I can tell you what started me over the edge. I was a Lions season ticket holder for about six years, would describe my self as a step above a casual fan. So after the 2001 terrorist attacks, I was not surprised that there was heightened security (I went to the first Monday Night game after the attacks with my then-girlfriend/now-wife and her friend, and we were told absolutely nothing bag-like could be brought into the stadium. But the NFL and its teams would announce a season or two later a new security policy: all ticket holders would be required to undergo a physical pat down before entering the facility. This, I thought, was insane. You're imposing a higher standard of security than at any venue I had ever heard of, short of perhaps correctional facilities. And I fundamentally had a problem with this. So I started selling my season tickets and refused to go to the games. When the resale value of the tickets dropped below face a couple years later, I dropped the season tickets, and just drifted away from the sport. And as they just kept going, doing dumber and dumber things, I cared less and less. The last time I sat down and watched a game in its entirety was Super Bowl 45 (and that was because my wife is a Packers fan). The sports is insignificant to me now, my awareness only because my wife is a Packers season ticket holder.
I was done with the league long before Ray Rice. But I think this incident is effectively the breaking point of 10 years of behavior that could only be described as psychopathic. The two-game suspension was the Mancini/Kim fight. The video release is the Holmes/Cobb fight. On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 11:43 AM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 8:37 AM, Joe Hass <hassgoc...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I got wrapped into something yesterday, but if you want to watch a single >> video from yesterday, Adam Schefter was on SportsCenter yesterday morning >> when this thing broke. Watch the second video. Schefter, who is considered >> the gold standard of NFL insider stuff, was furious while talking to Hannah >> Storm about it. And why was he furious? While he won't say it outright, >> allow me: he (along with a lot of other reporters) was burned horribly by a >> source. >> >> http://deadspin.com/adam-schefter-is-fed-up-with-the-nfl-1631937239 >> >> > >> (SNIP) I wrote in a Facebook post yesterday that if this video does >> anything, this is truly a put-up-or-shut-up moment for NFL fans. If you >> support the sport (regardless of the color jersey you root for), you're >> endorsing the behavior of these assholes. Do you have a problem with this >> or don't you? And if you do, are you going to alter your behavior or do you >> fundamentally not care, because FOOTBALL! >> > > I did watch the Schefter segments last night (to clarify, Deadspin calls > him the gold standard of insider hacks who make their living passing on > handouts from the NFL) - it will be interesting to see if people like him > take a more critical, journalistic stance toward the NFL in the future > (Hint: They won't). > > In reference to your last note, as someone else said on the list > yesterday, the NFL is making it harder and harder for ethical people to > remain a fan. At this point I am not ready to go as far as you have here - > after all, men who do not play for the NFL beat the shit out of their wives > and girlfriends all the time, and I am not aware of any evidence that this > is more common among NFL players than the general population (about 1.4 > million women are physically assaulted by intimate partners each year in > this country; the common perception that there is a link between the Super > Bowl and increased domestic violence is a myth). But the NFL consistently > engages in the very worst of corporate evil, lying to its customers and > exploiting its labor force, maximizing its obscene profits while diluting > its product. > > So far I am not watching less football than I was - but I am thinking > about it. > > > > > > > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
