I know Francesa has talked about ratings being down early in the season, and that it is partly attributed to the presidential elections and some of the world events that are occurring, as well as perhaps injuries to some of the star players around the league.
But I wanted to hear from you folks if there is a shared sense of, well I'm over this to a degree. I know it could be attributed to a few losing seasons, and maybe it's just me, but for whatever reason this season I feel incredibly dispassionate about this team. I feel no real connection to the current crop of players. I'm 31 so I for the most part missed the 80s teams, and thankfully was spared from the mid-90s Reeves era, but startingIn the late 90s and early 2000s I loved the Giants, I couldn't get enough. The Strahans, Armsteads, Keith Hamiltion's, Sehorn, on defense and Collins, Toomer, Shockey, Tiki on offense. I loved those teams and felt strong affection for those players. In the mid to late 2000s, I more than loved watching those teams, Eli, that offensive line, Plax, Tuck, Osi, Webster, Pierce, great passion, tremendous will, the persona of Coughlin. That 07-08 stretch was golden. Now as we closed that era and begin a new one, I don't feel any connection whatsover to this team short of Eli. McAdoo is bland, JPP has suddenly, despite his accident, become an average player. We have some decent players, talent wise, such as Shepard, Pugh, OBJ, Vernon, Jenkins, DRC, and Collins but we really only have one dynamic personality and that is OBJ and it feels like he might end up being like Calvin Johnson/Larry Fitzgerald, a great player on a bad team. I just don't feel any optimism about our team right now.
Back to the NFL, my feelings about the league are pretty similar. It just feels like overkill at this point. I don't get into any of the sports talk shows at all like i used to. I always loved listening to francesa and even joe and evan, but I just feel done with the sport, at least for the time being, everything just seems so predicatable. I think maybe parody is player a role, and injuries, there are no great teams, no Yankee like dynasty to take down (except the patriots). I just don't see any teams that are just fun to watch, there is a lack of crispness, tons of penalties, tons of side drama about bullshit things that mean nothing. The OBJ non-controversy comes to mind, that was the stupidest week of discussion, he is a passionate player and they had the cameras watching him every second of the game. It was a meaningless story, and there are now tons of meaningless stories. I watch the games, but they all just seem sloppy.
I don't know, something needs to change, the league feels like they overdid it and now there isn't quite as much excitement about the sport.
Maybe it's just me, but does anyone else feel the same way?
Watered down talent, free agency, poor officiating, too many rules and penalties have sucked the excitement from the game imo.
When they lose - and are generally a miserable team all around, like they have been - I just tune out everything football related (for the most part) for the rest of that week. I have less interest in watching Dallas win, or the talking heads fellate Carson Wentz or Kirk Cousins, or Ben R when my team looks like they are high school caliber.
Half the time, I don't watch Thursday night games.
Blandino never officiated a game, but he is the head of officials, read his bio if you haven't.
Too many commercials as well, the NFL RZ might have something to do with the ratings? I have heard talk of that recently.
Next week, you have to watch the Giants at 9:30 (EST).
Games being played in London are a joke to me.
In recent years, the Giants have a losing culture going on,
it takes a lot less time to get over a loss.
The Media has probably always been like this, but when in the past you only had the pregame show on FOX and CBS (or NBC and CBS before that), the exposure was far less. Now you have ESPN starting coverage at 10AM, the NFL Network devoting Sunday AM to gameday, ridiculous mediums like the Fantasy Channel, plus the standard studio shows, bu the time 1PM rolls around, if you are an actual die-hard fan, you're exhausted.
I agree that Thursday and Sunday night games suck. I hate when the Giants play those nights, and rarely watch if it's not the Giants, unless it's a really compelling matchup...but those are rare these days
Enjoy watching them too much to give it up. But agree the quality of play in the NFL has declined. Too many decisions driven by money have hurt the game.
lol, truly the worst.
After 6 years I'm now a huge College FB fan too... the game is so much more exciting now only to watch on TV, but to actually go to the games.
