Summer is winding down and that means only one thing. NFL is round the corner. We are in the NFL pre-season, also knows as the "rip the season ticket holder of their cash" season. It's good to have the nation's most popular sport back. Summer's reality will give way to fall's fantasy football soon and we will all be sucked in. It will be big business as usual and we will be craving more football every day. With all that said, there is something different every summer these days as we get ready for the national football league. The dark cloud and negativity around the league is only growing. Players are continuing to punch their wives and girlfriends and thats not a good look for any league. The Kaepernick controversy and the rumored black-balling of him is not endearing by any means. Moving 3 teams out of their home markets in less than 2 years shows you NFL doesn't spell either Greed or Goodell without a capital G. NFLPA's executive director DeMaurice Smith tore into the league for their greed and for lying to the players and is threatening a lockout next time around during the CBA negotiations. None of this is great off-season marketing programs for a league and every off-season lately seems to follow the same script.
But the 10000-pound elephant in the room continues to be concussions, brain damage, and the sport's impact on athlete's health. There is no way around it and the sport just can't sustain this way for long. The recent news that 110 of the 111 brain donations of dead NFL players showed signs of CTE was another shocking reminder of how dangerous this sport is. Granted, the science on this is not exact and most donations probably came from players and families who had a reason to suspect CTE, but thats still a sobering number. And then to hear former Raiders QB and legend Jim Plunkett say "his life sucks" because he is in so much pain breaks your heart. Guys have been pummeled to the ground repeatedly for decades and given the knowledge at our disposal today, the sport seems like a flat out horrible idea! As a fan, I can't help but feel complicit in this unintentional crime against these athletes. And given what we know today, is it even unintentional anymore? We know exactly what football is doing to these athletes on the field and it's not pretty. Many fans are walking away from the sport. It's not a financial crisis for the league yet, but it might get there eventually. There is a pall of gloom descending over the sport of football for sure and I don't see how it can survive this way long-term.
The sport has morphed a lot over the last decade, but it has to change drastically still. It almost can't look like football to be safe enough for kids and adults who play it. The biggest challenge for the league is to get there and continue to look like football and retain the fans along the way as this massive transformation happens. Knowing this greedy league, they will continue to move slow until their pocketbooks are hit hard. May be we as fans should force that and they may start to look at the safety aspects of the sport with more diligence and sincerity. Their behavior over the last 10 years on the issue has been pretty shady to say the least. Football is already on it's way to losing the pipeline of future athletes as most parents are not allowing their kids to play the sport. It is going to be the next boxing in the sense that only the desperate and the poor will take to it. Not the best way for a sport to attract top athletes. The sad part is, the real painful stories are probably with the ex-college and ex-high school athletes who never get covered in the media. At least in the NFL, guys make decent money, get some media attention, and have good pension, health care etc. I can't even imagine what current day players in the NFL are thinking and whats going through their head when they take the field. It should be a torture for them everytime their head hits the ground or they get a headache or whatever. To know what they know now and continue to play the sport at this violent level is something I will never comprehend. No wonder some players are retiring very young.
The NFL athletes are also rightfully asking for guaranteed contracts and may fight for it during the next CBA. They see the sky-rocketing salaries in the NBA and the mass celebration and hysteria around free agency every summer and it should feel like an alternate universe for them in the NFL, though they are playing the more popular sport. As for the NBA, they have been enjoying a great renaissance behind transcendental stars like LeBron and Curry, historic teams like the Warriors, and an enchanting style of play. NBA has been dominating the summer for a few years with very interesting off-season chatter. NBA draft, free agency, and trades are almost as popular as their regular season now. Thanks to LeBron's stupid "Decision" in 2010, every NBA summer is now the best reality show on TV. NBA has also learned a few things from the NFL and are slowly mastering the art of becoming a 24X7, 365-day league. They are coming for the throne. NBA's popularity is clearly on the rise and you can just feel it from the chatter in the summer. It will take a while for the NBA to pass NFL in the popularity charts, but the NFL is helping the NBA with every stupid mistake it makes. NBA's momentum is real and many folks are talking about it in the media. One of the reasons for it is also the issues in the NFL.
