Anyone else finding their interest in the NFL on the decline?

Don't get me wrong: I love football. But over the past couple of years, the sport is not holding my interest like it used to. I blame the following:

1. Rules changes. Not necessarily the helmet-to-helmet stuff, but the "possession through the act of the catch" stuff. I don't even know what a reception is anymore.
2. Injuries...human beings weren't meant to play a game this physical. Now, it's ALWAYS been physical, I get that. But the lighter equipment these days, coupled with rampant PED use, is making these guys too strong, too fast. It's tough for me to see starters out on a regular basis.
3. The league's greed. London games, Exorbitant ticket prices. Suing community groups for having "Super Bowl" parties. The NFl evcen tried to trademark "The Big Game" a couple of years ago.
4. With all the billions coming in, the league can't find ways to give more money to the vets who built the game and made it what it is?
5. Fantasy Football. This stupid thing has made fans so stats focused that Ws and Ls don't matter much anymore.
6. Fear that this is a dying sport. Anyone else see that the NFL forced ESPN out of a documentary concussions? This head injury thing is bad, really bad, and I used to defend the NFL. I can't anymore.

Maybe I just need week one to get here. But the game just doesn't seem to be the way it used to be.

 

the nfl
ncaa
Wal-Mart
they all can.....


did you all see where John Cougar Mellencamp's son is still playing for Duke?


Creepo it's just that you're getting older and what the kids are doing, watching, hearing,seeeing, is not like it was when....

how do you think the mob feels about being able to fix games nowadays than when back in the day they could buy the whole team?

I agree the interest is less for me too like it is in

music
movies
fashion
television
baseball
the county fair
the state fair
the Olympics


yeah
you're just old

 

I really think Fantasy has had a negative affect for sure. The thing I don't like about it is that it makes some guy who doesn't know jack about the actual game itself think he's some football expert. I know people that don't even WATCH football but play fantasy and think they're football fans. I'm like "whaaaaa"??? These are the kind of people that think Ben sucks in reality because he's not a good "fantasy" qb. These are the kind of people that think Matt Stafford is elite because he gets a lot of yards but since they don't watch football they don't realize that most of his yards are nothing but garbage that he gets from playing from behind and playing against defenses who at the end of the game just want to get out of there and let him complete anything he wants to. I'm honestly afraid that fantasy might even wind up effecting the Hall of Fame voters. I think it's ridiculous that NFL Network has a whole show about fake football! I rarely meet a fantasy guy down here that knows about linemen or good defensive players because they only draft entire defenses and not individuals. I just think it's sorta cheapening the game itself but I'm probably wrong. There are many hardcore fans on here that like it and ACTUAL football too.

 

Don't know about all that but what exactly is a Fumble these days?

One of the most basic principles in the game, I've seen this question create chaos.

 

Pro Football started going downhill for me mostly the last few years, when we as Fans had to start worring about our team's Salary Cap.

I've always been a Steelers Fan; back in the day I'd always watch them seemingly find a way to loose. After their game was over, I'd swich channels and watch this new fangled league called the AFL. I didn't know who to root for and really didn't care much, but boy were their games and players sure fun to watch; players like ... Alworth, Hadl, Lincoln, Blanda, Cannon, Tolar, Kemp, Gilcrest, Dubenion, Parilli, Cappelletti, etc.

I still kept watching the Steelers, but the AFL was where I got my "football fix" from, til the 1970's came along and the Steelers finally at last started winning.

 

Hey, Little River Band played at our state fair last year. I've never been more into the state fair!!!

 

MC HAMMER PLAYED OURS!!! STOP!!! HAMMERTIME!!!

 

see
you need more cowbell
you gotta have more cowbell

 

Wait you're thinking about Blue Oyster Cult!

 

