Stuck In NFL Limbo

I'll Be In My Noose

So, as I write this, its the wee hours of the morning on Friday. The SB ended five days and 120 hours ago. Nothing that has occurred after the game has had any real impact on anyone; the result is the result. And yet, it's still leading sports telecasts, still dominating talk radio, still being ruminated. So and so was hurt bad during the game. This coach is defending that decision. So and so is saying this and that, wearing something scandalous, and we've got the odds on who is going to win next year's game...

And, um, Dear God In Heaven, WHEN IS IT GOING TO STOP?

The NFL used to end, at least for a little while, after the Super Bowl. Sure, people were sad and all, because there are weeks of relatively no sports, and preseason baseball doesn't really count for much, but there's still pro hoops and professional college hoops, hockey and more. And we all should be watching those games, or just taking some time off, or pursuing other hobbies. Honestly. There are other things to do.

Instead, people are living in the last minute -- and yeah, it was a hell of a last minute -- because the plain and simple fact of the matter is that the NFL isn't the #1 sport in America now... it's the ONLY sport in America. We just saw a year in which the SB winner seemed to be a matter of random chance, with aspects of fraud, but since the game was close and the money is everything, we don't move on. And we won't, probably not for another week, and only then for the least satisfying popular television event in human history, the NFL Draft.

There are actual Games going on now, folks. The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking like they were supposed to look. Golden State beat Dallas at home by double digits, after falling behind by 24 in the first quarter. The New York Islanders (?) might be the best team in hockey after being a laughingstock for decades. The consensus top player in college professional hoop is a big man who is on a well-known program. And if none of that floats your boat, there's the looming scandal monster that is Boston trying to land the  unmitigated fraud machine that is the Olympics, when no local political group, or the general public, wants anything to do with it. (No city in the world should want anything to do with the Olympics; it makes the World Cup look like sound fiscal planning.)

Instead, people live in the past of the only sport they care about. One that just had the worst year for the league in decades in every meaningful measure, except for the only measure that matters.

Money and ratings.

Which seemingly are better for Not Game over Game now, and Replay over Live, and Rehash over All...