Mushnick on the NFL in Europe

The most difficult thing for the English to grasp about the NFL surely must be why every two minutes the game stops for three minutes. . . .

Brilliant. I thought the exact same thing. I'd love to know what the Brits think about all the stoppages of play. Maybe I am ADD-addled but I call myself a football fan, and can't watch a game unless its on TIVO (or have multiple games going at once).

 

I enjoy football as well. I also enjoy that the team's considerable amount of stoppages enables me to take a nap in the middle.

NFL football is the worst live sporting event I have ever seen.

 

I was busy all day yesterday. Tivo'd the NFL network's highlight package. Got up an hour early this morning to watch it, speeding thru the commercials and whatnot, and I am caught up on the league like I spent 7 hours in front of the tube yesterday.

Deion Sanders, to Steve Mariucci, watching Mike Williams drop a late 4th down pass:

"You're familiar with that scene, aren't you coach?"

LOL

The week in the NFL, whittled down to 70 minutes of highlights and analysis.

 

Agreed 100%. Perfect TV sport, cuz you don't have to pay attention. Then when a guy doesn't do something right because some other 300-pound guy who can run like a missile is launching himself into that guy's head, couch potato nation comes up with a million reasons why it can do better.

 

Fixed.

 

JR, the only thing wrong with your fix is you didn't change it to include NBA basketball, Major League baseball or just about anything else. I must be getting old and grumpy, but I'm starting to have a hard time understanding why we watch any of them.

And yes, the British wondered about the stoppages in football, much like we wonder why nothing ever happens in soccer. Did anyone ever stop to think the reason hooliganism exists is because the sport in front of them is so ungodly boring?

 

Well you could say that, or you could say the Barras Bravas of River Plate, Argentina, Green Street Elite of West Ham, England, or the Ultra factions within Italy are the rest of the world equivalents of the Bloods and Crips.

They are nothing more than gangs who couldn't give a rats arse about who wins or loses, just that they get into a fight. The only difference is they associate themselves with soccer clubs. Its the equivalent of the Bloods and the Crips being factions of Lakers and Clippers fans.

 

Goodell has done a lot of good things during his short time as commissioner, but he is going to fall on his ass if he tries to put a team overseas or puts the Super Bowl overseas. A team in Toronto? Fine... Super Bowl in London, insane...

It kills the NFL that the NBA is so much more popular worldwide and the NFL will do anything to get that kind of worldwide exposure...

 

The reason the Super Bowl will never, ever, happen in Europe is very simple: Money.

Both the networks and the advertisers want the game to be in primetime to allow for a long pregame show. If the league wants the game to start at 6 p.m. as it has for the most part in recent years, that would entail an 11 p.m. kickoff in London.

You want to start it at a reasonable hour in England, say 8 p.m., you're looking at a noon kickoff pacific time.

 

If you were going to try and market the NFL to Europeans, why would you send the Dolphins?

If that was my first glimpse of the NFL, my reaction would be simple: Fuck this.

 

Believe it or not but the Dolphins have a big following in the UK, possibly the biggest of any NFL team.

When NFL games were first shown over there it was during the mid-80s when the Marino and the Dolphins were really rolling.

 

Dead on. I think the other part of the equation was the Fins willingness to give up a home game, which I think was a sticking pont for some teams.