Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

This blog will pay for itself.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

This chaos was totally avoidable.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You are here: Home / Attention All Idiots

Attention All Idiots

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If all you have to add to any commentary regarding the NFL is to enlighten us all that “THE NFL IS OUR MODERN DAY GLADIATORS AND WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED AT PERFIDY AND INJURIES AND VIOLENCE,” you officially get pied with my filter. You’ve clearly never played a contact sport nor even worked to understand why people enjoy playing them or watching them. You’ve clearly never understood why it is important for officials to be in charge of a contact sport game, because hey, to you soy-eating Nader loving douchebags, all violence is the same, whether controlled or not.

I’m sure there is another forum where you can share your deep insights, like, how you and your wife are so much happier without tv and throwing it out was the best thing you ever did and you don’t miss it and instead spend the time meditating and reflecting on the bran you had for dinner, and how once you remove the religious crap from the curriculum, homeschooling is really awesome, and also too, Obama sucks because he hasn’t been progressive enough. I’m sure it is out there. Go find it.

But if you spend another NFL thread “informing” us of your unique opinion (and let’s admit, after 56 thousand people have already said it on THIS VERY FUCKING WEBSITE, this really is still a breathtaking insight and novel viewpoint) that the NFL is nothing but a modern day gladiator system, I will zone you out faster than I would if a PUMA wanted to talk about the injustices of the 2008 campaign.

We get it. You hate the NFL. Now please STFU. The rest of us, who understand the concussion problem but who are also able to recognize the vastly increased dangers of scab officials would like to talk.

KTHXBAI.

Reader Interactions

302Comments

  5. 5.

    Or something like that.Suffern Ace

    I’m probably the only one who’ll admit that when the host tried to get the attention of idiots, I thought he was talking to me. I really have to work on these self esteem issues.

  6. 6.

    Maude

    Would the NFL games lose credibility if the games aren’t called right and there are a ton of bad mistakes.
    In the long run, isn’t the NFL doing itself more harm that good by having over the top illegal plays being called legal?

  7. 7.

    chicodude

    I gave up on the NFL when the refs kicked Steve Tasker out of his final game for bumping an official. Just thinking about it now pisses me off all over again :P

    So I just skip the NFL posts, usually.

  9. 9.

    black onion

    I hope the Patriots unleash the kind of enthusiasm and fury you had in this post on the Ravens.

    Posts like this one are why I keep coming back. Pull no punches, Cole.

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    Okay, fine: DO NOT GIVE BRADY THE BALL WITH UNDER TWO MINUTES LEFT ON THE CLOCK, UNLESS YOU WANT A HURTING.

  16. 16.

    TaMara (BHF)

    I generally skip the NFL threads, not a fan (see how easy that is people, just move right on past it, head on to a post that interests you). But I’ve been paying attention this season because I really want to understand the lockout, the union busting and why the other unions aren’t backing the refs on this. Especially now that severe injuries are becoming an issue.

    I’ve learned a lot and appreciate the straight answers to my less-than knowledgeable questions. So thanks for that.

  20. 20.

    Anya

    Why you so mad bro?

    But seriously, if people don’t like the topic being discussed in a a particular thread they should just skip it.

  21. 21.

    Bobby Thomson

    Not seeing any posts of the kind Cole is slagging. For the most part, people seem to be saying that if you want to put a stop to scab refs, you have to stop watching scab-officiated games, since the players can’t strike in support. Which seems undebatable. And has nothing to do with people disliking all football on general principles.

  24. 24.

    Suffern ACE

    @Maude: Some might argue that many of these illegal acts should never have been on the books in the first place. More problematic is the fighting.

  27. 27.

    General Stuck

    this really is still a breathtaking insight and novel viewpoint) that the NFL is nothing but a modern day gladiator system,

    Well, it used to be before the weenies in suits put skirts on the QB’s. According to Jack Lambert, when cheap shots and broken ribs meant something.

  28. 28.

    Cassidy

    Wow. Awesome display of douchebaggery. I mean, supporting the Pittsburgh Rapist is bad enough, but now we’re a bunch of no goods because we don’t like watching people get seriously injured due to bad officiating and union busting? Howsabout you go fuck yourself. Wave your terrible towel and let another monopoly break a union. But hey, as long as your Sunday tailgate isn’t fucked up, who cares if healthy young men get broken.

  32. 32.

    Arm The Homeless

    That’s it folks! I am with John. Let us forget this season, declare any teams with a perfect regular and post-season, with at least 17-games played, to be the Champions and just look forward to 2013-14.

    I mean really, you guys have screwed the pooch here, John knows it, I know it, your small household animals know it for pete’s sake. I am so disappointed…

  33. 33.

    GG

    @Anya: I think Oakland won. Steelers were ahead when we looked, but we had to pay up and go feed my aunt.

    Cole, I hope I’ m wrong about the Steelers.

  34. 34.

    cyntax

    It does suck but other than not watching scab-officiated games, what else can be done? Loss of revenue seems like the only thing that will get the owners’ attention.

    As to the morality of watching contact sports, I don’t have a strong opinion, but Ta-Nehesi Coates has been thinking about it and writing some interesting stuff.

  35. 35.

    Yutsano

    @Cassidy: Methinks someone got an e-mail. These rants are almost always induced by an e-mail. And we know how JC just LOVES to get e-mailed!

  36. 36.

    smith

    Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth must have gotten a talking-to at halftime. Pretty much the entire first half they were criticizing the refs, now Collinsworth says in the second half that they are better than they were last week. Give me a break.

  37. 37.

    Mark S.

    He abuses us, but I would still have John Cole’s Internet babies.

    I’m still laughing my ass off at this rant.

  39. 39.

    JR in WV

    The owners are responsible for injuries persuant to bad calls by ignorant refs.

    The games are nearly out of control… the Pats and Ravens are nearly a mob fight after every play of any consequence.

    It’s horrible, and the sports guys calling the games should stop calling them replacement officials and start calling them scabs.

    Not watching them has no impact unless your TV is connected to a device telling arbitron or Nielson what you watch and when.

    I can watch for free without anyone knowing what I’m watching. I still fell a little guilty just because the spectacle is getting so out of control. The owners are greedy Republicans who are all paying Romoney to run for president. Fuckers!

    Exploitative bosses just like those who fomented the Pullman strike and the Haymarket riots. Monsters killing people for profit.

  40. 40.

    Cassidy

    @Yutsano: Probably. You know, I got no problem with people enjoying football. I like a good game every now and then too, but I’m more of a combat sports kind of guy. But hell, if you’re gonna be pissy about supporting what’s going on right now, at least be honest about the ramifications.

  44. 44.

    mcd410x

    If the players boycotted the fourth quarter of games, the ref lockout would end very quickly.

    Of course, the same could be said for racist chanting in soccer. One day it’s going to happen: They players are simply going to walk off the pitch.

    ETA: Also, too, if you want the game to be safer, eliminate PEDs. It’s pretty simple really.

  45. 45.

    Drunken hausfrau

    Please marry one of my sisters… I.ve said it before, and I will say it again, I love you, John cole, please marry into my family. + a few more than usual.

  47. 47.

    gex

    I really do not like those types. They want to piss on everyone’s fun for no reason at all.

    It is not like the fans really want severe injuries and incapacitated players. The fans would like the league, the union, the refs, and the competition committee to make this sport as safe for them as possible. There is nothing fans can do to change this, short of stopping watching. But if you think depriving the players of a job (which frankly is not going to happen) is any better, you are an idiot.

    I would like the league to stop lying about the problems. When that happens, players can make informed decisions – you know, kind of like we want consumers and voters to do. Rather than dictate to everyone what they *should* do.

    ETA: to add to the point someone else made, that turning it off won’t make a difference, they are correct. The money comes from sales of trucks, beer, GoDaddy domain registrations, etc. Everyone who buys those, regardless of whether they watch the NFL, is supporting the league.

  50. 50.

    Jamey

    Think the NFLPA would ever consider a walkout in solidarity with the real refs?

