MGoBlog membership interest in the NFL

I used to have season tickets for the Lions. I'll put MNF or SNF on for a half-hour or so as I doze off on the couch.

The only time I'll watch an NFL game start to finish is a playoff game.

I could care less (don’t try to correct me because I said it correctly) about the NFL, but won’t because I enjoy the playoffs. NFL games are usually a snooze fest and on for background noise if I’m not playing Xbox instead. There simply as much excitement to them. Marching bands, crowd noise, team entrances, and so many others in college ball make the experience of watching one so much better. 

My NFL interest goes hand-in-hand with my Draftkings interest. If I stopped playing that, I'd stop watching the NFL.

Outside of fantasy football, which I love, I have zero interest in the NFL. I know that's a bit contradictory but I have no rooting interest in any NFL teams. Outside of Thanksgiving i have not seen a single live NFL snap all season.

I am out here in the DC area and I do watch Pro Football (Redskins or... "The Washington Football Team") from time to time but mainly just the 4th quarter if I find out the game is close.  

I am a casual consumer of the NFL otherwise.  The NFL playoffs can provide great drama, and it is REFRESHING to see new teams come up and challenge the establishment Patriots.  Unfortunately, Alabama has sapped a LOT of my "macro" interest in college football at the CFP level. 

If the Washington Football Team drafts Bush or Rashan Gary, I will be elated.  I was a HUGE fan of the burgundy and gold when we had Desmond Howard and I was a wee one.  

It's boring.

I haven't watched the NFL intentionally in well over a decade. 

Part of that may be that I have outgrown any investment I might once have had in the Lions. Part of it is that the NFL product just bores me. 

I would sooner watch a MAC game of one of Michigan's directional schools than an NFL game. 

Was a huge Michigan sports fan for most of my life.  Lions, Michigan, Red Wings, Tigers and Pistons. In short, I only watch CFB now.  I even prefer some obscure bowl game in mid-December over an NFL game. I will say this, I don't watch the NFL for a myriad of reasons, but football players are NOT paid enough and should have their contracts 100% guaranteed.  I dropped the Lions, my last favorite pro franchise about 2 years ago.  Even if, they made a Super Bowl run (not ever likely), I would not watch during season. Obviously if they made Super Bowl  I would watch, but I watch every Super Bowl.  Of course I would root for them, but I will never have the fandom I once had.

I like reading good things about UM grads in the NFL and hope all ex Michigan players get a great payday and have a great career.  Just not interested enough to turn on T.V for any NFL game regardless of who is playing.

The NFL is so boring. Every team does the same thing and copies each other. The regular season just drags on and so many games become pointless. I used to really care and watch on sundays but then I felt like I wasting every weekend watching football all weekend. I can watch random college football games all Saturday, of course the Michigan game is the crown jewel of it all. Same goes for college basketball, I can watch random college basketball games and of course the Michigan game is the one I look forward to the most. Professional sports are just not as enjoyable as college, I’d rather go watch good high school games than pro games.

TL;DR...  But no.  I haven't watched more than a few plays from any NFL game this year, except the Lions on T-Day, and haven't missed it one bit.  Yes, overall talent and speed are so much greater in the NFL, but it misses the soul of the game.  The atmosphere, the electricity, the feel of the game.  I guess its fair to say that I hear football better in college than I ever have in the NFL...

I do follow the NFL.  No question it's better when your team is winning.  It helps that my team no longer employs Jeff Fisher, so we've advanced beyond 7-9 seasons.

I've found the games more exciting and better to watch this season.  The innovative offenses are making the game better.  It will be interesting to see if this lasts, or if the defensive minds catch up.

I pay attention to the NFL (I'm a Green Bay fan), but I don't get THAT feeling on Sunday before and during the game like I do for every Michigan game on Saturdays. That mixture of excitement and nervousness. Maybe it's because I played in college and I remember what it's like getting ready for a game, who knows? Also, I still follow. Michigan players in the NFL (except frank Clark, cuz fuck that guy), which is why I get shit all the time for being a tom Brady fan (I live in the middle of Buffalo Bills country) 

I don't watch much NFL either but there's so much humble bragging about disliking the NFL on here.

I suppose technically I have interest in professional football. I love amazing athleticism and precision, it's just the time issue. Saturday already goes to Michigan football, and most basketball games as well. 

