FAKE RONJAN!!Insufferable Proclamation Monday: So long, NFL!
I had originally planned two posts for today:
- A Box Score Monday telling the story of the Broncos-Bengals game that I went to back in 2000 when Corey Dillon broke the single-game rushing yardage record (22 carries, 278 yards) and I sat him on my bench in fantasy football for Darnell Autry.
- An Eli Manning "tribute" post where I asked, quite literally, "are we sure that Eli Manning is actually good?" I compared him to the ten other quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl wins using stats from game logs, finding that he's a solid QB with a weaker "A game" than his counterparts.
So, what happened? Well ... I'm going noble. I'm done with the NFL. For good. Starting tomorrow.
These are the types of posts that I suspect are much more fun to write than they are to read, and for that I apologize in advance. And I'm fully aware that my opinions are no more valid than anyone else's and no one was asking for a preachy, sanctimonious rant. But too bad, I'm doing it anyway!
So, seriously -- why am I quitting this game I've loved for so long? There are lots of reasons, I suppose.
- The game is too violent, leading to too many serious injuries. Just yesterday, we had major injuries to Brian Cushing, Jay Cutler, Sam Bradford, and Reggie Wayne. This seriously impacts the quality of the games we see and the context for the season.
- It's sadly becoming clear that even beyond these injuries, players are basically causing themselves brain damage just by playing the sport. (Watch the full Frontline episode of League of Denial if possible.) I don't feel comfortable supporting that.
- The NFL knows this, but didn't care until there were legal and financial implications. Even now, they speak of lengthening the season to 18 games.
- NFL ownership teams insist on socializing the costs of running teams while privatizing the profits. In a product like this where the labor is the product, I feel that the ownership model does little but extract money from a community. Just look at the Green Bay Packers as an example of how sports teams can better operate -- and one that, sadly, the NFL will not allow in other cities.
- The 2011 NFL lockout was one of the greediest money grabs I have ever seen.
- The league profits off of Breast Cancer Research merchandise. This feels wrong to me, even if it's a small share of dollars. (I run a scholarship fund myself, and I would never take profits off of our merchandise.)
- Many football fans are drunk, fat assholes. :)
You may not agree with some or perhaps any of these reasons, and that's completely fair. Again, this is a personal choice.
How serious am I about this? Well, I divorced the Denver Broncos when they fired Mike Shanahan, Jay Cutler, and Brandon Marshall after the 2008 season. I haven't gone back to them.
It's going to be harder to quit the whole league, after 25 years of being a superfan. But I think I can do it. Here's what this means, both for me and this site:
- No more covering the NFL, personally, for the site. All of our other writers can cover the NFL as much as they want, though.
- We are moving Box Score Monday from a weekly feature to a "whenever we feel like it" feature, since most of the box scores I had lined up were football games. Chris's ADAMLE NCAA Football power rankings will move to Mondays.
- The OLANDIS rankings will continue, but I will not run them or post the articles anymore.
- The hardest part will be quitting fantasy football, but that's arguably the most important step. I'm in a personal high 5 leagues this year, and I'll play in zero next year.
- I will continue to be a Green Bay Packers owner. Community ownership is still important!
- I'll need to find a replacement summer-fall sport when the NBA isn't in-season. Maybe soccer!
So that's it. Now, time to get ready to go to the Monday Night Football game tonight between the 0-6 Giants and the 1-4 Vikings! (That's why I don't officially quit until tomorrow. :D)
-rj