Fanview: September 12, 2017

It’s the end of the world as we know it…(Photo courtesy of Paul Barraza)

By Joe Torosian

“Football? You bet!”–The San Pedro Beach Bums

Relax, take it easy!

Right off the Top: I think the NFL is dying…And I know many/all will disagree with my thoughts…But I see an old friend killing itself, and I feel like I need to say something…

Mark me as old…But it’s the way I feel…

***
Reasons Why I Think The NFL is Dying:

1.) No one gives a rats-butt about a football player acting like a victim. Players should protest on their own time, or better still in the face of such oppression just walk out–as it is they’re only hurting the league and their careers.

Oh and no airing of grievances in a video prior to kick-off like they did in Cleveland… Persistent politicization of every corner of our lives only turns people off…And according to the TV numbers and the half-empty Coliseum on Sunday…People are turning off big time.

2.) The NFL needs to stop the comedy. I don’t care how funny somebody is or funny the networks or the NFL thinks somebody is…No comedy just give us the game. Give us analysis, give us breakdowns…No morning shows where they sit with coffee mugs and attempt to convince us it is all about football.

I actually dumped the NFL Channel…I never envisioned a scenario like that happening in my life.

“Torosian does for high school football what Hemingway did for the Spanish Civil War…compelling look beyond the scoreboard and into the lives of players…”
Joe Torosian’s high school football novel is available through Amazon.com –click pic–$16.99
(Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)

3.) For goodness sakes just give us video-review of targeting and hits to the head and pass interference penalties…We can’t go to the ATM, walk out of the supermarket or run a red light without being caught on video…Just give it to us, so we don’t have a game decided by a ridiculous call or a nervous “I THINK he got hit in the head I better throw the flag” call…

4.) Stop the icing of kickers. Once the ball is snapped–I don’t care if the coach is on the sidelines standing next to the official–if the ball is snapped, if the kicker has started his motion…So sad, too bad…It too late…

5.) Please, no more ESPN Monday Night double-headers on opening weekend…Especially if the announcing team is Beth Mowins, Rex Ryan and Sergio Dipp…Talk about a reboot of “The Not Ready For Prime Time Players.”

6.) No more Thursday night games—especially with the disastrous uniforms…The Rams Sunday outfit is bad enough. Football is great and it can endure a 7-day wait between games.

7.) No more red carpet. The NFL needs to move its draft back to Saturday and Sunday…No Stacey Dales interviewing football personalities coming into the draft like it was the Academy Awards. The Oscars suck, the NFL Draft doesn’t have to. And no more sob stories about someone who was raised without a father or a mother or had an aunt, uncle, cousin battling cancer… Everyone’s story is important, but when you continually tell us EVERYONE’S story, it ceases to be moving…The let reaction at being drafted–a genuine moment–be the story.

8.) No more social-crusading from the announcers but especially no more bad announcing teams. Talent should rule the day; no one should get a job because of their gender, race or name… Rex Ryan? Really? I didn’t have a problem with Beth Mowins announcing the game…She was more prepared and knowledgeable than Claudia Trejos, or Lisa Guerrero ever were…But she wasn’t Lindsay Soto, Hannah Storm or Go Go Zelasko…If you’re going to announce you got to have a sound that isn’t painful…Mowins and Ryan will go down in infamy as the worst I’ve ever heard…
I’m currently drafting apologies to Mike Tirico, Chris Berman, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.

9.) The game lacks continuity…The hard-salary cap prevents fans from getting emotionally connected to their teams. When fans are connected at a deep level, their team can be owned by the devil herself and moved to St. Louis, but they will always love their team…With revenue sharing the owners need to find a way to kick a few more bucks down the depth chart to keep a better connection with its fans and a better football product on the field. I’m sick of a team’s window of opportunity being only two, maybe three, seasons. And worse a 75% roster turnover every two years.

