How come we don't have a football thread?

[Debra]

commentary on the half time made wiki already

http://i.imgur.com/a0XmF.png   

[Croghan27]

I am not sure why they bother with all the dazzle of the half time shows    - were I come up with the price of a ticket to the SB I would go for the game, not for the 'entertainment'. They can fill the seats with football fans, why branch out into other things.
 
If you goggle SB half time shows you see the most frequent performers have been the Grambing College Marching Band. They seem appropriate to me - I did sort of watch the Stones when they made it and even glanced over at the Janet Jackson nipple blipple without much interest.
 
Neil Young's:

There were peasants singing, and drummers drumming,
And the archers split the tree.
There was a fanfare blowing to the sun,
There was floating on the breeze.

may be suitable.
 
Otherwise I have never been to a concert only to have a football game break out during the intermission. 
 
As for the gushing of 'Ah Luv 'Merica' that Fox revels in ..... I still have not come to grips with playing the national anthum at professional sporting events so I actively dislike that intrusion. I wonder if it honours our troops to use their deaths/injuries/the dislocations of their lives to sell beer? 

[Holly Stick]

And the archers split the tree.

Ha, I always thought it was: And the archers split the scene

[k'in]

Technically a fairly ugly game, but the Packers definitely earned the win.  Aaron Rodgers is the real deal.  Classy of him to thank his former mentors, both of whom have CFL connections.

Ask Aaron Rodgers to name the two most influential people in his   development as a quarterback and he doesn’t hesitate in any way.
He mentions Jeff Tedford first, Tom Clements second: Two familiar   names from their 18 seasons of play in the Canadian Football League.
Tedford was Rodgers’ coach at the University of California. Clements   is the current quarterback coach with the Green Bay Packers and has been   there for five of Rodgers’ six NFL seasons.

On an alternative programming note, check out the highlights from Puppy Bowl VII, including the Kitty Halftime Show.
http://animal.discovery.com/videos/puppy-bowl-vii-highlights/

[Croghan27]

Charles Pierce on what he calls The Big Honking Football Game:

 
Well, that has to have been the Bad Hands Super Bowl of all time. First, Christina Aguilera absolutely Goulet's the Anthem. Did she blow an entire verse, or just a couple of lines? The crowd in John Stockton's father's joint was unclear.

and this one is just precious:
 

The pregame show was what Leni Riefenstahl would have done had she emigrated here as a child and gone to work for Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Price.)

[Croghan27]

makes sense to me ...... 
 

A woman had 50 yard line tickets for the Super Bowl. As she sat down, a man came along and asked her if anyone is sitting in the seat next to her. "No," she said, "the seat is empty."

"This is incredible," said the man. "Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for the Super Bowl, the biggest sporting event in the world, and not use it?"

Somberly, the woman says, "Well... the seat actually belongs to me. I was supposed to come here with my husband, but he passed away. This is the first Super Bowl we have not been to together since we got married in 1967."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, that's terrible. But couldn't you find someone else - a friend or relative or even a neighbor to take the seat?"

The woman shakes her head, "No, they're all at the funeral."

[Boom Boom]

makes sense to me ...... 
 

The woman shakes her head, "No, they're all at the funeral."

 

[lagatta]

Oh, I'm sure hubby looking down from above would think she made the right choice!

(Second-biggest event though - World Cup Final is biggest).

[sparqui]

Charles Pierce on what he calls The Big Honking Football Game:

and this one is just precious:
 

The pregame show was what Leni Riefenstahl would have done had she emigrated here as a child and gone to work for Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Price.)

That's priceless. Thanks for the smile, Croghan.

[Croghan27]

The owners of NFL teams are in a difficult position. When people go to their games they go to see Tom Brady, LaDainian Tomlinson or Ray Lewis: not Robert Craft (even if he is popular), Jim Itsay or any of the spawn (4) of the Hunt Brothers that own the Kansas City franchise. (All the owners are major contributers to the GOP except the community ownership if Green Bay.)
 
So if the owners lock the players out .... it is like McDonald's locking out Hamburger, or KFC chicken. As Leonard Cohen said, the are :"Locked into their sufferings and their pleasures are the key...." (sic)
 
Nevertheless they thought they had an ace in the hole. The contracts they negotiated with the TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX - and throw in ESPN and Comcast) guaranteed the would get at least a billion (yes, that is with a 'B') even if no games were played.
 
