Why it's getting harder for me to watch the NFL

[Irn-Bru]

I am ever-so slowly, but steadily, becoming convinced that maybe American football just isn't for me. Or at least not the NFL. There are a number of reasons for this, and I have some ideas of rule tweaks that I think would bring the game back and closer to its original intent.

Not that the NFL will ever change in that direction. And I guess those are for a different thread though, because I want to point out an interesting discovery I made this past weekend.

Everyone knows what this is like. It's 3rd and goal from the 6-yard line, with three minutes left in the first quarter. The defense looks like they'll blitz everyone, and the QB calls a timeout to regroup. Commercial break. They come back from the break, the play runs, and they score a TD. They run a highlight, kick the XP. Commercial break. Back to the game: a kickoff return that gets called back on a penalty, and an injury occured on the play. Timeout on the field — commercial break. Back to the game: the offense runs two plays, and the quarter ends. Commercial break. On third down the offense fails to convert. Punt. Commercial break.

I look up from the TV and realize I've been watching 20 minutes of programing and have seen only five plays.

Or at any rate, I feel like I've had that experience one too many times. So this weekend I was watching the Vikings - Packers game, and decided to experiment. I kept a stopwatch going while play was on, and would pause whenever we went to commercials. This included those 'in-game' advertisements when Joe Buck rambles on about tonight's World Series game or whatever shows are playing that night. I also had a 'robot rule': if that damned robot was dancing on the screen, my clock was not running.

Anyway, I got the idea at 7:30 left in the first quarter, and kept the clock running until the half, which worked out almost perfectly to one hour of programing. And in that time, out of 60 minutes, exactly 34 minutes were actually football. If I had kept a running tally on actual gameplay, I'm pretty sure it would only have been 1/3rd to 1/2 of that.

Very sad, IMHO. And part of the reason that I'm having a harder time watching and enjoying football. This week I'm going to clock the entire Skins game, and maybe have someone else in the room keep track of exactly how much time is actually gameplay. I'm a little worried at what the results will be.

(Or maybe I need to get DVR. )

[DEHog]

I am ever-so slowly, but steadily, becoming convinced that maybe American football just isn't for me. Or at least not the NFL. There are a number of reasons for this, and I have some ideas of rule tweaks that I think would bring the game back and closer to its original intent.

Not that the NFL will ever change in that direction. And I guess those are for a different thread though, because I want to point out an interesting discovery I made this past weekend.

Everyone knows what this is like. It's 3rd and goal from the 6-yard line, with three minutes left in the first quarter. The defense looks like they'll blitz everyone, and the QB calls a timeout to regroup. Commercial break. They come back from the break, the play runs, and they score a TD. They run a highlight, kick the XP. Commercial break. Back to the game: a kickoff return that gets called back on a penalty, and an injury occured on the play. Timeout on the field — commercial break. Back to the game: the offense runs two plays, and the quarter ends. Commercial break. On third down the offense fails to convert. Punt. Commercial break.

I look up from the TV and realize I've been watching 20 minutes of programing and have seen only five plays.

Or at any rate, I feel like I've had that experience one too many times. So this weekend I was watching the Vikings - Packers game, and decided to experiment. I kept a stopwatch going while play was on, and would pause whenever we went to commercials. This included those 'in-game' advertisements when Joe Buck rambles on about tonight's World Series game or whatever shows are playing that night. I also had a 'robot rule': if that damned robot was dancing on the screen, my clock was not running.

Anyway, I got the idea at 7:30 left in the first quarter, and kept the clock running until the half, which worked out almost perfectly to one hour of programing. And in that time, out of 60 minutes, exactly 34 minutes were actually football. If I had kept a running tally on actual gameplay, I'm pretty sure it would only have been 1/3rd to 1/2 of that.

Very sad, IMHO. And part of the reason that I'm having a harder time watching and enjoying football. This week I'm going to clock the entire Skins game, and maybe have someone else in the room keep track of exactly how much time is actually gameplay. I'm a little worried at what the results will be.

(Or maybe I need to get DVR. )

Yea that been a knock on football for a while I read that it only about 12 min of acutal game play. I still love to wacth..Friday Nights are still my favorite!

[SkinsJock]

This is one of the reasons the NFL makes so much money - they provide a product that uses 60 minutes of time but generates at least 120 minutes (and it is mostly more than that) of advertisements to say nothing of "plugs" while the game is actually on. The TV contracts are worth billions and are far more than the actual gate receipts from real fans each weekend - luxury boxes and premium seating for the most part are paid for by companies

[Deadskins]

I am ever-so slowly, but steadily, becoming convinced that maybe American football just isn't for me. Or at least not the NFL. There are a number of reasons for this, and I have some ideas of rule tweaks that I think would bring the game back and closer to its original intent.

