What is even the point of football? · 12:43am Jan 21st, 2019
Basically, the Rams and Saints played today, and a guy from the Rams body slammed a Saints receiver well before the ball even reached him. There were no calls for fouls or pass interference or anything, and the Rams went on to win the game and are headed to the Super Bowl now I think?
Check out the abridged version on Twitter
I just happened to catch this game out of boredom today. I haven't cared who won in a football game since like... well, ever, really. But I did manage to be there to see this frankly egregious non-call made live, and even if it's for a game I don't care about, seeing this level of sheer... I don't know what to call it. Corruption I guess? This isn't even blindness, it's out and out cheating. I know next to nothing about football, but I'm pretty sure annihilating the receiver before the ball even gets to him is illegal.
But I've felt this way for a long time. I don't want to put down people who actually like football, but I've never gotten the point of cheering on certain teams. Only a certain subset of the American population is even physically capable of beginning to approach the physique needed to play football in the first place, let alone to a professional degree. Of that, only a certain, even smaller subset will reach the NFL, and of that, an even smaller percentage are now expected to play the game a certain way, look a certain way, act and talk a certain way so that the NFL brand as a whole gets sold and people get in the seats. And sometimes, I guess that means certain teams just have to win no matter what, even if everyone has to sit there and let their eyes glaze over while the mockery of a sport plays out in front of them. Because, hey, you paid two hundred dollars for this seat, fifteen dollars for that beer, five dollars for that hot dog, it took two hours to get here, so dammit you're gonna get your money's worth and watch this game.
But is it really a game anymore, especially nowadays? Politics and hundreds of millions of dollars smother America's pastime, and when both of those are at stake at the same time, you can bet nobody will treat it like an actual game, but as a big advertisement. What exactly they're advertising is up to whoever wields the most influence behind the curtain at any given time, but they sure aren't trying to peddle a good game of football. I mean, we see over and over the politicking and backroom deals that must go on to get players to certain teams. Of this incredibly small population of gentically gifted, superhumanly talented and dedicated players with literal millions of dollars supporting and enhancing their every move, many are just shuffled around between teams after the year is over. Talent is bought and sold and folded like decks of cards at a casino.
Is it really the "Kansas City" Chiefs or the "Los Angeles" Rams if virtually none of the players are even from Kansas, or LA, or even some of the time from American soil itself? Are they really "our guys" if they show up on the team one season, and on someone else's the next? Is it "America's game" if only an explicitly tiny and lucky portion of America is represented, and even then only at the behest of corporations and shareholders and politicians who use bread and circuses to push certain storylines and outcomes? And if someone stacks the deck with an all-star cast of players, well, they're just going to win, because they find the very particular people who are exclusively amazing at football.
And if someone decides it's better for the NFL if we ignore body checks against receivers who may very well have taken the Saints to the Super Bowl instead of the Rams... well, who are we plebeians to get upset? We don't own the game. We just watch them play.
All I know is that my prediction was Colts vs. Broncos, and I was informed by people who actually understand football that that’s not a possible match-up.
Being from the Cleveland area, I've never understood professional sports. Literally all of our professional sports teams are garbage, and have been garbage since before I was born. The Indians had a good year in the 90s (thought they still lost). The Cavs had one or two good years just recently. The Browns have always been bad, never won a Super Bowl, never even got close. And yet people still support them.
I guess religion occurs everywhere.
It's an excuse to have fun with a mob of people at this point. If your team wins, riot, if your team loses, riot. It gets pretty bad with Basketball in LA, but I've heard directly about Hockey in Montreal. You can expect an overturned cop car on fire minimum no matter the outcome if the home team makes it to finals.
The reason they do it is simple: It's fun.
People like it, so they pay for it. It makes money, so it keeps going. Noone gives a shit about the semantics of who's on who's team, so long as they can cheer them on if they win or boo them if they lose.
Perfect assessment for me. I was buying groceries and the checker asked me if I was stocking up for the 'big game'. I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could generate for any team sport, "Uh, yeah. Sure..." There's a good chance he didn't believe me.
People like sports. People love teams. And people practically need games. It's pretty much human nature, for better or worse (see politics). I don't follow sports too closely but I can see how easily it can be to get sucked in by it all, esp when your city is playing, even more when they're winning. And forget it if it's all your friends or coworkers talk about lol. You're screwed one way or the other.
But like so much in life ppl need to recognize when they're taking that shit too seriously. It's just a fucking game.
What's the point of football?
Well, usually the point of a bunch of muscular, sweaty men slamming into each other repeatedly is somewhat self-evident...
It's like that with Football too.
No, not that one, the other one, the one where the players (shock horror!) use their feet most of the time and not their hands.
FIFA is pretty much a huge "buy-and-swap-fest" with the world-class players and teams basically playing for whoever pays them the most money. It's like Utimate Team in real life, to a degree.
5000058
Well at least Cleveland is home to Chimaira, a super dope metal band.
This isn't exactly a new problem. It's been an issue all year. To wit:
5000300
Chimaira and Mushroomhead. What is it about this area that makes people angry and shouty he said as if he didn't know