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Sunday, October 14, 2012

The "wrestle-ization" of the NFL

I have to admit, I used to be an NFL-holic.  Of course that was years ago.  Watch the 1:00pm game, then right into the 4:00pm game....grab dinner while watching the ESPN highlights, then catch the Sunday night game.  Not to mention Monday and Thursday nights!  Somewhere in there though, things started to change.  Part of it was the fact that while I was building my house in Florida, I really lost track of my teams.  Whenever I would find time to watch, I just didn't recognize them anymore.  Wrong quarterback...wrong running backs....wrong receivers!!  Hey, I've got nothing against free agency or players making whatever the market will bear...problem is, I realized I was just as much a fan of the players as the team...maybe more.  It just wasn't the same.

So that brings me to the game today.  I still play when I have time...(and at 55 that is no mean feat!)...and every so often I still catch a game.  Today I happened to watch the Giants and, unfortunately, it hasn't improved much.  I'm not talking about who's playing for who now...I gave up on that a long time ago!  It's just that I really can't stand the dancing!!  Ok, so I'm a bit (a lot!??!) old fashioned.  You make a play and you get your ass lined up for the next one.  Nothing wrong with showing some emotion...that's a big part of any sport.  But what's with the dancing??!!  I mean, dancing on every play, somebody thinks they just made it to the Super Bowl!  Jumping up off the ground, they don't look to their teammates to celebrate...they run 20 yards away and start some sort of poorly rehearsed mime dance.  Really??   "Hey...look at me....look at me".  Buddy...do something big and we'll look at you...prancing around the field like a dancing pony just doesn't do it for me.

The sad thing...it reminds me so much of "professional" wrestling...which is a combination of splendid athletics and porn-quality acting.  All that's missing at this point from the NFL are the microphones.  I suppose it's what people want to see though...a sad commentary in itself.  Didn't they already have an NFL wives reality show? (don't even get me started on THAT)  Even the networks are on it.  I'm watching the game today and they're interrupting it for reports on who said what about whom in the days leading up to the game.  Wow!...that's all I can really say....wow!  Makes you wonder too...I mean, there aren't too many people left (I hope) that believe that wrestling is real.  How far can we be from football going all the way into theater mode.  You can have the "bad-boy" teams and the America's team with red, white and blue uniforms.  Fans can bring their little "we love us" and "we hate you" signs.  The teams can all do their choreographed celebration dances after every.....single.....freaking.....play.....until their asses fall off!  Fortunately for me, I won't be watching.  These days give me college football, where you still get football without the drama.  I'll leave NFL wrestling for someone else.

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