Goodbye NFL, you will not be missed.

I would like to formally thank Albert Haynesworth, and the NFL.  I want to thank them for helping me free up my Sundays this fall/winter.  I am going to be able to get so much more done.  I will be able to dedicate far more time to film study of college prospects, spend time with my family, and maybe catch up on some reading.

Why am I thanking them?  Because thanks to these greedy, selfish petulant children, they have made my decision to not support the NFL this season an easy one.  

I am a sane rational guy for the most part.  Married, two beautiful daughters and a career I love.  I am a school teacher for those that don't know.  Special Education.  It's incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.  What it isn't is lucrative.  But that's ok.  In today's economy you learn how to pinch pennies and make sacrifices and it's worth it, so long as you are doing something you love and your family is taken care of.  And because of this attitude when I hear the comments of a moron like Albert Haynesworth, it really makes me hate everything about the NFL and what it has become.  It's a league that essentially prays on it's fanbase.  

I am not going to rehash Haynesworth's comments.  In brief, he's making an 9 figure(yes 9) contract and he's unhappy and demanding a trade because he's still unhappy.  I'm not going to go into a big tirade about how stupid this is.  I think everyone knows that.  Anyone who can't appreciate what they have doesn't deserve it, and I hope it's all taken away from him at some point and we see him on some heartwarming piece on ESPN someday about him being destitute.  It would satisfy karma.

But this wasn't enough for me.  The league has been talking about expanding the regular season by 2 games, but it's starting to look more and more likely.  Why do they do this?  Because the league has created a monster and they have to feed the monster.  Owners want to make more money, players are demanding more of that money, and fans (I'll get to you all in a minute) are willing to just throw all their money at them for this product.  This debate about 2 extra games have brought out the Haynesworth (my new term for greedy moron) in many players. They are worried about the extra two games meaning more injuries and therefore feel that there should be compensation for it, in terms of more salary and better health care.  And fans are just eating this up.  A note to NFL players, you play a violent sport and get paid grossly inflated salaries to do it.  Don't get all Obama and get all entitlement about your health care too.  The fact you are poor money managers just means no one should have ever given you that much money to begin with, not that you deserve another handout.

To fans.  I implore you not to buy into all this.  Every time I hear a fan talk about a player being compensated fairly I cringe.  NFL players (and Professional athletes as a whole) are so grossly overpaid, it's absurd.  The argument of a short career is invalid, because guess what?  You can get another job, after football.  Wal-Mart always needs door greeters, and there's always a kiosk at the mall that needs help.  Just because there is a stretch of your life that you made millions of dollars a year, means you are entitled to that forever.  You are entertainers who made a choice to pursue the career you did.  If you were concerned about your long term future maybe you should have attended class and majored in something other than racquetball or useless studies.   And for all this, fans continue to go out and support these teams and players and I don't get it.  The product on the field isn't great.  The owners are awful and the players are worse.  Fans continue to enable these financial meth addicts and their habits.  

Two things.  First if you think I am asking fans to boycott the NFL like I am, you are wrong.  I am not and would never. People can chose to spend their money as they see fit.  I am only telling you what I am doing and why.  It's sort of like if I had a sister who was a compulsive shopper and I kept helping her pay her bills so she could keep buying shoes and clothes.  At some point, I would say enough is enough and let her fall on her face and do so without me.  The NFL is my compulsive sister and I'm walking away.  Most NFL fans will continue to support it, and that's their choice.  

Second thing.  Before someone decides to email me telling me that me not supporting the NFL isn't going to change things, let me assure you that it will.  It won't change things in the league but it will change things for me.  I will feel much better on weekends knowing I'm not part of the problem.  Over the years, I've made financial choices for my love of the NFL that I cannot do again in good conscience to my family.  Not in today's economy.  And maybe not ever.  

This isn't easy for me.  I love football.  I mean really love it.  For the better part of my 38 years on this planet, it's been a vital part of my daily life.  It's basically, family, teaching, and football.  But I honestly am just too old and frankly too smart to keep feeding this machine.  These spoiled children in oversized bodies don't deserve the time, attention, and money of their fans.  Thank God I still have the last safe place for me, and that's college football.  Regardless of how the draft prospects end up, once they are drafted, the VAST majority of those young men bust their asses just because they love their school and they love to play football.  And that is what football is all about.  Give me college football 24/7 and these idiots in the NFL can just stay out of my life, like I’m going to stay out of theirs.

Last Edited: 06/17/2010