(Vote) Please finish this sentence: My interest in the NFL (1 Viewer)

Poll is straightforward. Being that this is a very NFL dedicated audience in the Shark Pool, feels like a good place to help form an opinion. 

My interest is personally down, which I attribute to a bunch of factors (family obligations, not enough personal time, feel like the play has been on a decline, and the politics have also been a turn off)...

Curious where my fellow Shark Poolers stand on this topic of NFL interest.

Pretty surprised at the first handful of votes... Like to get a lot more replies, so I'll keep bumping, but these initial numbers are larger than I thought they would be. 

I am as interested as I've always been . I love football and understand the cyclical nature of it. I am hopeful that they can get a handle on the ridiculous amount of penalties called that cause game-flow issues. It's clearly a transitional period from a time of greater injury & less penalty, so it feels a bit like an over-correction. Something the NFL has been guilty of many many times over the years. 

The complaining is getting a little out of hand. If I had a nickel for every time "I'm done watching" was said by someone totally not done watching, I'd be a wealthy man. 

I've been watching this game close to 4 decades. It isn't the same as it was, but then nothing else is either. I enjoy the game for what it is, remain loyal to my team (and the other local team) and will continue to enjoy the NFL for what it is. 

The gameplay is still compelling at times and while there is certainly less parity than in days of old, that seems to come in cycles as well. It's a QB-driven league, and there's the haves and have-nots. Next year is a QB heavy draft (seemingly) and last year wasn't bad either from the looks of it. So in the next 2-3 years we might see more capable QBs, as some of the old guard declines or retires. 

None of that diminishes my love for the game of football. 

Between Politics and a flag on nearly every play the enjoyment is definitely being sucked out.  Oh and the commercials.  God bless red zone.

Hot Sauce Guy said:

None of that diminishes my love for the game of football. 

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What about the science behind injuries, such as CTE? While the risks are now becoming more clear, and they're being paid a lot of money for it, the fact that I know they're out there essentially destroying their bodies and brains definitely takes some of the pleasure out of segments like "jacked up" that I used to enjoy a lot more. 

My two cents:

I feel like the NFL reached such rabid levels of popularity maybe five years ago or so that it seemed inconceivable that the NFL could still be popular but not as popular as it was at the time.  I'm younger (32) so this is a good moment for me to realize that there are inevitable ebbs and flows, like all things in life.  I would say, in reference to your poll, my interest is about the same as last year, but my interest has slipped some from maybe 4-5 years ago.  Some of those reasons are what others echo:  over-saturation of games, too many crappy games in primetime.

To me, and I may be in the minority on this, the defensive penalties have decreased my enjoyment of the game.  I don't mean roughing penalties/hits to the head/defenseless receiver, I mean holding/illegal contact on cornerbacks.  I think that the proliferation of these fouls has:

1. Made it so difficult to build a winner defensively.  Sure, there will always be 1-2 teams each year with a dominant defense, but building with that path forward is not really feasible because there's not enough top-level talent in the defensive backfield for more than a couple teams to excel there.

2. #1 is exacerbated the lack of quality at quarterback.  The NFL apparently wants a super downfield passing league, with all those penalties on defense in mind, yet there aren't the QBs to execute that style of play.  Teams see no other way to build, and so teams will try just about anything at QB.

My interest in the NFL has increased this year, because my fantasy team isn't a gigantic dumpster fire.
My only interest in the NFL now is fantasy.

worst team I drafted in 25 years.. don't know if I need to root for a tank for the Jets or not to tank, the politics didn't help, but it's more about my fantasy team being really bad. 

My interest ebbs and flows with fantasy.  I took my winnings from last year and entered my largest buy-in league by far this year so my interest has massively risen as I focus more on that league.

Relative to 5-10 years ago though it's certainly fallen due to family life.  Two small kids makes it a lot more difficult to spend a whole Sunday in the basement with 5 TVs set up on different games so I can watch all of my fantasy players.