10.) If someone offered Burbank-Burroughs or San Dimas-Bonita or a Temple City semifinal, or an Arroyo CIF Final…I’d take it over a ticket to an NFL stadium…I despise the show at the football stadium more than the wave at Dodger Stadium…No dance cams, kiss cams, no more of those extraneous, ridiculous, preposterous antics before, during or after a game. Just get the guy to blow the horn for the national anthem like they did in Dallas and let the game speak for itself.

***

Alright, I’m out…Go Rams…I’m anxiously awaiting the rebirth of the USFL–after the NFL implodes on itself–in 2030.

Post-Script:
You don’t have to agree with me…Tell me where you disagree…But don’t call me an idiot, a moron, or something else…Because I can call you that right back…And what a colossal waste of time that would be…

The Dude abides…

671

Job 15:8

Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com

Author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” & “The Dead Bug Tales” both available through amazon.com and Barnes & Noble

Follow Joe on Twitter @joet13b

12 Comments to "Fanview: September 12, 2017"

  1. Really?'s Gravatar Really?
    September 13, 2017 - 9:26 am | Permalink

    Hey B.A.
    You have got to be kidding! That was absolutely the worst sportscasting duo I have ever heard in all of Professional Football games. The announcers on the High School game of the week are so superior and deserve the chance to work a real Pro-game. Beth’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard, every time she opened her pie hole. I had to turn off the audio. It was like when the CBS/NBC chose not to have any announcers at all. That would have been better.

  2. BonitaAlum's Gravatar BonitaAlum
    September 12, 2017 - 9:33 pm | Permalink

    Woah now: Beth was great. Rex, well he needs to not be in the booth. He sucked and sucked a lot.

  3. Ron Vrooman, AHS stat man's Gravatar Ron Vrooman, AHS stat man
    September 12, 2017 - 5:31 pm | Permalink

    I agree with NWO about the L.A. Rams’ uniforms: The team should go back to wearing blue-and-gold helmets, blue home jerseys with gold numerals and trim, and white road jerseys with blue numerals and blue-and-gold trim. (Circa 1973 and on.) Those designs were much more colorful and aggressive-looking.
    The blue-and-white uniforms that the Rams wore from the late 1950’s to 1972, particularly the ones with white as the dominant color, were just too bland and soft-looking. And, strangely enough, the franchise has decided to return to that style.
    The Rams played well on Sunday (against a bad Indianapolis Colts team), but they need to bring back those Chuck Knox-era uniforms to further sharpen their image.

  4. Really?'s Gravatar Really?
    September 12, 2017 - 3:37 pm | Permalink

    Here are some of the general critical thinking skills of the past 3 generations. My apologies to the unknown authors .

    Baby-Boomers Born post WWW II, 1946-1964 they are 72-53 years of age. Favorite Quotes, “Water will make you weak.” What happened to you? “Oh just spit on it, then rub some dirt in it and it will be alright, get back in there!

    Gen-X Born 1965-1976. Dave Sim, ” Generation X or Generation Next, or whatever you want to call them – Do they even know what a thought is, having been raised to be women?” These are the soccer parents that said, ” There are no losers, we don’t want to hurt their feelings, so don’t keep score.”

    Millennials/Gen-Y Born 1977-1995. “When life knocks you down, roll over and look at the stars.” “My life feels like a test I didn’t study for.” Always ready to go with the flow and follow the most popular answer, even if it is wrong.

  5. Joe Pulitzer's Gravatar Joe Pulitzer
    September 12, 2017 - 2:11 pm | Permalink

    Right on Joe. Lets go back to the good old days when the NFL had great play by play announcers. Hall of Famers like Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Miller and Donald Trump. Man those guys made the NFL. No politics with those folks. And don’t forget that outstanding citizen OJ.

    FRom Joe T.: Limbaugh lasted what, a week? Did Trump call NFL games? And Miller by the time 911 happened and walked off the liberal reservation was already off Monday night football…

  6. Captain's Gravatar Captain
    September 12, 2017 - 1:18 pm | Permalink

    NWO please share with all of us where you played football?