    Nah. Many players, current and past, have the same “gladiator” mentality that JGC decried in his posting. Besides, the League is saving THOUSANDS of dollars a week…

    The replacement ref situation would evaporate in a heartbeat if the players decided that enough is enough and refused to take the field whenever the League staffs the games with unqualified safety personnel. Also, any fan who is affiliated with a union or guild should boycott the NFL till it caves in its dispute with the refs. Claim that it’s a gesture born of concern for the players’ well-being, yada-yada. But get it fucking done now before, as our host suggests, somebody gets killed.

  51. 51.

    dance around in your bones

    I like watching the NFL. I liked it better when my husband was around to explain it to me.

    I have a hard time recently keeping up with the bazillion front-pagers.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

    ETA: That said, what I am actually watching is the the 3 new Sherlock episodes.

  54. 54.

    eemom

    I have no idea what you’re talking about in this post.

    However, the timing is interesting, because now that my son is a football star I am trying — trying, against every ounce of better judgment I possess — to, um, appreciate this, um, game. And my husband is a Raiders fan. So to that end I actually read the two of them your previous rant about the refs earlier to see if they agreed with it.

    The husband, having watched the replay of the helmet incident, said he doesn’t think it was intentional. But he concurs that the game is doomed if the players lose respect for the refs.

    In other news, I now understand what a “down” is. Sort of.

  55. 55.

    Polish the Guillotines

    Amen, Cole. Also, too: This bullshit with the refs is just another shot at union busting.

    And as a sidebar, can I just say that E(astern Division)SPN Sports Center is to the Yankees what Fox News is to the Republicans?

  57. 57.

    Gin & Tonic

    Violence, not violence, I don’t give a shit. But if you’re going to whine about poor working conditions for the players because of scab officials, then STFU. If you, Cole, or the rest of your groupies want to make a difference, shut the fucking thing off. If you’re going to spend time and money on the product, regardless of how they stiff the refs, then you’re getting exactly the product you deserve.

  58. 58.

    Seanly

    Cole, you and Tbogg rock. You bring the cranky and he brings the snark. And you both punch.

    I hate these scab refs and hope the NFL owners get their head screwed on straight before too long.

  60. 60.

    freemark

    Gotta admit I love my football. I don’t know who to I want to lose more tonight the Ravens or the Pats. As a Steelers fan I have to go with wanting the Ravens to lose the most but its a close call.

    As far as the refs go I just turned the Ravens/Pats game on for a minute and saw a blown call.

    And for the other NFL fans out there. Make sure to tell your fellow fans that the Refs are NOT ON STRIKE. That they were willing to work but the greedy, asshole, piece of shit owners locked them out.

  61. 61.

    Sinnach

    Love it. I’m curious to see the reaction an open NHL thread would evoke.

    /If they ever have a season
    //has a sad

  62. 62.

    Cassidy

    @J. Michael Neal: Probably missed it as these people step on each other so damn much. I’m sure he gets it. I’m sure all of you get it. If you want people to tell you it’s okay, then too bad. It’s not. We all enjoy our sports. Some people like NASCAR, some like combat sports, some like football. They’re all potentially violent and life threatening. One of them isn’t taking participant injury seriously.

  64. 64.

    MikeJ

    As somebody who isn’t a fan of your foosball I have to say, “Bravo!” I might not like it but even I grow weary of hearing how awful it is.

    And while we’re at it, it was the English that first called the beautiful game “soccer” so they need to get over the whole football/handegg thing.

  65. 65.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Cassidy: Eh, there’s a couple of people I’ve put in my filter because I got tired of being told what a terrible person I am for liking the sport at all. I saw a rash of posts from them in the thread about the scab refs, so I assume they were doing their usual holier-than-thou song and dance.

  66. 66.

    suzanne

    It’s always interesting to see how ostensible liberals will boycott Chick-Fil-A, or Walmart, or Domino’s, or the Boy Scouts, but the minute it comes to giving up something they love, they tune out and go LA LA LA. If we’re wrong, Cole, explain why. Engage the argument.

  69. 69.

    geg6

    Word, John. I get so sick of the self-righteousness of the I-am-too-good-and-pure-to-sully-myself-with-the-teevee. I also get sick of the people who hate football and don’t watch it ever but who want to pontificate about all the aspects of the game, judge it and its fans, and claim their preferred sport (or, even worse, non-sport) is the one truly honorable and fair and safe sport.

    I mean, seriously. Some dickhead in the last thread who went on piously proclaiming his/her purity in only supporting sports in which the players are totally safe and there is no violence anywhere in evidence gave soccer as the example. This could only be said by someone who has never actually watched soccer, paid attention to the violence soccer incites worldwide, and knows nothing about the rates of ALS in soccer players, a rate that equals or surpasses the rate among football players and has been shown to be caused by head injuries.

  72. 72.

    SixStringFanatic

    @Jamey: The refs did not walk out and they are not on strike. They have been locked out by the owners. This, apparently, cannot be repeated often enough.
    In addition, the current contract between players and the NFL, signed just last year, prohibits exactly the kind of “sympathy walkout” you suggested. This has been explained much better and in more detail on the previous football-related thread.

  73. 73.

    dance around in your bones

    @freemark:

    I do, too. Just waiting for the gawd-damned grandkids to go to sleep so I can watch the 3rd (NEW) episode in peace.

    Hell, perhaps all 3 episodes again.

    eta: I should add all 3 NEW episodes, which makes a total of 6.

    /pedant

  74. 74.

    Cassidy

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I hear ya. I didn’t participate in the last thread. I’ve gotten less and less interested in football over the years. That’s just me, though.

    But as I said, don’t be pissed if people are disagreeing with what you’re supporting. I watch MMA. On the high end, unless you’re a PPV star, I support guys and girls beating the shit out of each for, sometimes as little as, 2-6K. It’s shitty to be a professional fighter, especially if you’re trying to raise a family. If someone got pissy with me about that, I couldn’t deny they were right. I’m not going to launch into douchnozzle mode about it.

  75. 75.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Cassidy: I’d have to say that combat sports (by which I assume you mean UFC and such) doesn’t take injuries very seriously, since causing your opponent brain damage is the explicit goal of the game.

  77. 77.

    eemom

    I forgot to mention that the child speaks highly of the Steelers.

    Anyway. It is plain to see that helmet-butting is gonna have nothing on the direction this thread is headed in.

  79. 79.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Unfortunately, I think the only way this stupid lockout works out for the guys in the striped shirts is when a NFL owner wakes up with a horse’s head in his bed.

  80. 80.

    Raya

    Speaking as a lady and a furriner, I dunno from American football at all, but I am implacably opposed to the use of scab officials. Or scab anything. Especially when the bosses are CLEARLY making out like bandits.

  81. 81.

    Violet

    So what incentive do the owners have to get rid of the scab refs?

    How can an incentive for them to do so be created and implemented?

  82. 82.

    C.S.Strowbridge

    On a serious note, I hope the NFL players refuse to play until the regular refs are back. They are risking their careers so that the owners can make a tiny bit more. Even if they doubled the salary of the refs, it still won’t make a dent in the owners’ profits.

  88. 88.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Cassidy: What I would get pissy about, as a moderator and admin, is the way the discussion gets derailed whenever they jump into a handegg thread. We were having a perfectly good conversation about the lockout, the injuries, and why the players can’t strike in sympathy, and then, well….

    I really do consider it trolling.

  90. 90.

    freemark

    Let us not forget the impending NHL lockout. More greedy owners. Their revenues have increased almost 50% since the last lockout, but they want the players to take another pay cut because the additional 400 million per year profit they are making compared to 2006 just isn’t enough.

    What is wrong with these fucking greedy bastards? The more they get the less they seem to think they have.

  92. 92.

    Dr. Squid

    you don’t miss it and instead spend the time meditating and reflecting on the bran you had for dinner

    That. Cracked me up.

  94. 94.

    Dexter's new approach

    Well considering a Steeler player nearly killed Bay, and five minutes after he was carted off the field after being knocked out cold, the same #29 went helmet-first on the OAK TE, maybe you should call out your own team instead of the refs You know, the most fined/suspended team (ex Saint ex-post) in the NFL – and where their star LB Harrison threatened to retire because the commish was holding him back from playing a “man’s game “

  96. 96.

