Football and My Crisis of Faith.

[Rain Man]

I have been a football fan for more than forty years, and it has been one of the foundational interests of my life. I’ve played the sport since childhood, I’ve traveled to games, I’ve purchased jerseys, and I’ve been an unceasing student of statistics and strategies.

I’m now experiencing a crisis of faith, though, and I fear that football’s time is coming to an end for me. The catalyst was something really stupid, but it opened the door to a greater awareness that is quite disturbing and disillusioning.

The initial catalyst was the NFL’s “Together We Make Football” contest. I read about it and thought, “Wow, a nice celebration of football, and Super Bowl tickets would be a great prize”. So I wrote an essay and felt pretty good about it, and sent it in. I loved football.

The entries were posted on the site, and I read a few of them, and frankly, most of the essays and videos were pretty weak. People didn’t follow the rules or think about why a judge would pick them to win. Many of them were just pictures of people in jerseys saying, “We like football. Send us to the Super Bowl!”

But I saw another pattern, too, and it got me to thinking. There seemed to be a lot of people using disabilities or illness as an argument, particularly among their kids. “I had a lung infection. Send me to the Super Bowl!” “My son has spina bifida. Send us to the Super Bowl!” For the most part, they were not well-written or well-produced. They were requests for pity, and frankly I found them kind of off-putting. They seemed almost more like panhandling than an essay about why those people love football.

As I skimmed through, them, though, I found myself getting agitated. I’m a market research guy, and I found myself starting to read them from a marketing standpoint. I would find myself thinking that some NFL public-relations person would probably like this angle or that angle. “Hey, a disabled kid. Wouldn’t that be a great winner to use for marketing?” (Sorry if that’s insensitive, but it’s how p.r. people think.)

I looked through some more entries, and thought, “If I was a callous, cynical s.o.b., I’d bet that the five winners of this contest will be a disabled kid, an attractive woman, an inner-city African American, a veteran or active duty soldier, and then whoever writes the best essay." And then I immediately felt bad for being a callous, cynical s.o.b. and I submitted my essay.

The NFL announced the ten finalists recently. Three of the ten stories are interesting and speak to football. Three. The other seven are incredibly lame and contrived, and I think one is actually insulting to any longtime football fan. My cynical side picked wrong on the military guy, but if you look at the videos it’s pretty clear that this contest was not about celebrating football. We are not hearing the ten best essays about how football shapes and impacts people’s lives, and how they love football. We are hearing manufactured stories that are nothing more than a cynical marketing ploy to reach pre-defined target markets and serve as a p.r. tool.

Now, I mean no offense against the people in those videos when I say that. I have no doubt that nearly all of them like football, and that most of them love football. It’s not about them, or the fact that I wrote an epic, soul-shattering, thought-inspiring essay that was not selected since I don’t fit the any of the NFL’s market expansion segments.

What it really drove home was that the NFL is a business these days, and nothing more. I wanted a contest where I could write about football and how it has shaped my life, and where I could read about what it has done for others. That was what I was sold. Instead, I was used as a pawn so the NFL could sell its business.

Now, that thing is just a contest. I lose contests all the time. My years of playing and watching football have taught me to lose with grace, and I hope the winners of that contest have a great time. But it really made me think about who’s running the NFL now. I wanted the judges of that contest to be people who love football themselves, people who got into the business because they grew up passing and catching and tackling. I wanted the judges to be people who know who Otto Graham is. Who know Johnny Robinson and Doug Buffone and even John Jefferson, and who can tell you about the Sneaker Game or Christmas Day of 1971. I wanted the judges to be football people who understand what the story of football is about.

The judges of this contest were not football people. It is clear and obvious that they were p.r. people who said, “Okay, give me a person in this market segment and a person in that market segment and two more from that one, and let’s build stories around them." Those people probably don’t know Lawrence Taylor from Opie Taylor.

The NFL is run by businesspeople now. Lamar Hunt is gone. Bud Adams is gone. George Halas is gone. The league is run by lawyers and marketing people and advertisers. You could take them out of the NFL and exchange them with the industry leaders of soft drinks or smart phones, and it wouldn’t make a darn bit of difference. They’re selling a product, and I don’t think they really care what that product is.