12TO88..
I hear where yer comin from, but, NO...
I STILL love football!
I DO recognize that it ain`t the same sport as I watched when I was growin up, but, I attribute the differences to different reasons, than you pointed out, although I do agree with those...
Yes, the league is scared of becoming extinct in this politically correct era, for being an old-fashioned, PHYSICAL type of game, and they are worried about lawsuits...
Sumthin the league never had to consider, when it started..
...
So, YES.... I miss seein guys with casts on their arms(with no broken bones), "clubbing" opponents heads... I miss D-Backs bein able to knock a WR on their ass before they even started a route... (The Mel Blount rule)...
I miss guys Kickin, clawin, gougin, fighting to get the win, like you will never see again...
....
But what I REALLY miss, Is TEAM LOYALTY...
What changed the game for me, more than anything else, is when players could go to whatever team paid them the most, instead of giving their all, for the team(and their teammates), that drafted them...
Nowadays, they are just hired guns...
They show up in a (former) opponents locker room, and proclaim their "professionalism"...
"Hey, I am hired to do a job, and, I will do it to the best of my ability"... "I am a Proffesional"... "I am just here to help my team win"... "I will do whatever they ask me to do, to help my team win..."...pick your soundbite, that every rookie`s agent has coached him to say...
That`s just not the same, as the game I grew up watchin, where there really were rivalries between teams... The whole "us vs them" kinda thing...
It wasn`t a millionaire`s club, where they all went out and drank together, off the field...
Anyhow...
What else was I thinkin about the difference, between then and now?
Oh yeah...
The part I still like about the sport...
Is at it`s purest level, when kids start playin it, they learn about the value of teamwork, and about the value of hard work...
Sure, their parents have scholarship dreams in their heads, but the kids, learn how to sacrifice(give up the video games, for practice sessions), and dedicate themselves to a cause that is bigger than them as one person...(that team they are playing on)
It`s a great learning tool that way, also, about how, if you bust yer ...err, I mean work hard at something, you can see the rewards of that effort...
The sport is still good.
The commercialization of it... Not so much...
Just my 2 cents..
GO STEELRS!!!

 

yes
I got the fever

 

I love the sport as much as ever. Yes, it has changed, is currently changing and will continue to change, as with every other sport on earth. Nothing stays the same for long. You just have to accept all the negatives that come with the actual game of football.

 

...and the only prescription is more cowbell!!! DON'T FEAR THE REAPER!!!

 

are you saying
you wouldn't go to another job if offered more money?

now I agree with you that the ethics have changed (teamwork, loyalty) butt,greed eats from the roots and both sides of the fence in sports have and sports are businesses (not games anymore) and most aspects of life have succumbed to it.Greed.

I'M GREEDY FOR THE STEELERS TO HAVE 7 LOMBARDIS
THE MOST OF ALL OTHERS

it's pleonexia having and yet wanting to have still more

 

And, EDIT... 12to88, I completley agree with #1... how can a defender NOT knock the receiver out of bounds anymore?!?!...
How are they supposed to stop them from catching it? yell "BOO!!!"?
The rules are getting WAAAAYYYY to ticky-tack for my liking nowadays, but I just can`t say I will stop watchin...
I LOVE the game... and that`s what Goodell is countin on,,,, No matter how much he pussifies it, until he makes it "two hand touch/flag football"... We will keep sellin out those stadiums..(except in ummm.... California/Miami????)...
GO STEELERS!

 

That depends on if that other job was a direct competitor to my current employer...
If they were, and my current employer treated me fairly....
Probably not... the 2nd job would have to offer a WHOLE LOT more money, to make me consider harming my current employer....
And if my "current employer" was already paying me more than a million bux a year... I don`t think their competitor could lure me away, for another couple mil....
It changes, if yer happy to make a million a year...
Again, depends on how I was being treated...
Was I at a job I hated goin to every day? Or was I happy to go to work?
If I was happy... Ya couldn`t pay me enuff to go where I wasn`t happy...
Just sayin.

 

The problem with the rules is that they always change to favor the offense. Modern football fans don't like defense. It's not as "sexy" or whatever. I think that's why people consider us "old school" fans because we love defense so much. I think modern fans that have gotten used to all these offensive fireworks would find "our" way to be really boring now. I, however, would love to see us be able to pound the football again and absolute destroy people on defense.

 

You ever heard Godzilla?

 

Sooner or later we will have to start just not going to stadiums on Sunday's. Tell roger NATZell we ain't going to games till the Defense can play too

 

Add Special Teams in to that too. Hey you know I just had a thought. Maybe Tomlin understands that ST is a dying art and basically being phased out and maybe that's why we suck so bad at it because he knows it can't really be played anyway and he just puts guys on the team to fill spots to go out there for a few plays per game. Genius really.

 

(Laffin so hard, I can barely type...)
DESTROY?.... dID YOU SAY destroy?!?...
hAHHHAHA...
Just check out my reply in the "we could all use a little of this" thread, and u will see why I am laffin too hard to type...
Ever hear of sum little band called METALLICA?!?
I`m guessin they`ve even rolled thru Tennessee once or twice... LMAO!!!

 

Oh yeah!!! I actually replied to that thread! I bet they can't use a Metallica song though because Lars would sue them! LOL!

 

Ouucchhh...
I`m sure he could work somethin out with the Rooney`s, they are all businessmen, after all, are they not?