    Cassidy

    @geg6: I got it just fine. He’s had a couple drinks, probably got an email as Yustano pointed out, and is pissy because someone accused him of being a fascist pig or something for not supporting the ref’s union. No one likes having the negatives of your preferred past time thrown in your face, especially football fans who are, generally, the most tribal of the lot. But, the realities are that by supporting football, you’re supporting less than adequate reffing, serious potential injury, and a monopoly engaged in union busting.

    You could almost say the same about MMA, but the reffing is really good in national/international level MMA and there isn’t a real monopoly. I just don’t give a shit what you think.

    But I get it, you guys can’t get your fanboy “squeee” on today and your resentful it’s being pointed out why.

  97. 97.

    suzanne

    Can’t help but think that any organization that continued to employ rapists, ignored workplace safety, and treated its employees like shit would be boycotted in a heartbeat by liberals.

    Unless, of course, it’s football. Then, well, of course, fuck you. Stop being “self-righteous”.

  98. 98.

    danimal

    In the morning, when the Chargers were undefeated, I was very much in favor of the NFL. After 3-27 against the Falcons, screw those modern day gladiators, I’ll just wait until hockey, where they won’t have scabs ruining the quality of the game.

    Really? Oh well.

  100. 100.

    Dennis SGMM

    Played football for two seasons in high school and rugby for three years after I got out of the Navy. To be sure, there is a mad joy in playing contact sports. These days I’m not much of a sports fan. My son is and I watch games with him just for the fellowship.

  104. 104.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Cassidy: That’s what a knockout is: giving your opponent a concussion sufficiently severe that it disrupts their motor control to the point that they can’t continue to fight.

  105. 105.

    Spatula

    John Cole, you have on occasion advised me to simply “ignore” commenters in threads who have called me the most vile names imaginable along with advising me to kill myself and other helpful suggestions.

    “Ignore them,” you suggested.

    Yet you are unable to ignore a few football-hating commenters, and are hysterically threatening to filter them rather than, you know…taking your own advice and…calmly and serenely…ignoring them.

    Interesting.

  108. 108.

    Violet

    So I asked the question as to how the owners could be incentivized to stop using scab refs and the only response I got was that the players could refuse to play due to unsafe working conditions.

    So only the players have any influence? WTF? If the fans are ticked off about it, are they unable to do anything? Are they that impotent, that unimportant to the whole NFL process? Seriously?

    Why can’t the fans organize a boycott that actually happens. Show the next game with completely empty seats. Shame anyone trying to go to the game. Organize a boycott of advertisers. Picket outside stadiums. Make a big stink. It would be all over media and might actually work.

  110. 110.

    Spatula

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:

    What I would get pissy about, as a moderator and admin, is the way the discussion gets derailed whenever they jump into a handegg thread. We were having a perfectly good conversation about the lockout, the injuries, and why the players can’t strike in sympathy, and then, well….
    I really do consider it trolling.

    Why is it that tender, vulnerable commenters such as yourself and Cole, apparently, are unable to ignore commenters they hate?

  111. 111.

    Cassidy

    @J. Michael Neal: Eh, not true. There are different kinds of knockouts. There is the head trauma kind, which does happen on a regular basis. The more common one is the compressing the jaw on the cranial nerve that rides behind it. The reason it’s more common is because MMA fighters aren’t boxers and forget the first lesson of “chin down, eyes up”. So, when you leave your chin hanging out there, and drop your hands, then you’re probably going to sleep.

    But, this doesn’t matter. I’m aware of the bad things about my sports and I’ve chosen to watch anyway. I’m just not gonna cry like a toddler when people point it out.

  112. 112.

    LT

    I had a guy talk shit about “grown men playing with balls” here the other day after I brought up NRL game here (so long Sea Eagles). “That’s for kids,” he said.

    “What’s wrong with being a kid?” I asked him. He just looked at me weird.

    It’s one of the things I love about sports – that it does or can at least keep a kid alive in you. I love screaming my nuts off at the TV when something great is going down. It’s kidifying and I love it.

  118. 118.

    The Dangerman

    I’m assuming this is “The Rant, V2.0”, edited heavily for content. I want to see V1.0 where he really let loose.

  120. 120.

    Will Reks

    @Spatula: Well, it’s either that or Cole posts an entertaining rant. I think I’m ok with it.

    Also, if people are telling you to go kill yourself in threads some self-evaluation is probably in order.

  124. 124.

    Spatula

    @Maude:

    If you are a guest in someone’s house, do you insult them as a matter or course?

    Yeah, yeah, yeah…Maude, we get it: You wish to bear Cole’s butt babies. Butt, in fact, John regularly and heartily insults his “guests,” so turnaround seems fair, no?

    I rather think he enjoys the give and take, vile as it can be at times.

  126. 126.

    freelancer

    @Joel:

    Off- Of- Offsides? Ahem, Off-…oh I have to let you know what it is so you can accept or decline? Well then, Offsides, erm, apply to end of kick. Was that right Coach? Phew!

  127. 127.

    Lyrebird

    @Or something like that.Suffern Ace:

    I really have to work on these self esteem issues.

    Indeed, do that!

    Whereas I knew that the post was directed at… well… people who feel the way I do about the NFL but also maybe don’t care as much about the men’s lives involved. Or maybe they think it’s fun to rile JC up and/or the commentariat.

    I’ve never owned a TV and I still think of the Rams as a Calif. team, but I have students who wanna be gladiators, and I want them to have safe and professional refs for sure! ! !

  128. 128.

    Spatula

    @Will Reks:

    Also, if people are telling you to go kill yourself in threads some self-evaluation is probably in order.

    Oh yes, absolutely. But I concluded that the few pigs advising me to self-immolate would do the world a much bigger favor by blowing their own brains out after beating themselves to a pulp.

    So I’m good.

  129. 129.

    ricknro

    The Raiders Darrius Heyward-Bay was knocked silly by a helmet to helmet hit by Steeler’s safety Mundy. How could those officials, replacement or not, miss that call. How could those officials not throw a flag for a blatant personal foul? It wouldn’t have prevented the injury but that’s not the point.

    In any case, that play p*ssed me off to no end…especially considering that those same official missed another penalty on Pittsburg’s secondary just couple plays earlier.

    Those replacement officials need to go. Roger Godell needs to get his act together and settle this nonsense. Crappy officiating has always been a part of the game. Godell doesn’t need to compound it because his ego won’t allow him to settle with the regular officials.

  130. 130.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Violet: You’re absolutely right, but I have to assume you are now a hater and the object of Cole’s post, since I can’t see anything else that could be its target.

  131. 131.

    Another Halocene Human

    @geg6: I said that I objected to watching so many players leave the field in stretchers, and that I enjoy watching soccer. I never said anything about it being safe or injury-free–you projected that onto me all by yourself.

    What would you know about soccer anyway? Longtime recreational player here. I would assume most football fans used to play themselves, but when I was coming up the sport was hostile to female players.

    And I still don’t enjoy sitting down to a game and watching one person after another get carried off in a stretcher. I’m not known for my enormous expanses of empathy, but it makes me feel bad and I can’t keep watching. Too bad that my discomfort annoys you or whatever. Can’t help you there.

    I thought the original point of the original thread was that the scab refs were creating a situation with more bad injuries and that was bad. Now you seem to be arguing a) they’re not as bad as the silent brain injuries from heading soccer balls, so who cares and b) anyone who objects to the bad injuries all the time is an irrational football-hating weenie who should just GTFO the thread.

    Hoookaaayyyyy.

  133. 133.

    slightly_peeved

    @J. Michael Neal:

    The advantages of MMA in this regard, as compared to boxing, are:

    (a) less repeated concussions; one knockout and the fight ends.
    (b) A large proportion of MMA fights are won by submission, so no knockout occurs.

    which at least makes MMA an improvement on professional boxing, in the concussion front.

  137. 137.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    John’s always a little grumpy after the Steelers lose. So don’t give him a reason to hit ya.

  138. 138.

    thomas jackson

    Stop watching! the most effective way to get your point across is to stop watching this crap. steve young was correct, plus john, you should be supporting the refs by NOT watching the nfl clown show. just think, if everyone decided that the owners are assholes and they would not support the actions taken by said owners, this would be settled and you could sit with your pets and watch the game that you enjoy so much. if not, then you are enabling yet another rich fuck to destroy what you cherish.

