Posts Tagged Football
The NFL – Are They Testing The Limits Again
Posted by 'lottasports in Football, NFL Playoffs on January 14, 2024
The playoffs. What a great time to be a fan. Whether one is lucky enough to attend a game in person or just chill on the couch gorging on nachos and cheese dip, it’s weeks of playoff football leading up to every fan’s favorite, the Super Bowl.
Fans have lived through challenging times. It took a while for most fans to overlook the Colin Kaepernick kneeling incident in 2016 and the way the NFL didn’t handle it. There was 2020 with two events. Mid-year, the Washington owners announced they were retiring the Redskins name and logo ending decades of debate over if it was offensive to Native Americans. Fans took exception since the Kansas City Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Blackhawks did not follow suit. Later in 2020, the NFL found themselves trying to keep the games going despite COVID. There was no pre-season and the games were played in front of players’ families and healthcare workers or no fans at all. Games were rescheduled due to numerous positive COVID-19 tests.
In 2021, Amazon acquired the exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football to commence in 2023. This was the first time that the NFL had sold one of its main television packages to a digital media company. It was no surprise to fans as the NFL had teased with trials on Twitter, Amazon Prime and Twitch in previous seasons. Many fans did not bite as it represented additional costs to their sports viewing. For many fans, Thursday Night Football viewing was replaced by Monday Night Football back on ABC Network in 2023 again after years just on ESPN.
Here come the playoffs. Testing with streaming in the regular season is one thing, but no one had advance warning of it going to the playoffs! Last week at the conclusion of week 18, the Wildcard Weekend schedule for the six games was revealed. They had two games on NBC, one on FOX, one on CBS, one on ABC/ESPN and one on Peacock – the Chiefs and Dolphins game. Only fans in KC and Miami were able to watch on NBC Network. The rest of the country could purchase a discounted rate for the game.
My Facebook page and messaging erupted. “Peacock? Who?” fans asked. Peacock video streaming service was created in 2020 and is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal Media Group. It also carries the same peacock logo recognizable by most. Some of the Peacock programming is free; however, sports are not. Many fans said no to subscribing for the Chiefs and Miami game when they were already paying for cable or satellite.
But that wasn’t the only complication with viewing the playoffs. Direct TV had been in contract negotiations with Tegna stations. Depending on what city you were in, Direct TV subscribers in 51 markets and about 39% of all TV homes nationwide had been locked out of CBS, ABC, FOX and/or NBC for almost two months! The issue came to the forefront when Cleveland bars and fans with Direct TV found themselves without the ability to watch their local team in the playoffs. Bars were destined to lose thousands of dollars. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown called on Tegna and DirecTV’s parent company AT&T to end the business dispute. The standoff ended about two hours before the Browns and Texans kickoff.
And it’s January. What better time for NFL to battle challenges getting to the games in blizzards and field conditions for those playing in outdoor stadiums. New York state officials were smart and when they discovered that Orchard Park NY, home of the Buffalo Bills, would be experiencing a lake-effect snow band coupled with very high winds and whiteout conditions across the area from Saturday night through the end of Sunday, they requested the NFL to move the game to the following day.
Kansas City was not as proactive. Instead, they found themselves playing the Miami Dolphins on a frozen field in a temperature of minus four at kickoff and that’s before wind chill. Temperatures continued to fall during the game, minus seven by the end of the game and a wind chill of minus twenty-six! A medical director at the University of Kansas Health System cautioned that there was “a risk of only 30 minutes of exposure before you could start to develop frostbite.” Despite the warnings, faithful fans showed up looking like they were on the Artic Circle with fur lined coat hoods, thick gloves and many layers of clothes. They resembled seventy-six thousand sumo wrestlers as they waddled through the stands pregame. Re-sale tickets were going for forty dollars! And yes, Taylor Swift arrived in a red puffer jacket with “Kelce” and his “87” jersey number on the front, back and sleeves. She accessorized with a white polar beanie and black boots. Life is tough in a heated suite.
