Whoever (whomever?) is responsible for re-scheduling tomorrow’s Patriots game is on my shit list. Sunday afternoon, 1:00, couple beers, a big pot of nice gravy and meatballs, and watching the Patriots kick the shit out of the Bills. It would have been nice.
Instead, it’s the (loser) Colts at 1:00, who-fucking-cares at 4:00, and the Pats at 8:00. Unless you’re on the west coast (and a hearty fuck you to all of you), 8:00 (Eastern Time) is a shitty time for a football game. Football is meant to be played in the early afternoon when the sun is shining and the sauce is hot. Not at 8:00 at night when I’m too damned tired to stay up past halftime. So why are the Pats playing the late game? Why? Because all of a sudden everyone’s interested in the Patriots. And it’s not because everyone loves the Pats. It’s because everyone hates them. People don’t want to see the Pats win, they want them to lose, and they want them to lose in prime time to a shitty team in front of everyone in a game that doesn’t matter - Week 11 - just so it will sting a little more. But I’ll tell you what: win or lose this week, the Pats go to the playoffs. Win or lose this week, Brady’s the best QB in the leaue. And win or lose this week, my team’s better than yours.
You know what? I was interested before this great run they’re on. I was interested before they won three Superbowls. I was interested back in the days when you could buy tickets at face value off scalpers in the parking lot, and they’d be lining up to sell to you, not vice-versa. Back in the days when you had to go to Foxboro if you wanted to see them play, because they didn’t sell enough tickets and the game was blacked out.
But everyone wants to root for the underdog, even if it’s the lowly Bills. Everyone wants to see the Pats get knocke down a notch. To be humble. And everyone wants to call the Patriots cheaters and opportunists and fakes. And finally, everyone wants to call New England sports fans selfish, spoiled pricks who think we’re entitled. To all of you I say
SUCK MY STICK
I was a fan when they were in the cellar, because I’m a Bostonian and the Patriots are my team. And I’m a fan today because I’m a Bostonian, and they’re my team, and they’re better than your team. And for the record, I don’t feel entitled as a Boston sports fan. I feel blessed because I’ve watched my teams lose mor ethan I’ve watched them win.
PS. Sorry for all the cussin’
I for one am happy with the decision. Let me tell you why.
I’ve been a Pats fan since I was a kid, too, and recently moved tn area where Patriots games are considered “out of market,” and TWO teams are considered in the local market: the Redskins and the Ravens. So you guessed it, I get to watch suckass football every Sunday. So unless, it’s a 4:15 game and the stars are aligned properly (neither the Redskins nor the Ravens are playing), I MIGHT get to watch the Patriots (got to see the Dallas and Colts games like this).
This game was scheduled to be at 1:00 PM on CBS. The Ravens are playing Cleveland at 1, on CBS. So now I’ll get to watch the Patriots because they made it a national game.
If you aren’t prepared to watch the game because it kicks off at the ungodly hour of 8:15 ET, you apparently weren’t all that interested after all.
It’s not a dick move by the NFL and/or NBC, it’s a sound business move. Why don’t you pit HBO or Don King or somebody for scheduling the main event after the undercard on boxing telecasts?
I thought this was going to be about the whole NFL network/Sunday Ticket monopoly clusterfuck, which would have been an excellent Pit topic. This one is pretty gosh-darned weak.
See? Just when you think you’ve got it bad, someone else is forced to watch the Ravens or Redskins (or both).
My only alternative is to spend $60 or more a month on DirecTV and pay for the NFL Sunday Ticket package on top of that. I love the Patriots, but not enough to piss away $1000 a year.
Pfft. I live in Orlando. The city is probably a 40/40/20 mix of Bucs/Dolphins/other fans (among those that care, at least).
Guess which team we’re a “home” market for?
Jacksonville.
Even people in Jacksonville won’t watch the bloody Jaguars. Why the hell do they think we will?
Granted, most of the Bucs’ home games are broadcast here, but every now and then Fox (which is supposed to be the NFC’s station, no?) shows the Jags instead.
At least I cussed too much for this to be moved to MPSIMS. I think.
I spent a season in Atlanta - 1997. They lost a lot, and ticket sales were poor enough that every home game was blacked out. The Pats were never televised because they were still the same old Pats back then, and there were a lot of regional alternatives. No direct TV back then, either.
I went to about 6 games at the Georgia dome that fall. All in all it wasn’t that bad a season, and I was back in Boston in January.
Bah. I blame it on being an early riser. I’ll try to stay up, but probably won’t make it. I can’t even blame my kids - they’re early risers because I am.
The solution is to move to Canada. The cable company bundles the Sunday Ticket package up with the equivalent packages from the NBA, NHL and MLB, but the whole thing only costs $30 a month.
Actually, because of some peculiar alignment of the planets, you’ll be all right tomorrow. You won’t be watching football at midday, you’ll be watching football, as the New England Revolution go up against the Houston Dynamo for the MLS Cup. Game starts at noon, and it’s on regular old broadcast TV. AND you’ll see a Massachusetts team get the second leg of their trifecta (if not quadrifecta) of championships.
In Tennessee we pretty much get the crappy Titans and whatever other random game comes on. The really crappy thing about the NFL taking the majority of its programming to its own network is that it takes away the choice we used to have. Time was we had a noon game or two, two three o’clock games and sometimes two sunday night games. Now we just get Titans, Colts because of Peyton’s Tennessee connection or a random NFC game that usually consists of garbage matchups like St. Louis vs. Carolina.
God, I miss all the good NFC afternoon matchups. Pat Summerall and John Madden calling a hot 49ers vs. Packers game was absolute delight.
I grew up in Baltimore. My favorite teams are the Ravens and whoever is playing against the Colts (incidentally, this is why I’m the only person outside of New England who still likes the Patriots. Also, I made a shitload of money betting on them to win their first Super Bowl against the Rams. But I digress…)
A few years ago, I moved to Reno, Nevada. Of course, there’s no NFL team in Reno. There’s no team in the state, what with all the gambling and unsavory characters we collect. So you’d figure I get national games, right? They’d be games chosen for their entertainment value - I could at least be a fan of the sport, even if I couldn’t always watch my favorite teams.
You’d be wrong. The NFL apparently considers Reno, Nevada - with more than 200 miles and a string of 12,000 foot mountains between it and the coast - part of the San Francisco Bay Area market. Every Sunday, I get to watch the 49ers and the Raiders. Since I moved here, those two teams have combined for a 37-107 record. And I don’t know how this is possible, but they’re fucking getting worse.
So I guess I’m saying that you should suck it up and watch the game, and be glad you don’t have to go to a casino sports book to see your team play.
You’ve got the Red Sox, the Patriots, Boston College and the new and improved Celtics and you are whining about a late start that will broadcast the splendor of your sports dominance across the nation in prime time???
[sub]Dodger fan that has never been able to shake his allegiance to the Bengals[/sub]
Honestly, if you’re a pro football fan and your biggest complaint is “the game my 9-0 favorite team is in doesn’t start until nearly an hour after dinner,” then you can fuck right off.
I could complain about how my team always plays pretty well, then chokes and gets clobbered by the Patriots, but then I’d be a Steelers fan, wouldn’t I?