Sports: NFL

[Aldin]

So the discussion here finally got me to read the transcript to see what the big deal was. I guess I don't see any "good guys" here. The NFL has built their brand to the point where even the most poorly compensated active roster players make $420,000 per year. And they have some draconian policies and procedures in place to maintain control of their brand and their ability to promote it.

A college football player with the ability to become a professional is not forced to play for an NFL team. They are not required to accept the NFL's draconian restrictions. Having said that, the NFL is enough of a monopoly you could certainly argue it is the only place they can be fairly compensated for their ability. Which circles back a bit to the idea that the NFL has built the brand, though it is worth considering that they built the brand on the abilities of former and current players.

Did the NFL pay Lynch $100,000 to speak? In a way they did. He almost certainly has at least $100,000 more per year in income than he would be able to make outside of the NFL. And amusingly enough, his terse answers were pure gold from the league's perspective - generating a newscycle of folks talking about the NFL.

As for player safety, the biggest thing the NFL has going for it, really, is the fact that their workforce as a whole tends to be very shortsighted and interested in the greatest immediate reward for themselves. As a union with a collective bargaining agreement, the players don't get a free pass when it comes to their failure to negotiate for their safety or for their long-term well-being. The fact that they prioritize getting a bigger piece of today's pie is something that the owners leverage every time to their own long-term advantage.

Which isn't to say that the NFL should be held blameless there. Sheer human shame ought to be enough to get them to do more for the retirees upon whose backs their brand was built. And some of this is happening and will continue to happen as long as the viewing public insists on the NFL showing a softer, more caring side. But Sherman shouldn't mistake the things the league says to placate the viewers for anything other than the profit motive that it is, wholly consistent with 5 day weeks and anything else they think the viewer wants more than they want player safety.

All in all, I give Sherman points for speaking his mind, but I'm not very excited about the need to make changes to the status quo so that he can make more money off endorsements.

~Aldin, self-motivatedly

[dok]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Huh. Ok.

Well, it was good theater. And the Budweiser "hypocrisy" does not seem like hypocrisy to me. You do not see Goodell (or announcers, or anyone) *personally* consuming Bud Light (ads featuring this this excellent song, which was deserving of a tv spot) or Budweiser (ad featuring this excellent song, from a hometown band). It's bad for business. The NFL can and should expect professional behavior from its players. Agree or disagree with the particular decision, it's within the NFL's discretion to control its branding that way.

A player needn't be shown consuming an alcoholic beverage in order to endorse it. But they are not allowed to do so. Given that the stated reason is not "conflicting with our brand endorsements", but rather the idea that a player promoting alcohol might lead to underage drinking or drunk driving... yes, I think the stance is quite hypocritical.

The stance against non-alcohol endorsements that conflict with the NFL is basically limited to covering up logos while doing anything related to their job (including press conferences). This is just the NFL trying to maximize the value of their endorsement deals. It's not hypocritical in the same way, although I understand Sherman not liking it and criticizing the extent of the policy.

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

It was good theater. And he's clearly a smart guy.

He comes across as a guy who, in real life, is probably a jerk. Roger Clemens gave me the same vibe; Hines Ward does, too. Also, outside of sports, Rachael Ray. So, it's possibly unfair to him, but my opinion that he appears to be a jerk is coloring my thoughts on his presentation.

Clemens, Ward, and Sherman feel very different to me (no opinion on Rachel Ray, sorry).

Clemens strikes me as a jerk and kind of a meathead. I see few redeeming qualities to his personality. I've never really been interested in anything he's said. The shattered bat thing in the world series kind of sums him up for me.

Ward is unerringly cheerful and friendly, but also was often looking to give cheap shots on the field. You're a Ravens fan so I get where you're coming from here.

Sherman is one of those guys who just doesn't care about pissing a lot of people off. He also seems loyal to friends, and cares about real issues in the league and in his community, and has interesting things to say about those issues. As I've said earlier, I think the way he acts towards other players on the field is objectionable and I don't like it. But I like having players like him in the league who are willing to speak truth to power.

[IAmBatman]

Borrrring ... go Lions!

[Dad_Scaper]

Footage tonight of Richard Sherman shushing and mock-waving to the 49ers fans. I am increasingly convinced he is an entertaining jerk.