If I had 48 hours in a day I would probably watch the Lions every week. As it is I won't catch more than a few each year. (guaranteed to watch the entire thanksgiving game while at the in-laws). I'll also echo what others are saying about the blandness, though I can live with it, though it's also the string of bad business decisions that irritates me.

If the NFL franchises were owned by the actual cities, I could get more behind that as well, that comes with some actual history and culture. As far as paying players, I'd be more a fan of a lower top cap, $177m, really? Maybe 80m-100m tops with a higher base cap for all players. A superstar investment banker, top of her trade, like, one of 3 worldwide best, is probably making $100m tops, and is bringing in well over a billion on her own. 

Fuck the NFL. I hate them. But I will say the idea that few M season ticket holders also have Lions tickets says anything about interest in the NFL is absurd. How many people have the disposable income to afford both? How many people have the time available to attend games on Saturday and Sunday? It's also possible that people exist who love the NFL so much that they prefer to stay home and watch multiple games on TV.

The (mostly) scions and failsons who own the NFL teams and the dumb decisions they make constantly hurt the NFL product a lot IMO.

I'll watch casually until the playoffs but usually get all my football in for the week before Sunday during the CFB season. 

I'm strictly a January playoffs guy.

Otherwise, I find the NFL unwatchable.

I will say though, that the last couple of years have gotten better as I see more college concepts (reluctantly) infiltrating the NFL style of play.

There were a couple of NFL games this year that I caught on a bar TV, where if I squinted I thought I was watching a Saturday night college game.  Like that recent Kansas City vs. (?) game.

If they keep that up, I may actually watch it.

I am only interested in watching the nfl to see Michigan players and how they are doing.  I’m a colts fan but haven’t watched a full game all season or for the past few years.  I will say that the redzone channel is great and i do check in to see the end of games.    Michigan football is really the only football I watch.   Without us in the playoffs, I just don’t care or have any intention to watch the playoffs either.   I do watch Michigan hoops, a little nba and European and epl football too.  

My only fleeting interest in the NFL is in which Michigan players make it there and hoping they have great and lucrative careers at whatever team they end up with, but I don't watch games toward that end.

I watch zero NFL other than in the past maybe a few play off games and the Superbowl, but given their handling of certain situations as of late, I no longer even do that. 

NFL games to me had all the excitement of watching two coaching algorithms grind it out against one another. No attachment to any team.

That said, pro sports in general leave me completely flat. My parents met at Michigan, I went there, as did my brothers and sisters, so I had all the best experiences in going to M games. As a kid I would go down to games with my dad and make a whole day out of it including Blimpy Burgers or Zingerman's, playing football with other kids on the lawn of his fraternity, typically also playing football on the grass outside the stadium from halftime on when we were beating someone like Duke by 35 points. When I was in high school my sister was at M and I got to have a more "college experience" as a high school student and spend the whole weekend (hit a 10 foot bong on one trip and couldn't get out of my chair for a few hours.....yeah, I know cool story bro). And then I attended Michigan and got to go as a student for 4 years. I now live in California, but every year fly back to at least one game with my son, yet another great way to experience Michigan sports.

That ^ is just a long-winded way of saying that no professional sports experience would ever be able to touch the experiences I have had with Michigan sports, there really is no comparison for me. I find professional sports events to be abrasive and overly commercialized and I bristle at all the RAWK music and "WHO WANTS A FREE TEEEEEEEEEE SHIRT!!!!!!!!!!!!" type stuff.

I live in Maine, but my dad is an alum and I was born in AA. I rarely watch the NFL unless I'm visiting family.  When I do it's typically the Patriots, mostly because of Brady, but I don't care for the NFL too much and have never been to an NFL game. 

I watch every UM game that my schedule allows and typically attend every game they go to State College as a number of my college buddies are from Pa.  I've been to 6 UM games (PSUx4, UCONN, & Rutgers)

I have completely lost interest in the NFL over the years.  I used to be glued to the TV for Monday night football back when Dan Dierdorf, Al Michaels, and Frank Gifford would announce (and they had that kickin' MNF theme song by Hank Williams Jr.).

Now I don't watch any of it, even if the game is an important one.  It's just too much hot dogging and show offing.  I'd rather watch a good college game anyday.

