NFL Breaking Point: What would it take for you to lose interest?

[CubsFanBudMan]

Related to the TV discussion earlier:

Why people hate ESPN, in one photo.

Via Lost Lettermen

[DnBronc]

Related to the TV discussion earlier:

Why people hate ESPN, in one photo.

Via Lost Lettermen

He can't let his Tebow go. It doesn't matter if Manning made him irrelevant. This person needs time in a mental institution.

[GraysonColtsBoy]

The off season.But I can't because my room is decorated in colts stuff.

[GraysonColtsBoy]

EVERY TEAM GOES TO THE PLAYOFFS!! Can you see an 0-16 team winning the Super Bowl?????? That will be CRAZY!!!

[Sport]

Related to the TV discussion earlier:

Why people hate ESPN, in one photo.

Via Lost Lettermen

He can't let his Tebow go. It doesn't matter if Manning made him irrelevant. This person needs time in a mental institution.

If people ignore Skip he'll go away. Unfortunately there's too many meathead idiots who fall into his trap by watching his show and getting outraged and tuning in everyday to get outraged again or worse, morons who agree with him.

He's the Jerry Springer of Sports Journalism except I think Jerry Springer has more self-awareness and knows his show is trash. Skip delusionaly thinks First Take is doing important work.

[NJTank]

I like Tim Tebow, but to even think he could take a team to the Super Bowl that is not the greatest defensive team with Walter Payton at Running Back is a joke.

[FiddySicks]

Related to the TV discussion earlier:

Why people hate ESPN, in one photo.

Via Lost Lettermen

He can't let his Tebow go. It doesn't matter if Manning made him irrelevant. This person needs time in a mental institution.

If people ignore Skip he'll go away. Unfortunately there's too many meathead idiots who fall into his trap by watching his show and getting outraged and tuning in everyday to get outraged again or worse, morons who agree with him.

He's the Jerry Springer of Sports Journalism except I think Jerry Springer has more self-awareness and knows his show is trash. Skip delusionaly thinks First Take is doing important work.

I think that's being kinda rude to Jerry Springer

At least Springer has some intelligence. Bayless is more like the Rush Limbaugh of Sports Journalism.

[The_Admiral]

Bayless isn't an idiot. He was a pretty respected writer for the Dallas Morning News at one time. Now he's just the avatar for ESPN producers who want to make stories instead of report them.

[waltere]

Expanding on Admiral's point Skip Bayless was on the 'Pony Excess' 30 for 30 about SMU & was actually an acceptable, fairly intelligent presence. The problem was when the high ups at ESPN decided that it was easier to endlessly circle jerk 'debates' about nothing and give #HotTakes Skip was really good at being that guy who riles people and makes meatheads talk about his opinion like it matters, hence him gradually going further and further down that rabbit hole; by now I just ignore anything Skip Bayless does because he is essentially playing a caricature of himself.

[twi]

Pretty much the second I moved to Tampa I was tired of it. The Bucs are overexposed like none other in this area and it's truly sickening how (presumably) otherwise rational people absolutely idolize these goons like Sapp, Pittman, and Winslow.

Now I'm a casual viewer at best. Haven't seen a minute of the playoffs and probably won't be watching the Super Bowl. Just doesn't matter to me.

[Mac the Knife]

Pro Sports teams are seen as assets to a community by those who, in reality, shouldn't. Normal businesses like IBM don't usually based in communities have the name of a city as part of their brand.

There. FTFY. You're falling for the illusion. Your post demonstrated that.

Most community assets don't demand hundreds of millions of free dollars from their communities / customers. Obviously some major employers do get tax breaks or incentives to relocate or stay in a city (Comcast in Phila comes to mind), however they generally employee 10s of 000s with well-paying jobs and legitimately contribute to the local economy. The same cannot necessarily be said for pro sports. At the end of the day, they may lure you in and get you to become emotionally attached by having the city name as part of their brand (I'll admit - I fall in to the trap too), but at the end of the day, thinking that they're anything more than a private company is naive at best.