Roger (I am only there for the good of the game.) Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL (here read owners bum-boy) was riding high. Now comes a big league DUH!    Roger negotiated the deal in 2009. The networks had to agree to adjust their costs to include this provision.
 
Hard to believe that in this time of Govs. Scott in Wisconsin or Perry in Texas or any other the other ideologues that campaign on responsible government about the US and then concentrate on kowtowing to their religious/ industrial backers, the US does have some labour laws. One of them is that you have to bargan with your union 'in good faith' - that means you must intend to do what you say you will do. (Used to be called honesty - but Gov. Scott just put the lie to that).
 
Whereas the NFL players (remember them) are paid in a percentage of total income of the game - then Roger was playing fast and loose with their contract. US District Judge David Doty looked at this situation and, as Charles Pierce says:
 
 

Hence, we have U.S. District Judge David Doty, who yesterday told the owners that, no, you don't get to fund your long-planned lockout with the TV cash you promised to share with the hired help. Most immediately, this is a fine kick in the head to hard-working' Roger Goodell and the plutocrats for whom he works so hard. But, between the lines, Doty's decision says much more than that. It says that, at least by the lights of a federal judge, NFL management has not acted in good faith for at least a year, and is not likely to act in good faith in the future.

 
I do not know what effect the addition the knowledge that they may not act in good faith in the future - but for now the playing field is back to as level as it always was .....

[Croghan27]

With all the happenings in the mid-east/Japan/Wisconsin this may seem a bit trivial - but next fall it may assume more import.
 
The NFLPA has walked out of negotiations with the owners, and uncertified itself. Thereby just about assuring a lockout for next season.
 
In a reverse of what is happening all over the US - the billionaire owners would rather work with a union than with the thousand or so players individually.
 
Says the owners association:

The NFL clubs remain committed to collective bargaining and the federal mediation process until an agreement is reached. The NFL calls on the union to return to negotiations immediately. NFL players, clubs, and fans want an agreement. The only place it can be reached is at the bargaining table.”

The union feels it took negotiations as far as they could in achieving the member's desires - but could go no farther, so it decertified itself.
 
I have not been able to see any analysis of the action so far - but will work on it.  (The story in the Toronto Star is the pits - seems to be an owners press release.)

[k'in]

The owners want to add 2 more regular season games for a total of 18.  Currently players have to play three *years* to qualify for pension benefits.  I believe the average career lasts just over 3 seasons.  This additional 6 games over three years would statistically delete many players from surviving 3 seasons.

Dave Duerson

Dave Duerson, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Chicago Bears   and New York Giants, tragically chose to take his own life last week.
But when the 50-year-old former NFL safety and successful   entrepreneur shot himself in the chest, there was another purpose: so   that his brain could be donated to Boston University researchers and   studied to assess the life-long neurological effects of playing in the   National Football League.

[Croghan27]

Having a bad morning here ... just lost another extensive post due to computer problems ....
 
here is a good article by Charles Pierce in the Boston Globe about Roger Goodell.
 

You may have missed this over the last couple of days, but Roger Goodell, who's only in it for the fans, of course, has promised to sacrifice if his employers go ahead with the lockout that they've only been planning for five years. This Blog may weep. Seriously.

Of course, This Blog is reasonably sure that it will not one day buy an apple from this guy out on Fifth Avenue, and it's sure that, should the lockout occur, and should the owners get everything they want out of it, which is pretty much what always happens in the NFL, Goodell would not be in anyway made whole by his bosses for his stewardship of their long-standing game plan for jacking up the hired help.

Yes, and This Blog is the Tsar of all the Russias.

[Croghan27]

Sports is often seen as a reflection of the society around it.
 
Charles Pierce agrees and demonstrates in his blog - Roger is Roger Goodell - executive bumboy.
 
 

Dear Roger:

No.
Your employers locked out the players. Your employers decided to re-open an agreement because they didn't like it very much, largely because most of them are of an American corporate class that lost interest in Americans along about 1981 and have gotten immeasurably worse as people and as citizens since then. Show our (hopelessly cooked) books to the hired help? My dear young man, it simply is not done. Most of them should be hounded by angry mobs hurling tomatoes.

This is exactly where you and your employers wanted to be. Enjoy it, until some federal judge goes upside your head with whatever labor law is left in this country.

Sincerely,
This Blog