Brick-By-Brick, the NFL Losing Me As A Fan

[Nextmanup]

11 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

How in the HE double hockey sticks does a season where we beat the Chiefs in the regular season and only lose 3 games total feel like such a let down?

I know what you mean, but the answer is kind of simple.

 

Some time, probably just after the KC game, we kind of went into a funk of sorts and were not playing close to our best football--yet still won a ton of games.

 

Expectations were for a Super Bowl appearance or victory, but we deteriorated as the season went on.

 

We emerged in the playoffs against a depleted Miami team with a 3rd string QB, at home, and barely won the game.

 

We then played the Bengals, at home, and got humiliated.

 

Season over.

That's why there's a bad taste in your mouth.  

 

Ultimately, we underperformed and the season has to be considered a letdown or failure.

 

Luckily we should get a bunch more swings at bat, until Josh gets old.

 

 

[cwater10]

On 2/13/2023 at 8:27 AM, BillsPride12 said:

I agree about the overall presentation of the game nowadays but unfortunately from a marketing standpoint those of us old school fans are no longer the demographic they are catering to.  Times change, things evolve, and we are getting older unfortunately.  But it's still football being played at the highest level and the game was great minus the holding BS at the end.  I miss the old NFL for sure and wish we could go back to those days but it's not how the world works unfortunately.  

The old NFL was great.  It's the foundation that all of this grew from.  But l think that we sometimes put on rose colored glasses when we look back.  With respect to game presentation, it's always been tied to current pop culture to a large extent.  I trust that plenty of older fans back in the 80's didn't care for LA Raider highlights choreographed to Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" or commercial fade outs to "Do The Hustle" or "TSOP by MFSB" back in the 70's.  Disco sucked!  Remember?  What could have ever been more cringe worthy than Creed  flying around on cables performing at halftime of a Thanksgiving game, if memory serves?  The point is, of course the presentation of the game will evolve with the culture that it is grounded in.  I don't remember my father being upset or becoming disinterested because Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller were not pregame or halftime staples in the early 70's.  I do remember bars and restaurants holding events to allow fans to throw bricks at a television sets as Howard Cowell droned on.  People lost their minds over him with an intensity that made our relationship with Chris Collinsworth look like a love affair.  Nothing has changed here folks, just our perceptions as we age.

 

Does anyone remember the Steelers Super Bowl victory of the Seahawks.  There were probably five calls more egregious than the call at the end of the game Sunday. How about Nickel Robey in NFC championship game a few years back.  I remember a regular season game back in 2020 when the Bills got a super shaky PI call in the closing seconds to beat the Rams.  Hell, if I go back in my memory far enough, I can remember screaming my brains out at Rich Stadium because a Randy McClanahan interception that would have ended "The Streak" against Miami was ruled an incompletion despite what we were all convinced that we saw on the dot matrix replay on the monochromatic scoreboard.  There's always been questionable calls and always will be questionable calls because they are JUDGEMENT calls made subjectively by human beings, not a one of which has ever been graced with perfection.  "Whisper words of wisdom, Let It Be".  

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by cwater10

[Bob Jones]

Re the SB halftime show: It's illogical though. What percentage of Rihanna fans are diehard NFL fans? What percentage of Rihanna fans have a snowball's chance in hell of EVER becoming diehard NFL fans? Gotta think the percentages are very low, but I guess I may be wrong....I was once. 😂

 

Why not please your diehard fans?

[BillsPride12]

32 minutes ago, cwater10 said:

The old NFL was great.  It's the foundation that all of this grew from.  But l think that we sometimes put on rose colored glasses when we look back.  With respect to game presentation, it's always been tied to current pop culture to a large extent.  I trust that plenty of older fans back in the 80's didn't care for LA Raider highlights choreographed to Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" or commercial fade outs to "Do The Hustle" or "TSOP by MFSB" back in the 70's.  Disco sucked!  Remember?  What could have ever been more cringe worthy than Creed  flying around on cables performing at halftime of a Thanksgiving game, if memory serves?  The point is, of course the presentation of the game will evolve with the culture that it is grounded in.  I don't remember my father being upset or becoming disinterested because Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller were not pregame or halftime staples in the early 70's.  I do remember bars and restaurants holding events to allow fans to throw bricks at a television sets as Howard Cowell droned on.  People lost their minds over him with an intensity that made our relationship with Chris Collinsworth look like a love affair.  Nothing has changed here folks, just our perceptions as we age.

