How can he avoide them?

Subby needs to learn where the collar bone is.

And stop pointing with your thumb like the idiots on Meet the Press.

I'd be happy to grant him the immunity. As soon as he agrees not to fark up the best sports entertainment on the planet by expanding the season.

The Golden goose: try to not kill it dumbass. Go ask the NBA if we can learn to live without your product.

"How can a professional sports league and a union negotiate an effective steroid policy when neither party can be sure exactly what agreement it is striking?" he asks.

How about making sure your steroid policy complies with all state laws in the markets you have NFL teams? Too much hard work?

How's about we revoke your anti-trust exemption instead farkhead?

JohnBigBootay: I'd be happy to grant him the immunity. As soon as he agrees not to fark up the best sports entertainment on the planet by expanding the season.


The NFL is the best sports entertainment on the planet? Really?

It has been unwatchable for me for probably a dozen years, with all the commercials. It seems like 40% commercials, 45% dead time (babbling commentators, network graphics, replay pauses), 5% actual sports.

bhcompy: How's about we revoke your anti-trust exemption instead farkhead?

Does the NFL get anti-trust exemption? I thought only MLB did.

mtylerjr: The NFL is the best sports entertainment on the planet? Really?

It has been unwatchable for me for probably a dozen years, with all the commercials. It seems like 40% commercials, 45% dead time (babbling commentators, network graphics, replay pauses), 5% actual sports

Which televised sporting events don't have commercials? At any rate, I have TIVO and I don't watch the commercials so it's fantastic.

I Said: bhcompy: How's about we revoke your anti-trust exemption instead farkhead?

Does the NFL get anti-trust exemption? I thought only MLB did.

They do. It's in the news^ because of how they treat retired players right now.

What would it mean for the league to lose the anti-trust exemption?

mtylerjr: JohnBigBootay: I'd be happy to grant him the immunity. As soon as he agrees not to fark up the best sports entertainment on the planet by expanding the season.


The NFL is the best sports entertainment on the planet? Really?

It has been unwatchable for me for probably a dozen years, with all the commercials. It seems like 40% commercials, 45% dead time (babbling commentators, network graphics, replay pauses), 5% actual sports.


Which televised sporting events don't have annoying commentators? At any rate, I have a mute button and I don't listen to the commentators so it's fantastic.

Nanny Statesman: What would it mean for the league to lose the anti-trust exemption?

Bring back the XFL!!

Congress ammending a law != Congressional Ammenedment.

JohnBigBootay: mtylerjr: The NFL is the best sports entertainment on the planet? Really?

It has been unwatchable for me for probably a dozen years, with all the commercials. It seems like 40% commercials, 45% dead time (babbling commentators, network graphics, replay pauses), 5% actual sports

Which televised sporting events don't have commercials? At any rate, I have TIVO and I don't watch the commercials so it's fantastic.

Tivo would indeed make it better. I don't have tivo :(

I didn't notice the commercials that much until living overseas for a few years, and watching sports with far fewer commercials. NZ Rugby in particular. Now, NFL football broadcasts seem fairly ridiculous, with the number of commercials, extreme hyping, and insane celebration by the players for routine plays.

I love watching NHL hockey though - and part of that is probably because there are so much fewer breaks in the action. All (or most) of the commercials are lumped into the intermissions.

So I guess it's just a personal preference. I was just surprised someone would actually think NFL broadcasts were the pinnacle of sports entertainment.

foo monkey: Nanny Statesman: What would it mean for the league to lose the anti-trust exemption?

Bring back the XFL!!

Congress ammending a law != Congressional Ammenedment.

Congressional != Constitutional. duh

/FTFM

So... are we seriously not going to get a NFL Power Rankings thread? Sonsabiatches...

phartnocker: So... are we seriously not going to get a NFL Power Rankings thread? Sonsabiatches...

No, you idiot! Let's all make fun of the Commish's bunched up suit jacket. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!11!!1! LOL. Good one, subby.

phartnocker: So... are we seriously not going to get a NFL Power Rankings thread? Sonsabiatches...