The misguided civic sensibility associated with having any professional sports franchise best manifests itself in these types of situations. A team owner begins crying the blues that he/she can't afford to put their team in a new stadium that maximizes potential revenue unless they have a 'public-private partnership' with the municipality. The city, fearing it will lose some level of prestige in the national zeitgeist if the team moves, knuckles under and concedes to helping finance the infrastructural development underlying a very private business.

Nowadays it's so engrained into the modus operandi of pro sports that its most lucrative league has kept open the second largest television market in the country for two decades, because it's more valuable league-wide as a bargaining chip threat than it would be to have a franchise there. Cincinnati, Miami, San Diego, Buffalo, Minnesota, Oakland, San Francisco, Carolina, and who knows how many others have at least hinted/levied veiled threats about going to Los Angeles. But none have actually moved, despite what would be enormous revenue advantages for doing so to the franchise. Why do you suppose that is? Because to the other 31 owners, having the threat as an option to existing franchise locations and their municipalities is, collectively, more valuable than actually having the team there.

[The_Admiral]

EVERY TEAM GOES TO THE PLAYOFFS!! Can you see an 0-16 team winning the Super Bowl?????? That will be CRAZY!!!

I've been reading this poster's posts, and this is a poster whom posters should be posting about.

[monkeypower]

EVERY TEAM GOES TO THE PLAYOFFS!! Can you see an 0-16 team winning the Super Bowl?????? That will be CRAZY!!!

I've been reading this poster's posts, and this is a poster whom posters should be posting about.

You mean all the concept threads that aren't concepts?

The best (worst?) part is that IIRC someone here found his twitter.

[DS729]

EVERY TEAM GOES TO THE PLAYOFFS!! Can you see an 0-16 team winning the Super Bowl?????? That will be CRAZY!!!

I've been reading this poster's posts, and this is a poster whom posters should be posting about.

You mean all the concept threads that aren't concepts?

The best (worst?) part is that IIRC someone here found his twitter.

And according to his signature, he not only is a Red Sox AND a Yankees fan, but also likes the Heat AND the hometown Indiana Pacers. All this is doing is giving dba some actual hope that his teenage stereotypes are true.

[nuordr]

When they quit tackling and start using flags.

[infrared41]

Bayless isn't an idiot. He was a pretty respected writer for the Dallas Morning News at one time. Now he's just the avatar for ESPN producers who want to make stories instead of report them.

Yup. The NY Times did a feature on Bayless a while back. The article made it pretty clear, to me anyway, that Skip Bayless is in on the joke. He knows he's playing a character on 1st Take.

[dbadefense1990]

Pro Sports teams are seen as assets to a community by those who, in reality, shouldn't. Normal businesses like IBM don't usually based in communities have the name of a city as part of their brand.

There. FTFY. You're falling for the illusion. Your post demonstrated that.

Most community assets don't demand hundreds of millions of free dollars from their communities / customers. Obviously some major employers do get tax breaks or incentives to relocate or stay in a city (Comcast in Phila comes to mind), however they generally employee 10s of 000s with well-paying jobs and legitimately contribute to the local economy. The same cannot necessarily be said for pro sports. At the end of the day, they may lure you in and get you to become emotionally attached by having the city name as part of their brand (I'll admit - I fall in to the trap too), but at the end of the day, thinking that they're anything more than a private company is naive at best.

The misguided civic sensibility associated with having any professional sports franchise best manifests itself in these types of situations. A team owner begins crying the blues that he/she can't afford to put their team in a new stadium that maximizes potential revenue unless they have a 'public-private partnership' with the municipality. The city, fearing it will lose some level of prestige in the national zeitgeist if the team moves, knuckles under and concedes to helping finance the infrastructural development underlying a very private business.

Nowadays it's so engrained into the modus operandi of pro sports that its most lucrative league has kept open the second largest television market in the country for two decades, because it's more valuable league-wide as a bargaining chip threat than it would be to have a franchise there. Cincinnati, Miami, San Diego, Buffalo, Minnesota, Oakland, San Francisco, Carolina, and who knows how many others have at least hinted/levied veiled threats about going to Los Angeles. But none have actually moved, despite what would be enormous revenue advantages for doing so to the franchise. Why do you suppose that is? Because to the other 31 owners, having the threat as an option to existing franchise locations and their municipalities is, collectively, more valuable than actually having the team there.

