Football is supposed to be fun, right?
I really wasn't sure.
It's hilarious to me that college and pro football are losing attendence every year and wonder why that is.
They've already outlawed dancing celebrations and now they're outlawing dunking on the goalposts.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10671807/nfl-penalize-goal-post-dunk-…
I'm not sure this has anything to do with the attendance drop.
I'm not a fan of the no goalpost dunking either, but I think the rising cost of attending a football game has more to do with lower attendance.
I'm pretty sure players not hot dogging around isn't the reason attendance is dropping.
It may have something to do with the prices of the tickets.
Are they outlawing it for unsportsmanlike reasons or is this simply an homage to Tony Gonzalez retiring?
Plus the rise of giant high-def TVs.
If I had to pick one thing -- just one thing -- that has reduced attendance at football games, this would be it.
I love the atmosphere of a live football game as much as the next guy, but the advent of HDTV has opened up a whole new vista of enjoyment of football for me. I love the detail and clarity and slow-motion replays.
Football is damn near the perfect sport for high-def TV to show. Basketball is a close second.
Nothing beats being at a live hockey game. The sounds, the smell of the ice and the Zamboni exhaust ... ahhhh ... heaven. :-)
March 25th, 2014 at 10:53 PM ^
I'd say golf is the perfect HD sport. Obviously going to watch live golf is not that enticing (more fun than you think if you've never been, but not really useful if you're actually interested in the tournament as a whole), but in HD its gorgeous, beautifully clear grass and trees, amazing slow motion replays of swings and sand flying out of traps, and actually being able to follow the ball.
Add to the visuals a great roster of announcers and I think the huge rise in golf has been aided immensely by the TV experience
March 25th, 2014 at 11:43 PM ^
Oh, absolutely ... now that you mention it, golf on HD is fantastic.
One of my first experiences with true HD was a golf tournament, and I was absolutely amazed at being able to see the dimples on the ball as it approached the cup.
Still ... football is the perfect sport for HD. Nyah, nyah! :-)
Years ago I went to the second round of the TCP at the Robert Trent Jones course in Manassas, Virginia. I saw Tiger Woods walk within 20 yards of me ... which was cool ... but the real treat was meeting Arnold Palmer and shaking his hand. He's a class act.
I've seriously been expecting a team to hire a sideline lawyer just for arging with refs about what constitutes possession, breaking the plane, etc. Seems like it's been inevitable for years now.
I agree it's a pointless and stupid rule but its hardly becoming a bore to watch the NFL. The lack of celebrations doesn't affect the play on the field at all.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:38 AM ^
you can say it is a no fun business decision.
What could possibly benefit them by banning this act?
I don't think I've ever seen something negative happen because someone dunked the ball over the goal post.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
Law of supply and demand. Demand (popularity) of football increases, they can charge more. Then the market makes cheaper substitutes, then the original product crashes in price.
I believe as the baby boomers retire (people that are conditioned to sit in small stadium seats and pay high prices) they will cut back and the millennials will NOT pick up the slack. This is why student sections are half empty. They were rasied in a world where everything is televised, streamed, DVR'ed - there is no special need to see it live.
The nature of football contributes to this too, i.e., its sedentary component. Younger people have a shorter attention span. The average football game has about 11 minutes of action and more than 2 hours of standing around/huddling. With DVRs we can fastforward through the endless standing/huddling. Can't do that in the stadium.
I think the prior generation accepted this about football; I think we're less likely to do so. We lead busier lives, value our time, are more efficient with it (at least as to entertainment, if not productivity), don't like advertising so we fastforward through that too, etc.
Hurry up offenses mitigate the problem, but there is still a lot of standing around.
March 25th, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^
"Graham is clearly the main inspiration for the rule. Twice in his career, his celebratory dunks have knocked the uprights off balance. Last season in Atlanta, a Thursday night game had to be delayed while workers releveled the crossbar."
It might be just me, but if one of the priorities of NFL owners is to make the game as enjoyable as possible, then yeah, I think we perhaps agree that most people would be amenable to not watching workers relevel the crossbar if they can help it (even if this is a rather rare event). Not saying it is right or wrong to do this, but I think there is a business decision involved here.
I was thinking "what a stupid idea" until I read this. Did not know that was becoming a problem.
Still, why not just say "if you break the damn equipment, then we'll penalize you."
I think the goal of the NFL is to get the game over with as quickly as possible. Essentially, tickets are revenue, while having the stadium open is probably slightly profitable, with profitability jumping during the first round of food / beer purchases and steadily declining into the 4th quarter.
If the game is over with quickly, they can back more games back-to-back on Sundays, keeping the TV crowd interested--which is where the real money is anyways.
I mean, to outlaw obsessive dancing celebrations or taunting is one thing. The goalpost dunk is basically the same thing as spiking the ball...unless they want to outlaw that too. Might want to outlaw chest bumps and high fives while they're at it.
I'm pretty sure they've already outlawed chest bumps...
I'll never watch football again.
You guys know frogs hear with their legs, right?
Half the fun of college sports is watching the guys get pumped. Jordan Morgan's celebrations after the almost and-1 and his actual and-1 against Texas were awesome. Why take all of these out? Are someone's feeling hurt?
we near the age of perfect, football-playing automatons.
...you have to outlaw the Lambeau Leap as well, right?
Football is a business. Dunking things is not appropriate in a professional environment. You dont see me slam-dunking my calculator after a great analysis.
/drops keyboard on the floor
March 25th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
March 25th, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
Within 10 years this sport is going to be nothing more than glorified flag football.
March 25th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
mmm... and this is why i obsess over Meeechigan football and not Lions football.
March 25th, 2014 at 10:18 PM ^
I doubt people are going to games to see players dunk a football. I do think they are staying away because it costs a couple hundreds dollars to sit in the stands with bad sight lines and overpay to watch a disjointed game with dozens of timeouts and commercial breaks every quarter.
March 25th, 2014 at 11:54 PM ^
Stuffed beaver free since 2010!!! So no worries. Edit:Wow meant to post this in the Roy Manning thread oops. Wrong tab, oh well.
Everyone I've heard thinks this is about sportsmanship and creating the "no fun league". I would bet a large amount of money that the owners are pushing these rule changes because it's just a matter of time until someone gets seriously hurt celebrating. I know he's just a kicker, but remember this guy? Goal post dunking is cool until Player X on your favorite team misses the rest of the season because of it.
March 26th, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
Stop worrying about the future and start worrying about now.
It's happened ONCE.
I'm tired of all the BS we have to put up with as a society because ''someone might get hurt''. Someone might get hurt doing nearly everything we do on a daily basis. It happens. A utopia cannot be achieved.