I think a lot of the NFL's spike recently was due to fantasy, and as a lot of those people get to the age where they have a lot more responsibility that naturally falls off some.  A few years back was definitely a peak that was unsustainable.

Family, career/business, poor play all a factor for me. 

Plus - I just feel ####ty wasting a day sitting inside watching TV honestly. Always something more fun or important to do than watch the Raiders and Chargers from 3-6 in the afternoon. 

I will only miss a Vikings game if it in conflict with a major event (wedding, family obligation) but outside of that I don't care to watch NFL. 

I may be wrong, but I feel most of the folks on this board are of similar age and were here during the yellow-board days. That means most are around my age (45 years), plus/minus 5 or 7 years. That means we're married, have young kids starting to play sports, have less time for football, let alone fantasy. I used to watch literally every game in a given time slot, now I only watch the Packers start-to-finish, often paused and/or recorded.

No doubt politics, CTE, player antics, quality of play, injuries, commercials and flags all play into it as well.

I'm still in, but not sure how long.

I still contend that if it weren't for the RZ channel the NFL would be largely unwatchable. Also if it weren't for fantasy football, I would be completely uninterested. I tune out for the playoffs, I don't root for any team and honestly don't give a #### who wins the SB.

My interest level is the same as it has always been.

My level of interest is unchanged, but the thing I find most notable about today's NFL is how important the QB position has become.

Imagine what MLB would look like if a team used the same starting pitcher for every game.  If your guy wasn't good, you'd be completely dead in the water.  If you had Kershaw, you'd be competitive regardless of who else is on the roster.

That's what the NFL has become.

davearm said:

My level of interest is unchanged, but the thing I find most notable about today's NFL is how important the QB position has become.

Imagine what MLB would look like if a team used the same starting pitcher for every game.  If your guy wasn't good, you'd be completely dead in the water.  If you had Kershaw, you'd be competitive regardless of who else is on the roster.

That's what the NFL has become.

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I agree mostly, obviously you need a good QB to be the signal caller. The last two QB's that were nothing special to win a Super Bowl that come to mind are Brad Johnson & Trent Dilfer, 14 & 16 years ago, respectively. 

But you also need to protect that QB... The Colts clearly haven't gotten the memo. 

Are you looking for people who are boycotting the nfl? If so then I think your survey is scewed cause participating in this forum would kind of go against that.

Great thought for a thread!  

My take, in relation to what I've read others say in the thread so far:

I'm in a similar age range as as lot of others here, in that late 30 to mid 40 range so I think a lot of us share a common experience and perspective of what we have come to know NFL football is. 

I understand when someone says it's a cyclical thing but I think it must be a massive cycle if that is the case because the idea that were are just in a patch where we need those next great QBs that are coming next year has been going on since at least the 1990s. Outside of the early 80s class that had guys like Montana supporting it, it seems to me the league has always been a qb starved league. Then, about 7-8 years ago, it seemed like the identity of the NFL fell into a crisis it has never recovered from as it was no longer a mix of teams that were great offensively or great defensively or great tactically but, inatead, all teams suddenly needed to be able to score 32 or more each week in order to sustain any success longer than a year or so. 

I think we all know the legitimate health concerns and over saturation have watered down something that is already week. I think we all also know that if there was no such thing as fantasy football, it would be a shell of itself. 

Generally, I find the lineman play as a whole on both sides of the ball is so mediocre that there can't be sustained greatness in any but a small handful of teams and I honestly can't get interested in a 7-8 team league. If I did still play fantasy I would be very frustrated because the incredible inconsistency of those other 24 or so Jeckyl and Hyde teams would make it nothing more than a "dumb luck" proposition to me. 

