Okay, I’m from L.A. and we have no NFL team. So I know I’m not your typical fan. And today I watched games from Maui. But still, I’ve always wondered, as we’re now in Decemeber --Why does anybody GO to football games when it’s freezing, snowing, raining, hailing, or all of the above? The games are on TV. In HD. You get closer angles, you get replays, you get that yellow line! How can we even follow a football game now if it doesn’t have that yellow line?
There was that Packer-Giants 2007 NFC championship game in Green Bay where it was something like twenty degrees below. Half the players got trench foot. And they were the lucky ones. Meanwhile, 72,740 people sat in the stands, frozen, for almost four hours. Why? Yeah, I understand the camaraderie and the excitement of being there live, but Holy Christ!! This is how Russian armies won wars – by freezing out their opponents, who by the way, wore just as many layers and passed around just as many flasks as loyal Cheeseheads.
I’m sure diehard fans will scoff and say I just don’t understand – and they would be right. A big-screen TV, a hot pizza, a roaring fire, a nearby bathroom (that’s CLEAN), a pause button, and the yellow line vs… frostbite.
And then there’s rain and snow. There’s nothing more fun than watching an NFL game in a blizzard or deluge. They should outlaw domes. With snow the field turns white, there’s zero visibility – it’s a beautiful thing. And in the driving rain the field turns to mu
d, no one can hold the ball, there’s fumbles every play, and if someone should miraculously catch a pass he then slides for ten yards. Uniforms get black, announcers have no idea who anybody is, hash marks disappear – now THAT’S entertainment!But if you’re sitting in the stands, peeking out of ponchos or garbage bags and the rain and snow is pelting you too, doesn’t that put a tiny crimp in your enjoyment? Help me here. What am I missing, besides double pneumonia?
It’s not like baseball. People brave brutal weather conditions to attend playoff and World Series games but that’s so they don’t have to listen to Tim McCarver. I get that. But Chris Collingsworth is okay. Troy Aikman and Phil Simms are boring but they don’t send you screaming into the frozen tundra. And newcomer Jon Gruden is quite good.
I could do without the stupid animated transformers on FOX, GARY UNMARRIED promos on CBS, and NBC could cut their half-time roster of announcers by six and stop showing the Philadelphia Eagles (they've been on Sunday Night Football fifteen times already this season) but football is a television sport. And for you hearty souls who say drive four hours in grid-lock traffic to and from Foxboro and sit for four to six hours in torturous conditions, just consider this – the players you are watching are all getting millions of dollars. You paid for your seat. What’s wrong with this High-Definition picture?
37 comments :
I have zero interest in sports, but they're infringing on me because Jerry Jones just opened his taxpayer-subsidized Cowboy palace directly across the street from the Wal-Mart where I shop for groceries. For some reason, they thought it would be a good idea to plant this gigantic thing smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood, about four blocks off a highway that was already torn to pieces and narrowed down to one lane in most directions. So I certainly wish that nobody would go to the games, since they've turned Sunday shopping into a visit to traffic Hell.
BTW, after raping us on taxes, and jacking up the ticket prices on top of that, they're also charging fans $70 (!!!) to park their cars. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I heard that. If I did go to football games and someone tried to charge me $70 to park my car, I'd expect to park it on the 50-yard line and watch the game from behind the wheel.
Most of the time, you're right. That's why season ticket sales are down in many places. But being a Packer fan, going to Lambeau is a must at least once per year. This year, it was 86 degrees when I went and that was so awesome it was surreal. But often, it's 3 above - or below - and it's just a crazy experience. It's like you're toughing it out with your team. The experience is great - just not every week. The rest of the time, give me my TV, replay, angles, clean bathroom, beers under $6 each, and a fraction of the announcing and game "analysis" before and after. But if it was Soldier Field or the Metrodome or some other worthless joint, you're right - it wouldn't be worth it even once. :)
I've blogged every game for the Seahawks since '05 and in that time, I've only been to one game (an exhibition) at Qwest. Point is that I don't feel that I'm missing anything by not being there. On the other hand, baseball is much better when you are at the event.
For those cities that have an NFL team I'd say it is fortunate for couch potato fans that people actually go to the games, lest they be blacked out on the local affiliate because the game did not sell out.
P.S. Holy s**t!! They charge $70 to park a car at the new Cowboys stadium? That is criminal.
You're asking the wrong guy, here. I want to know why anyone would WATCH a football game. Holy boring, batman.
