NFL - The Commerical Capital of the World

You know what bothers me?

What gets in my chest cavity, and causes me so much fury that I want grab something heavy, and throw it through glass?

Let me tell you what infuriates me to unbelievable extremes.

What drives me absolutely bonkers is television commercial advertisements.

What bothers me even more then television commercial advertisements is their constant interruption when I am trying to watch a live sporting event.

No live sporting event is ravaged with more crude interruptions at the most inopportune times then that of the National Football League.

Just when a game is about to start, and the players begin to leave the side lines to take the field, inevitably, Jim Nantz, or Joe Buck, or Al Michaels or Mike Tirico say: “We will step aside for a moment, …your big game is up next.”

Just after the networks live coverage has: “stepped aside”, I am bombarded with nonsense and advertisements about cell phones, and cars, and lipitor and old lady cleaning supplies. All of which I have no interest in spending even a penny of my hard earned money on! Then, just after my disgust for all these sales angels reaches it’s apex, I get the particular networks television-programming lineup. “Watch our crappy comedy this Tuesday”. Or, “watch our detective drama this Thursday”. Or “tune in for our reality T.V. series Monday Night starting at 8:00pm”.

And of all these garbage shows, I am not going to watch a single one of them anyway. Why: because all these shows themselves will be loaded with more TV commercials about cell phones and cars and lipior and old lady cleaning supplies.

Freaking infuriating!

Then my announcer of the week says: “welcome back”. I watch one team kick the ball off to the other team, and as soon as a member of the kicking team tackles the receiver, I get the same vomit all over again. Jim Nantz, or Joe Buck, or Al Michaels or Mike Tirrico say: “We will step aside for a moment, 14:57 left in the first quarter.” Three seconds off the clock between commercial breaks!

More useless advertisements about T.V. shows, and American cars that I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

Then the game comes back on, and two plays later, a member of the defensive line sprains his ankle, and cant get up off the turf.

What happens next?

Not a side line report, or a pre recorded interview segment with the games quarterback, or some commentary with interesting or inside camera shots of the stadium.

Nope instead we get an injury time-out, and another commercial break.

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The NFL will receive just over three billion dollars from their television contracts this season. (Approximately 650million from NBC, 620million from CBS, 713million from FOX, and 1.1billion from ESPN.) And the NFL caters to these networks in every way imaginable. They let the networks call the shots once the game has begun. And the Directors in the production trailers hold more authority over an NFL game, then any head official does on the field.

While researching this subject matter, I found the following segment from Wikipedia.com and pasted it directly into this blog. I found the information truly appalling!

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Commercial breaks
During each half of a network-televised game, there are ten prescribed commercial breaks following the official kickoff. Two are firmly scheduled, and eight others are worked in during breaks in the play.[25]
Pre-scheduled commercial breaks:
· The end of the first (or third) quarter
· The two-minute warning of the second (or fourth) quarter
Other instances used for commercial breaks (eight total required per half):
· A timeout called by either team
· Instant replay stoppage
· Game stoppage after a score
· Game stoppage after a kickoff or punt (excluding the opening kickoff of each half)
· Game stoppage after a turnover
· Injury timeout
Two commercial breaks during the typical 12-minute halftime period are considered separate.

Networks are more apt to front-load their commercials in the first and third quarters, to prevent an overrun in the second and fourth quarters respectively. If a team calls a timeout and the network decides to use it for a commercial break, a representative from the broadcast crew stationed on the sidelines wearing orange sleeves makes a crossing motion with his hands to alert the officials. The referee declares it a "two-minute timeout."

Once a broadcast has fulfilled the 8 "random" breaks, game stoppages are no longer needed for commercials. The orange sleeve will hold his hands down in a twirl motion to alert the officials. If a team calls a timeout, the referee will declare it a "30-second timeout." Once any timeout in a half is declared a 30-second timeout, all remaining timeouts will be of the same duration.

Since the 10 total commercial breaks for the second half are to be finished prior to the end of regulation, commercial breaks are rarely needed in overtime situations. In many cases, overtime periods are conducted without any commercials. This also allows the extended broadcast to finish in a timely manner.

(Wikipedia.com)
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It blew my mind to read the NFL’s network policy written so clearly in stone.

I knew as an avid football fan that the NFL and the networks were raking us all over the coals. But it wasnt until I did a goggle search, that I found out just how badly.

Since the average commercial break is 45 to 60 seconds in time, that’s over 30 minutes of commercials during a typical three-hour game.