In reading the replies I see a lot of us in a similar age range that mention they have less time and more responsibility and something has to give. For me personally, I actually found I was much busier at 25-35 than I was at 39. So, for me, it had Very little to do about responsibilities and much more about a growing sense of mortality and that I had better things to do with my life than give entire days and parts of 2-3 others to a product that honesty isn't that compelling anymore. 

tigerz said:

Are you looking for people who are boycotting the nfl? If so then I think your survey is scewed cause participating in this forum would kind of go against that.

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No, I think those would be casual fans... I'm more curious about the diehard fans or those that have rooted with a heavy interest for a long period. I fall into that bucket and feel the Shark Pool would be a good place to get a read and a why on the topic. 

My interest level dropped a few years ago when flags and instant replay took over. I still love the Lions and fantasy, but I can't really watch a regular NFL game without Redzone. 

Hmm well I’m not sure how it’s possible for interest to increase. I would think naturally after a long period a persons interest in anything would go down. People eventually get bored of the same thing. I feel like that would be the main reason people wouldn’t watch anymore. Everything else is just a good excuse but I wouldn’t think they are primary driver.

My interest hasn't really waned, but two factors that do affect it negatively are injuries--as a Vikes fan the injury to Bradford and now Cook really saps my enthusiasm as a Championship seems all but impossible.

The other thing that really hinders my enjoyment and interest is how difficult it is to see games without paying a fortune to Direct TV.  

As for politics, I am extremely supportive of the players taking a position on racism and White Supremacy and I think a flaw in the poll is that it only asked if politics was a negative--I wonder if there are others like me for whom it is a positive?  I am sure there are others like me who see that this has nothing to do with flags, military or patriotism and is all about racial equality.

SameSongNDance said:

I still contend that if it weren't for the RZ channel the NFL would be largely unwatchable. Also if it weren't for fantasy football, I would be completely uninterested. I tune out for the playoffs, I don't root for any team and honestly don't give a #### who wins the SB.

My interest level is the same as it has always been.

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No doubt there. There are usually 3 or 4 teams I will watch on primetime because of the commercials and way it is portrayed. 

I tried to watch last night and immediately bored of the terrible lines, the 20 minute discussion and "sideline reporting" of what the players thought about the anthem, their reactions to it, etc. When did that become game sideline-relevant reporting?  It was clearly something the NFL took the reporters to the side and said "make sure you get a mention in to what we are doing on this issue".  I don't care. I tune in to watch the sport, not read the tee shirt 90 men all had made.  

And then there was a point where they spent 5 minutes between Mike and Chris talking about the spot of the ball. Will it be a first down. The refs look at it, tells us what they saw, spot it again, measure it, then tell us what they see again. 

Really?  This is 2017. Put a danged tracking chip in the ball and KNOW to the centimeter where the nose of the football was. We have the tech for this. We don't need the dog and pony show. 

The presentation of the game on TV is what's caused my decline in interest.  Commentators are usually brutal and have no idea what's happening.  They're too busy trying to give cute anecdotes, forced story lines, or plugging whatever lame show is premiering that week.  Commercials are thrown at you from every angle at any moment, so when something interesting or controversial happens, instead of talking about it and showing a replay, we get ads.  NFL and the networks' greed has gotten too great, which is ruining how they give you their product.

Shutout said:

And then there was a point where they spent 5 minutes between Mike and Chris talking about the spot of the ball. Will it be a first down. The refs look at it, tells us what they saw, spot it again, measure it, then tell us what they see again. 

Really?  This is 2017. Put a danged tracking chip in the ball and KNOW to the centimeter where the nose of the football was. We have the tech for this. We don't need the dog and pony show. 

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Great idea. Completely agree.  Where technology permits, let's take some of this guess work out of it in the interest of time and fairness.

az_prof said:

My interest hasn't really waned, but two factors that do affect it negatively are injuries--as a Vikes fan the injury to Bradford and now Cook really saps my enthusiasm as a Championship seems all but impossible.

The other thing that really hinders my enjoyment and interest is how difficult it is to see games without paying a fortune to Direct TV.  