Pat Reeder,
You have a problem with them planting giant stadium in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, but not a giant Walmart? And you shop at Walmart, but then complain about the taxes you have to pay? If irony were the force, you'd be a Jedi Master.
I appreciate that somebody goes to the football games so I CAN watch them on TV. And judging from some of the face painters and costumed morons, it might be a good way to clean up the streets. Lock the gates from the outside.
But baseball is a whole other experience. There is nothing better than being at the stadium, smelling the grass, hearing the bat meet the ball, the leisurely pace. Course, a lot of the new stadiums are increasing the "excitement" by upping the crappy songs and non-stop games on the jumbo tron...
Wait a minute.
Quit bitching Levine. A better question would be "Why would anybody be anywhere but Maui".
Aloha
"Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life. Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying." -
George Carlin
"The object of Football"
In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.
The point? Football is a war, and who the hell wants to go watch war?
Let me just say this, the reason people go to football games, and thank god, is so they can have some FUN in their lives, despite the high price of tickets. What are we supposed to do? Watch a fascinating match of Chess? Ever seen a science experiment take place with 75,000 fans there?
If it weren't for football taking place in the fall, you'd see a helluva lot of suicides and domestic disturbances going on than there is.
So for all you non-sports fans, or non-football fans, just remember that football employs more than 300,000 people with jobs, and in this economy, that's something to write home about!!
Ken,
Attending a college game in person is much better than a pro game, especially if you attended one of the schools. Even now with their record don't you enjoy going to the Rose Bowl at least once a year to see your Bruins?
As for JerryDome, it's all about the giagantic HDTV looming over everything. I saw a game and spent most of my time looking at that thing. Jones understood (well at least after seeing Celine Dion in Vegas) that fans want to see the yellow line and replays.
Of course, someone paid for my ticket and the parking I did buy the guy a beer which I should have paid off by March.
To Tim W...
I work nights and Wal-Mart is the only supermarket open here past 11.
Also, I've done more than my share of supporting mom and pop stores, but if you think there are any left to defend in Arlington, Texas, you're about 10 years too late. T'aint my fault, it was that way when I got here.
I'm sorry, did you say Cris Collinsworth is OK?!?!? You're not watching games he's calling, are you? I have heard him call a pass play as a run, and heard him say, "Now that play had pass interference, but you don't get that unless the wide receiver is really involved."
Otherwise, I agree with you, and for an even bigger reason than you noted. I can sit at home, HDTV, pizza, bathroom, all of that - and I don't have to pay two hundred and fifty dollars to do it. And that's with as many people as I care to have over WITH me!
I don't charge 'em for parking either, although I'm thinking about it... :D
I remain,
Sincerely,
Eric L. Sofer
x<]:o){
The Bad Clown...
WV: bryade: "You think Bry has got any more juice in him? Those vampire kids from across the street say they're thirsty again."
I'm nowhere as avid a football fan as I am a baseball fan (and when it comes to football, I prefer the college game), but I've been to a few NFL games over the years in the cold and snow, and seeing games played in that environment is a challenge for both the teams and spectators (assuming the latter are bundled up; I have no sympathy for dimwit guys who go to games with their shirts off to spell out a name in 20-degree weather). It's fascinating to see the elements affect strategy. (While I tend to think of Cubs fans as stupid Big Ten frat boys more interested in partying than the game itself, one great thing about Wrigley Field is that the winds off Lake Michigan make it a completely different ballpark in April than it is in July.)
Another reason I can see fans preferring to be there rather than watching on TV is that television coverage of the NFL has gone overboard in its coverage of quarterbacks, thanks to increased and more sophisticated camera use -- we have incessant quarterback reaction shots even when they're not involved in the play. I await the day when this gets to a reducio ad absurdum level, and NFL owners get rid of those boring linemen and turn the game into a punt, pass and kick competition, maybe keeping receivers around so they can continue to act like buffoons when they score touchdowns -- what entertainment! (I concur with Jim Brown, the greatest running back of all; when you score a touchdown, act like you've been there, for crying out loud.)
I sympathize with Pat Reeder's problems, but didn't Arlington have traffic problems beforehand thanks to Rangers Ballpark (a fine place to watch a ballgame, BTW) and other Arlington tourist attractions? Obviously, Cowboys Stadium's size amplifies things, and I agree that $70 parking is absurd, but it's not as if this is something foreign to local traffic authorities. Too bad the Trinity Railway Express connecting Dallas and Fort Worth doesn't have a stop near the Arlington stadia.
wv: "paliz" -- what Dr. Moreau got when he blended a certain former GOP vice-presidential candidate with an iguana. This new creature has no increase in intelligence...but it does look great in pantyhose.
