NFL Time

[schoolofruckus]

I will join this too. I just can't do it at work.

[santasutt]

I will join this too. I just can't do it at work.

Join the club ( of Barricuda-haters.)

[Miroir Noir]

I'll sign up for this, too. A much better alternative to fantasy football.

[Sexecutioner]

Finally!

[suprefan]

Dont you min this? And you lost despite The Cowgirls having almost no posessions.....

[Sexecutioner]

Yea, that was a pathetic showing. Good things it's preseason.

[flea73]

I'm in the for the pool, September 5th can't get here soon enough.

[suprefan]

Yea, that was a pathetic showing. Good things it's preseason.

Not for the fans, though.

[bobert]

This season of Hard Knocks has been thoroughly entertaining. Watching Chad Johnson flush his career down the toilet is must-watch television by anyone's standards. I loved that they were able to film Joe Philbin giving him the death-blow. The guy is really likable - kind of reminds of an 80s-era Robert Duvall.

[TomAz]

Yeah that was uncomfortable to watch. But riveting.

[bobert]

Yeah they're not hurting for story lines this year. In years past it seems like they've devoted too much time to all the Cinderella scrubs who will be lucky to make the practice squad. The scene where Matt Moore and Ryan Tannehill walked into the quarterbacks room to see David Gerrard in a full leg cast was fucking awesome. Matt Moore made absolutely no attempt to suppress how happy he was to see that injury.

[santasutt]

Boardie NFL pick-em pool.

Straight up winners.

Every game. Every week.


It's not as easy as it looks.

Go here to play: http://www.pooltracker.com/join.asp?poolid=70045

password: gobi

First 35 entrants compete.

Suggested prize: open for discussion but if we can procure a GA pass to weekend 1, the math works out to a reasonable entry fee. (We will need a reliable exchequer.)

Or we can just do this for bragging rights.

So Far...

1 flea73
2 Fourthisto
3 gillster17
4 MostlyMellow
5 mrnovember
6 Shaxspear
7 ThomThom
8 TomAz
9 tubesock shakur
10 santasutt's sluts

25 slots left

[TomAz]

god damn preseason football. the only thing that ever happens that is noteworthy is injuries. god damn it.

[Tubesock Shakur]

god damn preseason football. the only thing that ever happens that is noteworthy is injuries. god damn it.

Yup. Bullshit. I get to spend $240 to see manning throw 12 passes. It's bullshit. Cut preseason to two fucking games.

[Bud Luster]

You should sell your preseason tix if you are so concerned about it. (I assume you are a season ticket holder) There is no way the owners will give up a preseason home game. It's more likely that they would extend the regular season, and that isn't very likely at all.

[Tubesock Shakur]

I get that its a revenue issue. I have always held the opinion of extending regular season by two games. Or lowering the price of preseason games and roll it into the regular season. Make it feel like you are doing the consumer a favor. Four preseason games is overkill.

[TomAz]

Cardinals have 5 preseason games this year because of the HOF game.

LT Levi Brown tore his triceps last night and is probably out for the season. That may not seem like that big a deal, except he really improved last year and had a much better 2nd half of the season, and took a paycut this year to stay with the cardinals and "prove himself". The depth is thin and skilled left tackles are not easy to find.

49ers fans know what i mean. Brandon Jacobs blew out his knee tonight.

fuck the preseason.

[HotHamWater]

Yeah, the preseason is awful. The Bears starters did really well tonight, and I don't give a shit. I'm just glad nobody got hurt.

[suprefan]

Th main thing is that all franchises do not have to share the revenue from pre season. Name an owner who would want to give this up.


In the end, these guys are playing 20 games at minimum. And 20% of them DON'T COUNT? What incentive does it give really to be competitive? If it was extended to 2 more games, while shortening the pre season, players will want to get paid more. Thats the main mess.



I know Thomthom wants to see this over and over, and move his toe 6 inches to the left.

[Gribbz]

I've always hated the pre-season (no matter what sport). Can't really blame the NFL though. Ratings/ticket sales don't lie.

[santasutt]

Yeah, the preseason is awful.

The Patriots have to play 3 games in a 10 day span starting Monday.

Tell me that's not a recipe for something bad about to happen to the depth chart.

[TomAz]

Ratings/ticket sales don't lie.