College Football – Is It Too Late To Save It
Posted by 'lottasports in College Football on January 4, 2024
College football is a mess. I’m afraid it is on life support but do the “powers-that-be” even realize that fans are about to pull the plug!! They have created this mess and it didn’t just happen. I witnessed it December 22, 2018 in the Armed Services Bowl.
Missing was the heart of the Houston Cougars, defensive tackle Ed Oliver, who was preparing for the NFL Draft. He wasn’t the only one absent. The Cougars were also without the rest of the defensive line and a starting cornerback. At the helm was Clayton Tune, an inexperienced freshman, replacing the injured D’Eriq King. Houston’s Defensive coordinator had been fired the previous month. I watched in misery as Army piled on the points to a humiliating 70 – 14 rout where Army tied the record for most points scored at an Armed Forces Bowl. From our affordable student area seats, all we saw of the game were Army cadets doing the required pushups every time Army scored. And this is not to take anything from Army’s talent. They did come into the bowl game with an outstanding 11 wins.
Fast-forward to the 2023 NCAA season. The transfer portal, which had been in place since 2018 to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions, seems to have turned into a monster of its own. In the past, it was used more for players who weren’t getting to play and the reason for the transfer to better their playing time. This season, it resembled more like free agency in the pros with key players tempted by better perks at another school. Players had no qualms in abandoning their bowl-bound teammates to shop around. Numbers are not available yet for this year’s portal since it is still active. However, over 2,100 NCAA athletes participated in the 2022 Transfer Portal affecting the 2023 programs. I expect it will easily surpass that this time.
Another beast was the fluidity among coaches leaving their programs prior to the bowl games and accepting positions with another team. They justified their early departures claiming they were needed for preparation in recruitment. Further complicating that piece was players could enter the portal immediately if the coach left!
Then there was the NFL piece. Top projected NFL draft picks were advised by others not to risk injury in a bowl game and to decline playing. The absence of these individuals gutted teams in key roles. Some attended the game and were more than accommodating with media interviews on the sidelines while their teammates were being humiliated on the field.
As if the waters weren’t already muddied, add the NIL for athletes. NIL stands for name, image, and likeness. It is compensation paid to NCAA student-athletes to promote, partner, or represent brands. This means athletes are being paid for autographs, memorabilia, personal appearances including camps and clinics, merchandise, blogging and podcasting. Now comes the question many of us ask. WHY are athletes being given full paid scholarships and then not even required to participate in a bowl game?
Michigan – the granddaddy of this entire piece – had a program shaded by a cheating scandal throughout most of their regular season games. Many, including myself, wondered why the Michigan program deserved consideration to even be there in the semi-finals! Yes, disappointment in the continued allowance of such unfair practices certainly curtailed my viewing this year.
Why watch a rout by Georgia over a Florida State team crippled by indifference after being denied recognition for their superlative perfect season? A season still accomplished without their starting quarterback who was lost to injury towards the end of the season. Bowl game invitations should be recognition for exemplary performance during the season.
It’s very simple to fix. Quit trying to make college football a celebrity glitz and a sure bet to get in the NFL. Encourage athletes to appreciate a free education and at least reciprocate with their commitments to the athletic program until the bowl season is over. Move timelines for any movement by coaches or athletes until after the college championship. Athletes desiring to participate in NIL forfeit that year’s paid tuition and must pay it back to the school. If they’re making monies for appearances and memorabilia, they sure don’t need a paid ride in college! Athletic programs need to mentor their athletes with an understanding of team concept instead of individual records.
Was there a good moment in all this mess? Actually, there were two. The team from Missouri. They did not have one single player opt out of the bowl and that’s what should have happened for every bowl game this season. And the halftime coverage of the Rose Bowl. It was a reminder of how halftimes used to be covered by the media. Instead of a panel of former athletes discussing their guesses of who the “Star Power” in second half would be, we saw the Michigan and Alabama bands with their amazing baton twirlers and flag corps! Just like things used to be.
'lotta sports 