Most of the time, it is better to stay home.
However, once upon a time here in Michigan, we had a professional football team that featured a running back by the name of Barry Sanders. Some friends and I went to the game (end of '97 vs the Jets) where he broke the 2,000 yard mark for the season.
People were chanting "Bar-ree! Bar-ree!" at a deafening level in the Silverdome. They stomped the concrete floor to the point that we wondered if the upper level (in which we were sitting) might collapse. I could feel the vibrations in the air in my chest. It was great.
There was a point in the game when there was an injury -- a bad one that delayed the game for several minutes, and we could see playeres running to the tunnels in a panic to tell the ambulance to hurry. There was a complete hush over that crowd that was in itself stunning in contrast to all of the noise before.
And after the player was taken from the field, and the crowd reached a moment respectably distant from the injury, the chants and the stomping came right back.
Players interveiwed after the game said they had never experianced anything like it, that they could feel that stomping crowd down on the field. I wouldn't have experienced that at home.
Another time I went to a Michigan game where the Wolverines (under Bo) lost to Iowa by a field goal. There was a woman in the row in front of me who actually broke into tears, which I found hilarious (but I was kind enough to not laugh until we were away from her). That game was played in the cold, outdoors, but those were the days when we could sneak booze into the stadium.
If all you want to watch is the game, TV is best. But if you want to experience the event -- be it a game, concert, movie, whatever, ya gotta get outta the house.
As Yogi Berra might say, "No one goes to those things anymore. They're always too crowded"...
Years ago, some sports execs said if the TV coverage was better than what fans could see at the stadium, they wouldn't go. This led to a Saturday Evening Post cartoon where a guy in his living room is watching TV, and there is a post in the middle of the screen so he can't see the field.
Ken, you are a Los Angeleno, which is why you understand what I mean when I say that if I go to a Dodgers game with my transistor, I get Vin for only three innings. But if I stay home, I get him for nine. Which is the better deal?
Not only is football better on TV, but all those TV time-outs, regular time-outs, red flag review delays, etc, make it difficult to watch on TV - let alone in person. I can not watch it without my DVR. We start recording, at watch about 45 minutes in. We catch up by the 4th quarter.
HD and DVR is my preferred way to watch it.
Grudin - he says "guys", "my guys", "those guys", about 500 times a game. Now that you know, you can't listen to him. Just like knowing that David Caruso has to have the last word in every scene he is in - now ruins that show even more for me!
Can somebody please hit “conference call.”
Pat, that’s why the public transportation in Arlington is so “aces.” And watching on the 50 yd. line from your car is just great – ‘cause you can make out. Only half the time when both games are over, I forget and drive off with the speaker still in the window. Also, if you drive down to Baylor Dental Sch. and park on Hall (cor. Gaston) or Floyd (cor. Oak) there’s 10 and 12-hr. metered parking with spaces always available. And the most it will set you back is $3.00 – if you’ve got the quarters. I just want to know who goes in for a 12-hr. dental appointment and still parks at a meter?
Ken, Packers-Giants. Just 2 words. “Bratwurst.” “Beer.” Or maybe visa versa?
Eric P., If J. Jones ran Lambeau, he could sell 30,000 extra standing room only “party pass” tickets – although the Green Bay fire marshal would later drop that down to only the number with enough iron poles to stand with your tongue frozen to for at least the first half.
Tim W., we need the Wal-Mart because some of us can’t afford to go in and see those “Wal-Mart Shoppers - Parts 1, 2 and 3” Internet post types who actually have season tickets in the stadium.
Eric, I do like Cris Collingsworth, although I do keep getting him mixed up with that Craig James who played for SMU. And for just about all the executives in Mad Men.
TMC – I still cringe at that Seinfeld scene with them bare-chested and painted at the hockey game.
Yesterday it got all the way up to 40 Fahrenheit here, so they opened the roof. Otherwise it might have been dark enough for the Jumbo-tron 3-D glasses to work.
OK, I realize that some of you guys are professional writers; and that I’ve missed Sitcom Room maybe 3 years in a row; but we’re still allowed to send notes, right?”
(Ken: -----“You don’t talk about Sitcom Room; and btw; who uses even ‘one’ semicolon in blog comments?”)
