Super Bowl nonsense

4.5 million for a 30 sec add think about that for a minute... that will be 9 million please!

I love the game of football, especially NFL football. I was indoctrinated in the game at a young age, as my family was a football family. My cousins all played, some going to big college programs to play, and my grandfather supposedly played pro sometime in the 1930's. I was the only male who didn't actually play. I wanted to be different and played music and messed with cars instead. 

And though I'm a die hard New England Patriots fan (yeah I know, many of you will stop reading here), I'm old enough to remember how much they SUCKED before the Krafts bought them and before Brady/Belichick came along. They were Cleveland Browns-level terrible, maybe worse. 

I love the game itself. I love the chess match that it can become, with clock management, running just the right plays on either side of the ball to succeed, etc. 

But all that said... NFL football in recent years has had some issues. Every year, there's something new that drags the game down. This year's controversy (and no, I'm not going for the flounder bait here) is about catches in the end zone. Say a team makes a circus catch in the end zone, and everyone is celebrating. Fans are pumped and high fiving in living rooms and bars everywhere. Then, the officials come in and have to "review" it. What was a catch is now incomplete after they spend 5 minutes picking their noses looking at footage, and pull the answer out of thin air, often with a long winded explanation of the ball "surviving the ground". Even when they do rule it an actual catch, the air has been let out of the fanbase and all the excitement is gone from the initial scoring play by the time they are done reviewing it. And I'm saying that as a Pats fan, and we got two huge calls like that go our way. 

Over-officiating, over-interperetation of the rules, and asinine micromanagement have hurt the game. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

The instant replay for officials is awful.  What's next?  Remove the ump and have a laser read balls and strikes?  It takes a part of the game away.

The only reason I even know the date of the Super Bowl is because there are blanks in my hockey league schedule for any Sunday that falls on Christmas ,New Years, Easter , or Super Bowl. Someone has rented the ice for Super Bowl Sunday and we'll have a pick-up game any way.

In reply to frenchyd :

Or the Saint's D back that executed one of the poorest tackle attempts I've ever seen...

Should be a good game Sunday. Go Birds!

Will Brady's throwing hand be good enough ?

Furious_E said:

In reply to frenchyd :

Or the Saint's D back that executed one of the poorest tackle attempts I've ever seen...

Should be a good game Sunday. Go Birds!

He was worried about drawing a pass interference flag and got the timing wrong.  Adding insult to injury was taking out the other back who might have been able to make a play. 

Had a tense second half of the Pats / Jags game at our local pub, but all ended well. On to the big one.

Ohh boy patriots in another Super Bowl. Probably won’t watch it now. 

If Philly is in it, I expect work will be a zoo leading up to this.

It is already a zoo with all the Birds fans out in the streets. 

Utter disbelief right now, hell of a game for Foles . Let's go Eagles!

Yeah... disbelief is a good term. I definitely expected the Vikings to do better.  Especially after the first drive. 

Much like Denny Green having the queens take a knee in the NFC title game vs Atlanta years ago, yesterday leaves purple fans asking how? why? Are pro wrestling and boxing NOT the only sports with pre-determined outcomes? 

The NFL obviously has immense power. Now they can say they appeased Minnesota by giving us a SuperBowl (at a stadium that was funded largely by tax payers). It's all about making the league brass and owners in good favor, even richer. That's the turn off for me and a big reason why I went from a huge fan years ago to really giving a hoot now.

An acquaintance a few days ago bought two seats for SB52. 8 rows up from one of the end zones. He was thinking the queens would make it. Total price for both seats? He said over $13,000. As far as I know this guy isn't "rich"and I think he got caught up in all the hype. Ouch.

yay the Eagles are in the SB. Philly is going to burn if they lose. It will probably burn if they win too.

Tony Sestito said:

I love the game of football, especially NFL football. I was indoctrinated in the game at a young age, as my family was a football family. My cousins all played, some going to big college programs to play, and my grandfather supposedly played pro sometime in the 1930's. I was the only male who didn't actually play. I wanted to be different and played music and messed with cars instead. 

And though I'm a die hard New England Patriots fan (yeah I know, many of you will stop reading here), I'm old enough to remember how much they SUCKED before the Krafts bought them and before Brady/Belichick came along. They were Cleveland Browns-level terrible, maybe worse. 

I love the game itself. I love the chess match that it can become, with clock management, running just the right plays on either side of the ball to succeed, etc. 

But all that said... NFL football in recent years has had some issues. Every year, there's something new that drags the game down. This year's controversy (and no, I'm not going for the flounder bait here) is about catches in the end zone. Say a team makes a circus catch in the end zone, and everyone is celebrating. Fans are pumped and high fiving in living rooms and bars everywhere. Then, the officials come in and have to "review" it. What was a catch is now incomplete after they spend 5 minutes picking their noses looking at footage, and pull the answer out of thin air, often with a long winded explanation of the ball "surviving the ground". Even when they do rule it an actual catch, the air has been let out of the fanbase and all the excitement is gone from the initial scoring play by the time they are done reviewing it. And I'm saying that as a Pats fan, and we got two huge calls like that go our way. 