Im still a die hard Giants fan and always will be. But I have to admit that College is more exciting. Im watching teams I dont even root for.
On saturday afternoons during College football, my subdivision is littered with College Team flags flying outside the homes, cars have the flags hanging from the windows, and the food stores are loaded with fans. I really have come to enjoy it. And believe me, the Bulldogs are alot like the Giants lol...
The NFL just seems like a long drawn out 3 1/2 hours now.
When they lose - and are generally a miserable team all around, like they have been - I just tune out everything football related (for the most part) for the rest of that week. I have less interest in watching Dallas win, or the talking heads fellate Carson Wentz or Kirk Cousins, or Ben R when my team looks like they are high school caliber.
THIS. Part of being a good fan is can't get enough of the Giants winning, and can't stand them losing. Also, the reverse for Dallas, Philthy and DC. When those fortunes are reversed, I naturally seek out other things to do. As one poster said, when the Giants lose at 1, it's yard work at 4.
I have never done that since 1964 .
The officiating is lousy the unsportsman like and late
hits are ridiculous .
The average fan can't afford to even go to a pre-season
game . You can't fingerpoint but you can unload on someone
in the endzone while scoring a TD .
You Allow players like AP stay in the league ..after beating
a child . Goodell is the worste thing to ever happen to
the game . The owners are greedy and the expansion of
games on Thursday Sunday Night and now London ?
It certainly doesn't help when your team has sucked for
for straight years ....
Really think why a basketball broadcast is an hour shorter when the clock is the minutes shorter.
The NFL is stretching out what really should be 2 hours into 3. That's the problem with the game, most of the time spent you are not watching a game.
Could not care less.
The Giants in particular seem to have that problem because they can't string together well executed plays without f#cking something up, which causes delays.
The league seemingly didn't think through how handcuffing defenses would lead to more stoppages.
It's also crazy a team gets 25 seconds AFTER the ball is placed.
IMO, this has become the only way to watch these games, although I think a one hour delay works better. I still have not watched a commercial during a Giant game this year!
Still watch MNF and a couple of games on Sunday. Thursday night football just doesn't exist to me.
I am optimistic that this team will go on a run and improve upon the season
Go Giants!!!
I'm 54 and grew up during the 70s when baseball was king. Now pre-September baseball games are pretty much unwatchable. The post-season MLB games (and pennant races) are still kind of exciting except its still almost impossible to sit down and watch a 9 inning game uninterrupted.
NBA regular season hoops also unwatchable until the second or third round of the playoffs. I may be in the minority but I love NHL hockey although I won't start seriously watching until football is over.
It could also be the case that the remote control combined with 600 channels just make the idea of sitting down and watching Panthers-Bucs in its entirety almost impossible.
I will say that the 3 hours of watching Giants football on those 16 days a year is still pure bliss for me - everything else is just filler at this point.
I give two reasons what made the game on the field worse:
Free Agency and The new CBA.
Football when played properly needs Continuity and Practice and in todays game both are lacking.
With the NEW CBA rules there is really not enough practice time and hitting to play the game with crispness. Dumb penalties, missed assignments and poor blocking and tackling are the norm.
I know Free agency is fun during the off season and it has put more money in the players pockets (which is a good thing)but every year the deck gets shuffled and teams are incorporating younger players before they are ready to play.
But think about the game pre 1993, and how much better the product on the field was, and sorry to say it will never be again.
As a kid in LA, with 4 TV games a week, I watched Rams games just to see the in-game highlights of the Giants.
When I lived in the Bay Area as an adult I can't remember watching a single 9ers game not against the Giants in 15 years.
Interest is just more specialized now - and access to want you want, and especially when you have constant entertainment in your hands.
Giants will always be #1.
Which major sport do you think it's reasonable to expect has similar CTE outcomes?
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and the fact that the NFL has become CTE's whipping boy. I'm not sure that is within good reason or not considering what I've heard anecdotally about other sports with CTE problems...
Which major sport do you think it's reasonable to expect has similar CTE outcomes?