Fair enough. Well, we really like your stuff, ‘trench foot’ and that line about Russian armies – you know, the one about winning wars? Brilliant funny analogy, almost a, who was that guy, George Carling? And that Weather Channel football; you really did nail the highlight reel. (I’m the guy who won a reserved Vinson and Elkins law firm Texas Rangers seat in a poker game my second week in Dallas – then went over and stood in the shade by the concession stand all game because if was so friggin’ unbelievably hot for a guy from Boston the rearview mirror actually melted off the car windshield.)
But here’s a suggestion and you can do what you want with it. Mebbe go back and change the line to just ‘Russia won wars.’ Seems to flow better. Don’t need the beat. That’s what you guys call it, right? Or is a beat only when there’s no word?””
---- “(BEAT).”
But that’s not why I called, Larry.
I realize you have your brushes with stardom out there all the time. Think you once rubbed shoulders with Tony Randall – back when something like that was still legal. So just wanted to share. Sometimes I make things up, but this is true.
Daughter was doctor on call this weekend Presbyterian Hosp. Son was over watching Cowboys-Chargers – apparently because he really misses taking stuff like this in on a 21” non-HD traditional aspect ratio screen.
It’s her on the phone: ‘Who’s “Marcus [sic] Ware?’ He says, ‘Plays for the Cowboys, he just got hurt. Actually from SD. She says, ‘I know, they just brought him in.’ (BEAT) He says, ‘You want me to find that cast Tony Dorsett and Tony Hill signed when you fell off the horse in third grade?’ (Hill’s kid was in her class, and they were visiting for some reason. Jr. may have brought them in for Show and Tell – or maybe for one of those sitcom ‘bring our dads in to tell the class about what they do days, and nobody’s interested in yours; but Trey’s dad who gets to deliver packages for UPS all over the city – WOW! episodes?’)
“She was on for the rest of the night. He went home.
See, the guys in the writers room didn’t even have to stay up all night to make something out of nothing either. Man, this is the best Chanukah everrrr.
PS: WV for previous post: “Imstabl”
.
Hey, at least the Eagles don't SUCK in December like the Cowboys (who are still on national TV way too many times beyond reason) have for the last 15 years!
1. Tailgating
When I start drinking and grilling at 9 AM in my driveway, my puritanical wife and neighbors tend to pass judgment on me. Do it in a parking lot on Sunday morning and it is as American as apple pie.
2. Watching the game
I get to watch the game. During a lull in the game, my friends will not start talking about their cousin's hysterectomy. They will not ask me to take out the trash during a long drive. They will never ask if I'm going to just sit there and watch the game all day because that's what we spent $75 to do.
We were having this conversation in the press box in Foxboro yesterday.... and even worse, as a fan you are the live studio audience that has to sit through the tv timeouts, replays etc...
So does all this mean, that nobody's too bothered that more "home" games are going to played outside the US?
It looks like London is going to host two games from next year - perhaps rising to four games.
If everybody is happy to stay at home, then there's nothing to stop the NFL shifting games abroad is there? The HD signals travel across the Atlantic just fine after all.
I live in the UK, and prefer football (or "soccer") to anything else, but believe that you can't beat the live experience for anything. Sure - you don't get the 27 replays, although many grounds have big-screens to give you the angles. But let's face it - without a live crowd, there's not going to be a great deal of atmosphere at any game. And that'll make it a worse experience to view at home. Nobody likes silence (unless you support the travelling team who are scoring in front of frenzied home town fans). And while the cameras may linger on the face-painters, there are "regular" fans too in the stadium.
Such is the intelligence of football fans that their health is less important than "supporting" their team.
No wonder we can't get decent health care passed.
There is one word that sums up why I appreciate all the fans who fill our stadium...blackout.
Adam Bowie said...
"It looks like London is going to host two games from next year - perhaps rising to four games."...
Assuming London's hosting an increasing number of games will eventually lead to an NFL franchise being established there (I'd say "L.A., eat you're heart out", but I don't think anyone in L.A. really cares, and I didn't really miss it when I was living there and the Raiders and Rams both left the same year), I started to wonder how playing American football regularly on the pitch at Wembley would encourage the Brits to put their own particular spin, pro and con, on the game:
PRO: Halftime show is always a marathon rock concert for the benefit of The Prince's Trust foundation
CON: Fans will have to put up with seeing Charles and Camilla condescending to them at every home game (almost as bad as seeing Jerry Jones or Al Davis doing the same thing)
PRO: Infractions and penalties will be dealt with within the time-honored framework of British justice
CON: Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties changed to 15 yards and a fortnight in The Tower
PRO: Before the game, everyone stands to sing "God Save The Queen"
CON: After the game, most of the Cincinnati Bengals players have to be given pardons by the Queen
PRO:A new team in London means additional opportunities for marginal and older players
CON: "Your attention please! -- Now playing quarterback: Vinnie Testaverde!"