As for politics, I am extremely supportive of the players taking a position on racism and White Supremacy and I think a flaw in the poll is that it only asked if politics was a negative--I wonder if there are others like me for whom it is a positive?  I am sure there are others like me who see that this has nothing to do with flags, military or patriotism and is all about racial equality.

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I will believe it has nothing to do with flags and patriotism when the sideline reporters and announcers stop going out of their ways to talk about it. 

Dont get me wrong. I completely agree with you in principle but for it to really be true, then they have to start exercising their platform by not wearing pink for breast cancer awareness, or not supporting other areas that we all commonly look at in interest and generally universally support for good reasons, such as the anthem and military.  By only exercising their voice in one set of circumstances they defacto ARE making it about those things. 

My decline happened about 7 years ago. Now I'll watch the Packers when they're on, otherwise I'm good with just checking my phone for scores/stats.

Since they added Thursday Night Football and games in London, my interest has gone down significantly. When it's a once/week thing, especially with fantasy, it's a wonderful thing.

The multiple days and times throughout the week have sapped all of that.

I like watching it but don't care if I miss it. I used to thoroughly enjoy Sundays for football before and never wanted to miss it.

Ilov80s said:

My interest level dropped a few years ago when flags and instant replay took over. I still love the Lions and fantasy, but I can't really watch a regular NFL game without Redzone. 

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This is basically my combo. Times I can't get redzone I make do with the regular nfl network highlights.

But its not like I ever got geeked over a colts/broncos game, I have no horse in that matchup.

Leroy Hoard said:

This is basically my combo. Times I can't get redzone I make do with the regular nfl network highlights.

But its not like I ever got geeked over a colts/broncos game, I have no horse in that matchup.

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I see what you did there

az_prof said:

As for politics, I am extremely supportive of the players taking a position on racism and White Supremacy and I think a flaw in the poll is that it only asked if politics was a negative--I wonder if there are others like me for whom it is a positive?  I am sure there are others like me who see that this has nothing to do with flags, military or patriotism and is all about racial equality.

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I think this would be a very minimal amount of diehard or hardcore viewers, handfuls at a maximum. 

We watch football for leisure and pleasure, we want to be entertained. We're force-fed endless amounts content in regards to flags, patriotism, & certainly race on all other outlets - it doesn't need to be incorporated into our leisure activities where we are trying to tune out reality and just enjoy ourselves for a few hours at a clip. 

Just my .02 on this matter and I'd think you're the outlier here, but who knows TBH.

Decreased and honestly if not for ff it would decrease more. I'd probably just watch college at that point.

I'llwatch when I can but I'll not going to stay inside or ignore my family because of a game. 

So this year it's become more watching some TNF after the kids go to bed but that's not very long before I'm sleeping, turn a game on for a bit on Sunday afternoon while playing a board game with a kid or two, watch a few minutes of SNF and MNF after the kids go to bed. Watch highlights on the internet. 

Level of interest is going to remain high until so many fans leave the sport that the easy money in fantasy dries up.  I only follow non-Packer news just for fantasy/making-money purposes.  

Level of interest is....waning because of...

Game is nothing but passing.

Fantasy sports so watered down now. You don't have to know anything. Apps do everything for you.

My hate of the Commissioner. He is an idiot.

Frustration with my own team not really progressing.

Wow, pretty shocked as we're nearing 100 votes we're close to a 50% decline in interest on this forum. 

Decreasing for me as well.  My boys 11 and 9 are just not that excited about football.  I'd watch every game I could at their age  I think in part its because there are so many other entertainment options now.  Internet, streaming, fire sticks, game consoles, ect... Growing up my family bonded around the Bears games.  That family football time just isn't there anymore with my kids.

I used to be able to watch a primetime game from start to finish if I had a fantasy rooting interest.  I don't do that as much anymore.  The product is declining in many ways and now add a political slant to start every game... The NFL is not trending in the right direction. 

And Goodell is a joke with how he handles player issues.  There is no consistency.

