Football

I hate to say it, but I think the sport of football is waning on me.

Last night I watched the Giants play on Sunday Night Football. In its first year, SNF was a timid imitation of its old life as Monday Night Football. Now the transformation is complete, sort of. Instead of the iconic MNF song, we have some other country song that will change every week as different teams play each other. Also, instead of Hank Williams Jr. rocking out, we have a random country singer I can't name singing in front of a large screen display that is surrounded top and bottom with Sprint Logos, in case you did not know who the Official Wireless Provider of the NFL is. Even worse was the advertisement shown several times that seemed to be for both SNF and Chevy trucks. And when there's Chevy, you know there's that horrible Mellencamp song. And when there's said song, you know there will be grossly innacurate and stereotyped portrayals of true Americans, in this case what looks to be 20's era Italian immigrants playing football in a back alley. Yes

Then of course is the actual game, which means I have to listen to John Madden. If I hear one more person make excuses for the man and retarded commentary, I might just stop watching him. Regardless, the rest of the show winds up playing out exactly like MNF - far too long and drawn out with all the breaks and bullshit. The first quarter should not always be a guaranteed minimum of 45 minutes long.

But its more than a crappy broadcast that bothers me. Football's popularity is unquestionable, but I really start to wonder if it is getting out of hand. Hear me out on this one - I'll do my best not to make it a "I can't like popular things" rant.

For years, my family's football tradition was the same. Myself, dad, and one brother watched the Giants, maybe some other games. You'd read some sports news in the Sunday paper. That was it. It was nice and relaxing and you could get excited about the game every week. Later years introduced more beer and another brother to the mix, but all in all the Sunday tradition remained strong until we all moved out of the house.

But while we hardly changed, football sure did. You can't get away from it now. Here's how the week looks during football season.

Sunday - game day
Monday - post game day talk and another game
Tuesday - more post game talk because hey, we just had another game
Wednsday - perfect time to prepare your fantasy team?
Thursday - often another game
Friday - Time to make your picks for next week on the radio and argue about it for half an hour
Saturday - College Football

It never ends. And its getting ridiculous. There's no such thing as just enjoying your Sunday. Football is on every day of the week, and quite literally you cannot get away from it unless you tune yourself out from the sports world, and when you're also a baseball fan, that's pretty much impossible. We don't need all this information folks. I don't want to know who the radio jockeys are picking for each game. I sure as hell don't care about their fantasy results. I don't want some guy picking the best game each week of the season before it even starts based on how he thinks it will play out. Guess what? No one is ever right about any given season.

ESPN, I don't want any more bad jokes about College fandom. Penn State and Nortre Dame suck. I get it. Women watch football too. I get it.

I'm sick of fantasy. Maybe one day people will realize just how much of the game relies on luck and I won't have to see 13 magazines eager to dish out draft tips every time I hit the grocery store in late July. I also won't have to watch football with relatives that have a beer in one hand and the mouse in the other, watching the Yahoo stat tracker more than the game in front of them. And if they tell me about how they're happy that a Dallas player scored on NY because "he's on my fantasy team".

I'm glad you're product is an official sponsor of the NFL. Doesn't make me want to buy it. In fact it does nothing but remind me that the NFL is incredibly greedy and strict with their product. You can thank them for leaving Madden as the only football game in town.

Football should be about the game. It should not be a three ring circus where everything around the game matters more. Ever actually try and watch a football game in a crowded bar? It simply can't happen. And that I think explains my woes better than anything.

It looks like the Giants are going to suck this year, and I live in Baltimore. I think this is a good time to genuinely disconnect myself from football for a season, at least as best as I can in this 24 world of sporting. Concentrate on fall baseball, etc. I think it could work out well. I know what you're thinking - why don't you watch the Ravens? I say no thank you - any fanbase that feels they're invincible after winning a division on a super soft schedule, and includes people that think Boller is a wise choice as backup is not a fanbase I can actually join in good faith. New York fans are assholes, but we know when to shit on our teams, which is pretty much all the time.