Even today in mid- August, there is tremendous interest in the Kyrie Irving trade rumors. Speaking of which, the Suns are very much in the chase. They don't want to give up Josh Jackson for Kyrie. Not sure if it's smart or dumb to treat JJ as an untouchable asset when he has not played a single minute in the NBA. But I am OK with it. I trust the Suns front office when it comes to evaluating their young talent and prospects. I expect and trust them to do the right thing here. Also, I am not a big Kyrie fan. He is a phenomenal offensive player. But he is a horrible defender and the rest of the Suns are not great defenders either to compensate for him. Plus, his tantrums and attitude off the field is a little concerning too. I get the feeling the trade will still happen. Suns are negotiating wth the Cavs and will get him one way or the other - with or without JJ. It's a sobering thought that the Suns are expected to finish last in the West even with all the excitement around their young stars. Of course, they are all still too young and will take another year or two to mature. In the meantime, the Western conference is only getting better and better. Kyrie will give the Suns instant credibility in the West, if not more wins and the team will be fun to watch. I say I am fine with those results for 2017-18.
But the 10000-pound elephant in the room continues to be concussions, brain damage, and the sport's impact on athlete's health. There is no way around it and the sport just can't sustain this way for long. The recent news that 110 of the 111 brain donations of dead NFL players showed signs of CTE was another shocking reminder of how dangerous this sport is. Granted, the science on this is not exact and most donations probably came from players and families who had a reason to suspect CTE, but thats still a sobering number. And then to hear former Raiders QB and legend Jim Plunkett say "his life sucks" because he is in so much pain breaks your heart. Guys have been pummeled to the ground repeatedly for decades and given the knowledge at our disposal today, the sport seems like a flat out horrible idea! As a fan, I can't help but feel complicit in this unintentional crime against these athletes. And given what we know today, is it even unintentional anymore? We know exactly what football is doing to these athletes on the field and it's not pretty. Many fans are walking away from the sport. It's not a financial crisis for the league yet, but it might get there eventually. There is a pall of gloom descending over the sport of football for sure and I don't see how it can survive this way long-term.
The sport has morphed a lot over the last decade, but it has to change drastically still. It almost can't look like football to be safe enough for kids and adults who play it. The biggest challenge for the league is to get there and continue to look like football and retain the fans along the way as this massive transformation happens. Knowing this greedy league, they will continue to move slow until their pocketbooks are hit hard. May be we as fans should force that and they may start to look at the safety aspects of the sport with more diligence and sincerity. Their behavior over the last 10 years on the issue has been pretty shady to say the least. Football is already on it's way to losing the pipeline of future athletes as most parents are not allowing their kids to play the sport. It is going to be the next boxing in the sense that only the desperate and the poor will take to it. Not the best way for a sport to attract top athletes. The sad part is, the real painful stories are probably with the ex-college and ex-high school athletes who never get covered in the media. At least in the NFL, guys make decent money, get some media attention, and have good pension, health care etc. I can't even imagine what current day players in the NFL are thinking and whats going through their head when they take the field. It should be a torture for them everytime their head hits the ground or they get a headache or whatever. To know what they know now and continue to play the sport at this violent level is something I will never comprehend. No wonder some players are retiring very young.
The NFL athletes are also rightfully asking for guaranteed contracts and may fight for it during the next CBA. They see the sky-rocketing salaries in the NBA and the mass celebration and hysteria around free agency every summer and it should feel like an alternate universe for them in the NFL, though they are playing the more popular sport. As for the NBA, they have been enjoying a great renaissance behind transcendental stars like LeBron and Curry, historic teams like the Warriors, and an enchanting style of play. NBA has been dominating the summer for a few years with very interesting off-season chatter. NBA draft, free agency, and trades are almost as popular as their regular season now. Thanks to LeBron's stupid "Decision" in 2010, every NBA summer is now the best reality show on TV. NBA has also learned a few things from the NFL and are slowly mastering the art of becoming a 24X7, 365-day league. They are coming for the throne. NBA's popularity is clearly on the rise and you can just feel it from the chatter in the summer. It will take a while for the NBA to pass NFL in the popularity charts, but the NFL is helping the NBA with every stupid mistake it makes. NBA's momentum is real and many folks are talking about it in the media. One of the reasons for it is also the issues in the NFL.