Soccer. You know, the game that has so many concussions that they've banned younger players from using your head. You really are a dumbfuck.
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In comment 13172605 I Love Clams Casino said:
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and the fact that the NFL has become CTE's whipping boy. I'm not sure that is within good reason or not considering what I've heard anecdotally about other sports with CTE problems...
Which major sport do you think it's reasonable to expect has similar CTE outcomes?
Soccer. You know, the game that has so many concussions that they've banned younger players from using your head. You really are a dumbfuck.
Ok. Now point me to evidence of CTE in retired soccer players. TIA PIA.
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In comment 13173323 chris r said:
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In comment 13172605 I Love Clams Casino said:
Quote:
and the fact that the NFL has become CTE's whipping boy. I'm not sure that is within good reason or not considering what I've heard anecdotally about other sports with CTE problems...
Which major sport do you think it's reasonable to expect has similar CTE outcomes?
Soccer. You know, the game that has so many concussions that they've banned younger players from using your head. You really are a dumbfuck.
Ok. Now point me to evidence of CTE in retired soccer players. TIA PIA.
How difficult is it for you to use Google to search CTE in soccer? Thanks for confirming my last sentence.
Link - ( New Window )
I like great defense. The first half of the Pats - Panthers SB was a classic. SB 25 was awesome.
Still won't miss a Giants game if I can get near a TV, but my broader interest is waining.
Football is deservedly carrying the cte issue as a black mark. Particularly here where it's a much bigger sport than soccer. Particularly after the cover ups.
Other reasons as have been pointed out, extreme parity, over hype, poor new generic stadium design (the old mile high rfk and candlestick were far more entertaining than their boring modern replacements), and lack of distinct personalities for teams mostly due to free agency and the cap, and worst of all fantasy football creating a legislation against defense and allow offense to rack stats up have left today's game awful for the die hard.
One thing is for certain. It has NOTHING to do with winning or losing. I LOVED the Giants during the "lost years" of the mid 60's and 70's.
I retired two years ago and Sundays became a warm place for me, I had the NFL package because it was given to me for signing on to DirectTV. I bought it this year (no more though).
Now that I can watch every game slot televised I think besides chord cutters, bad reffing and ridiculous commercial breaks, over saturation is a problem. Sundays and Mondays were religious, the occasional Thursday fun. Now it's over done.
I still watch every single game I can, but I can see how it could wear thin on some people.
Goal line stand against the Bears - ( New Window )
Watched the tape when I got home. What a day!
NFL can't go back to that era, but has to make some concessions to the fans. No roughing the quarterback for a moderate shove in the back after the whistle. Penalize the player, not the team for taunting. With only 16 games a year, you can't have one of the games decided by an official's judgment that a player wasn't polite enough to the other team after scoring.
I don't know if the rule on what constitutes a pass reception was changed or officials just started calling it different. but the old way of judging receptions, pretty much just catching the ball, keeping it in your hands for two seconds and still having it in your hands when you hit the ground. ("The ground can't cause a fumble")
Now they watch the receiver four times in super slow motion and strain to see if he jiggled the ball for a half a second on the way down.
NFL ratings plunge could spell doom for traditional TV - ( New Window )
If the games or the results of games caused you to lose sleep (some posters have mentioned that in previous posts), go ballastic on the team or other posters, or spend hours of your week talking about all the mistakes or whatnots, then your still pretty much invested in this team no matter if your have or haven't lost passion for it or relate to the team or players.
Once we start winning again, most of you guys will change your tunes. Winning solves everything.
I'll never lose passion or interest in the Giants. As far as other teams/games go, I'll watch them over many other things on TV, but won't really bat an eye if I have something else to do.
Winning cures everything, but it won't fix the larger issues with the NFL.
Winning cures everything, but it won't fix the larger issues with the NFL.
Yeah...for the most part, my comment was in response to people saying they've lost interest or passion for the Giants. I can see that for the wider NFL, but no matter what anyone says, Giants still being out strong responses from most of us.