Over-officiating, over-interperetation of the rules, and asinine micromanagement have hurt the game. 

Agreed, the replays and constant flags kill the momentum and interest of the game. I think it's an unfortunate result of the quality of the TV coverage, once you can see something from 37 different angles in slow motion you have to look.

I'd recommend you check out the CFL. The level of play isn't as high and the rules are a little different, but there are far fewer flags and replays. Makes things a lot more exciting.

Do they still have the Roughriders and the Rough Riders?

Alas, no The Ottawa Rough Riders are gone and have been replaced by the Ottawa Redblacks.  When the new team was being formed, they thought about taking the Rough Rider name (it's got a long history) but the Roughriders basically said "Seriously? Again?".

I grew up a few blocks from the stadium.

mad_machine said:

yay the Eagles are in the SB. Philly is going to burn if they lose. It will probably burn if they win too.

Speaking as someone who has lived within an hour of Philly most of my life, Philadelphia sports fans are just berking awful.  Especially considering that 90% of the time Philadelphia teams make it this far, they choke massively in the final.

I read that the City preemptively greased all the light poles in the stadium neighborhood.

In reply to drainoil :

May I ask what exactly would cause you to call into question the legitimacy of last night's outcome? It's not like it was a close game that flipped on the outcome of a couple of controversial calls or something like that, it was a good old fashioned ass whooping. 

In reply to Duke :

They even booed Santa.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JZpbRK5kA2I

Appleseed said:

Do they still have the Roughriders and the Rough Riders?

Gay porn?

Furious_E said:

In reply to drainoil :

May I ask what exactly would cause you to call into question the legitimacy of last night's outcome? It's not like it was a close game that flipped on the outcome of a couple of controversial calls or something like that, it was a good old fashioned ass whooping. 

It wasn't the actual outcome, but rather the manner it which it happened. The Vikes or queens (Vi-queens) as some of us, er long time fans, are known to call them when they don't deliver, played so well all year, one of the top rated defenses consistently all season. Then in one single game, when it mattered most, they gave up almost 40 points basically handing the game over with an almost seemingly lazy attitude and overall lack of concern by the team as a whole. It was not a close game at all, they layed down and let the Eagles win easily. The purple ones are not the only team this has happened to but in the big picture, it begs the fan base to call into question if there isn't something else at play. I could see one or two players having an off game, but an entire professional team, and coaching staff?

The local radio blabbers are even going so far as to lay it on Pat Shurmur saying he was already checked out knowing he's soon going to be the Giants head coach. I'm not sure about that he would have nothing to gain by purposely calling bad plays or holding back (and hence torpedoing his teams chance at victory) than what he has already done each game all year.

It wouldn't surprise me if there is some behind the scenes financial plan that the NFL has that has in some way shape or form, influence on which teams make it to the SB, and ultimately win it. It's all about money and lots of it. 

Despite the rep of the Eagles fan base, I hope they do well and give the Pats a good run for their money in SB52. 

In reply to drainoil :

I certainly wouldn't say the Vikings just laid down and took it, that was a very competitive game right up until the end of the first half. Hell, right up until Keenum threw that first pick I thought the Eagles we're gonna take the ass whooping. The game turned on a few critical big plays that all went the Eagle's way, otherwise the score differential could have been much closer. 

And as good as the Vikings, especially their defense, have been this year, this Eagles team is really God damn good too and has beaten teams in a similar, dominant fashion all year-its not like last night was an anomoly. The defense ranks right up there with Minnesota's in most statistics, and even ahead in at least a few, noteably rushing yards and turnovers. They're every bit as good and arguably better on that side of the ball, and last night the line was able to consistently get pressure and force turnovers. The big question was obviously whether the offense could do enough to win without Wentz, but Foles stepped up and played hands down the best football of his life (including the 27 touchdown 2 inteception 2013 season when, fwiw, Pat Shurmer was his OC.) Seriously, nearly every ball was right on the money.

Not trying to sound like a braggert or an shiny happy person, point is it wasn't a fluke, your team didn't just give the game away, they were simply outplayed by a really good team at the game's critical junctures. 

I also don't really buy into the tin foil hat stuff, at least to the levels you seem to be insinuating. Of course the NFL is big money business, and im sure there is an outcome to every contest that the league office would prefer. I can see referees trying to sway the outcome one way or another, or even "word from above" coming down on instant replay review. But to say that game's are outright being fixed, or that a team is basically throwing the game is ridiculous. That just involves way too many parties for there not to be leaked information, especially with turnover being what it is with players, coaching staff, front office personnel, and sports media. Compared to he average person, most of them are well paid, but the vast, vast majority aren't paid well enough that it would dissuade them from writing a tell-all book that would surely sell a million copies. 

I like the Vikings and would have happily rooted for them over either the Pats or the Jags had they beaten Philly. Both teams should be pretty competitive for the foreseeable future and I hope their paths cross in the playoffs again.