Offside Number 76

This. Go to ground. Man, I'm more pissed off, by far, than I would have been with a 50-point loss.

I can appreciate solid defensive football, too. I also can appreciate the difference between games that are low-scoring because of terrific defense, and games that are low-scoring because offenses are too conservative. There's too much of the latter in the NFL, and the game has become boring. That's why the red zone channel would be appealing. I don't need to see Houston sit on the ball and wait for a two-minute warning when they're down by 10. And the NCAA hasn't changed its rules to cram in more ads, and less football, in a shorter time, the same way the NFL has.

It's the NFL. If I had a way to watch exciting pro football, without seeing scared OCs calling dumb plays, without seeing defenders penalized for 15 yards for touching a guy, without the feeling that the game is a sideshow to the Toyota Tundra ads, I'd be all over it. But I don't have access to Red Zone, and doubt that I will make efforts to get it. I'll keep enjoying good football on Saturdays and Bills games on Sundays.

Agreed. This was a pretty nice thread when it was about football. That said, the Bears-Packers game is good through three quarters. Beats the hell out of anything the NFL permitted me to see during the day, with the possible exception of forty-five seconds of the Washington-JerseyG game.

Thank you, Washington, for giving me at least the hope of watching one interesting bit of football today. Please recover your onside kick.

I guess this has been going on nationwide, and for a while. Here's a bunch of AV-types discussing it: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1163878

He just returned one to the Giants' 11, though. He's not even close to the Redskins' biggest problem.

Tedy Bruschi works for ESPN now, and is somehow involved in a ceremony to honor the Patriots' 50th anniversary, so Alan Pergament basically guaranteed your #2 in this morning's paper.

Had the same problem as OP for the Vikings-Browns game. EDIT and it's happening now, during the Washington-NYG game, too. My "media mix" is WUTV-29 HD Buffalo through Time Warner. Is everyone facing this problem watching the same station on the same carrier? (John Adams, looks like you're witnessing a different type of problem, maybe.)

And getting worse. Time for a nap.

Down by 10 with 2:15 left in the first half, the Texans... ...let the clock run down to the two-minute warning. Line up and play! You need points; you're not winning right now. Try to complete a pass in between commercials or something. Damn, this is irritating to watch.

Jets/Texans and Vikings/Browns are boring me to tears. I can't believe that we get a Saturday of classic, exciting college games (ND/Michigan, Southern Cal/Ohio State, and Georgia/South Carolina were great games to watch), and the NFL has to follow it with these snoozefests.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/probowlqbs.php

Fluff, not flag.

One of the lowest average incomes in the area, too. And whose fault is it that San Diego prices out some fans? San Diego's. Let some other cities deal with blackouts for a while & see if the fans don't get on the owners' backs to change the league and make it more equal.

This is one of the well-known problems of the digital age, unfortunately, and it's a problem for both writers and readers. Writers are under greater pressure than before to push out product quickly, and don't have the time to spend even a few hours digging below the surface before submitting an initial story for publication. Since stories can be corrected so easily--it's not like we have to wait for another paper edition of the publication to come out now--I suspect that editors and publishers push speed over depth (I do mean depth and not accuracy here; there's nothing to suggest that the initial story was inaccurate). So you writers are faced with the problem of having to guess, at times, when it comes to issues of nuance, intent, etc. That can't be fun. On the other hand, there's a bunch of us readers out here, each eager to get the news as quickly as possible, and each eager to draw conclusions from it. And of course, since some readers are also media members, stories containing just facts get picked up by others, who add their own conclusions and spin, which it appears ESPN did here. Imagine if--for example--someone quickly reported the Walker release, just the facts. Then an online columnist picked up on those facts, and opined--just speculated, not reported--that Walker may have been because really, he was very close to Turk Schoenert and may have objected to the firing. Then a radio host reads that opinion and reports the opinion in an authoritative voice, leading more people to conclude that it's a fact that Walker was released because he supported the old OC. And then, the front office has to deny that, which also gets reported, spun, re-reported in the same fashion. Now, we have the story, the story about the story, the story changing the story, etc. It's a mess. I find myself reading as much internet news as ever, but I'm not drawing conclusions from it as quickly. I try to let a day go by. But rarely do I find that the initial reporters are to blame when something blows up and becomes messy (not that this has risen to that level). And John, if you can tolerate it, please stick around; it's interesting to read you and Tim when you talk about your jobs.

#1. Miami Dolphins. #2. Miami Hurricanes. #3. Miami of Ohio. #4. Miami High School, Oklahoma. #5. Miami Dolphins.

Look again--Baltimore is giving 11.

I can't believe I'd never heard that dig before. I like it.

OSU is a decent football atmosphere, but it's not quite as awesome as the media will tell you this year (with a refurbished stadium and a team that will pick up 10 wins, OSU will get attention). It's comparable to a Maryland game, I'd say. The real deal is still down the highway in Norman.

My Dinner with Andre

Of course. Each person's observations are special, and more important than anyone else's, and so each person should start his/her own thread at halftime, and again at the end, of every game. No WAY should this have been discussed in the GDT. It just wouldn't have fit.

That's probably ok. Even if Lindell makes the field goal, the Bills still lose by 1, the way this is set up.

Yeah, same here, except not fifteen years. I don't really find the need to imitate him. Actually, I find the word "take," used that way, annoying. But the guy still entertains me, especially when he gets a good rant going. I don't email the show or call it, either; I guess I'm not a good "clone"; I'm just someone who needs a laugh now and then between 12 and 3. Interesting to see just how passionate some people are with their hatred of Rome. Did he do something to negatively impact these peoples' lives, or are they stuck with a radio with no dial or off switch?

Was this supposed to be funny?