Never been to a NFL game in my life, only watch a few times a year (Thanksgiving, super bowl, a few others here and there if I'm free and bored), Michigan football season ticket holder.

"I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate" the NFL because of what they did to my hometown.

I'll upvote anyone who can identify where the quoted words come from.

Never watched the NFL and never will.  Same with NBA.

"I have not watched a single NFL game start to finish this year, or the previous year or the year before that.  I would be tempted to say that I haven't really watched an NFL game in 10 years. " 

Me too. I have not watched regularly since Barry Sanders retired. I cannot recall the last game I watched - I think none in the last 10-15 years - I even skip most Super bowls now. I have never been to Ford Field, not sure I watched the Lions at the Silverdome. I did watch them at Tiger Stadium when I was a kid.

I have never purchased an NFL ticket but have been to many Tiger games, Red Wings and Pistons - even the Michigan Panthers.

Loved the NFL in the 1960's and 70's. At that time the only posters you could get was from Sport Illustrated. I had Lem Barney and Paul Warfield posters in my room.

At the same time I have had season tickets for Michigan Football for 25 years or so and have only missed a couple of games in person and on TV in that time.

Part of this is being raised in Ann Arbor and having the woeful Lions being the home team. 0-16, "another one bites the dust", wasting Barry Sanders, on and on.

I would rather pay to see Army/Navy than go to see an NFL game. I love almost any crappy college game over anything in the NFL. I also have not watched the Pistons sine they were in the Finals but will watch almost any college basketball game.

I find pro games to be antiseptic and boring because everyone is so good, I prefer less perfection of college games.

Within the past ten years I was watching the NFL fairly regularly, including most Lions games (YES I KNOW I AM A MASOCHIST) and most playoff games and the Super Bowl. The number of games I watch every year has slowly declined, though.

This season, I've (finally!) dropped cable TV completely and have only caught part of one game (the Lions and their annual Thanksgiving loss). I may watch some of the playoff games; I'll probably watch the Super Bowl.

I'll go against the grain and say that I am a NFL fan.  My opinion is that the college football season is better than the NFL, but the NFL playoffs are better than bowls/CFP.      

Also I'm a Lions fan and am so optimistic/delusional that I think they will win the Super Bowl one day in my lifetime (I'm 37).

Michigan football gets most of my attention, but I do enjoy watching NFL games.  While the Lions drained me of my fandom while younger, I've become a Bears fan over the years.  The past two seasons, I would catch maybe a quarter of a game.  This season they are much more entertaining and I've been making time to watch their games.  I'll usually tune in to watch Tom Brady for a while when he's on TV.  The Saints and Chiefs are worth the effort to watch their games.

The only time I watch any part of Monday night football is if the Bears play.  What was a big deal is now the biggest don't care.

If you like football, at least a part of you has to like the NFL. I don’t see how it’s possible not to. I love basketball and prefer the NBA. I still like college basketball, just to a lesser extent. I’m really not sure how someone can claim to love football, but only college. 

I casually followed the Lions in the Barry Sanders era but have barely caught a game since.  I do watch Brady during the playoffs.

As I’ve aged, I’ve had to let go of a lot of my weekend hobbies from the past. The only teams I have a vested rooting interest in now are Michigan basketball and football and Seattle Sounders soccer. I also try to watch Barcelona soccer, but that’s mainly because of Messi’s singular talent is a joy to watch and has a limited shelf life at this point. 

I enjoy the NFL a lot. One thing I despise about the NFL is all their bullshit pretense about caring about non-bottom line issues. Like the players kneeling issue or domestic violence.  The NFL doesn’t care about free speech or patriotism, only that kneeling pisses off a large portion of the fan base that tends to vote a certain way. And the NFL only cares about domestic violence if someone gets caught on video. Then there is a no tolerance policy.  They should drop the pretense in both cases.

The product is exciting and the highest level of the sport. But the league is run by hypocrites and cowards. 

I spend zero seconds on the NFL. Maybe I attend a super bowl party and watch part of that game. There isn’t enough weekend to watch that and Michigan football and have any other hobbies. 

When I see a link to an article about a Michigan player doing well in the NFL, it makes me happy but I usually don’t read it. I did watch the Peppers recent INT and sack with the Browns but it was mostly out of boredom and a slow day on Michigan Stories.