Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NFL has your eyes, mind, heart and wallet, and its not about to let go



The yearly afterglow of the first NFL weekend is starting to wane, much like the 5th day of your honeymoon, but its an annual event that always seems worth the wait.

I was listening to sports radio today (my favorites, Terry Boers and Dan Berstein on WSCR 670AM) talk about the dominance that the NFL has compared to America's pasttime baseball.  Its an interesting discussion, I'd be curious what your views are but I'll share mine.  Let me just set the record straight, I'm a huge, huge fan of major league baseball, so this coming from me might be interesting.  I will also say that I don't watch college football and have absolutely no interest in high school football.  But the NFL is something else.

My Top 10 Reasons Why Watching NFL Football is Better Than Baseball 

1.  Action - The game is fast, violent and unpredictable

2.  Limited Chances to Watch - They only play 16 regular season games a year, compared to 162.  Each game means a lot in the grand scheme of things.

3.  Fantasy Football - Seems silly, but for the competitive non-athlete, it gives me a reason to watch Carolina and Houston.  In Week 1, I was glued to the Patriots & Dolphins to see if Tom Brady could pull out a win for me, and he did with a 99 yard TD pass.  It was almost better than sex, and if my wife played fantasy football she would have said it was better than sex.

4.  Gambling - While not a large gambler, I did have money on two games this week.  In fact I was glued to the Packers and Saints trying to see if the Packers could hold the 4 points I was giving.  Went to the final play.

5.  Watching a losing team - Being a Cubs fan, I have lots of experience watching a losing team.  I quit watching the Cubs around game 23 this year, but I could sit all Sunday and watch the Bears even if they were 2-13. 

6.  Idols - Ask my kids, look at my basement, my favorite athlete of all time is Walter Payton.  I have tons of stuff from Cubs players, but Walter has the dominant spot in the man cave.

7.  Marketing - Let's face it, the game, the NFL, and associated products are marketed much better than baseball.  I don't see a bunch of ex baseball managers hawking Coors Light in a fake press conference. 

8.  One & Done - Its called the Super Bowl, and you can't even use that name it's so special.  And they start this Championship Game at a time when everyone can watch it.

9.  The Characters - Is there anyone like the Fridge or Ochocinco or T.O in baseball?  Maybe, but you sure don't see much of them.  Its much more refined, not in your face.

10. The Elements - They play in wind, cold, heat, rain, snow.  (well with the exception of the Vikings who have stadium problems).  Baseball gets rained out.

1 comment:

Davis Marlin Esq. said...

There's a few additional reasons I enjoy the NFL so much more than baseball:

1. Salary Cap - Sure you'll get your dynasty runs from teams like the Patriots every now and then, but because of the cap, they're forced to make roster changes more frequently to stay under the salary ranges. If Jerry Jones had his way, the Cowboys would be the NY Yankees of the NFL and that might cause me to start paying more attention to college football. Gross.

2. Injuries - Love em' or hate em', they can make a Super Bowl bound team fall short of the playoffs or even out of contention for the next few years ie: Peyton Manning.

3. Fans - NFL fans seem to be more my caliber than MLB fans. There's more intensity in an NFL game which I think brings out the fan's level of excitement throughout the game. With baseball having so many dead spots over nine innings, it's hard to keep up that kinda momentum.

4. Cheerleaders.

5. Tailgating.