Ha, I wondered if I was the only one impatiently waiting for the PR thread and Di Atribe's graph.

I want to biatch about the Chargers winning big, two weeks in a row, and actually moving down two spots total. WTF.

/I bet totalfarkers are discussing it right now, those bastards.

mtylerjr: Tivo would indeed make it better. I don't have tivo :(

dude, get tivo

Now, NFL football broadcasts seem fairly ridiculous, with the number of commercials, extreme hyping, and insane celebration by the players for routine plays.

completely agree.

So I guess it's just a personal preference. I was just surprised someone would actually think NFL broadcasts were the pinnacle of sports entertainment.

I just really love NFL football. I suppose I'm also making some kind of economic association with the value of their tv contracts. They're currently charging the major networks 20 Billion (with a b) dollars to broadcast their games. And it seems the newtorks are making money on the deal - they're about to do another deal for more in the next couple of years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television

JohnBigBootay: I'd be happy to grant him the immunity. As soon as he agrees not to fark up the best sports entertainment on the planet by expanding the season.

The Golden goose: try to not kill it dumbass. Go ask the NBA if we can learn to live without your product.

Really? REPLACING two preseason games with two regular season games (not adding on two more real weeks to the season) would make it like the NBA?

OK. Whatever.

JohnBigBootay: Which televised sporting events don't have commercials? At any rate, I have TIVO and I don't watch the commercials so it's fantastic.

Soccer. Only commercials during a soccer match are at halftime, when you're up taking a piss, anyway.

Constitutionally this isn't a federal power. In this Obama era watch congress try to overstep their authority and get away with it, at least for a while.

DemDave: JohnBigBootay: Which televised sporting events don't have commercials? At any rate, I have TIVO and I don't watch the commercials so it's fantastic.

Soccer. Only commercials during a soccer match are at halftime, when you're up taking a piss, anyway.

But I thought those guys wearing the billboards on their chest, running around pretending to get injured, were the commericals? Oh, you mean that's the "sport"???

/I'm bored.

JohnBigBootay: I'd be happy to grant him the immunity. As soon as he agrees not to fark up the best sports entertainment on the planet by expanding the season.

The Golden goose: try to not kill it dumbass. Go ask the NBA if we can learn to live without your product.

...wtf?

DemDave: JohnBigBootay: Which televised sporting events don't have commercials? At any rate, I have TIVO and I don't watch the commercials so it's fantastic.

Soccer. Only commercials during a soccer match are at halftime, when you're up taking a piss, anyway.

Well, it IS the most exhausting activity one can engage in, closely followed by mass genocide.

Do you know who Garblox is: ...wtf?

What are you confused about? The NFL has like half of the top 50 tv shows ever watched in the US and are consistently the highest watched shows for the week in just about all their markets. The NBA's ratings are half of what they were when Jordan qui... and they weren't equal to the NFL even then. The NBA has several franchises barely treading water and lots of teams had to borrow operating capital from the league last year.

dletter: Really? REPLACING two preseason games with two regular season games (not adding on two more real weeks to the season) would make it like the NBA?

OK. Whatever.

It would be one more step down the road to joining the other sports in making the regular season all but meaningless.

JohnBigBootay:
What are you confused about? The NFL has like half of the top 50 tv shows ever watched in the US and are consistently the highest watched shows for the week in just about all their markets. The NBA's ratings are half of what they were when Jordan qui... and they weren't equal to the NFL even then. The NBA has several franchises barely treading water and lots of teams had to borrow operating capital from the league last year.

How does eliminating two low rated preseason games and replacing them with games that actually count equate to expanding into small markets that can't support interest?

DemDave: JohnBigBootay: Which televised sporting events don't have commercials? At any rate, I have TIVO and I don't watch the commercials so it's fantastic.

Soccer. Only commercials during a soccer match are at halftime, when you're up taking a piss, anyway.