FF is a mild diversion. For a coupe of years it was an obsession, I put an end to that because  I enjoy family time & having a balanced life.

As for the NFL & my level of interest, that is a direct correlation of how my team is doing. I only root for one team. If they’re doing well, I’m engaged. If they’re not, I’m on to other areas of interest in my life. Obviously my interest is up this year.

I rarely watch playoff games. I usually watch conference Championship games & I’m at Super Bowl parties every year.

Max Power said:

Decreasing for me as well.  My boys 11 and 9 are just not that excited about football.  I'd watch every game I could at their age  I think in part its because there are so many other entertainment options now.  Internet, streaming, fire sticks, game consoles, ect... Growing up my family bonded around the Bears games.  That family football time just isn't there anymore with my kids.

I used to be able to watch a primetime game from start to finish if I had a fantasy rooting interest.  I don't do that as much anymore.  The product is declining in many ways and now add a political slant to start every game... The NFL is not trending in the right direction. 

And Goodell is a joke with how he handles player issues.  There is no consistency.

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Different dynamic (1 boy 1 girl) but this drives my level of interest in general. My kids don’t watch sports except for soccer. They’re active, so we’re usually out doing something or attending an event/sport they’re participating in. 

Growing up, my parents worked hard, both were entrepreneurs. They tried to make our games & matches but missed their fair share. But Sunday’s were for watching the Lions as a family & eating mom’s pot roast at halftime. Feels like I’m writing about another culture. 

Don't care in the slightest about players kneeling, but my interest in the sport has dropped due to the destructive nature of the game itself. The brain injury stuff is the biggest issue with football long-term and the biggest reason why I think the sport will decline.

I only really pay attention because I like FF. In terms of sitting down and watching a whole game, I watch far more soccer and basketball than football these days.

Bankerguy said:

Level of interest is....waning because of...

Game is nothing but passing.

Fantasy sports so watered down now. You don't have to know anything. Apps do everything for you.

My hate of the Commissioner. He is an idiot.

Frustration with my own team not really progressing.

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The idiot so far has made money for the only people he really cares about. And he'll be getting an extension soon (I missed it if he got it already). I wish I was that big an idiot.

EBF said:

Don't care in the slightest about players kneeling, but my interest in the sport has dropped due to the destructive nature of the game itself. The brain injury stuff is the biggest issue with football long-term and the biggest reason why I think the sport will decline.

I only really pay attention because I like FF. In terms of sitting down and watching a whole game, I watch far more soccer and basketball than football these days.

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Partly true. It will keep some kids from playing but sports including the NFL is probably the biggest way for the uneducated poor to get rich. 

I still love watching the 2nd half finishes on the red zone. I don't foresee that ending anytime soon.

mphtrilogy said:

worst team I drafted in 25 years.. don't know if I need to root for a tank for the Jets or not to tank, the politics didn't help, but it's more about my fantasy team being really bad. 

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Unless there is an absolute lock future Hall of Famer for the Jets to draft #1 overall, then rooting for "the tank" especially before Halloween is nonsensical to me. If the Jets drop seven straight and enter December at 2-9? Different story by then. 

fantasycurse42 said:

What about the science behind injuries, such as CTE? While the risks are now becoming more clear, and they're being paid a lot of money for it, the fact that I know they're out there essentially destroying their bodies and brains definitely takes some of the pleasure out of segments like "jacked up" that I used to enjoy a lot more. 

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They stopped doing “jacked up” a long time ago, and because it placed the emphasis on the absolute wrong thing.

NFL players are aware of the risks. They are paid millions and voluntarily incur those risks. 

While I hate seeing injury of any sort, they’re part of the game. And it’s certainly improving with technology as well. Thinking back to the days of leather helmets it’s a relatively safe sport. 

No one gets paid to destroy their body. People play for a lot of reasons. If someone wants to get paid millions to play football while knowing the risk of destroying their body, why should I enjoy it less?  

