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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 17:48:22 GMT
Post by kds on Apr 26, 2019 17:48:22 GMT
"and the fans." That's one very interesting development: I think that a big part of this crackdown is coming because the NFL has put forth a lot of effort in the past 10 years or so to market to women. It has worked, with "Sunday funday" being a part of many young women's vocabularies (at least around my office); they incorporate brunches, fantasy football, and friend-group get-togethers into the football experience at a rate that astounds me when I think of my childhood or even young adulthood.
But I think the combination of more female fans' attention plus the general societal changes have made us more aware of those off-the-field issues, and less tolerant of them.
Honestly I am never quite sure how much of it the league should get into, versus just referring everything to law enforcement. If it were my league, I'd prefer to let the authorities handle things at that level.
I think, like with music, movies, or other forms of entertainment, some fans tend to forget that the athletes are human. And, with you take the amount of players in the National Football League, I think the percentage of players who commit crimes is actually far less than the percentage of the general population. I just see why its an issue with rags like 12Up, TMZ, and other "gotcha" sites out there to expose every wrong doing, but I agree that this should be private matters.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 17:57:02 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2019 17:57:02 GMT
On a more football-related note, I was surprised today to read among the list of people the Vikings might be looking at today was Irv Smith, Jr., TE from Alabama. I didn't really follow much outside of Gophers football, but I remember watching (and loving) Irv Smith senior when he was a TE at Notre Dame some 20-plus years ago! I sure feel old...
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 17:58:14 GMT
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 26, 2019 17:58:14 GMT
"and the fans." That's one very interesting development: I think that a big part of this crackdown is coming because the NFL has put forth a lot of effort in the past 10 years or so to market to women. It has worked, with "Sunday funday" being a part of many young women's vocabularies (at least around my office); they incorporate brunches, fantasy football, and friend-group get-togethers into the football experience at a rate that astounds me when I think of my childhood or even young adulthood.
But I think the combination of more female fans' attention plus the general societal changes have made us more aware of those off-the-field issues, and less tolerant of them.
Honestly I am never quite sure how much of it the league should get into, versus just referring everything to law enforcement. If it were my league, I'd prefer to let the authorities handle things at that level.
I think, like with music, movies, or other forms of entertainment, some fans tend to forget that the athletes are human. And, with you take the amount of players in the National Football League, I think the percentage of players who commit crimes is actually far less than the percentage of the general population. Except you don't pay someone from the general population $25 million dollars to represent your business. So when you do pay someone that kind of money, there are certain standards to be met. Not beating the shit out of women and children is one of them.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 18:32:38 GMT
Post by kds on Apr 26, 2019 18:32:38 GMT
I think, like with music, movies, or other forms of entertainment, some fans tend to forget that the athletes are human. And, with you take the amount of players in the National Football League, I think the percentage of players who commit crimes is actually far less than the percentage of the general population. Except you don't pay someone from the general population $25 million dollars to represent your business. So when you do pay someone that kind of money, there are certain standards to be met. Not beating the shit out of women and children is one of them. I get that, and I get how it's bad for business. But, how do you police it? Right now, the fallout from an incident like that seems to depend on whether or not you were caught on video.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 18:43:32 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2019 18:43:32 GMT
Since we've discussed similar things often about music I don't mean to get too involved into it again here. But I think kds's point (about being caught on video, etc) is why you go with the legal system. The biggest question would then be, during an investigation, is the player allowed to play, or suspended with pay? (I think suspended without pay or waived for unproven allegations are probably inappropriate.) But after that it's easy: league rules agreed to by the owners and union can state that if convicted of X, Y, or Z, you're suspended without pay (for certain durations of games) or banned.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 18:54:41 GMT
Post by kds on Apr 26, 2019 18:54:41 GMT
Getting back to the actual sport itself, did you guys see the crowd in Nashville for the first round of the draft?
I can't even bring myself to watch the Draft on TV anymore. I couldn't imagine forking over the money to watch it in person.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 19:06:57 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2019 19:06:57 GMT
Isn't it insane!? I'm with you. Honestly going to any big-crowd events is a turn-off for me as I age. So to go to a non-game that drags on for hours? No thanks.
As a teenager I did hole up in the basement to watch both days (since that's what it was then) in an orgy of preview magazines, hand-scrawled notes, Doritos and Mountain Dew. But now? I check online every so often to see if the Vikes have picked yet.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 19:17:23 GMT
Post by kds on Apr 26, 2019 19:17:23 GMT
Isn't it insane!? I'm with you. Honestly going to any big-crowd events is a turn-off for me as I age. So to go to a non-game that drags on for hours? No thanks.
As a teenager I did hole up in the basement to watch both days (since that's what it was then) in an orgy of preview magazines, hand-scrawled notes, Doritos and Mountain Dew. But now? I check online every so often to see if the Vikes have picked yet.