But wait,there's more.

Just because a Network has front loaded its commercials and has met their required breaks, does not mean they will not try to fit in more if the game allows them to do so.

What the fan is left with is a feeling of wonderment. Questioning weather him/or her is watching an NFL football game or "the home shopping network".

This is obviously tolerated by fans most of all on Super Bowl Sunday. This is when most fans look forward to new, interesting, and funny advertisements debuting specifically for the big game. However, even then it leaves the specifics of the game watered down and diluted so badly that the athletes themselves are drastically affected.

Consider that fact that while the average football fan spends 45 to 60 seconds, ten times a half, frustrated in front of their T.V. set, the average player is doing the same thing while standing in a huddle. The fans and the players waiting for the sponsors to finishs their harrasment.

At least in baseball a commercial break in between innings does not impinge on the action of the game. (Not that its any less infuriating for a fan.) In baseball the teams have to change positions. One team has to either enter the dugout or exit it. And in the NBA and NHL their clocks are also stopped much less frequently for scheduled time outs then in the NFL. Their games just don’t allow the opportunities to stop the athletes and cut away from the action. (Not that they dont try!)

But that’s just not the case in the NFL. The NFL is about production before sport!

Football players frequently struggle to find a rhythm or pace, or a reason or rhyme to the constant stoppage of play, as a result of the random commercial. Now although these warriors of the gridiron are probably as frustrated as I am, you will never hear a single one of them complain. And why should they?

Standing around doing nothing is what is paying their million dollar salaries, maybe even more so then what they are doing in-between these moments of killing idol time while the commercials play out.

Michael Vick & Wild Card Weekend

I’m putting all my chips on one man and one team. I am boldly projecting the Philadelphia Eagles to return to a place of familiarity.

I am projecting the Philadelphia Eagles to make the NFC Championship game for the sixth time in the last ten years.

The team I am backing is of course the Eagles, but that afore mentioned “one man”, is their starting quarterback:

Michael Vick.

It’s a bold pick. Largely because the Eagles will be required to beat the Green Bay Packers this Sunday in Philadelphia. (4:15pm on Fox) Then they will be required to go on the road and defeat either the Atlanta Falcons or the Chicago Bears. From here on out, each team, in each potential game will be favored on paper over the Eagles. But with only two more victories, what was to be a rebuilding season will then be viewed as a tremendous success.

But it all starts and ends with Michael Vick.

Vick’s remarkable turn around story has been highly publicized since his return to the NFL last season. Signing with Philadelphia prior to the 2009, 2010 season, Vick was brought into the Eagles organization as a backup to quarterback franchise icon, Donavan Mcnabb. Watching primarily from the sidelines, Vick, would on occasion run a play out of the Eagles wildcat offense. Then when Mcnabb was traded to Washington prior to the 2010, 2011 season, highly prized rookie Kevin Kolb was scheduled to take over for the Eagles. Vick was to continue his backup role, with the occasional action as a running back / quarterback trick master. But a concussion suffered by Kolb in week one created an opening and an opportunity for Vick.

Then on Monday night, 11/15/2010, Vick scored a remarkable six touchdowns. He threw four into the end zone, and ran two in himself. (333 passing yards / 80 rushing yards) He flat out embarrassed the Washington Redskins. Looking so good in his victory, his performance propelled him into the League’s MVP conversation with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

A month later on Sunday 12/19/2010, at New Giants Stadium, with just ten minutes left in the fourth quarter, Vick led his team back from a three touchdown deficit. First he threw a 65-yard pass to tight-end Brent Celek. Then he ran a 4-yard touchdown in himself right at the two-minute warning. Lastly, a 13-yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin, tied the game. That touchdown came just 15 seconds later, after an onside kick. In the end, it was Vick and the Eagles with a stunning victory and a NFL East division title.

Since the massacre in the meadowlands, the Eagles have not won a game.

Losing their last two home games (two weeks ago to the Minnesota Vikings, and last Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys) Philadelphia has frequently looked lost and shaken. Many fans, commentators, and analysts are projecting an Eagle collapse. They are claiming that the top defenses of the NFL have caught on to Michael Vick, and have figured out his mobile antics out of the pocket. They clam that the league has developed new and improved ways to isolate Vick. They also claim that Vick is hurt, that the hits are taking their toll, and that he is both physically and mentally depleted.

Personally: I don’t buy any of it!