  140. 140.

    Another Halocene Human

    @The prophet Nostradumbass: It’s the frequency, stupid.

    Players have been killed by baseballs, and pitchers get injured frequently. We all know that. But go on beating that strawman if it helps work your frustrations out.

  145. 145.

    Another Halocene Human

    @gex: The players are on contract and the owners have too much invested to go Galt if they don’t get their way all the time (see “sunk cost fallacy”). The advertising money dries up if the fans stop watching. Simple as that.

  146. 146.

    Booda

    As a 1970s oiler fan I am still required to hate those damn steelers… But even I can’t hold that against you JC. This post is right on and delivered in the cranky manner that I so cherish. That said – my texans won and your stillers lost. Neener

  148. 148.

    am

    Not a huge NFL fan. Nothing against contact sports, I’m more into hockey. The NHL lockout is … a big let down, but I actually feel worse for NFL fans. Even if that moron Bettman drives the league into the ground, it will still have its integrity intact. It seems senseless to play hardball with the refs over such a small amount.

  149. 149.

    suzanne

    @Violet: You’re absolutely, 100% right. Football just seems to fill that hole deep in the primal, tribal id for so many people that the moment they feel even the slightest bit guilty about it, they shoot the messenger rather than engage in any self-reflection. Same sort of thinking led to the Iraq War. Because WAR IS FIGHTING FOR OUR HONOR and AMERICA, FUCK YEAH.

  151. 151.

    Feudalism Now!

    The rant was funny. I think it has more to do with the Stillers losing to the Raiders than any comments, but hey.
    I can’t speak, I’m a Lions fan. The Titans? oy.
    Officiating is going to get someone killed. End the damn lockout.

  152. 152.

    Polish the Guillotines

    Holy christ! The entire stadium was just chanting “Bullshit!” at the top of their lungs! How’s the FCC gonna deal with that?

    HAHAHAHA.

    Now they’re trying to manipulate the audio feed from the crowd mics to muddy up the chant. This is how the impasse will end. Look for this to happen at multiple games next weekend.

  154. 154.

    trollhattan

    @Booda:
    Lemme just add, not merely “lost” but “LOST TO THE RAIDERS.” Which is moar kinds of suck than can be measured.

  157. 157.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Violet: Well, the owners know no shame.

    The people in the stadiums have already paid for their seats, often months in advance. Besides, we’ve heard for years that our piddly little ticket buys mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, that it’s the skyboxes that keep the teams afloat.

    I don’t even know that the players walking out would have an impact beyond protecting themselves from injury.

  159. 159.

    Another Halocene Human

    For the record, I am not suggesting that anyone stop watching football. Personally, I don’t even think that would be an effective response (any sort of announced boycott, that is), although it is quite possible that some softness might come organically if fans get disgusted enough with bad reffing. I say, keep on watching and keep up the pressure on the league. Keep talking about the shitty calls. Keep shaming the owners. Build an outcry. Fans care about their players and don’t want to see them hurt.

    It’s too bad that a comment I made about my adverse reaction to football injuries amounted to trolling for butthurt. No trolling was intended. (I wish I could get replies to my comments in political threads like that.) It really just was my honest, authentic reaction to watching American football. It was my clumsy way of agreeing with the premise that more bad injuries are bad for football.

  162. 162.

    LT

    Wow. They get the punt and the 2min warning – and the gift TO from NE. Fuuuuck.

    Hey, now the Bills can catch them! #shootme

  164. 164.

    spudvol

    Cole- You forgot to mention that 47% of this site’s commenters are idiots…and they don’t pay any income tax.

  168. 168.

    CW in LA

    @Just Some Fuckhead: See, the same thing makes me all happy and fappy.

    But yeah, the scab refs are bad; at least the regular refs don’t take for freakin’ ever to arrive at their terrible calls.

  169. 169.

    Another Halocene Human

    @suzanne:

    Football just seems to fill that hole deep in the primal, tribal id for so many people that the moment they feel even the slightest bit guilty about it, they shoot the messenger rather than engage in any self-reflection.

    Maybe it’s just escapism, not the primal id. Who wants to feel guilty about their escapism? I sure don’t.

    I would guess the football fans who are flinging feces are simply insecure about the status of their sport. They got to be #1 by unseating another sport from its throne of dominance in American life. The moment of triumph came during an unpopular player’s strike. Easy come, easy go? Baseball is the one that was, football is the one that is, and soccer the one that will be? By the way, to complete the Babylon 5 metaphor at least two of them are boffing each other, if not more, iykwim.

    ETA: just realized this could work for the GOP since the 70’s: Rockefeller/Cabot (old school white-shoed Northern Episcopalians), GWB (Bible belt), Susanna Martinez?

  170. 170.

    Another Halocene Human

    @suzanne: I disagree on tactics.

    Nothing worse than calling a boycott and everyone shows up anyway.

    I still think gex is dead wrong, though.

  174. 174.

    The Dangerman

    So, New England is the first to get really fucked; poetic justice.

    ETA: To be fair to the Ref, that was really, REALLY close. I assume he wanted to get out of Baltimore without injury.

  176. 176.

    Corner Stone

    Did I, or did I not, just see a Jack in the Box commercial where the Scrabble word Mrs. Box made was “nonookie”?

  178. 178.

    Joel

    I missed it when people were pontificating on the uselessness of golf.

    Of course, I agree with that position.

  179. 179.

    suzanne

    @Another Halocene Human: Disagreement on tactics is valid. That’s not trolling, though. Cole’s pissed because he enjoys football, damnit, and those people that make him feel bad about it are obviously health-food-eating Nader voters. Don’t engage the argument, don’t refute the points. Just insult those who feel differently. Seriously. Barf. THAT’S trolling.

  180. 180.

    Corner Stone

    Joe Flacco just said he knew they could mindfuck the temp refs into giving them a hometown call on the last drive.

  181. 181.

    Another Halocene Human

    @suzanne: If that was trolling it was weaksauce. I took it as hyperbole.

    I’m on this thread because I was tired and bored and it was open for business. I’m still on it because… I suck. I should be trying to sleep off this cold right now.

    @Anya: I came for the labor issues. The discussion looked interesting so I jumped in. What was being said overall didn’t look hateful to me but I wouldn’t know as my manhood isn’t tied up in the local sports team, much as I might pretend as such because it’s funny and because the Yankees do, in fact, suck.

  182. 182.

    different-church-lady

    If people still had to kill their own food to survive, nobody would be complaining about football.

    There: I just gave Cole something to rant about.

  183. 183.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Mantooth: Are you new here? Or have you somehow missed all the mocking of purity trolls and firebaggers?

    @Another Halocene Human: If that was from my comment to Cassidy, then no. The people I had in mind are repeat offenders across multiple threads.

  184. 184.

    CW in LA

    @Corner Stone: Now see, when players start openly talking about taking advantage of how weak and inept the scab refs are, one of two things will happen: 1) It’ll light a fire under the league’s butts to stop this massive embarrassment before it gets even worse; or 2) The league will start heavily fining players who say such things.

    My guess is, Flacco’s getting fined.

  185. 185.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    So now explain how it’s not really trolling when someone drops a turd in one of Randinho’s soccer threads, pissing him off. Do you think that threats of banning in those cases are motivated by a sense of guilt?

  187. 187.

    magurakurin

    @geg6:

    This could only be said by someone who has never actually watched soccer, paid attention to the violence soccer incites worldwide, and knows nothing about the rates of ALS in soccer players, a rate that equals or surpasses the rate among football players and has been shown to be caused by head injuries.

    and not to mention the fans that die of boredom.

  188. 188.

    Tripod

    Goodell…. you just knew putting a fucking bean counter in charge was going to be a problem.

    The NFL is backed by the insane amount of money gambled on its’ games every week. All that needs to happen is for a scab ref to lay down for some paltry sum, have the story get out, and explode into a news cycle.

  194. 194.

    1badbaba3

    Who are these people making you mad, Cole? Name some names so that we can assist you in berating them.

  195. 195.

    John Cole

    @Cassidy: The only drinks I have had are robitussin, jackass.

    I’ve clearly discussed illegal hits and the horrid officiating, so it takes a spectacular lack of self awareness or an impressive level of projection for you to write what you have written. Unless you are smacked up on heroin.