Even today in mid- August, there is tremendous interest in the Kyrie Irving trade rumors. Speaking of which, the Suns are very much in the chase. They don't want to give up Josh Jackson for Kyrie. Not sure if it's smart or dumb to treat JJ as an untouchable asset when he has not played a single minute in the NBA. But I am OK with it. I trust the Suns front office when it comes to evaluating their young talent and prospects. I expect and trust them to do the right thing here. Also, I am not a big Kyrie fan. He is a phenomenal offensive player. But he is a horrible defender and the rest of the Suns are not great defenders either to compensate for him. Plus, his tantrums and attitude off the field is a little concerning too. I get the feeling the trade will still happen. Suns are negotiating wth the Cavs and will get him one way or the other - with or without JJ. It's a sobering thought that the Suns are expected to finish last in the West even with all the excitement around their young stars. Of course, they are all still too young and will take another year or two to mature. In the meantime, the Western conference is only getting better and better. Kyrie will give the Suns instant credibility in the West, if not more wins and the team will be fun to watch. I say I am fine with those results for 2017-18.
2 comments:
You're right that the NFL does seem to be waning in popularity. I think it's a multitude of issues but the concussion problem is the biggest one for me. We're learning more and more each day that football is really a gladiator sport. Crowds of people cheering on athletes who are putting themselves in harms way. It's still popular because a lot of fans are okay with that and the NFL marketing machine does a fantastic job. Fantasy Football is another big reason. I thought Draft Kings and Fan Duel would take it to another level but that engine seems to have stalled. Like you said fewer parents are letting their kids play football and the number of players retiring early is increasing. Some fans have also said they've stopped watching because of Colin Kaepernick and the political stands that players have recently started taking.
Can football be made safer? Will fans even like a "safer" version of football? Those are some big questions the NFL will have to answer in the coming years. I think the demographics of its fan base will have a say in that. I don't know if the American people are more violent because they (we?) take cues from violent sports like American football or if it's their (our?) craving for violence that makes the NFL so popular (not to mention violent movies, TV shows, music, video games, etc.)
I don't think it's reasonable to expect NFL salaries to catch up to their NBA counterparts mostly because there are more players to divvy up the revenue between. And because teams are so big, superstars have less impact on the outcome of games and have less marketability as a result (compared to NBA superstars). With less star power, the NFL Players union is not as strong as the NBA Players union and that matters when it comes time for collective bargaining (where salary scales and contract guarantees are negotiated).
I like that the NBA is stretching out their schedule (to give teams more rest between games) so kudos to Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr and Tyronn Lue for shining a light on that issue and hitting the league where it hurts by resting their players on National TV games. Not to mention starting the season early makes the NBA even more of a 12-month sport (good news for junkies like us!). If I were Phoenix I wouldn't include Josh Jackson in a Kyrie Irving trade. In a salary cap league, rookie contracts are golden and trading a rookie for a max player limits the number of talented players a team can have (and pay). While Cleveland did win a championship after trading Andrew Wiggins for Kevin Love, that was a steep price to pay and if it weren't for a Draymond Green suspension they would have remained title-less with nothing to build around once their window of contention closes (some will argue that it has already closed). The Knicks traded a lot of good young players for Carmelo and the Nets traded a lot of young players and draft assets for Pierce and Garnett. Neither looks like a good decision in hindsight.
I used to be a hardcore college football fan but after hearing about concussions and how college players are being exploited by not being paid in a multi-billion dollar industry it's hard to root for that (Harbaugh or no Harbaugh). If my football teams (Detroit Lions, Michigan Wolverines) were any good I might feel differently but right now I'm looking past the NFL and CFB seasons and setting my sights on NBA training camp in mid-September. I am enjoying Manchester United's resurgence in the English Premier League so hopefully that (and maybe the MLB playoffs) will tide me over until then.
Your wish came true as the Suns did not include Josh in the Kyrie trade. Boston on the other hand included next year's Brooklyn pick and the Cavs got a good haul for Kyrie. If Isaiah Thomas gets back in good shape, Cavs have a great deal on their hands. But let's see in what shape he can come back in.
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