Vick has made a remarkable comeback this season both on the field and off. It was just over three years ago, in the autumn of 2007, that the media world couldn’t get enough of Michael Vick and for all the wrong reasons. Vick was leading the news, and headlining the papers. After his trial and subsequent conviction for financing a chain of illegal and underground dogfights, Vick spent close to two years in prison. The criminal blemish shattered his reputation and destroyed his football career in the mists of his prime.

But Vick came back.

First he won over Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL. Next he won over Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles. Then maybe most amazing of all, he has progressively begun winning over avid animal lovers in the Philadelphia area. (At least those who also double as Philadelphia Eagles fans.)

Bottom line- Vick has shown a dedication, determination, and most important of all, a resiliency over the last 18 weeks in the NFL. The playoffs, as they always do, bring out the very best of the very best in professional football. Michael Vick will be no different this Sunday in his first playoff game in over seven years.

The 2011 Winter Classic

The 2011 Winter Classic

It’s the first major professional sporting event of the New Year. It’s a holiday tradition, now four year’s old. It’s when the NHL brings professional hockey out doors for just one day, and celebrates the games origins as well as its present season. This year’s venue was Heinz Field in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and a match up of two Eastern Conference rivals: the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. One of the great many highlights is to watch a baseball field or football stadium convert over to an NHL hockey rink. Legendary parks like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park have been used in recent years, but this year, a home game for one of the sports most legendary franchises took center stage.

The game time changed at the very last minute in an attempt to accommodate the bleak weather forecast. Originally scheduled as a 1:00pm game, the NHL’s brass changed the game to prime time. 8:00pm on NBC was the new scheduled start, in hope that the precipitation would move out of the Pittsburgh area.

The backup plan would not pan out.

Mario Lemieux Franco Harris and Jerome Bettis (all three beloved Pittsburgh sports heroes’) dropped the first puck to begin the Classic’s Opening Ceremonies. After both Canada’s and America’s National Anthems were sung; the game was finally upon us.

The very first observation from Pittsburgh was the 46-degree temperatures that created very wet ice conditions. Then just minutes into the first period a stop in play occurred to repair a damaged glass panel above the wall. Then questions about the outdoor nighttime lighting were raised by the NBC announce crew. (Doc Emerick and Eddie Olczyk.) Then the rain started to pour down onto the ice. After five minutes of play, the nature of the outdoor event was still a bigger story then any of the action between the two-rivaled teams.

As the first period ended, neither team had scored, and after 28 shots on goal (Penguins 16 / Capitals 12) the Winter Classic was locked in a 0-0 no score. In fact the only real excitement in the first period at all, was an old fashion hockey brawl between Washington’s John Erskine and Pittsburgh’s Michael Rupp. The two men threw down their gloves and exchanged a furious cluster of blows before being separated. The fight would cost each player five minutes in the penalty box.

At 2:13 in the second period, an Evgeni Malkin break away, lead to his 14th goal of the season, and the first of the Winter Classic. The city of Pittsburgh went wild as the home team took the 1-0 lead.

Less then five minutes later, Washington responded with a goal of their own. On a Washington power play, Mike Knuble with a cluster of Capitals teammates in front of the Pittsburgh net, scored to tie the game at 1-1. Nick Backstro, and Mike Green, both had assists, as the wet cold Pittsburgh crowd became quite fast.

Then with just 5:15 left in the second, Penguin goalie Mark Andre Fleury was trying to clear the zone just behind his net. His attempt failed as the puck ricocheted to Washington right-winger Eric Fehr. Fehr’s snap shot, lead to his sixth goal of the year and gave Washington a 2-1 lead. Washington has 16 shots on goal while Pittsburgh had just 8, in the second period and the Capitals were beginning to pull away.

The third period was as offensively uneventful as the first period, with only one exception. That exception was Eric Fehr’s second goal of the game at 7:28 in the third.
With wind and intense rain, the ice began to puddle. And other then a very physical second half of the third period, no points were scored.

The fourth annual Winter Classic came to an end with the road team stealing away the victory. The Washington Capitals were the better team on New Years Day. But these two teams are very evenly matched. Both are elite of their Divisions, both have marquee players/captains, and both could see each other again in the post season.

Speculation regarding the 2012 Winter Classic has already begun. Every city in the U.S. and Canada want in on the NHL’s gem and prized possession. Rumored cities include: Denver, New York, Philadelphia, and Minnesota. Who ever gets the game one year from now, will get hockey’s most exciting, most publicized spectacle on the very first day of the new year.