Congrats on the win, Lions fans. Sorry, @Hahma , but I am sure your expectations were low.

[IAmBatman]

Lots of NFCness today! Boring for you AFCers (or NFC South fans, I guess). It's going to be an interesting playoff race in the three NFC Divisions with good teams this year.

Nice to see the Lions guaranteed not to have a losing season for once.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Footage tonight of Richard Sherman shushing and mock-waving to the 49ers fans. I am increasingly convinced he is an entertaining jerk.

Congrats on the win, Lions fans. Sorry, @Hahma , but I am sure your expectations were low.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Lots of NFCness today! Boring for you AFCers (or NFC South fans, I guess). It's going to be an interesting playoff race in the three NFC Divisions with good teams this year.

Nice to see the Lions guaranteed not to have a losing season for once.

Well I got my wish for the Bears to score in the first quarter, but I should have been more specific about my wish and requested that their defense show up for once.

I don't love Cutler, but there's no way Bears fans that hate him can blame him for that game. I mean at some point the defense has to stop the other team from scoring so much and when Bennett and Marshall drop easy passes, then what can Cutler do about that. They never even tried to pretend to establish a run game either.

People always say how awesome the Bears receivers are, but I'm not convinced. Bennett, the tight end drops a lot of balls. Marshall and Jeffery are tall and great in the redzone, but it seems like they don't have much speed in the other areas of the field to get separation to get open, or get much yards after the catch.

Maybe if they had one big receiver and another burner, that would be great. Most of the time they only have those two guys, the tight end and Forte coming out of the backfield. It makes it easy for defenders to key in on them as there are so few options. Other teams often run 3 receivers sets, or even have a fullback out there once in a while as a dumpoff guy, but not the Bears.

Not only that, but there is no creativity in their offense.

[spidysox]

Originally Posted by Hahma

Not only that, but there is no creativity in their offense.

I haven't watched many Bears games, but it was like you could almost predict what was coming next. Wide reciever screen time after time after time.

You could tell that the Lions picked up on it as well after the first quarter.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by spidysox

I haven't watched many Bears games, but it was like you could almost predict what was coming next. Wide reciever screen time after time after time.

You could tell that the Lions picked up on it as well after the first quarter.

Yeah, that is one of their main plays, and it was especially used in place of their running game yesterday vs. the Lions, who have a great run defense.

But aside from that, they don't have deep threats to get past the secondary and don't go across the middle much. Don't really do any designed roll outs, bootlegs, reverses (had tried to early in the season with Jeffery but wasn't very good), they rarely establish a running game to try to take advantage of play-action passes.

It's just a very vanilla offense and good defenses can figure it out. Last year they were like 3rd in the league in scoring and fans are wondering what happened this year. Well, other teams watched tape and learned what they did last year. So it seems that a lot of what they had been doing is being taken away from them by good defensive game planning, and they don't have much else new to make up for it. They let the defense dictate what they can do on offense, instead of using their offense to dictate what the defense does.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, those WR screens were deadly effective early on, but once the Lions defense adjusted, the Bears looked pretty lost. It's not the first time the Lions have let a team score early and then adjusted and completely shut them down (Atlanta in the second half, Arizona after their first two quick scores). This is the best Lion defense I've seen in my life as a fan. The sad part is, we probably still won't win our division, short of winning every single remaining game.

[Tornado]

It could certainly come down to the last game at Green Bay and I do not like the odds.
However if the offense continues to be effective and we get some players back from injuries, you never know.
History tells me not to get my hopes up, especially with Rodgers in division.

[IAmBatman]

No offense to @Hahma but the Bears have made a lot of teams look really good on offense this year. I'll believe our offensive problems are fixed when we play well against better competition. The banged up Oline still has me worried (just look at how Jared Allen mugged Stafford on that one play and how terrible our running game was on Turkey Day, even though it didn't stop us from putting up points).

The plus side is that I'm not sure we necessarily face better competition until we go to Lambeau. As long as we can rise to the occasion and beat inferior foes (neither of which are staples of this team's history), we *should* be able to get to 11 wins and make the playoffs. The NFC West seems likely to cannibalize itself and I believe Dallas and Philly still play each other once as well.

[jbbnbsmith]

Uhg, Ravens....why do you torment me so?! So many dropped balls, so many penalties.

Oh well. Next game. Go Pack!