 

Does anyone remember the Steelers Super Bowl victory of the Seahawks.  There were probably five calls more egregious than the call at the end of the game Sunday. How about Nickel Robey in NFC championship game a few years back.  I remember a regular season game back in 2020 when the Bills got a super shaky PI call in the closing seconds to beat the Rams.  Hell, if I go back in my memory far enough, I can remember screaming my brains out at Rich Stadium because a Randy McClanahan interception that would have ended "The Streak" against Miami was ruled an incompletion despite what we were all convinced that we saw on the dot matrix replay on the monochromatic scoreboard.  There's always been questionable calls and always will be questionable calls because they are JUDGEMENT calls made subjectively by human beings, not a one of which has ever been graced with perfection.  "Whisper words of wisdom, Let It Be".  

 

I think these are fair and valid points, the biggest problem is modern pop culture is truly at an all-time low.  The world has changed dramatically over the last decade.  Maybe that or we are just becoming old geezers.  Makes me think of this spot on quote from Grandpa Simpson

[GreggTX]

Bye.

 

[without a drought]

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

That's me in the corner...

[PBF81]

On 2/17/2023 at 10:43 AM, Bob Jones said:

Re the SB halftime show: It's illogical though. What percentage of Rihanna fans are diehard NFL fans? What percentage of Rihanna fans have a snowball's chance in hell of EVER becoming diehard NFL fans? Gotta think the percentages are very low, but I guess I may be wrong....I was once. 😂

 

Why not please your diehard fans?

 

You just hit the nail on the head.  I don't remember when the last time I watched a Super Bowl was.  What everyone goes Gaga over I don't care about, namely the halftime show and the commercials.  In fact I don't both to be irritating.  ("Get off my lawn!"  LOL) 

 

But it's a pop-culture event, designed not for football fans, but for the masses and mass consumption.  It's designed to be a cultural extravaganza to maximize TV reasons and generate interest outside the states.  The NFL cares about money, not the fans, other than milking them for their money.  

 

I no more watch it than I would any other game in not interested in.  The only reason why I watch the playoffs anymore is to see who we're playing next.

[PBF81]

On 2/17/2023 at 9:57 AM, Nextmanup said:

I know what you mean, but the answer is kind of simple.

 

Some time, probably just after the KC game, we kind of went into a funk of sorts and were not playing close to our best football--yet still won a ton of games.

 

Expectations were for a Super Bowl appearance or victory, but we deteriorated as the season went on.

 

We emerged in the playoffs against a depleted Miami team with a 3rd string QB, at home, and barely won the game.

 

We then played the Bengals, at home, and got humiliated.

 

Season over.

That's why there's a bad taste in your mouth.  

 

Ultimately, we underperformed and the season has to be considered a letdown or failure.

 

Luckily we should get a bunch more swings at bat, until Josh gets old.

 

 

 

It feels like the Levy years to me, when he was coaching that is.  He just wasn't good enough to beat the likes of Parcells, Johnson, or Gibbs.  We had to hope that we had such an advantage in talent that we could overcome him.  Then they shitcanned Polian who built that phenomenal collection of talent.  

 

McD's similar to Levy in that regard, out-coached by his peers that we'll see in the playoffs, and Beane's no Polian.

[IndyMark]

On 2/17/2023 at 10:43 AM, Bob Jones said:

Why not please your diehard fans?

 

I am genuinely curious on what that would look like, according to you?  Not generalities and platitudes but specific and particular ideas.  Also, your expressed normative thoughts on Rhianna fans turning into football fans is a bit presumptive. 

 

Maybe, much to your dismay, football fans are likely a bit more diverse than what you currently believe.  And that is actually a good thing.  I am as ardent and die hard a football fan as they come (likely equal to you) and I abhor a lot about the elements surrounding the game, but I also keep in mind it is not about me.  I appreciate those elements and move on.

 

For example, the national anthem and all the military aspects surrounding the pre-game, is that really necessary?  No it is not, it does nothing and costs a lot of money for a lot of people for no true benefit.  But, I understand for some people it likely is important and a high priority.  So, I deal with it.

 

This is life.  Things are not always about you or me, sometimes it is ok to have a bit of dissonance.  It makes us all better.