Last I checked the defense gets paid to play football too. 

I hope no player ever gets injured, but no, it doesn’t diminish my love for the game that they do. It’s way way better now than it was 40 years back when I started watching. 

My interest is definitely on the decline. I still really like fantasy football, and couldn’t imagine a time where I don’t have at least one decent size money league that I participate in. That being said, I was once in as many as five money leagues, and am now down to two. It would have been one (I have been the commissioner of my league for over 20 years) but the guys at work really needed a 12th so I stayed in that league for one more season. Tell the truth, my favorite thing about it now is the live draft. Seeing all the guys, shooting the ####, getting away from life for an afternoon is a great time. 

A lot of reasons for my decline in interest have already been mentioned here. Too many flags, too many replays, etc. are all things that really take away from my enjoyment of watching a stand alone game. I miss the days when you could celebrate a TD as soon as the ref raised his hands. Now we have to wait and see if maybe a millimeter of the receiver’s cleat was on the end line, or if he “completed the act of the catch”, or if the 12th guy, who was running off the field, and had no impact on the play whatsoever wasn’t completely off the field. I understand everyone wants the correct call to be made, but it’s overkill nowadays IMO. 

I’ll be honest about another thing. It certainly doesn’t help that my NFL team sucks and has sucked for a long time. The first sporting event I ever watched as a kid was the last time they played in the Super Bowl. That was 32 years ago. 

Fariq said:

Unless there is an absolute lock future Hall of Famer for the Jets to draft #1 overall, then rooting for "the tank" especially before Halloween is nonsensical to me. If the Jets drop seven straight and enter December at 2-9? Different story by then. 

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Yep, that's the case now

mphtrilogy said:

Yep, that's the case now

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Not sure if you are one of them, but ask any pro-tank Jets fans you know who the heck the team should be tanking for. If you ask three Jets fans, you might get three different answers. There is no lock at this time.   

I still watch albeit not as much..I think the NFL should allow people to watch whatever games they want.I'm in Fl, just moved here last year from NJ, when I got stuck with  lousy Jets or my Giants..and when they're off or on a sun/mon night game, I ALWAYS got philly, washington, Dallas on the NFC game, and ALWAYS got NE or Denver on AFC games..

I missed almost all of L. Tomlinson's career, and so many other players..why did I have to watch Philly games when the Giants were off?!?! I'm sure Philly fans say the same thing, and Washington fans, etc..

in Fla the same thing continues, I had Pitt/Ravens and NE/Car game, along with the lousy Miami game..I'm just tired of being force-fed games I would never have an interest in anyways. I hate the Ravens, can't stand the Steelers..why would they show that game in the West Palm Beach area?! 

I get the NE games, they're always good, etc..but enough's enough. I was a casual fan of Nascar until Jimmy Johnson just kept winning titles all the time..so you look at NASCAR ratings and viewership and attendance and it is down across the board , and has been for years now..and they mucked with the rules of the races, and NASCAR has no become a sport of primadonnas and princesses..it's not the old days with Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, Yarborough, etc..

and the NFL has become NASCAR..NE wins or is in the Big Game all the time.it's just boring to watch. I'd like to see a title game or SB without BB and Brady.or Pittsburgh. 

the commercials are what they've always been they dont really bother me.the flags do.the constant reviews. 

but what really gets me going is the endzone celebrations..OBJ in particular. the broadcasters have a policy of not showing those who run on the field..ya know, naked drunk guy running up and down the field as the fans cheer him on..but they'll show T.O. wipe his butt on the FG post. or OBJ propose to a net..I HATE these 'acts' that the networks seem hell bent on showing us.. Antonio Brown acting like a 3 yr old kicking a water cooler because he didnt get the ball on a certain play.  and every single first down needs to have the player involved give the 'first down ' hand pointing gesture? enough already it's really old.think of something new..

many of the players are TV camera-aware. like A-rod was in baseball..just play the game, dont keep looking up at the jumbo tron..