  7. NWO's Gravatar NWO
    September 12, 2017 - 12:11 pm | Permalink

    Bottom Line: Over the last 5-8 years I’ve seen the game change in ways that make me shake my head in disgust and finally had me hang up my whistle. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime, but football is soft, just like most of the kids that play now.

  8. My Two Cents's Gravatar My Two Cents
    September 12, 2017 - 11:24 am | Permalink

    Sergio Dipp, when he came on and spoke about Vance Joseph, I thought he had won some kind of contest. I didn’t realize he was the sideline reporter for real with the way he was stuttering and the amateurish way he described Joseph. Wow!

  9. Bottom Line's Gravatar Bottom Line
    September 12, 2017 - 10:53 am | Permalink

    Football teaches the value of hard work, cooperation and competition. What we’re hearing from today’s public school administrators is only that the sport is doing great harm to young, developing bodies. I believe this push to minimize and basically terminate the sport is coming from the baby-boomer generation (and some of their offspring who have been saturated with their parents’ ideas). The attitude is that children need to be shielded from anything and everything that might cause them harm, without considering that a lot of what happens to kids in life is NECESSARY to make the individual tough and resilient.
    This is the thinking behind today’s push for a ‘kinder, gentler’ football experience. The result is that participation is way down and the abbreviated contact practices are not sufficient to get players into hitting shape, all of which makes the sport MORE hazardous to kids.
    The stuff happening to football on the professional and college level, by comparison, are exactly what you should expect when massive amounts of money and media coverage are injected into the situation. No surprise with that, and frankly it amazes me that Joe stuck with the product as long as he did.

  10. NWO's Gravatar NWO
    September 12, 2017 - 9:20 am | Permalink

    Amen to #6. Rams need to wear Blue and Gold.

  11. Different Views's Gravatar Different Views
    September 12, 2017 - 9:12 am | Permalink

    I think where the NFL and many fans of football such as, myself and Joe differ is generational. I feel there is a 3 Generation Gap. You have your old school thought process. Where as Joe has stated. Just play football, talk about football and give it to us on Sunday. But then there is GenX. Such as myself that has some beholden ideas to that train of thought. But also grew up on Deion Sanders and Randy Moss Barry Sanders and Dominante Cowboys of the 90’s. And are of the sportcenter highlight era. And Loved Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne and Keith Olberman making us laugh. And the NFL saw that and tried to bring that into its programming. Cause many in my genX. Dont care about a cover2 or a bootleg pass.Unless your a coach or a die hard. We wanna see Barry break your ankles. And now you have the millennial gen. That attention span is minimal. They as a whole are more socially aware. Feel there are answers to all problems. Dont just take the old idea of “because i said so”. They want to see it, enjoy it and move on. They also grew up in the era of fast and flash football. Up tempo football and cool uniforms. I think the Ram whites look good. Better than that yellow. But i also have 15 pairs of shoes different colors to match my clothes. NFL and Nike know jerseys =$$$ As for the social aspects. The older Gen was raises under idea respect the flag. Do your job and shut up and play. Your rich. GenX&Men. Know life isnt black and white. Everyone deserves respect and the protest have merit. But NFL backed itself into a corner. You told your work force 70% of them their community doesnt matter. And some took offense that the one that tried to change that is now blackballed. Well others have picked up the ball. Well its made some turn it off due to the protest. And others turn it off to the blackball and deafness of the NFL.

  12. Tony's Gravatar Tony
    September 12, 2017 - 6:35 am | Permalink

    Could not agree more Joe. ESPN is a joke- always more worried about checking all the boxes, I do not watch the NFL – it is boring compared to college. Sadly, the high school game is dying too. Fortunate where I coach the numbers are good but everyone else we play the numbers are down.

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