PRO: After a win, they always play a video of Churchill proclaiming "This was their finest hour!"
CON: After a loss, they always play a video of Chamberlain turning Czechoslavakia over to the Nazis
PRO: New team in London surpisingly successful against the Redskins, Chiefs and Buccaneers
CON: Just don't seem to be able to beat the Vikings or the Patriots
Thing is, Ken; if you don't go to the game, how do you KNOW it's actually happening? And then when the armchair quarterbacks run into somebody who was actually THERE, well, it's like telling a Vet you saw "M*A*S*H".
WV: catio = feline garden terrace.
Oh Ken, you just don't understand! It's Lambeau. In the winter. Frozen Tundra. Tradition and all that!
It's the way football was meant to be played.
One game in the below zero weather every 20 years or so is enough though. And that's just so you can say you were at the Frozen Tundra when it was actually frozen.
Generally though, I prefer the warmth of my own home and my HDTV with replay and food that isn't ice cold before it gets to me and beer that costs less than my gross monthly income! And yes, clean bathrooms!
Not to mention that we at home can actually do something fun and/or productive while all those car and truck ads are being aired.
TERIF: what watching football in a warm living room is!
I'm siting here trying to enjoy a random MNF commercial and wondering why they keep interupting it with that stupid fricken game.
In other words it kinda' sucks either way these days. The actual game of football that used to represent the millions of middle class Americans (who went to the staduium with the hard steel benches to watch their local heros) has faded into a giant corporate sponsorship program. The NFL and Wal-Mart are almost synonomous. I'm still addicted to it though. Every once in a while a good game, or an incredible individual performance will rear it's head and all the commercial non-sense will fade away. But honestly, a commercial shoved between every drive? Why?
Went to the Cowboys game on Sunday -- $60 for parking, but it was in Lot A, next to the Rangers' stadium, so the $$$ at least went to Tom Hicks and Nolan Ryan, and not to Jerry. And then they tortured us in the third quarter with that freakin' board -- in honor of "Avatar" (i.e. Fox paid Jerry a ton of bucks), the team handed out 3-D glasses and broadcast the first eight minutes of the second half in "The largest 3-D telecast in history!".
Which of course meant if you didn't have the glasses on, you saw the red and blue images out of phase (even better for people who had been liquoring up at the tailgate parties since 9:30 a.m. and were having trouble focusing anyway), but if you looked down at the football field, you watched the actual game in a sickly blue-and-red mix. When the PA guy came on eight minutes into the period and asked the fans "HOW DO YOU LIKE COWBOY-VISION IN 3-D?" Dallas fans, San Diego fans, cheerleaders, Phil Simms, people next door at Six Flags, all joined in with one 90,000 voiced "Boo", followed by cheering when they turned the stupid 3-D off.
Oh, and if you didn't get nauseated and hungover by that, the three-minute ad the showed on the board linking the Dallas Cowboys to "Avatar" pushed you over into full ralphing territory (I think the ad was saying the Cowboys are like 10-foot tall blue Smurfs. Or they're like the U.S. military. Or they're like Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I don't know, unless this was some sort of evil plot by Jerry Jones or Rupert Murdoch to sabotage the film in the Dallas-Fort Worth area).
As a sometime, occasional NFL fan, I find that the best experience is in my home with the large screen HD TV, the pause button, the barcalounger set at just the right angle, and the bathroom with no waiting lines. Yet I have gone to football games, Packer games no less, and in the winter, too.
It's fun to tailgate with friends before the game. Somehow, tailgating becomes a giant barbecue with hundreds of your best Packer buds all waiting for the game to begin while talking trash about the other team. This is an experience that cannot be replicated in your backyard. Being swept up in the excitement of the crowd during the game also has no comparison, especially if you happen to be at an historic game.
Here in the frozen tundra, we do have several tricks for dealing with the cold so that it's less painful than you would think. Chemical feet and hand warmers are used inside our boots, and our gloves. We also bring chemical heat pads to set our tushies on. And we aren't too vain to wear thermal underwear, bulky layers of wool and fleece, and cozy down-filled parkas, and if necessary, our snow-mobiling overalls. We wear toasty warm Sorrel boots on our feet, and fur-lined bomber hats on our heads. The TV guys always show the fanatics who have stripped away those layers and painted themselves in team colors. I guess that's because it's more sexy than showing crowds of heavily bundled, muffin-shaped, balls of rag and fur, which is what the rest of us look like.