    See what I did there, Cassidy? I just made shit up and assumed the worst about you. I guess it’s fair.

  199. 199.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    ‘It’s boring.’ ‘It’s nationalistic.’ ‘Like all the other sports threads, this is a waste of space and time and bandwidth.’

    Cole could drop a ballet thread here, and if I wanted to troll it the way you’ve been trolling the football threads, I could do so by mentioning eating disorders. Music threads? Musicians are exploited by record labels and concert promoters every day, all over the world, yet you might be putting money in the pockets of those promoters and record labels right now, in another tab on your browser.

    See how that works?

  200. 200.

    eemom

    The problem is there are too many arguments on different issues going on all at once: the ref strike/scab issue, the larger NFL/labor issue, the even larger “football sucks” issue, with its attendant subsidiary issue of whether football sucks worse than any other sport; then a whole different set of parallel issues wrt whether it is actually Cole and/or the rest of us who suck.

    What y’all need is a nice ref. Or a lawyer.

  201. 201.

    hrprogressive

    I fucking love the NFL, and although John isn’t a fan of the same team I am, I fucking love that he’s a fan too.

    GO FOOTBALL.

    That is all.

  202. 202.

    Mnemosyne

    G and I were talking about B-J tonight and I was saying that Cole hadn’t thrown a temper tantrum lately where he tells all of us to fuck off.

    Perfect timing.

  203. 203.

    dance around in your bones

    @Anya:

    @dance around in your bones: Wait… ‘Sherlock’ Season 3 is available? Where? When? How did I miss this momentous newws?

    I don’t know what season it is, but I am watching episodes 4,5 and 6. Previously unavailable on Netflix, but now – there they are!

    Perhaps I am behind the times, but I had only seen 1,2,3.

    eta: Sorry to be so late in replying, but currently watching episode 6. LOVE this Sherlock.

  206. 206.

    slag

    Nothing like watching someone behaving like a total cliche bitch about other people behaving like total cliches. That never gets old.

    Is there nothing left on the interwebs indicative of civilized society? Is this the best that we, as a species, have to offer? Where’s Kay? She may be our only hope!

  207. 207.

    suzanne

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Did anyone say, in this thread or the last, that football is boring or nationalistic? What I read (and what I wrote) was to the effect of: If you think the refs suck or that the NFL willingly endangers its players, send a message to the NFL by voting with your pocketbook.

    And once again, rather than refute the suggestion, you try to point out my supposed hypocrisy on the issue? ( A ballet thread?! FFS.) Can’t come up with anying better than BOTH SIDEZ DO IT?

  210. 210.

    cokane

    I do think it’s a modern day gladiator system. But I still watch it. It’s a huge progress from previous bloodsports. I think every societies will inevitably have a thirst for violent sports.

  211. 211.

    gopher2b

    After the Sunday Night game, I’m seriously considering boycotting. That was ridiculous and just plain un-fun to watch. No consistency, no control, no respect…it’s going to lead to a full blown riot. I can’t wait until it snows.

  212. 212.

    Violet

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:

    The people in the stadiums have already paid for their seats, often months in advance. Besides, we’ve heard for years that our piddly little ticket buys mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, that it’s the skyboxes that keep the teams afloat.

    But TV cameras showing completely empty stadiums would be quite the sensation. Then if the fans actually organized a boycott of the advertisers and refused to watch games, that would also get attention and the owners financially.

    I think the fans in the stadium tonight yelling “Bullshit” was inspired. The network carrying the game will get in trouble if the fans keep shouting profanity. Maybe there could be an organized effort to get fans at the game to say “Fuck you, Goodell” and “Fire the scab refs” over and over. Maybe even bring in signs. It would be one way to get the attention of the NFL and the TV folks and the advertisers all at once.

    Fans who want the scab refs out of there do have power. They just have to figure out how best to wield that power.

  214. 214.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @suzanne:

    Well, you explicitly compared it to the Iraq war, so, yeah you did.

    Also, for the record, what annoys folks like me and Cole is this claptrap:

    Football just seems to fill that hole deep in the primal, tribal id for so many people that the moment they feel even the slightest bit guilty about it, they shoot the messenger rather than engage in any self-reflection.

    You could say “I’m better and more evolved than you” and get the same point across in far fewer words. The rest is just window-dressing, written like a college freshman reading about Freud for the first time.

  216. 216.

    Gian

    look, I played at a very very low level.
    I left a very out.

    but the whole sportcenter highlight bit has screwed up the sport.
    that and assholes like the saints old defensive coordinator williams.

    used to be that leading a tackle attempt with your head was called “spearing” and you got a flag because in doing it you could break your freaking neck.

    because the NFL sells “greatest hits” dvds and sportscenter plays the replays over and over… spearing – leading with the head – just vanished from the rulebook.
    but there’s a real reason for the rule in the first place and simply calling a penalty for leading a tackle with the head and not the shoulder would do wonders for the health of the players.

    might hurt ratings and dvd sales though

    defintion via wikipedia
    Tackling or otherwise contacting an opponent with one’s helmet. (This technique is illegal because of the risk of neck injuries to the tackler.)

  217. 217.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    That’s the kind of trolling that pops up on soccer threads.

    And it isn’t a “both sides do it” argument, it’s about the common tools of the trolling trade. Passive/aggressive use of guilt as you demonstrated @178? Oldest. Trick. In. The. Book. To which order do you belong, Sister Suzanne?

  218. 218.

    suzanne

    @Spaghetti Lee: Okay, fair.

    So am I wrong? There’s a better way for fans to influence the NFL into re-hiring the good refs and providing better safety measures for the players than by boycotting games? What would that be?

  219. 219.

    srv

    John, it isn’t that Obama hasn’t been progressive enough. Obama needs to bring order to this situation and objectively there isn’t any difference between Yemen and a skybox or two.

  220. 220.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    Yeah: The beat way to settle this is via a class-action lawsuit by the players, because the league is not doing its damndest to protect them.

  223. 223.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @suzanne:

    I do think a large boycott would be the quickest way, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen*. I think tonight’s entire stadium full of people chanting ‘BULLSHIT!’ at a blown call is a good start. I think a blown out-of-bounds or dropped ball call that objectively costs a team a win would turn up the volume. And if a player gets paralyzed or worse, that would get people’s attention (I’m NOT rooting for that to happen, just thinking about what would transpire if it did.)

    I honestly don’t know whether this is two sides that want to work together just disagreeing on a new contract or whether it’s a united and very ideological fight from the owners to break the referees’ union. If it’s the latter, I think the question is moot. The owners have all the resources and their product has very, very inelastic demand. And the Commissioner is on their side, I do believe. (ETA: one thing I think that’s good for the refs is that the entire sports media is on their side, or at least sympathetic. Like John said earlier, it’s not a WaPo editorial that’s concern-trolling the refs and kissing up to the owners: they’re mostly calling bullshit where they see it.)

    *-Before the cry of hypocrisy comes up, think about it from the fans’ perspective. They’ve spent their entire life rooting for their team. Scab refereeing has never been a problem before. They probably only go to one game a year, bought their tickets months in advance. And now they’re just supposed to throw their ticket in the trash because two sides that are richer and/or more famous than they are can’t agree about a contract? Screw that.

  225. 225.

    suzanne

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Okay. However, my concern is that the NFL could just hire a whole new league of players, as there is certainly no shortage of potential players willing to play, even if the risk is vastly increased. Demand is so high for talent due to the popularity of the game that I think you’d be able to find people to play under almost any circumstances. You honestly don’t think reducing demand for the game would have any impact on the owners?

  227. 227.

    James E. Powell

    @Gian:

    I don’t want to pull an age thing on you because I have no idea how old you are. But the NFL game was much, much more violent and unrestrained thirty years ago. The rules, and how the penalties are called, have been adjusted over time to provide greater protection to players.

    If you have a tape of Raiders vs. Steelers games from the 70s, or really Raiders vs. Anybody, you would see what I mean.

  229. 229.

    Radio One

    @gopher2b: Seriously. When is the NFL going to realize that Roger Goodell is a fucking awful arbiter for the league? Fans have hated him for years, and for good reason. Let’s go ahead boycott this shit.