And then I look at the games I am watching these days. I see rules changes that are designed for marketing value rather than sport. They’ve done the marketing analysis. If there’s more scoring, more casual fans will watch. If there are more passes, quarterbacks will become bigger celebrities. The games are cartoonish now, unbalanced scoring orgies because scoring lets casual fans know when to cheer. Defenses are being made irrelevant and quarterbacks are merely playing catch on their way to another 400 or 500 yards of showmanship. P.T. Barnum loves the aerial circus even as students of the game cringe.

And I am finally seeing the more sinister side of the business plan. I see blatant phantom penalties against the opponents of quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, two of the highest-visibility products that the league sells, penalties that are critical in letting their teams win and continue playing as the TV audiences surge in January. If you’re running a business, you act to maximize your revenues, and Peyton Manning holding a Super Bowl trophy will do that a lot more than Alex Smith or Nick Foles doing so.

I don’t think the players rig games. It’s realistically impossible to do that in a high-level sport on a leaguewide basis. But Tom Brady is good. If Tom Brady gets four extra downs to win a game because of a pass interference call, he’s probably going to win. You can’t rig games, but you can tilt odds with just a few critical officiating decisions.

Maybe I’m waxing nostalgic, but I don’t think the NFL always had this attitude. Back when Hunt and Adams and Halas were around, the league was a competitive sport. Those owners loved the game and they wanted to win. The money was big, but it wasn’t insane. Look at the ownership and league management today. Are they football fans who want to win, or are they businesspeople who want to maximize profit? The cash flows are enormous.

I have been a Chiefs fan my whole life. In the modern world, that is naïve and Quixotic. The Chiefs are a small-market team and none of the players do national commercials. From a marketing perspective they support a middle-class fan base that is much smaller than most other markets. There’s not much marketing value in Alex Smith holding aloft a Lombardi trophy, and in fact there’s a huge opportunity cost if it’s him and not Peyton Manning. The league’s management team does not want Alex Smith or Jay Cutler or Jake Locker to win. Maybe they’ll do it, because a football field remains a chaotic place, but if so it will be against the wishes of the marketing braintrust of the NFL, and therefore against odds that have become more steep than one team in 32.

Sometime in the past twenty or thirty years, football evolved, and not in a good way. Any given game is still fun to watch. The players still try hard to win. On a tactical basis I enjoy the show and the athletes. But on a higher level I have reluctantly concluded that professional football has ceased to be a competitive sport. It’s an entertainment conglomerate, and just like the tables in Vegas the odds are stacked in the house’s favor. The house exists to make money.

I’ll probably continue to watch football. It’s a tradition. The games are fun. But at this point I’m reluctantly going to go into it knowing that it’s not what it appears. It’s a TV show. I’m not going to buy merchandise to support a TV show, and I’m not going to pay hundreds of dollars to watch a TV show live. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll go out and live life a little more on Sunday afternoons.

There’s a semi-famous internet clip of an audience member at a professional wrestling show. He’s given the microphone and thanks the wrestlers for the “all they’ve done to their bodies”, and then tearfully says, “It’s still real to me, dammit!” Well, I’d like to thank NFL players like Johnny Robinson and Doug Buffone and John Jefferson for all they’ve done to their bodies to entertain me. I have loved football and it’s been a great run. But it’s not real to me any more.

[Bearcat]

Great post, and completely agree. You should submit this to them as a follow up.

I'm not sure if it's always been this way, or maybe I was just too young to see it when I really enjoyed the NFL. In the past 5-7 years I've noticed the same thing, but I've also completed college (so I view everything from a different perspective) and the Chiefs have done plenty on the field to make me uninterested (note: it's no coincidence Herm was hired around the time this all started). So, I guess in some ways I'd have to rely on people who are older than me to help determine if it's always been this way, but my guess is that it hasn't... when products are starting out, the focus is in the right place, then money takes over.

As far as the game itself, it's a quarterback league that's all about the excitement of big offense... works really well for marketing and the casual fan, but games can be pretty ridiculous when there's no defense. Almost to the point of college shootouts.