Major League Baseball had this idea in the late 1980s-early 1990s with Tampa Bay, while the NBA and NHL have such bargaining precedence today involving Seattle and Quebec City, respectively. But the idea of the most popular sports entity in America not having a team in the second-biggest city in all of America is a damn shame. Being screwed as often as it has, being the subject of late-night punch line jokes and being the vile disgust of other cities and their fans when questioning Los Angeles' football passion have alienated young people here from trying to organize grassroots efforts to bring a team to call home. The only sort of effort asserted to get a team back here are Baby Boomer Rams fans, and even those had to be salvaged after all the carnage Georgia Frontierre did to the team.

A full generation of NFL fans in this city have been permanently lost due to a lack of a team, only to go by the stories older fans provide for us. The majority of young NFL fans here are either (1) transplant fans from other teams without a Los Angeles connection, including Cowboys, 49ers, Steelers and Patriots fans or (2) fantasy football fans who go in forces to bars and taverns to root for their favorite players, not necessarily teams. I do worry what would happen if the current crop of young, displaced fans here (under-25 years old) have their own kids, and the NFL would continue to screw this market over and the next generation of NFL nomad fans.

[dbadefense1990]

Bayless isn't an idiot. He was a pretty respected writer for the Dallas Morning News at one time. Now he's just the avatar for ESPN producers who want to make stories instead of report them.

Yup. The NY Times did a feature on Bayless a while back. The article made it pretty clear, to me anyway, that Skip Bayless is in on the joke. He knows he's playing a character on 1st Take.

It's so God-damn frustrating to see a great show like "Outside the Lines" and a marvelous host like Bob Ley get relegated to a time-slot guaranteeing certain cancellation (12:00pm PST on ESPN to 1:30pm PST on ESPN 2), while the same network openly promotes TMZ-like shows ("First Take") and completely useless and awful subjects (i.e. Stephen A. Smith hating the Blackhawks streak last year because of the NHL "having ties," not knowing the league doesn't have ties).

The integration of sports and pop culture have disgusted me in general.

[infrared41]

Bayless isn't an idiot. He was a pretty respected writer for the Dallas Morning News at one time. Now he's just the avatar for ESPN producers who want to make stories instead of report them.

Yup. The NY Times did a feature on Bayless a while back. The article made it pretty clear, to me anyway, that Skip Bayless is in on the joke. He knows he's playing a character on 1st Take.

It's so God-damn frustrating to see a great show like "Outside the Lines" and a marvelous host like Bob Ley get relegated to a time-slot guaranteeing certain cancellation (12:00pm PST on ESPN to 1:30pm PST on ESPN 2), while the same network openly promotes TMZ-like shows ("First Take") and completely useless and awful subjects (i.e. Stephen A. Smith hating the Blackhawks streak last year because of the NHL "having ties," not knowing the league doesn't have ties).

The integration of sports and pop culture have disgusted me in general.

OTL isn't going to get cancelled nor is it in any danger of being cancelled.

[jdp]

The NFL is already over-saturated, especially on ESPN (see below). While I find that annoying, it's not quite enough to make me lose interest in the game itself. But there a few things would:

• If they further eliminate elements of the game. I'm not referring to hits, but rather the PATs, kick-offs/returns. The current game is about as good as it can be. Don't mess with it.
• Deeming fantasy football illegal... although, this would never happen. Once I got involved in fantasy football just a couple years ago, I started watching A LOT more games, instead of only caring about what the Bears did that week. I'd still watch the Bears, but my viewership would drop way off.
• Going to an 18-game season. It's such an obvious money-grab (not to mention contradictory to the NFL's stance on player safety) that it's off-putting. But, again, you could file this under "Don't mess with it."

As an aside, but also somewhat related:

I'm actually very close to my breaking point with shows about football and/or the NFL. Ever notice how much they say "football" in those shows? Trent Dilfer, Mark Schlereth, and Da Coach (forgive me) are the worst.... "This football team is very good at protecting the football when they are on the offensive side of the football." Drives me nuts.