Most Packer fans don't go to every game either, even if they have season tickets. Season tickets are like gold and you can always sell them or trade them for favors. So it's not like season ticket holders are setting their buns in the cold every weekend. Well...the fanatical ones are, but most fans pick and chose the games they'll go to in a season and sell the rest of their tickets.
The cold weather makes going to the game much more of an adventure, and something that you'll be able to tell your grand kids about even if the game itself wasn't all that remarkable. You can't say that about San Diego or Tampa Bay.
Another reason to stay at home: NFL RedZone. Just added this year to the premium sports cable package. If your team isn't playing, this is the absolute best way to watch Sunday football. They bounce from game to game, showing every scoring play, and reaching back to get the big plays.
70 bucks to park, that is just SO overboard, I cannot get my head around that one, holy fuck, someone call a cop
With the Cowboys Stadium, it's about access and location ... and tailgating.
There are 27 parking lots at the new stadium, including the ones owned by the Rangers and not including the private lots nearby, and the price to park in the most distant lots is "only" $20. But the distant lots are roughly in Oklahoma, and unlike, say, the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium, Jerry doesn't provide free shuttle buses to the lots that are not near the stadium. You're packing and walking, which was OK on Sunday when it was sunny and around 70, but probably not-so-hot come Jan. 3 when they're hosting the Eagles.
Also, new rules say you cannot tailgate in the middle of any of the parking lots, you can only tailgate in the spaces on the edge of the lots or where there's a grass area next to the parking space. So where we were, in Lot A, just across the creek from the stadium, you had a situation where everybody wanting to tailgate arrived between 9 and 11 a.m. for a 3:15 p.m. game (when it was cold and so foggy you couldn't even see the stadium). They took up the outer spaces, but virtually none of the spaces in the middle of the lot were used at all, and those that were didn't get filled until the final hour before kickoff. Combine the two, and it's a lot of wasted in-close parking and a rule designed to force people who don't want to pay those high prices to walk up to a mile or more to the stadium.
The other lots are the same way -- nobody parks in the middle until close to game-time -- and I'm sure the Cowboys (and Rangers) are going to figure that out within a year or so and start tacking on a surcharge for parking around the edges of all the lots.
Do you know who am I?
Here is a hot news:
With two weeks left in the NFL Draft season, there's still a lot of time left before decisions are made on the league's MVP. USA TODAY's Sean Leahy examines the candidates who could hoist the hardware after Week 17:
The top contenders:
Drew Brees, Saints QB: What a difference a week makes. Last week, Brees appeared to have a clear leg up on the competition. But he and the Saints offense looked anything-but-perfect for too much of their 24-17 loss to the Cowboys on Saturday. Yet one less-than-stellar game doesn't ruin Brees' candidacy. He still leads the league in passer rating (109.4) and his 33 TDs are tied with Peyton Manning for a league high. And the 13-0 run that he helped author can't be forgotten. A strong finish in the final two games will keep Brees at the forefront of the race.
Merry Christmas!And have a good time!
I've been a fan of the NFL for almost 25 years, but interestingly enough never been to game. I came very close several times this year. I had a dillema about going to the Ravens-Patriots game in Baltimore. Ticket prices weren't too insane for this game but the replacement refs was enough for me to not go. Next, was the Broncos-Patriots game in Foxboro the first week of October. Tickets weren't available but through the Patriots Ticket Exchange and this was an extremely crazy thing for me to do especially when I knew Manning was going to lose so what would the point be? The third rejected opportunity was Ravens and Broncos game, the first week of December in Baltimore. Didn't go since I got sick the Friday before on the weekend and felt miserable. It rained all day during that game and I'm sure I would have been sick for a week sitting outside in the rain. And finally, when the Ravens made it to the Super Bowl the opportunity popped to attend but of course 4,000 bucks was just too much to sacrifice for 3 hours and one of my favorite teams would lose so it didn't really help either. I might go see the Packers play the Ravens next year but again if its scheduled to close to December or November you probably won't see me there. Don't even get me started on the Redskins next season. They play some good teams next year at home like the 49ers who pretty much have less hope of winning a Super Bowl this year after losing. RG3's injury rehab is depressing enough to sit through. Imagine what it felt like in 2011-12 sitting through Manning's rehab and in the end he signed with Denver of all teams.
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