Namaste. Today I want to write a short posting about how ridiculous the NFL experience has become.
My family and I live in Washington state and our nearest local team is the Seattle Seahawks. We looked up ticket prices with the idea in mind of going to see a professional football game. For just my wife and I to go, with no children whatsoever would have been almost $400. Those aren't even for good seats either, somewhere up in the far nosebleed corner of the top of the stadium.
Needless to say, since we are not independently wealthy to WASTE money, we are relegated to watching the games on TV. This is my next issue with the NFL. Bear in mind once again that I live in Washington state. So I turn on the TV and BOTH Fox and CBS are nearly EVERY SINGLE WEEK showing a game for an East Coast team like the over-rated New England Patriots or New York Jets. These teams aren't ANYWHERE CLOSE to being a regional game that a person living in Washington would enjoy. As the NFL and the TV networks have proven over and over, THEY JUST DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE FANS... at least not the ones who are too poor to buy an expensive set of tickets for this over-priced debacle of sports entertainment. I formerly lived in Dallas, so I remember well that team owners like Jerry Jones have been quoted as saying they want the NFL on a pay-per-view basis; every game every week. As it were, for someone in my geographical region to watch the games I want to I would have to get a satellite dish or the NFL network, BOTH of which are stupidly expensive. What's sad is that the NFL itself, including the commissioner Roger Goodell don't really seem to care if they piss off their fans as they are only catering to the wealthy viewers while gouging the non-wealthy ones. AND on top of that the NFL is classified as a non-profit corporation... WTF?!? They make BILLIONS of dollars and pay ZERO in taxes, I'm afraid. Serious bunch of crap there, especially with these whiny over-paid players that get millions of dollars for playing a PART-TIME SPORT/JOB.
I'm going to take this a step forward and say that I think the NFL, like most sports, is RIGGED and the winners are based on TV RATINGS. It happens to be that the East side of the U.S. is more densely populated and has more NFL teams, so they get pandered to and their games shown every week despite other viewers living on the other coast. Obvious bias is shown to the teams like the Patriots, Jets, and Giants in particular. Teams like Kansas City, St. Louis, or Minnesota will NEVER get a fair shot because of the lack of television market viewership.
My last point I would like to make is that I think the NFL's policy against cannabis/marijuana is a bunch of horse shit. If I understand this correctly, as I usually do, the NFL's policy is that a player can get arrested for domestic violence (player beating his wife) and get a less harsh penalty/suspension than someone who smoked a joint for relaxation, PROBABLY from having sore bones and muscles from playing such a violent and brutal sport. So the one guy who smoked pot didn't get arrested, didn't smear the image of the NFL in any way, and didn't hurt a single other person is punished HARSHER?!? No other drugs were found in this player's system. But it's okay to get shit faced on alcohol and beat your wife bloody. How is that better than recreational marijuana use, Roger Goodell?!?
Do I hate the NFL? NOT AT ALL. It's just become more like pro wrestling where the drama is scripted and the winner is already decided before the match takes place. Since there are no games on the local networks... fuck it... that just frees up more time to spend time with my family and work on the remodeling of my home. This has been the one and only Quiet Mouse. Have a nice day!