  230. 230.

    suzanne

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    They’ve spent their entire life rooting for their team. Scab refereeing has never been a problem before. They probably only go to one game a year, bought their tickets months in advance. And now they’re just supposed to throw their ticket in the trash because two sides that are richer and/or more famous than they are can’t agree about a contract? Screw that.

    No matter how I feel about whether or not football is fun to watch, I agree that this is a really good point. I really like the “bullshit” chant, too—it effects the broadcast-ability (I know, not a word) of the game, thereby having a financial impact. No question, a boycott would suck for the fans. I just don’t see a more effective solution, short of the owners all of a sudden realizing that treating your workforce like shit is a morally reprehensible thing to do.

  232. 232.

    Yutsano

    @taylormattd: I have to change my parking plans because of tomorrow night’s mishegas game. But hey, parking on the ninth floor of the garage isn’t too terrible on occasion.

  235. 235.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    Okay, you’ve been out of your depth on this for a while- not just today- and it’s mainly because you have absolutely no experience with the game as a player at any level, as a fan or as a neutral observer with any sense of the history of the game. Case in point:

    However, my concern is that the NFL could just hire a whole new league of players, as there is certainly no shortage of potential players willing to play, even if the risk is vastly increased.

    There was a strike in 1987. The season was shortened by a week, and 3 weeks were played with scab players. Most of the scab players were noticeably not up to NFL standards. Viewership took a nose dive.

    The talent level would end up being that of the defunct XFL.

    Tens of thousands of guys play football at the collegiate level every year. There are only about 1600 roster slots in the NFL. Less than half of those 1600 are on the field regularly, and the disparity in talent between those who do play regularly and those who don’t is made obvious- and I mean OBVIOUS- every summer during the exhibition season.

  236. 236.

    Joel

    The NFL has been running its administration like the GOP recently. They even have their own internal media organ (Yahoo Sports).

  239. 239.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Joel:

    They even have their own internal media organ (Yahoo Sports).

    Yeah, Yahoo Sports. Cable tv’s NFL Network,the internet’s NFL.com and SiriusXM’s NFL Channel are all dedicated to the National Foosball League.

  240. 240.

    FormerSwingVoter

    This thread is so excellent on so many levels: JC sounding like his old wingnut self but without all the typos, Firebaggers making his insane generalizations sound sorta justified, 200+ comments on what is possibly the least relevant or useful topic anywhere on the front page… and on top of it all, the Steelers lost.

    It’s like Christmas came early.

  241. 241.

    Death Panel Truck

    @Maude:

    If you are a guest in someone’s house, do you insult them as a matter or course?

    John Cole owns the internet, does he? News to me.

  244. 244.

    Death Panel Truck

    @James E. Powell:

    If you have a tape of Raiders vs. Steelers games from the 70s, or really Raiders vs. Anybody, you would see what I mean.

    A Deacon Jones highlight reel would suffice.

  245. 245.

    Steve Finlay

    I admit that football totally bores me – even Canadian football, which is somewhat less predictable than American. Either way, it is 60 minutes of sports action packed into only 2 1/2 hours.

    But I agree with John: Rules matter in a contact sport, because they reduce the risk of people getting killed or paralyzed.

    Football has enough problems with long term health damage (the concussion issue) without bad reffing adding to it.

  246. 246.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    Again, a lawsuit by the players against the NFL. No boycott would succeed if it wasn’t player-led, and the players can’t lead one per the terms of their collective bargaining agreement. If the players file for an injunction, causing a stoppage in the schedule- because the NFL can’t live up to their end of the bargain (as concerns providing the safest work atmosphere as is feasible)- the NFL’s hand would be forced.

  250. 250.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @suzanne:

    You’ve got players here who collectively waived their rights to engage in a sympathy strike that would really be as much in their own interest as in the interest of the refs, no? There are poor and elderly people who are going to go to the polls and vote for Romney?Ryan in a few weeks, aren’t there? Victims of domestic abuse who remain with their abusers? Junkies who OD but don’t give up smack? Why do people do the stupid fucking things they do?

    If it has anything to do, as I suspect, with habit and/or addiction, scolding doesn’t do anything to abate the problem. Methadone (literal or figurative) is more effective.

  251. 251.

    Narcissus

    I’m the one who said football was boring. That was me.

    The most interesting part is when Gary Glitter gets a royalty cheque

  252. 252.

    Chet

    @LT: I always think of something Roger Angell wrote in his magnificent essay following the 1975 World Series (Angell, like me, was primarily a baseball guy but this really applies to sports fandom in general):

    “It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitative as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look—I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring—caring deeply and passionately, really caring—which is a capacity or emotion that has almos gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of thy concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naïveté—the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball—seems a small price to pay for such a gift.”

  253. 253.

    Pseudonym

    What if the players did something really farfetched and probably stupid, like forfeiting the first half, or even quarter, of every game?

  254. 254.

    I Am Mitt's Smirk (né Studly Pantload, t.e.u.u.)

    So . . . Steelers lost?

    ETA: Ah, see I got scooped upthread by some scores of times. So goes life on the internets.

  255. 255.

    Toschek

    Call me crazy, but as much as I love NFL football I mostly can’t stand to watch it anymore because of the ads. You can call them misogynist, you can call the misandrist, but mostly you can just call them outright demeaning to humanity as a whole.

    If there were no ads on football, I’d be all over it because frankly it’s damn fun to watch.

    Me and my lady hung up our football gear last year after the Saints pay-to-pain controversy and have been wholeheartedly throwing ourselves into premier league soccer. Today’s Manchester United / Liverpool game was fucking amazing, and the show they have on the FOX soccer channel “Beinf Liverpool” has been thoroughly engrossing thus far.

    Seriously, give it a try if football isn’t doing it for you anymore..

  256. 256.

    Rita R.

    and also too, Obama sucks because he hasn’t been progressive enough.

    Totally OT to football — but I am nowhere near tired of “also too” yet. It may, instead of “refudiate,” turn out to be La Palin’s real lasting gift to our language. On lefty blogs, at least.

  257. 257.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Violet:

    But TV cameras showing completely empty stadiums would be quite the sensation. Then if the fans actually organized a boycott of the advertisers and refused to watch games, that would also get attention and the owners financially.

    Nah, TV camera show empty stadiums all the time. I’m a Browns fan, I know these things.

    I think the fans in the stadium tonight yelling “Bullshit” was inspired. The network carrying the game will get in trouble if the fans keep shouting profanity. Maybe there could be an organized effort to get fans at the game to say “Fuck you, Goodell” and “Fire the scab refs” over and over. Maybe even bring in signs. It would be one way to get the attention of the NFL and the TV folks and the advertisers all at once.

    This is far, far more likely to happen. The owners, as a general rule, don’t care.

    Affecting the league’s bottom line is a slow, slow process. You have to really scare the TV networks to get them to refuse to pay through the nose for the games. I’m not sure how much longer the contracts run, but if they’re not being renegotiated right now, the league will assume it can ride this out. It survived the scab players debacle, after all.

  258. 258.

    Schlemizel

    John – I played the game as a kid. I was not very good but I had an excellent coach. He taught me the right way to lead with my head so as to inflict the maximum amount of pain I could “it’ll slow the guy down the rest of the game. Fortunately I never really hurt anyone badly & was not good enough to play past high school so I don’t think I did much damage to myself either.

    If I made your pie filter for pointing out that players are dieing for our entertainment and nobody actually cares to fix that because they don’t have to watch it happen I’m OK with that. When you post some long rant about how awful it is that the NFL is doing nothing but mouthing seat words about the long-term health of its most valuable resource and how it chews up and spits out kids even when played cleanly I’ll be right with you.

  259. 259.

    Handy

    “THE NFL IS OUR MODERN DAY GLADIATORS AND WHY ARE YOU SURPRISED AT PERFIDY AND INJURIES AND VIOLENCE,”

  260. 260.

    Keith G

    Traumatic brain injury is a predictable outcome of playing football. It is now known that not only “highlight reel” hits cause these injuries, but also the “every play” repetitive collisions that could never be avoided in the way the game is now played. Therefore, the way the game is now played is a significant health risk for those who play it. As more data comes in, the more clear the danger is, even (or especially) for those younger than in their early 20s when the physical development of the brain stops.