It's a watered down league... over the top parity with too many teams, but every team has a chance, which is good for business. There's a lot of shitty football being played, but hey, your Tebow-led team or your 7-9 team still has a chance to make the playoffs, so you should buy season tickets! Just look at a lot of Chiefs fans... it's all about making the playoffs and having a chance from there. That kind of hope puts butts in seats.

As far as the business side of things, it's all about making more money than last year. Hey, if we made eleventy billion dollars two years in a row, we're stagnant! I've worked for a company that was all about the stock holder, and it couldn't have been more obvious in the way they treated everyone but the stock holder.

Ticket prices, wanting more games or even teams in London, the eleventy billion dollar TV deals that include 50% commercials.... it's all about squeezing every last penny out of existing sources of revenue and finding new sources, and a lot of it hurts the game or the fans.

When the focus isn't on the product and customer, those two things will suffer.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Rausch

I don't think he takes orders from the NFL but that roided out freak Ed Hochuli takes advantage of every opportunity to make game changing calls that often are impossible to defend.

There is no other ref I'd fear having more in a meaningful game...

Jeff Triplett.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

I'm going to assume you're avoiding answering the question. How does playing in the Midwest in a smaller market make it less likely for the Chiefs to make the Super Bowl? If this was baseball and we were talking about the Royals, I'd agree. But football has revenue sharing and salary caps. Everyone has a chance. The teams that have a long run of success are largely the ones who drafted a great QB.

There's a reason we haven't drafted a great QB.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Ace Gunner

even my wife said that game was rigged early on.

oh, and Marshall Faulk;

"I understand Bill [Belichick] is a great coach," Faulk told Curran. "But No. 13 [Kurt Warner] will tell you ... Mike Martz will tell you ... We had some plays in the red zone that we hadn't ran. I think we got to fourth down -- we ran three plays that we hadn't ran, that Mike drew up for that game. Bill's a helluva coach … we hadn't ran them the whole year [and the Patriots were ready for them]." And the only time that Rams practiced those plays? At the walkthrough.


nice lil article/video link here;

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-...ss-to-patriots

Did you actually just quote your wife as evidence that the NFL is rigged?

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

FWIW, I'm not suggesting that the NFL is rigged or blatantly biased (I do think it's inherently biased in some cases).

I think the combination of city, fans, ownership, NFL structure, and several other factors are going to make it nearly impossible for the Chiefs to win a Super Bowl.

"Why ain't there no Chiefs on that wall, Goodell? Huh?"

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

So basically, it's down to "we need a miracle".

When did that not appear to be the case?...

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

There's a reason we haven't drafted a great QB.

and that is...

What, the NFL wouldn't allow it?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Rausch

When did that not appear to be the case?...

That's the wrong question.

It's "when did I finally open my eyes and realize that was the case?"

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

and that is...

What, the NFL wouldn't allow it?

I already told you.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

and that is...

What, the NFL wouldn't allow it?

Enough Chiefs fans are satisfied with mediocrity, so there's no point in "wasting" 2-3 years to develop a QB when you can sign a retread/stop gap and get butts in seats.

Buy season tickets.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I already told you.

I didn't see a reason given as to why the Chiefs haven't drafted a great QB.

But instead of being an ass and typing "I already told you," you could have just said it.

[T-post Tom]

Welcome to a brave not-so-new world. This is a microcosm of modern society. Only one thing can revive you...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

I didn't see a reason given as to why the Chiefs haven't drafted a great QB.

But instead of being an ass and typing "I already told you," you could have just said it.

It's a small market. The margin for error, when it comes to filling the stadium, is razor thing.

And yes, you did see a reason. I posted it, ITEMIZED, in post #56.

Even better, you QUOTED post #56.

Why should I have to repeat myself over and over just to satisfy you're utterly stupid line of questioning?

Go back to DC dipshit. You don't belong in a football discussion.

[cosmo20002]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Enough Chiefs fans are satisfied with mediocrity, so there's no point in "wasting" 2-3 years to develop a QB when you can sign a retread/stop gap and get butts in seats.

Buy season tickets.

That makes absolutely no sense. You're under the impression that there have been a lot of butts in the seats the last few seasons?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by cosmo20002

That makes absolutely no sense. You're under the impression that there have been a lot of butts in the seats the last few seasons?

Of course there haven't. They have been 8-8/9-7 the past few seasons either.