On a different note, the NFL seems to have gone too far in the opposite direction e.g., by making Chad Johnson public enemy no. 1. The NFL's product has grown so tremendously boring and corporatized in recent years that it just doesn't seem to hold my interest in the way it did. Part of it is parity, part of it is the league trying to make itself "family friendly" to the blaring mob of morality police (l'affaire de nipple, or the incredibly destructive sight of nicollete sheridan's bare back - which I heard caused multiple fatalities). Part of it is that the NFL has way too high an opinion of itself and squelches out fun as undignified. Either way, the last two Sunday/Saturdays have been a total snooze (as has most of the season, though I haven't followed closely, but most of my friends have expressed the same opinion)> THis is notwithstanding the lameness of the Texans, and I just have a hard time getting interested in a league where mediocre teams like the Bears can win their division going away. 7-10 years ago that Bears team maybe wins 8 games, if lucky. It didn't used to be this way - but give me a good college football saturday over a sunday snooze-a-thon any day of the week.
Rocket River, I was in the middle of making the same point you were before being interrupted by something else earlier this morning. Completely agree. I will add the NFL doesn't NEED to bank on the personalities that much to be successful because fans love the jerseys more than the individual players. Probably because the jersey covers the player completely and there are 22+ NFL starters and only 5 NBA starting players per team. SamFisher, you also make a good point. Striking the balance between individuality and spontaneity seems hard for the NFL brass. Personally, I don't like the antics of Chad Johnson or TO. Like someone said, act like you've been there before. Defensive touchdowns and kick returns deserve an impromtu celebration, IMO. TD passes to a top notch receiver shouldn't get more than a spike, a couple of chest bumpings, some high fives, maybe a brief dance, etc. Before it's all over, I hope Chad Johnson doesn't turn into TO2. On the Shaq/Kobe thing, the media needs to give it a rest. The only reason we talk about it is because they do. Shaq has every right not to comment on it. If people like Marc Stein make a big deal about it, it's their problem, not his. His last sentence in today's column "If Shaq's not off it, how can we be?" is stupid. Shaq loves the "feud"; Kobe hates it.
Here in Australia, we only get two games a week (although lately those b*stard cable people have been holding out on the 2nd game alot lately). It has seemed like every week they have shown a cleveland game--and it's really startin to get to me-i love james' game-but there's a whole bunch of other teams i wanna see. So yeah, they're goin really hard on the LBJ coverage--although when it comes to dominance in any sport i think federer is hard to top.