    With that as a basis, it will not be long before serious discussions will begin about whether public money can be spent on encouraging kids to participate in such an activity whose regular play will cause “invisible” injury with consequences that may not be know until some time in the future.

    The clock is ticking for the drastic overhaul of high school football. I think there will soon come a point when medical science erodes any fair-minded support. Once that happens only hard-hearted dead enders will not feel the need to drastically reconsider their support for other levels of this game.

    I doubt even an “all caps” rant can change this.

  261. 261.

    Not Sure

    While professional football players are about as close to being modern-day gladiators without being professional boxers, I don’t mind the NFL. Really I don’t. However, the substitute refs are SCABS and I refuse to watch pro football until after their labor dispute has been dealt with. Solidarity, and all that.

  262. 262.

    brantl

    You’ve clearly never understood why it is important for officials to be in charge of a contact sport game, because hey, to you soy-eating Nader loving douchebags, all violence is the same, whether controlled or not.

    “Controlled violence is an oxymoron. Period. Never worked, never will. This is why there have been comatose high school and college kds afer playing football. You aren’t supposed to hit them “just hard enough to push them back”, you’re supposed to knock them on their ass, if you can.

  263. 263.

    Hokey Nation

    It’s all very well to criticize the one-note ‘gladiator’ commentators, but your point would hold a little more sway if you explained to them how they are wrong. Their argument is shallow but you haven’t provided depth. And no, “I ONCE PLAYED IN A CONTACT SPORT YOU DIDN’T” does not cut it as depth.

  264. 264.

    Jamey

    @SixStringFanatic: @SixStringFanatic: Have you been playing football with Gerry Ford’s helmet, String? Where did I say that the refs walked out? Wait, I’ll save you the trouble: I DIDN’T. I said that the players should walk out in solidarity.

    I’m aware of what’s in the 2011 agreements, but filing for a court injunction on the basis of inadequate workplace safety is not all that far-fetched. NFLPA can reasonably sue for relief from breach of OSHA standards and MAKE the NFL prove that it’s doing all it can to provide for its workers’ safety to have the NFLPA suit dismissed. (Hell, it took, what, ten days for Jonathan Vilma’s suit to be dismissed–and that action was OBVIOUSLY in default of the 2011 contract’s bylaws on jurisdiction and process of review…) Discover alone would scare the League into solving the officiating mess: By the time the NFL’s lawbirds can gain any traction in the courts, it’s yet another PR disaster at precisely the moment the League is under extreme scrutiny for its handling of head injury cases.

    While all this is going on, the NFLPA can simultaneously make appeals to other labor organizations, calling for their members to condemn the League’s failure to provide safe working conditions. There are a lot of levers the players and their Association can pull to bring about a conclusion. I just don’t see much initiative to do anything other than whine about bad officiating.

    Sorry I didn’t read the previous thread.

  266. 266.

    cureforidiots

    I, being of the aforementioned class, nevertheless, thank you for the belly laughs in the middle of the fucking night!
    This was the cure for my insomnia and my alcohol induced continuation of another fucked up sleeping episode, but belly laughs indeed! Like a dog, you either chase the ball, of any kind, or you don’t. I’m of a mind not to chase, but I laughed out loud at your piece!
    Thank you and good night! you funny fucker.

  267. 267.

    brantl

    Of all the things that you’ve gotten over Cole, it does amaze me that you don’t see that football can be (at the very least) very distructive to its players’ health.
    I’ve been involved in the combat arts. For my conscience, you couldn’t get me involved in full contact any more than you could get me involved in boxing. Full contact made the martial arts from a highly effective set of systems of self defense, into a non-effective sport.

    Guess why? People that are really effective at the martial arts would clear a club out in a matter of hours of sparring, not even a matter of weeks. The people side-lned by injury (or worse) would outnumber the active members. Essentially, there would be nobody left. So, the clubs that spar with significant contact are the ones that do an ineffective style of motion. It’s self-limiting.
    The only reason that there aren’t more deaths and paralysis in football is because it is also self-limiting. People that mean aren’t team players, and also commit crimes, getting thrown off the team, eventually. Anybody wonder why so many football players are in trouble with the law? Beating people up tends to blur your understanding of the social contract.

  268. 268.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Jamey: The NFLPA has fired the first shot in that process. Now, IIUC, they have to give the league a chance to respond.

  270. 270.

    Schlemizel

    What surprises me is that people can drop by this site and make any sort of insulting comments about any politician, religion, nation, state, food stuff you name it and JC is mostly OK with that. Of course other commenters will respond as they see fit but John only has these temper tantrums about a couple of things. Often its about emails whining about one of the FP’ers but mostly it seems to be about football and/or his Stealers. A wide range of opinions is OK for everything but one American sport?

  271. 271.

    CapedJA

    Cassidy, first you say “But, the realities are that by supporting football, you’re supporting less than adequate reffing, serious potential injury, and a monopoly engaged in union busting.”

    Then not long later you say, “I have nothing against football fans.”

    Does this mean you are pro serious injury, bad reffing, and union busting … or does it just mean you are an awful internet troll?

  272. 272.

    Cassidy

    @CapedJA: You don’t do nuannce do you?

    Here’s the reality. Everything we do, in some way, shape, or form, supports union busting, child labor, poor and unsafe working conditions, etc. From the clothes you wear, to the food you eat, we as consumers are perpetuating a cycle of corporate influence and domination. Now, we need to eat and we gotta wear clothes, and football fans have decided that it is a priority in their lives to be entertained. I don’t begrudge them that. I don’t feel the same way myself, but to each his own.

  273. 273.

    John_H

    “Attention All Idiots” is probably the best title for a blog post that could ever be written. It cracks me up everytime I scoll through the site. (which being a BJ addict, happens quite frequently)

  274. 274.

    quickly

    “because hey, to you soy-eating Nader loving douchebags, all violence is the same, whether controlled or not.”

    You can take the boy out of redstate, but you can’t take redstate out of the boy, and etc.

  276. 276.

    MomSense

    My only complaint is that with all the campaigning I am doing I have pretty much missed all the games and am last in my fantasy football league.

    And WTF happened to my Pats yesterday?!

  280. 280.

    artnoize

    JC

    words fail me…..
    I can’t believe this rant.

    You just lost a fan.
    I know, go fuck myself.

    So mature.

  281. 281.

    Cassidy

    I tried to reread this thing this morning and be a little bit more objective, less critical, etc. But, nope, still a giant flaming bag of dickhead. And even worse, you go on a rant like this, where you’re obviously wrong, but then you’re too chickenshit to come in the comments and have it out.

  282. 282.

    MattR

    @brantl:

    Of all the things that you’ve gotten over Cole, it does amaze me that you don’t see that football can be (at the very least) very distructive to its players’ health.

    Wow. You really think Cole doesn’t realize this? His whole rant is based on the fact that he understands this perfectly well but would like to have a discussion about the sport that does not revert to that argument.

    @brantl:

    Controlled violence is an oxymoron. Period. Never worked, never will.

    So there is no difference between a street brawl and a boxing match?

    @Cassidy: Probably because he pied you for spewing exactly the BS that he was complaining about. Since you say you are a MMA fan, imagine that you are complaining about the quality of the judging at an event and people respond by ignoring your comment and instead focusing on what a barbaric sport it is. They may be completely right in that criticism and you may completely agree, but it is also completely irrelevant to and prevents actual discussion of the topic that you brought up (piss poor judges). I would imgaine you would get pretty annoyed and pissed after you have had several attempts at a serious discussion about one aspect of MMA derailed by “trolls” who persist on focusing on what a horrible sport it is and what it says about the people who watch it.

  284. 284.

    quickly

    not only that, cassidy, you:

    a) voted for nader,
    b) drink soy milk
    c) eat healthy
    d) homeschool but in a secular manner
    e) never played contact sports (or likely any competitive activity because something)
    f) don’t understand concussions
    g) dont’ watch tv because you think you’re superior

    god, you’re a walking cliche.

  285. 285.

    Cassidy

    @MattR: 1) I didn’t participate in the last thread.