When the Ravens first entered the league in 1996, I watched intently, back when it was a two day event. But, technology has made it so that the Ravens picks are forwarded to my phone when they're made, so I no longer feel the need to watch the event.
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 19:20:33 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 26, 2019 19:20:33 GMT
I also don't like the newer format with the Thursday night, Friday night, weekend finish. There was something great about it being like a marathon event. Yes, it was still multiday, but it was two days, all day. Now one round? Then second day, what, two rounds? Whatever. I'm not watching three or four days in a row of that stuff.
Besides, I don't watch enough college anymore to know 80% of the players being picked! (Another change from my teenage years. There was something great about having the time and energy to obsess about such inane things.)
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NFL
Apr 26, 2019 20:07:46 GMT
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 26, 2019 20:07:46 GMT
Except you don't pay someone from the general population $25 million dollars to represent your business. So when you do pay someone that kind of money, there are certain standards to be met. Not beating the shit out of women and children is one of them. I get that, and I get how it's bad for business. But, how do you police it? Right now, the fallout from an incident like that seems to depend on whether or not you were caught on video. This is how the NFL is policing it. Roger Goodell screwed up the first few domestic abuse cases and penalties, then he was smart enough to take this mess out of his hands and turn it over to somebody else. He formed a committee (I can't think what it is called right now) comprised of women's groups representatives, attorneys, medical professionals, ex-players, a representative from the players' association, and others. Whenever an "incident" occurs, Goodell just turns it over to this board, and they decide the player's fate. It's not that Goodell is washing his hands of the incident/controversy, but he can now say that a mixed group of experts are now making the decisions in this complicated area. He has all the bases covered.
But there is one major flaw, and it surfaced in the Kareem Hunt case. After his video surfaced, Hunt was immediately released by the Kansas City Chiefs and almost immediately claimed by the Cleveland Browns. As Hunt's "punishment", he is suspended for six games. So, Kareem Hunt gets a six week vacation, the Cleveland Browns get a young, rested All-Pro running back, the Chiefs get nothing, and the NFL has a bunch of pissed off fans and groups.
Is that the way the system works. For now, yes. I don't think many people are happy with this, but that's the way it is set up. When will it change? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ When enough fans and special interest groups protest outside stadiums, and when ticket and merchandise sales go down, and when TV ratings continue to go down, and when people continue to cancel things like their NFL cable TV package - THEN - major sponsors of the teams/league are going to ask the NFL owners, "What in the hell is going on here!". First, players will lose sponsorships, and I'm not talking about Charlie's Used Cars in Bensalem, NJ. I'm talking about major endorsement deals. Then, the sponsors will threaten or start to cancel their major advertising deals. And that's when the shit will hit the proverbial fan. When the owners are hit in their pockets. That "kneeling for the National anthem" controversy was just a start, but it opened a lot of eyes and it scared a lot of people - specifically a lot of old, rich owners who wanted to protect their investment. In the end, they are not going to let some "thugs" (i.e. domestic abusers, child abusers) ruin a good thing.
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NFL
Apr 27, 2019 13:37:43 GMT
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 27, 2019 13:37:43 GMT
Wow! First the Philadelphia Eagles traded for RB Jordan Howard from the Bears, then they drafted RB Miles Sanders from Penn State. After RB Jay Ajai went down last year with a torn ACL, I was worried. Now, things look much better.
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NFL
Apr 27, 2019 13:57:54 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2019 13:57:54 GMT
Vikings made two more picks on the offensive side of the ball, including the aforementioned TE Irv Smith Jr (which I'm excited about). I'm not familiar with our third-rounder, RB Alexander Mattison of Boise St., but he seems to have been productive and figures as a more powerful complement to speedy (and always hurt) Dalvin Cook.
Thanks to a lot of trading down yesterday, we also enter today with nine(!) picks. I assume we'll either package some to move up, or trade out to future years, because there's no way the roster can absorb a dozen rookies, with that many being late-rounders.
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NFL
Apr 27, 2019 14:00:15 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2019 14:00:15 GMT
Smith, according to this morning's paper, on what the transition to living in Minnesota (after growing up in New Orleans and playing college ball at Alabama) will be like: "I've seen snow. I've never lived in it, but I've seen it. I'll have to get used to it."
I suspect Irv is going to have a rough time in winter 2019-20.
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NFL
Apr 27, 2019 21:28:36 GMT
Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2019 21:28:36 GMT
Big fan of the Vikings' draft so far. I don't know the players specifically for the most part, but they fit needs and seem like great candidates to flesh things out. I think we're at three OL, a LB, an RB, a TE, and a CB so far. (I could be missing someone, considering we had fifty thousand picks.)
I was a little sad to see Minnesota native and U of MN alum Blake Cashman, LB, get picked just half a dozen or so spots before we took a LB. Would've been great for him to slip to us!
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NFL
Jun 17, 2019 20:34:46 GMT
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 17, 2019 20:34:46 GMT
Any Jets' fans out there? It should be an interesting year!
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