Angry Romanian

The National Football League is top dog in American sports these days. It is also the sport most ravaged with greedy assholes.

“The Warden,” Roger Goodell has turned pro football from a good excuse for skipping church into the Wal-Mart of professional sports. He has turned a game that people love to watch into a race to the bottom-line, with no regard for how he gets there, or who he has to screw to do it.

Like Wal-Mart, the NFL mistreats its part time employees, in this case the referees. Football is the only of the four major sports to not have full time refs. They are paid based on a contract instead of as salaried employees. No wonder they can’t see, they probably don’t even have benefits that pay for glasses.

Mistreatment of officials is just the beginning. This season, Goodell decided to ban local news stations from sideline coverage during games and restricted the amount of NFL related internet video that news companies can have on their web pages to 45 seconds. The video also must include a link to the NFL web page.

So they are fucking over refs and local news. But who cares about that? Well, if you are an average NFL fan, (symptoms include beer gut, receding hair line and very little to live for) then you should. Although the word integrity might be a little too fancy for many football fans, its maintenance is essential to the success of the sport. Goodell’s iron fist rule and corporate greed depletes this integrity. This is the same man who allowed DT Tank Johnson to have a reduced suspension after spending time in prison but suspended CB Pacman Jones for a full season due to off field conduct though he was never charged with a crime. Hmm…Seems “The Warden,” is more like Nurse Ratched than a Commissioner, doling out privilege and punishment capriciously.

But the greed league doesn’t stop at screwing its refs, local news outlets and players. That’s right; they bend the fans over a table too. (Not just Jeff Garcia) The NFL Network had exclusive rights to four games this season, but nobody saw the first three. All the major cable networks refused to pay the outrageous fee the NFL was asking for broadcast rights to the NFL Network. Cable providers would have had to hike up their rates for all customers so football fans could watch four games. Not exactly the sort of PR cable companies need in the ever crowded media delivery sphere. Anyway, turns out Time Warner and Comcast have bigger dicks than the NFL and won’t reenact scenes from Deliverance with the NFL. However, it is ultimately the fan that loses out once the corporate pissing match is over. A perfect example; earlier this season the Packers vs. Cowboys game was on NFL Network and most of America was unable to see a battle of legendary teams vying for playoff position. And no, I am not impressed with the leagues supposed good-will gesture of allowing nationwide broadcast of the Patriots-Giants game. Only the prodding of Congress, which could make life very difficult for the NFL in future television contract negotiations, managed to convince the Grinch to return the pigskin to Whoville.

The NFL’s greed is not all that’s wrong with the game. Instant replay, lack of parity and ridiculous fines and penalties are all destroying football. Games are taking four hours because it takes 20 minutes to decide whether a play if reviewable or not; the Patriots are killing everyone every year despite a salary cap designed to eliminate dynasties; and the days of Lawrence Taylor laying out a QB or Ronnie Lott blasting a Wide Receiver are gone for fear of penalties and fines. I just can’t imagine why they call it the, “No Fun League.”

And so I still buy my underwear at Wal-Mart, just like I sometimes still watch football on Sunday, but it’s too bad this once great game has turned into an ugly episode of “The Apprentice”, except it’s the boss who should be fired this season.

-Matt

Thanks Matt for the guest submission.

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