    2) If you would go through and read what I said earlier, I’m fully aware of the downsides to my sport. Is their nuance, sure, but I’m not going to waste my time being butthurt if someone only focuses on that part. I’m also not going to whine like a toddler if someone doesn’t like my sport.

    I’m more irritated at Cole’s dumbassery and then chickenshitedness than his love of football.

  286. 286.

    vayama

    I place myself on the firmly radical floor of the left wing, but I can’t deny that I harbor a secret conservative loathing for grown men who will gleefully tell you that they don’t know anything about football. It’s not like I know a whole lot about it – I really don’t know how to identify the eligible receivers on a given pass play – but there’s something grotesque about an adult male who is proud of how much he doesn’t know about the most popular sport in the country.

    Not everyone is alike, I know that. But to not even bother to understand the grungy vigor with which most of the country appreciates its sport, and to be proud of that, is really worthy of contempt. I’m sure there are genius cancer researchers out there who never had time to spend on football, and I can dig that. But to be proud of anything you don’t understand is just nauseating.

  287. 287.

    MattR

    @Cassidy: 1) So? Does that mean that John should be less annoyed by the distractions that people were posting there?

    2) And John is fully aware of the downsides of his. He closes this post by saying “The rest of us, who understand the concussion problem but who are also able to recognize the vastly increased dangers of scab officials would like to talk.“.

    So you would have no problem if every time you bring up the MMA, you don’t get actual discussion of your point but instead get the same rehashing of the value of the sport? Would you find those conversations to be useful or informative? Or would you find it to be a complete waste of time that you are better off ignoring, since it doesn’t actually add to your knowledge?

    Personally, I see neither dumbassery nor chickenshitedness from Cole. Just a desire not to deal with the same repetitive, irrelevant comments every time the NFL is mentioned.

    (EDIT: I would add that your first comment (“I mean, supporting the Pittsburgh Rapist is bad enough, but now we’re a bunch of no goods because we don’t like watching people get seriously injured due to bad officiating and union busting?“) seems to completely ignore what John said in his post about understanding the problems with concussions but wanting to talk about the additional dangers of bad officiating due to the NFL’s union busting. It almost seems like you are bashing John for having the same position that you hold.)

  288. 288.

    Cassidy

    @MattR: 1) Yes, because they’re right. Supporting the NFL is supporting union busting, unsafe work conditions, and the physical destruction of youthful men in exchange for our entertainment. This is fact. Whether it does or does not bother you is no something I focus on. Likeing football doesn’t make you a shitty person, but it does mean you are willing to enjoy a shitty product. The same arguments can be made about MMA. which leads to 2.

    2) As I’ve said, I’m not going to get into that kind of debate. I’ll talk about MMA with people I know are knowledgeable about it and the negatives are already an accepted part of the conversation. I choose to pay money and watch two men or women beat the stuffing out of one another. I enjoy the sport despite knowing that the bottom tier fighters may make 2-3K for their performance and are poor. It was mentioned above that most fights don’t have a lot of concussions or significant head trauma because of submissions, but let’s be real: these guys are going out headhunting. If they can smack someone upside the head nad shut them off, they will. I watch despite that.

    I don’t hold a grudge against football fans. Everyone needs a hobby, just don’t wail like a baby when people point out that maybe your preference in sports is supporting some very bad shit. It is. You can’t defend that. So if Cole wants to do a post accusing anyone who doesn’t support the Pittsburgh Rapist like he does of being effeminate, never played sports, etc., then my response is a) I’m in better shape than he is, b) I can play a contact sport or two but my favorite involves gloves and I don’t think Cole wants to play, and c) stop your damn blubberring and take your lumps like an adult. You’ve chosen to enjoy a violent sport that is currently about as well controlled as dog fighting due to the scab refs.

  289. 289.

    MattR

    @Cassidy:

    You’ve chosen to enjoy a violent sport that is currently about as well controlled as dog fighting due to the scab refs.

    It’s almost as if you haven’t realized that the whole point of Cole’s recent posts was to complain about the lack of control and additional dangers created by the scab refs.

    just don’t wail like a baby when people point out that maybe your preference in sports is supporting some very bad shit. It is. You can’t defend that. So if Cole wants to do a post accusing anyone who doesn’t support the Pittsburgh Rapist like he does of being effeminate, never played sports, etc.,

    There’s a bunch of different strawmen here.

  290. 290.

    Cassidy

    The whole point of this post was to say “Shutup because!”. This would be the post we’re commenting on. I didn’t comment in the last thread.

  291. 291.

    MattR

    @Cassidy:

    As I’ve said, I’m not going to get into that kind of debate. I’ll talk about MMA with people I know are knowledgeable about it and the negatives are already an accepted part of the conversation.

    What happens when the other people in the conversation insist on having that debate?

    (EDIT: Because that is what is going on here. Cole’s reaction is not to say “shutup because”, it is to say “stay focused on the topic or I’m not gonna listen so shutup”. Granted this is BJ so asking the commentariat to stay on topic is going to be no more successful here than when it is a political thread)

  293. 293.

    Cassidy

    @MattR: This is exactly how you do it. I’m simply not going to. You could make any number of arguments stating that MMA is hurtful and treats the fighters badly. One some points you’d be right, in others you’d be wrong, but your conclusions wouldn’t be altered that much. And I’m not going to call you names and go off on a douchebag rant because you don’t agree with me. It really is that simple.

  294. 294.

    MattR

    @Cassidy: I really have no idea what you are trying to say with the first part of that comment. Are you saying that you would engage with the person who is taking the conversation off topic and then try to agree with them?

    And I’m not going to call you names and go off on a douchebag rant because you don’t agree with me. It really is that simple.

    If John had done this I might agree with you. But he did not go on a rant because people disagreed with him. He went on a rant because they were derailing the conversation by focusing on a tangential point that he mostly agreed with. If you look at the first sentence of his rant, he is complaing about people who ALL they want to do is focus on the gladiator aspect while ignoring everything else being said

  296. 296.

    Heliopause

    Now please STFU. The rest of us, who understand

    Oh, right John. What you’d really prefer is to post “the scab refs are making bad calls and a dangerous sport even more dangerous,” have 27 replies that all say, “yep, you’re right,” and end it right there. That’s the ideal blog post. Sure thing.

  297. 297.

    Keith G

    @MattR:

    His whole rant is based on the fact that he understands this perfectly well but would like to have a discussion about the sport that does not revert to that argument.

    Only a very few (4-6) used the type of argumentation that Cole found objectionable. After reading his rant, I scanned the previous thread and was surprised at how unlike Cole’s characterization it was.

    I’m not sure what type of discussion Cole would have been satisfied with – maybe only “These refs suck & the owners are ass holes” repeated 100+ times.

  298. 298.

    MattR

    @Keith G: Honestly, I did not read the previous thread, but I have seen those arguments repeatedly made in previous NFL threads. As someone mentioned above, it could also be an email that set him off. Was anyone in that thread actually arguing that the refs didn’t suck or that the owners weren’t assholes?

    At the same time, a ton of the commentary on this thread is criticizing Cole for points he never made, specifically that the NFL is violent and dangerous or that anyone objecting to the violence in the NFL is effeminate.

    (EDIT: To answer one other thing you said, I don’t think Cole needed a thread of just nodding agreement. I am guessing that he was interested in the discussions in this thread about what could be done to get the regular refs back or improve the situation and he would have been happy to see them in the previous one as well – they may be there, but as I said I have not read it)

  299. 299.

    Ms. D. Ranged in AZ

    Here’s an OT post: I am so friggin glad that the Cards have won the first three games of the season! Maybe, just maybe, we will get through the season without looking like a bunch of wankers.

  301. 301.

    Some Loser

    I don’t think the Juicers here have an ounce of self-awareness. This is the behavior he was just talking about. Jesus Christ! About half the commenters are angry at John for remarks he didn’t make. Of course, none of these will even do so much as apologize to him for ignoring any point he was making and projecting their ignorance on him. (Yes, I do like how a couple of commenters implied football fans are subhuman. That’s nice.)

    Sheesh. Can you people just not comment in these threads? It gets ridiculous.

  302. 302.

    Teejay

    ‘Reminds me of Johnny Carson’s commercial spoof (sitting on the corner of a desk): “I’d talk to you for a minute about
    constipation” WACK!

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