Or get up and hang your self because you're stuck watching soccer.

mtylerjr: It seems like 40% commercials, 45% dead time (babbling commentators, network graphics, replay pauses), 5% actual sports.

Although I will say that the commercials have gotten nonsensical lately, the contention of only 5% sport I'd say applies more to baseball.

The_Six_Fingered_Man: Soccer. Only commercials during a soccer match are at halftime, when you're up taking a piss, anyway.

Well, it IS the most exhausting activity one can engage in, closely followed by mass genocide.

I rained down sulphur, man, there's a subtle difference.

bhcompy: I Said: bhcompy: How's about we revoke your anti-trust exemption instead farkhead?

Does the NFL get anti-trust exemption? I thought only MLB did.

They do. It's in the news^ because of how they treat retired players right now.

If you want to read a very good article about how there are no good guys or bad guys in the "retired players VS the NFL", on either side, then check this out: SI Article about Gene Upshaw and the battle about retired players (new window)

It's a little long, but probably the best sports article I've ever read, and it really sheds a lot of light on that subject.

Also, I know Upshaw is dead, and it skews it a little bit, but great read none the less.

InferiousX: the contention of only 5% sport I'd say applies more to baseball.

It applies to both if you're not flipping back and forth between games. This weekend I was at a tennis tournament and between matches I'd go into the lounge area to try to catch the game and out of the 20-30 minutes off and on I was in there, I saw maybe 5-7 total plays take place. It was ALWAYS on a f*cking commercial. Extremely frustrating, especially considering I didn't even really care about the game, I just wanted to see the scrolling scores. I never even got to see all the scores from all the games.

So the gist of the article is that two players got suspended for having a steroid-masking substance in their system as a result of taking a diuretic that did not list the substance as an ingredient. The league agrees with these fact and has not actually accused them of taking steroids, yet still suspended them 4 games under their zero-tolerance policy. The players sued in state court, based on state law, to have the punishment reversed. The league didn't like this so they went to the feds and said 'whaaaaaaa!'.

There, I just saved you 10 minutes. You are welcome.

flaming99: The players sued in state court, based on state law, to have the punishment reversed. The league didn't like this so they went to the feds and said 'whaaaaaaa!'.

It's kind of weak that basically as long as you play for the Vikings, you can dope up as much as you want and hide behind this law, and no other team can do this.

/hopes Washington makes it legal for players, too
//the Seahawks need all the performance enhancing ANYTHING they can get

IAmRight: flaming99: The players sued in state court, based on state law, to have the punishment reversed. The league didn't like this so they went to the feds and said 'whaaaaaaa!'.

It's kind of weak that basically as long as you play for the Vikings, you can dope up as much as you want and hide behind this law, and no other team can do this.

/hopes Washington makes it legal for players, too
//the Seahawks need all the performance enhancing ANYTHING they can get

Normally I would agree with you except that in this case, the players in question are not accused of doping. They are not accused of taking steroids or even taking a substance to hide the fact that they took steroids. They took an over-the-counter diuretic that contained a substance (undocumented) that can be taken to conceal steroid use.

Do you know who Garblox is: How does eliminating two low rated preseason games and replacing them with games that actually count equate to expanding into small markets that can't support interest?

I don't care if they eliminate preseason games, I just think the regular season is long enough as it is. They can barely get through 16 games without half the players missing time. It doesn't need to be longer. The formula as it is is fantastic - 16 regular season plus playoffs, why change it? What they ought to do is not charge full price for preseason games. But they will. Or they'll add two more games and dilute the regular season. The $10 mark for a watery beer has already been broken, I don't know why they'd get some freakin' sense now.

The NFL has been dicking its retired players around for years. The players are SUPPOSED to have nice pensions but for some mysterious reason (Read the head of the player's union in bed with the league) the retired NFL guys NEVER seem to get paid the money they are due. The League siphons off nearly every pension. MLB players on the other hand have the best pension plan in sports, something they fought long and hard for ever since the 1930s.

In simpler terms NFL players are, by and large,stupid while MLB players are, by and large, smart.

