Things I'm tired of seeing this NFL season:
1. The Steelers and Cowboys. I usually work Sunday mornings, so I miss the early game, and it seems like almost every week I'm watching either the Steelers or Cowboys. I realize that teams who are expected to do well get a lot of later time slots for games, but even other high-expectation teams don't seem to get as many late games. Not to mention the fact that teams people don't expect to win more than 8 games play almost all of theirs at 1:00. There's 32 teams in the league and there's probably half those teams I have yet to see a full game of.
2. Shootouts. Yeah, a lot of people will disagree with this one because a lot of people find shootouts exciting, but I'm not one of them. Shootouts drive me crazy for two reasons. One, I'm more defensive-minded and shootouts usually mean poor defense which drives me nuts. And also they tend to feel like you're watching two people play a game of Madden rather than watching an NFL game.
3. Teams completing passes behind the first down marker, and still getting the first down. I don't know how many times this year, it seems like at least four or five a game, I've seen this. A team has 3rd and 8. They complete a pass three yards short of the first down, and then the receiver runs across the marker, sometimes dragging 1-2 defensive players. First of all, why teams throw the ball short of a first down on third down is beyond me. Second of all, why defenses don't defend that first down marker is REALLY beyond me. You have to know where a team needs to go to get a first down and stop them. That's your job as a defender. Giving up a completion short of that first down marker is okay, but you have to make the tackle, not watch them pick up five yards after the catch and get the first down. There are very few defenses these days that really seem to dig in at that first down marker and it drives me nuts.
4. Political ads. Thankfully this one is over, but for the first half of the season every other commercial was a political ad. First I'd see the "Senator Obama, I am not George Bush," ad. Then I'd see the "This would be Obama's first crisis" ad. Then I'd see three in a row either for or against the Ohio casino.
5. Refs calling fumbles incomplete passes. If it's close, refs should always always ALWAYS call it a fumble. If they're wrong, the offense can challenge and get it put right. When they call a fumble an incomplete pass, it blows the play dead so the defense can't challenge it to make it right. This particular sort of blown call has not only cost possessions and points, but in at least one instance (Denver vs San Diego) it cost a team the game. And yet every week I still see it at least once.
6. Fucking jewelry commercials. Every week there's a new one. Some unoriginal asshole buys his wife or girlfriend the most expensive necklace or earrings he can find. He then gives them to her in a hokey scene right out of the shittiest soap opera you'll ever see. She then melts into his arms crying because it's clearly the greatest present anyone has ever given anyone else and you can tell he must love her because he spent so much money on her. They then sing their shitty jingle and some poor bastard gets up, turns off the game, and buys his wife a necklace so she'll give him head.
7. The Sunday night and Monday night football theme songs. They don't add anything. They're just annoying. Cut them and use that time to show me more of the cheerleaders' boobs.
8. Poor commentary and analysis from people who only have that job because they played football. It seems like half the current commentators and analysts working today are only in their position because they were good football players. They are not in that position because they're good commentators or analysts. The two are not the same thing. You would think playing in the NFL for 10+ years would give you some good insight and a good perspective for a broadcasting job after you retire, but that usually isn't the case. A lot of people are only experts on their own position or maybe their own side of the ball. I'm going to pick on Tiki Barber for this one. Most of the time he just sits there with that annoying, shit-eating grin on his face until someone starts talking about running backs. Then all of a sudden he has an opinion. After he says his bit, he shuts up again until the next time someone mentions running backs. Some former players may have the knowledge down, but they lack the communication skills to do the job effectively. For this one I'm going to pick on Darryl Johnston. The guy has great football knowledge but I can't stand his voice and speech patterns. He is very annoying to listen to. And then there's the retards who just don't have any business in the role at all whatsoever. Like Tony Siragusa who's just an idiot who seems to just be trying to be a big fat Italian stereotype.
9. Along with the last one, Cris Collinsworth, although he pisses me off so much he has his own separate category. He's just a stupid, cocky, smarmy little bastard who needs to get the fuck off my TV.
10.Rod Marinelli's weekly inspirational speaker wannabe speeches about how he believes in his players and he hasn't given up on any of them. The fact is, the Lions are 0-11 and have lost 18 out of their last 19 games and he hasn't done a damn thing to change anything. They haven't changed their offense, defense, or made any significant personnel changes. He's continuing to put the same bad players in the same position to play badly in a bad system. It's about God damn time he stand up and say "I'm a shitty coach and the Lions are a shitty team." It has been very difficult to be a Lions fan ever since Barry Sanders retired (and even with him they were still usually only mediocre) and it's getting worse, and yet the Lions, not only Marinelli but Bill Ford the owner, haven't seemed to care enough to do anything about it. As long as 11 guys are standing on the field at all times, they don't seem to care about anything else. Even the players have been able to admit they're a shitty team. Shaun Cody, one of their defensive tackles just told a reporter, "We want to win, we just don't know how. " And Jason Hanson, their place kicker and sadly greatest player at this point, said "We've played so badly that we actually have something to play for" when discussing their hopes to avoid an 0-16 season, which is becoming an increasingly real possibility.