In this case, actually, they do.

The stadium last night at the Cardinals/Raiders game was maybe half full. But it was announced as a sellout.. because season ticket holders are required to buy the preseason games. Yes that's real revenue to the team but it 'lies' in the sense that it doesn't reflect actual fan interest (read: customer satisfaction). And preseason ratings aren't that good, whatever they get is because people are so desparate for football after months of baseball and synchronized diving.

The Cardinals' last preseason game is at home vs the Broncos on Aug 30. Kickoff is not til 8pm because of the republican national convention. The stadium is 1 hour from my house. I have to work the next day. Why would I go to this game? Peyton Manning isn't going to play. Larry Fitzgerald isn't going to play. No one (other than the families of the players on the cut list) gives a shit about this game. And yet i'm out $410 for my four tickets. And somebody that matters is gonna get hurt.

Goodell tried to address this in the labor negotiations -- well, he used it as a negotiating tactic, dunno how much he actually meant it. He wanted to turn it to 18 reg season games/ 2 preseason games in the name of 'providing value to our customers'. Which makes sense in that regard. But I don't think an 18 game NFL regular season is a good idea, injuries are bad enough as it is. In my mind the 'right' answer is 2 preseason games and a 16 game regular season.. but that's lost revenue to the owners so it will never happen.

The NFL does a lot of things right but this is not one of them.

[Sexecutioner]

^ Couldn't agree more Tom! 2/16 is the magic number. I know these games generate easy income for the owners, but they also jeopardize their ability to field a healthy team, which could affect their chances of a successful season. I know people as rich as NFL owners probably don't think like this...but if I was already making that much money no matter what, I would prefer to sacrifice that extra 2 games worth of preseason revenue to make sure my star players aren't getting injured.

Jacoby Ford sprained his foot that night too and will miss some time now. I blame that shooting on the preseason too.

[TomAz]

I blame the shooting on the fact it was a Raiders game.

[Mr. Dylanja]

I'm not a fan of the extended preseason either, however, I think it would be a fair assumption that if the regular season started sooner even more injuries would occur during the first few games of the season. The first three games are used slowly acclimate players into "game shape." Doesn't it seem logical to expect an increased amount of injuries if players had less time to condition, and then were expected to play all four quarters in competitive and meaningful games? Wouldn't the fatigue in the 4th quarter make them even more susceptible to injury? Yes, the starters don't play in the last game, but that usually is when the last roster spots are earned.

Again, I'd prefer the pre-season to be two games, but I don't think it creates as big of an impact injury-wise as we're making it out to. If anything, it gives the back-ups a chance to get starter's reps rather than being thrown into game 1 of the regular season after preparing as a back-up all preseason.

[Sexecutioner]

I blame the shooting on the fact it was a Raiders game.

Well no shit, I was joking. But to be fair, the shooter said it was an accident, called 911, and stayed there until they arrived and booked him. He's a nice gunman. Plus they they haven't said what team the shooter was rooting for, but that he is a resident of Arizona. Maybe they were both Cards fans arguing over which QB should start?

And D, I would think the injury risk is just as high in any game, be it regular season or pre-season. The only difference is that it's hard to accept knowing they got hurt playing in a game that doesn't even count.

[Gribbz]

Re: preseason

"Safety and the health of our players comes first." The NFL's hypocrisy is extremely annoying and frustrating.

[TomServo]

Well, let's be real.. without preseason and with no minor leagues, there's no way to introduce new talent into the league. You can't just push some rookie from SE Louisiana State out there and say "Good luck with covering Calvin Johnson!"

You can argue that starters/veterans should sit the entire preseason, I'd be down with that. I was happy Trent Richardson had his knee scoped and will miss the entire preseason - it just means he can't sustain a REAL injury during that month. But unless the league adopts a minor league system (which I'm also cool with), there is no other way of finding out who actually has the skill to compete at this level (and the work ethic, attention to detail, etc).

And the whole 18/2 thing was a red herring the league introduced so they could have something of "value" to drop during negotiations, in my opinion.

[Mr. Dylanja]

So, I had class during the game last night, how was it? TomAz, who should start at QB? Looks like we might need that 5th preseason game, after all. What a mess.

[HotHamWater]

Time to call Kurt Warner.