Delawheredad: The NFL has been dicking its retired players around for years. The players are SUPPOSED to have nice pensions but for some mysterious reason (Read the head of the player's union in bed with the league) the retired NFL guys NEVER seem to get paid the money they are due. The League siphons off nearly every pension. MLB players on the other hand have the best pension plan in sports, something they fought long and hard for ever since the 1930s.

In simpler terms NFL players are, by and large,stupid while MLB players are, by and large, smart.

Why do people who make at minimum hundreds of thousands of dollars ever need a pension?

/granted it hasn't always been that way

Do you know who Garblox is: Delawheredad: The NFL has been dicking its retired players around for years. The players are SUPPOSED to have nice pensions but for some mysterious reason (Read the head of the player's union in bed with the league) the retired NFL guys NEVER seem to get paid the money they are due. The League siphons off nearly every pension. MLB players on the other hand have the best pension plan in sports, something they fought long and hard for ever since the 1930s.

In simpler terms NFL players are, by and large,stupid while MLB players are, by and large, smart.

Why do people who make at minimum hundreds of thousands of dollars ever need a pension?

/granted it hasn't always been that way

"Hundreds of thousands" of dollars over (if you are lucky) 6-8 years doesn't exactly make you "rich". And that would be high for most players before the 80s.

One of the things the USFL did in the 80s was jack up NFL salaries. In 1982, guys making even $500k a season was extremely high.

Epiphany: bhcompy: I Said: bhcompy: How's about we revoke your anti-trust exemption instead farkhead?

Does the NFL get anti-trust exemption? I thought only MLB did.

They do. It's in the news^ because of how they treat retired players right now.

If you want to read a very good article about how there are no good guys or bad guys in the "retired players VS the NFL", on either side, then check this out: SI Article about Gene Upshaw and the battle about retired players (new window)

It's a little long, but probably the best sports article I've ever read, and it really sheds a lot of light on that subject.

Yeah, when I saw the headline, I assumed it was about this. One of my local sports radio guys made a good point about the situation. Obviously Goodell can't expose the NFL to massive lawsuits by admitting the correlation between football and this specific type of brain damage.The best compromise is an agreement wherein the NFL is not liable to legal action, but in some way takes care of retired players with these problems, and finds ways to combat this problem with today's players.

Interestingly enough, one of the solutions sounds weird, but may work; bring back the old leather helmets. Guys are using their heads as weapons to hit with because of the big, bulky helmets. They don't realize the danger of repeat concussions until later in life. If guys don't have that thick helmet, they won't be smashing into one another with their heads leading the way.

Now way it'll ever happen, bit an interesting idea.

Orgasmatron138: Interestingly enough, one of the solutions sounds weird, but may work; bring back the old leather helmets. Guys are using their heads as weapons to hit with because of the big, bulky helmets. They don't realize the danger of repeat concussions until later in life. If guys don't have that thick helmet, they won't be smashing into one another with their heads leading the way.

That is interesting. I would agree that a big cause of injuries lies in there somewhere. It's not that you want to hurt other people by hitting with your head, it's that you can fly around out of control and dive in fearlessly because you don't think you're gonna hurt your own head. My new idea - get rid of the facemask.

dletter: JohnBigBootay: I'd be happy to grant him the immunity. As soon as he agrees not to fark up the best sports entertainment on the planet by expanding the season.

The Golden goose: try to not kill it dumbass. Go ask the NBA if we can learn to live without your product.

Really? REPLACING two preseason games with two regular season games (not adding on two more real weeks to the season) would make it like the NBA?

OK. Whatever.

Preseason games != regular season games. The guys that are going to be starting the regular season play maybe a games worth of snaps in preseason. So you are talking about adding at least another games worth of full speed contact snaps to the season for all your starters that is already riddled with season ending injuries. Half of preseason gone replaced with regular season games is going to mean they take it easier in training camp to protect the players and the season is going to start even slower. Or in other words its going to dilute the value of the regular season games both by just increasing the number and decreasing the level of talent/skill that's going to be present in a given game.