THE NFL SCHEDULE IS HERE! THE NFL SCHEDULE IS HERE!
Navin R. Johnson getting his name in the phone book is about as noteworthy as the NFL schedule getting released. It's good to know, but does it really mean much of anything on April 6th, when the season doesn't start till September?
Come on now, people! The NFL is a master of hype, and we are their willing sheep. It's that quiet time between the rush of free agent signings, and the draft. So to keep their PR people busy and the the league in the headlines, here comes next season's schedule!
The message boards, web sites, sports talk radio all sound alike... OH MY GOD! The Lions' schedule has been released! Are they on national TV? WOOOOOOoooooo....Umm...Whatever.
Rosters are far from being finalized. The draft isn't till the end of the month. You know there will be holdouts. Teams will be releasing their cap casualties in early June. Training camp doesn't start till the end of July. Then there will be injuries to factor into any prediction. It won't be till August before you'll have a better idea as to how your favorite team is shaping up. But making predictions in April? It's a waste of time and effort. Think about it, Joey Harrington is still on the Lions' roster. That's how far away we are from the regular season.
Despite not knowing what the rosters will be, it doesn't stop the media at large from doing one of their annual exercises in pointless filler, projecting a a team's win - loss record from looking at the newly released schedule. We all know how well most people do in picking games when the season starts. Sports books make money for good reason. Why bother going thru the schedule, game by game, and picking winners in April? Or highlighting supposed late season big games? Other than Biff Tannen, who knows what's going to happen?
This doesn't bother the WWLiS, as ESPN is bringing out all their clueless talking heads on ESPN News, SportsCenter, and on the web site. As if I'm going to take any creedence in a Joe Theisman prediction... Sports Illustrated is just as culpable, they have columnists all over their website picking the top 10 matchups or letting us know what teams have the toughest schedules. IT'S APRIL! Jesus! Things change! What appears to be tough scheduling now may be cupcake city in November...
Obviously the NFL isn't crazy, and knows exactly what they're doing. It's the first week of MLB's regular season, the Masters began today, and the NBA and NHL are coming down the playoff stretch. But what will be above the fold in tomorrow's paper? The NFL schedule. The NFL is as crazy as a damn fox, and we fans continue to lap it up...
First of all, major kudos for your The Jerk reference. I gotta get me that DVD.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I was thinking much the same thing while listening to Stoney and Wojo break down the Lions' schedule as I was "jogging" this afternoon. Is there any doubt that it's the NFL's world, and we're just living in it?
And in now-typical ESPN overkill fashion, they were running each team's schedule on a crawl during SportsCenter. Good god.
What set me off was hearing Art Regner, in a very snide way, go thru the schedule, much as Stoney and Wojo did. Christ almighty, it was all I could do to keep from calling and informing him that it's APRIL!
ReplyDeleteNo kudos for a "Back to the Future" reference? My only regret was, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the line "HE HATES THESE CANS!" or a cat juggling reference to fit in the post...
Hey, I am just as guilty as the rest of them, but that is because I love me some football. Oh, and I am also just damn excited to see the Lions without Joey Shitbag on the roster anymore.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, I got them at 10-6, how is that for crazy?!?!
I'm picking out a thermos for you. Not an ordinary thermos for you.
ReplyDeleteOh *please* let that song out of my head!
The NFL can suck it until the hockey playoffs are over.
Big Al, the Back to the Future reference was good, as well, but The Jerk holds a special place in my heart. Tuna fish sandwiches and Twinkies, baby!
ReplyDelete