NFL: Leave the purses at home, ladies (and no more seat cushions, either)

I can't wait to go to another game at Cowboys Stadium, just to relive the experience of paying $60 to park.

 

I'll never go to another Redskins game live again. Possibly one of the most unpleasant gameday experiences ever.

 

I cannot understand the appeal of watching the NFL in person. Perhaps this comes from too many years of shooting games from the sidelines.

Too much standing around.

Too much "Hells Bells".

The walk is usually damn long and cold - especially if you're in the NFC North.

I think one of the best TV experiences is NFL RedZone. About 10-15 years ago, television emerged as superior for an NFL experience than in-person.

The tipping point for me? The time-out after right after a kickoff from a score. This often erodes momentum for the defense after their offense gets points and messes with the game flow.

Rather than commit 10 hours to one game, I'd much rather commit three hours to watching 7 games at once. That way I still have a little bit of my Sunday left for non-NFL pursuits.

 

I had free tickets to an NFL game about 3 years ago. I took my son. While we were there, he asked me when the game was going to start. At that point there were 5 minutes remaining in the first quarter. It was an understandable mistake -- he didn't realize that one play followed by four minutes of standing around was really what pro football was like in person. Between that and the guy a few rows in front of us who was a fan of the opposing team and spent the whole first quarter standing with his back to the field, trying to get anyone to fight him... suffice it to say, I won't be back.

Seriously, based on my experience, I don't get why anyone would ever go to an NFL game in person. I'd rather listen to the game on the radio in my car than go back to one in person.

 

This is pretty much what I was getting at.

Seahawks Stadium is a great facility and has a cool vibe to it, but I just don't enjoy NFL live.

 

I guess I could enjoy it if I'm in my 20's and single but I wouldn't take any of my kids to an NFL game. Too many drunks. Too many mouth breathers.

A few years ago, I was at a Notre Dame home game, with seats right at the 50. Incredible seats for my first time.

In front of us was a grown man yelling f-bombs at the opposing team. I called him out with a "really? You think they can hear you? I have a 6-year-old with me. Be better than that." He murmured something to an older man (I presume his father) and kept it more appropriate.

 

Don't forget playing the "Final Jeopardy" music when the ref is reviewing the play. Like it's original.

 

Years ago it was "Start Me Up" before the kickoff. Pretty soon, you could hear it at every stadium.

 

A friend of mine was on the Redskins season ticket "wait list" for around 15-20 years when he got a call probably 3-4 years ago saying he was up. So he jumped at the opportunity. His tickets were upstairs, but he didn't care. HE WAS FINALLY IN!!!

Well, he went to each game that season. Then dumped his tickets immediately after the season.

 

Chiming in on the Redskins experience, I am a fan of the team, but will be fine if I never attend another game in RalJon (the old postal location for the stadium, named after Jack Kent Cooke's sons).

Aside from the location and the surroundings, I made the mistake of attending the last home game Steve Spurrier coached in Washington. It was against the Eagles, in December. Being called an "asshole" by Eagles fans walking into your home team's stadium is expected, given the circumstances, but I suspect the inside experience was no different from your average game. Fights, threats, loud profanity, excessive drunken machismo and a generally unpleasant attitude from the patrons defined the game day experience.

I saw Ravens games in the mid-2000s from the press box, so it's hard to comment on the stadium experience there, but it seemed way more subdued. Pretty average teams at the time, too.

 

The experience at a Ravens game is 100 times better than for a Redskins game.

 

Wasn't the NFL supposed to be creating initiatives to make the stadium experience more appealing? What is the point of having WiFi at your seat if said seat is literally giving you a pain in the ass because they wouldn't let you take in a seat cushion? I love the NFL, but it would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for me to set foot in a stadium on a game day ever again.