Intent" or not.

IN fact, I'd go so far as to say, if Fox, ESPN, NBC or CBS crafted a similar promo it would be yanked and possibly fined. You could say "continue their quest for perfection" or something along those lines, but not what they aired last night.

Anyone else see it? There was no ambiguity of the language. The Joe's Diner one even had a TV on the counter, with a "Sportscaster" saying "now that the Patriots have defeated the Dolphins......."

Sure, you could argue a suspension of disbelief or creative license and I wouldn't dispute it. But this IS the league who runs the network, the league the Dolphins play for. They have a conflict of interests here. The NFL has a responsibility to leave the fiction and alternate universe stuff to other people and play their cards close to the vest.

You can't compare the NFLN to a third party network, because they're not a third party network. They run the league. It's in the league's best interest to have the Patriots win out and go 19-0...that'd be the biggest story in years. They're doing this to promote their business, and nothing else, I assure you.

What?! That's my point exactly. They RUN the league. Hence my conflict of interest comment. They shouldn't be in the business of setting up storylines....no matter how historic or enticing. They owe the Fins exactly what they owe every other team. Don't let your Brady photo cloud your judgment on this. My issue is not with the (afore-mentioned AWESOME) Patriots.

THis is borderline WWF at this point. Our network sucks. The broadcasts suck OUT LOUD and no fans are actually that outraged to miss these games. Now they're forced to consider a possibly historic game no one will see and it is happening on their watch. It stinks of desperation.

[udubs03]

I haven't seen this promo (which does air on other basic cable networks, btw), but if what you say is true about the fake Sportscaster, than this is inexcusable. The NFL can't just throw one of their franchises under the bus like that. Even if it wasn't intended, it is extremely disrespectful to the Miami Dolphins (bad as they may be).

...And Unwind, I'm pretty sure you T. Brady avatar isn't helping your arguments any.

[Sterling84]

I haven't seen this promo (which does air on other basic cable networks, btw), but if what you say is true about the fake Sportscaster, than this is inexcusable. The NFL can't just throw one of their franchises under the bus like that. Even if it wasn't intended, it is extremely disrespectful to the Miami Dolphins (bad as they may be).

...And Unwind, I'm pretty sure you T. Brady avatar isn't helping your arguments any.

Yeah. Agreed. And to reiterate one last time. The Pats are fine in my book. And I DO understand what NFLN had in mind. They have no Thursday game next week. That would have been a great time to run that promo if the Pats were indeed 15-0.

So, if they meant to use the Rams v Steelers (and Cowboys v Panthers tomorrow night) to penetrate those four markets and create demand........well, I get that. But that doesn't excuse it.

All we hear is how hard each and every win is in the NFL; how on any given sunday. You simply cannot grant something along the magnitude of a victory, to a team who hasn't earned it yet.

I shouldn't be surprised. The NFL has shown before it holds no regard for the precious 8 home games either (by moving them overseas or putting the Saints IN New York after Katrina.)

Look...it's my favorite league too. Best dollar for dollar entertainment, unchallenged in the US sports universe. But they make decisions every bit as dumb as MLB,NBA and NHL do.

Thought of a better solution than the Fins winning Sunday. How about Belichek sits ALL of his starters on purpose just to rake the NFL over the coals. Going undefeated is one thing. Knowing you can do it, and rolling over just to be a jerk would be awesome.

[pcgd]

Considering their stance on no team above another (You won't ever find any officially licensed merchandise that have one team's logo bigger, above another...or any language like "Beat Miami") I'm surprised they created something like this.

[Sterling84]

Considering their stance on no team above another (You won't ever find any officially licensed merchandise that have one team's logo bigger, above another...or any language like "Beat Miami") I'm surprised they created something like this.

You can view "all" the diner spots here. Pretty cool actually.

But note, the one that aired last night ain't on here.

Could that have conceivably been in error? Can't be. Gumbel read the darned promo before the telecast wrapped up.

Joe's Diner

[Chief.]

Yes, it's all done in the interest of financial benefit, but that doesn't make it right. After all the Patriots crap that's been shoved down my throat this year, I feel this is the worst so far. For the record, I think Joe's Diner is actually very stupid. To advertise the Bengals and 49ers game, they couldn't help but talk about how good Tom Brady looks. The cast includes a guy who really isn't a fan of any team, an old man (I guess a professor, according to the website) who is an old-school football fan (favorite players include Ed Podolak), but agrees that Tom Brady of all people is the greatest quarterback of all time, and of course a die-hard Patriots fan is thrown in. Funny that they don't have the new one online.

[WJMorris3]

Thought of a better solution than the Fins winning Sunday. How about Belichek sits ALL of his starters on purpose just to rake the NFL over the coals. Going undefeated is one thing. Knowing you can do it, and rolling over just to be a jerk would be awesome.

Like the Pats wouldn't win anyways with the backups in?

[Sterling84]

Thought of a better solution than the Fins winning Sunday. How about Belichek sits ALL of his starters on purpose just to rake the NFL over the coals. Going undefeated is one thing. Knowing you can do it, and rolling over just to be a jerk would be awesome.

Like the Pats wouldn't win anyways with the backups in?

True true.

Sorry. Lame-O idea