Not that the NFL will ever change in that direction. And I guess those are for a different thread though, because I want to point out an interesting discovery I made this past weekend.

Everyone knows what this is like. It's 3rd and goal from the 6-yard line, with three minutes left in the first quarter. The defense looks like they'll blitz everyone, and the QB calls a timeout to regroup. Commercial break. They come back from the break, the play runs, and they score a TD. They run a highlight, kick the XP. Commercial break. Back to the game: a kickoff return that gets called back on a penalty, and an injury occured on the play. Timeout on the field — commercial break. Back to the game: the offense runs two plays, and the quarter ends. Commercial break. On third down the offense fails to convert. Punt. Commercial break.

I look up from the TV and realize I've been watching 20 minutes of programing and have seen only five plays.

Or at any rate, I feel like I've had that experience one too many times. So this weekend I was watching the Vikings - Packers game, and decided to experiment. I kept a stopwatch going while play was on, and would pause whenever we went to commercials. This included those 'in-game' advertisements when Joe Buck rambles on about tonight's World Series game or whatever shows are playing that night. I also had a 'robot rule': if that damned robot was dancing on the screen, my clock was not running.

Anyway, I got the idea at 7:30 left in the first quarter, and kept the clock running until the half, which worked out almost perfectly to one hour of programing. And in that time, out of 60 minutes, exactly 34 minutes were actually football. If I had kept a running tally on actual gameplay, I'm pretty sure it would only have been 1/3rd to 1/2 of that.

Very sad, IMHO. And part of the reason that I'm having a harder time watching and enjoying football. This week I'm going to clock the entire Skins game, and maybe have someone else in the room keep track of exactly how much time is actually gameplay. I'm a little worried at what the results will be.

(Or maybe I need to get DVR. )

Yea that been a knock on football for a while I read that it only about 12 min of acutal game play. I still love to wacth..Friday Nights are still my favorite!

If you watch the replays on NFLN where they edit out the time between plays, the entire game, including commercial breaks and instant replays of the best action, only lasts one hour. So I figure it's really about 30-40 minutes of actual game time.

[Bob 0119]

Yeah, it's amazing how saturated the games are with advertisements. I was watching an old NFL Replay of a really old Super Bowl (I want to say it was Super Bowl III but I can't remember now)

It was just funny to see how it didn't even compare to a current regular season matchup as far as presentation.

No graphics, no overlays, no instant replays. It was almost like watching high-school football!

It really gives you an idea of how much advertising they've crammed into every little thing.

"This first down brought to you by Chevy."

"This extra point attempt brought to you by Viagra."

"This replay challenge brought to you by Snickers."

Some of the advertisements take up the entire bottom half of the screen, and it's not just football. I can't watch anything on FX anymore because they will have a thing that pops up, blocking the entire bottom half of the screen with sounds and everything.

It's particularly annoying when you're watching a movie with subtitles. Everything is quiet, you are reading the subtitles, and the an advertisement for Rescue Me pops up complete with fire engine noises, and blocks out the subtitles, and even if they were speaking in english, you couldn't hear what they were saying.

[grampi]

I'm having no problem whatsoever watching the NFL........it's just the Redskins I can't stand to watch anymore.....

[VetSkinsFan]

Those breaks, for the Redskins at least, give me a chance to get another beer, go to the bathroom, text a friend without missing anything, or attack my child with tickles for a good 2 minutes.

My brother DVRs the Giants games and starts watchign them an hour to an hour and a half later than the start on live TV. He likes to ff thru all the commercials.

I like the live action, even though it is broken up with advertisements. I like that I can't ff even if I wanted to and have to wait to see how it unfolds, but that's just me.

[HEROHAMO]

The SuperBowl is the most ridulous game. I remember when I was a kid loving every moment.

Now I have to endure four to five commercials every five plays it seems.


Remember the Disney I am going to Disneyland commercials. After every SuperBowl the winner was asked by a reporter. Hey Joe what are you going to do now that you have won the SuperBowl? Hey I am going to Disneyland!(When you wish upon a star...)
Now those were the good ole days.

[tribeofjudah]

At least some commercials are funny. The beer ones, Denny Green meltdown, "playoff" "playoffs..."!!!, "you play to win the game"....etc....