and the pink BS for breast cancer.it's such a shameless plug for corrupt breast cancer 'charities'..google Susan G Komen..stop the pinkwashing..I've done many BC walks in Central Park and Jones Beach..lost a few family members to it..but these charities are just taking advantage of you, they're thieves.dont even get me started on why a male league, with mostly male viewers does NOTHING for prostate cancer awareness and it kills nearly as many people as BC does. it's just a commercialization of BC.it's such BS.I hate october NFL games with the pink this and pink that..stop the pinkwashing..

https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/susan-g-komen-pink-ribbon-facade/

I dislike Goodell's take on force feeding games on us..we DONT care about London Football.or TNF football..how is it that the #1 sport worldwide bows to college football ( fridays and saturdays) , and MLB in October? put NFL on Friday or Saturday.take away Bama v. ND  in primetime..

I watch a lot of college football now, it's more exciting, bunch of kids playing their guts out, big bands, high energy, no endzone celebrations, timeout after first down, etc..it's so much better in so many ways..

I hated the NFL when the Niners were winning with Joe Montana and Steve Young..at least until the Giants crushed them 49-3 in one playoff game, and Leonard Marshall nearly decapitated Joe with a hit that essentially ended his SF career..it was over.the cloud had lifted..

I need that day to come with Brady, Big Ben, etc..I like the new kids - Watson and so on..very excited about it..but I'm bored with the old guys like Brees.

oh I'll also add I'm not really impressed with the level of coaching in the NFL - I think it's the worst it's been in YEARS..Adam Gase?! cmon now. D. Marrone? puh-lease..

I think this sums up my thoughts on where the NFL is headed

Fariq said:

Not sure if you are one of them, but ask any pro-tank Jets fans you know who the heck the team should be tanking for. If you ask three Jets fans, you might get three different answers. There is no lock at this time.   

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I was not pro tank, but the way the team was set up, I had no idea what to think this year, they were ranked 32nd in all pre season polls, pretty much the laughingstock of the prognosticators and suck for sam talk was all the rage, I came in thinking it was a lost season, Buffalo game pretty much confirmed it, then things started happening... We need a QB badly, but now with a couple of wins, and some good young players we can start watching with true football interest and just hope a qb shows up somehwere somehow I guess...

My interest in FF is as high as ever, as I have gotten more into dynasty and IDP. In terms of watching the NFL as a spectacle, my interest has declined. Like others, I generally find the games borderline unwatchable at times (start to finish) and would much rather just have RZ on, unless I have 3 or 4 fantasy players in the one game. Sometimes I'm more interested in a matchup or team(s) you don't see very often but there are a quite a few teams I just have zero interest in watching for whatever reason that often get primetime games - e.g. Giants, Philly, Ravens, Cowboys. Some weeks I might only watch half of a game live, a bit of RZ, then watch all of the 8-10 min highlights packages on YouTube (which are pretty good) after the fact. Then I go through boxscores, snap counts, pods, fantasy analysis and it's onto the next week.

I'm probably different from some though in that I'm not from the US and I didn't grow up with the game, so it's never been something I've ever lived and breathed. If it wasn't for FF, I never would have got into the NFL at all actually.

jasvic said:

The presentation of the game on TV is what's caused my decline in interest.  Commentators are usually brutal and have no idea what's happening.  They're too busy trying to give cute anecdotes, forced story lines, or plugging whatever lame show is premiering that week.  Commercials are thrown at you from every angle at any moment, so when something interesting or controversial happens, instead of talking about it and showing a replay, we get ads.  NFL and the networks' greed has gotten too great, which is ruining how they give you their product.

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Agree with you 100%. I play fantasy football like Kramer dressed sans underwear, I'm out there. I enjoy it a lot better without the talking heads telling me how smart they are. I don't watch pregame, post game or half time shows. I only watch games that I can get on my indoor antenna. It's fabulous.