Looks like the Monday Night Football situation is slightly less farcical than previously assumed. From the NFL UK FAQ:

And yet here, I can see coverage of the AFL, NRL, Rugby Super League, the Aviva Rugby Premiership, the Celtic League Rugby (whatever that's called) and maybe - although I'm not sure yet - that big RU competition with teams from NZ, Aus, and SA. That comes with the extra soccer channels I get, for which I pay only about $8 more a month.

For a country that supposedly doesn't care about soccer, it's worth noting that there are FOUR satellite/cable channels here devoted primarily to the game plus regular coverage of the EP and UCL on ESPN plus MLS on NBCSN.

Not to mention all of the Mexican league soccer you get on the Spanish-language channels (much of it over the air), plus Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana on Fox Sports en Espanol.

Ginger Yellow wrote:


Splendid. I'm still not especially chipper at some of the peripheral stuff that's been affected by leaving ESPN and the lack of HD, but at the core was not being able to see the games in a convenient way and that's been solved.

Incandenza wrote:


I still can't find those channels. I'll look harder.

All the ads on Bein Sports are in Spanish, but the game commentary is in English.

Poz has a nice article on Sunday football on Sports on Earth. It's a pain to link to it on an iPad so just check it out.

I need to write more; I have some good thoughts about how my experience dovetails with his.

Here it is.

Exactly with that guy on 60 Minutes. And Electronic Football. Rudimentary = So much more fun.

I've written about the Fame TV show, and how that signaled the good shit (Thundercats, Voltron, GI Joe, Transformers) was over and it was time to do homework. The 60 Minutes clock signaled that weekend was over, and that 5 page book report you put off all Saturday and Sunday ain't going anywhere.

The AFC games were played on NBC, and there was a certain color to those games -- I don’t mean color in the “shade of meaning” sort of way, no, I mean actual colors. I always thought the colors were bolder on NBC, like the Tide clothes in the “Tide vs. the Leading Brand” commercials. The Jets' green, the Browns' orange, the Patriots' red, the Raiders' silver, they seemed to pop more on NBC. Meanwhile, the NFC games were played on CBS, and I always thought those games were a bit more muted, a bit more serious. The games were played at 1 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET, and there was no Sunday night game, no Thursday night game (except two afternoon games on Thanksgiving), no football at all until the next Sunday, when it would start all over again.

I think I've written almost exactly the same words over the years. I'll add the Broncos orange and the Oilers sky blue to the beautiful NBC colors. And exacly about CBS, because the colors were so muted the games seemed like a death match and not the fun n' gun of the AFC.

I can't watch any more of the Raider Circus tonight.

Laugh or cry?

LAUGH.

HARD.

They should have a rule that awards two touchdowns if you actually grab the ball out of the punter's hand/foot like that first block.

HORN wrote:


I'm going the Wendy Rene route, with both.

I know there's not an otf pastime greater than bitching about horrible and insipid announcing, but I really have to offer the NFL Network highlight team as the worst in the world.

I mean try to listen to this for real.

#1 - Not much of a game in the NFC North, remember last year, the Bengals could not beat the Ravens, could not beat the Steelers, you think maybe on opening night...they might go in there and do something.

#2- HOOBAA HOOBAA DEY DEY GO OOB PICK THEM TO WIN

#3 - (Speaking in a Gammorean Guard helmet) ipickedthemthebengalstowin

(All speaking over each other)
#2 - HAP HAP
#3 - i'msorry
#1 - IS THAT WHAT YOU DID ?
#3 - ipicked the
#1 - Well there you have it. Honoring Art Modell
#2 - AAAAH
#1 - With a sticker on their helmet.
#3 - It was real simple it was the Joe.
#2 - JAAA
#3 - Flacco.
#2 - JAJA JAAA JA JA
#3 - Show.
#2 - Listen there you go. We see Torrey Smith. Big throw down the field. We all wanted to see the growth out of this young quarterback. Obviously. We SAWL it toNIGHT.
#1 - It was 52 yards...to Torrey Smith. THEN...after a 3-0 lead, after a Justin Tucker Field Goal, it was a Smith around-end
#3 -LIL !! LIL TRICKERATION
#1 - You like that ?
#3 - I like the misdirection.
#2 - *Belches*
#3 - Get em goin one way, take it the other
#1 - You know, they really pulled everything out of their bag of tricks here
#2 - WHOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!
#3 - Ray Rice. I like. The Catch. John Gruden said it wouldn't show up on the stat sheet. Joe Flacco. A little behind him.
#2 - NICE GRAB.
#3 - But this. Is what. You pay. The Man. For.
#1 - AAnnnd. That picks
#3 - (Michael Jackson ) HEEEE HEE SIXXXXTY
#1 - Exactly, little guy gets the first down there. Three plays later, this drive is still goin, this drive is eatin up clock
#2 - GEEEVE IT TO EM OFF THE LEASH !!!
#1 - Did he get touched on the 7-yard-touchdown guys ?
#2 - Nah, you see big #44 ? Someone just shied away from contact
#3 - You see how big those muscles are, you think someone wants to touch him ?
#2 - HEEE HA HA HA HEE HAAAAAAAA HAHAHA (fake laugh)
#1 - Aaahhh no Iwouldn't he's like 900 pounds and my height
#2 - BOWLING BALL
#1 - 2nd quarter Jacoby Jones did not do much
#3 - Nice throw.
#1 - In the preseason
#2 - HHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
#1 - but he comes alive here. The Former Raider. For 25.
That gets em down to the 40;.
#3 - I'll tell you what. If Joe Flacco spin that ball like this throughout the season. He can say he one of the permier quarterbacks in the NFL.
#1 - There's been a Terrence Newman sighting.
#2 - Poor Terrance Newman would have timed that a little better. But. You Know.
#3 - Hey Man.
#1 - Two plays later.
#2 - I call it like I see it.
#3 - Once again. What if.
#2 - HAHAHAHA.
#1 - Now on the 34. This is pretty isn't it ?
#2 - OOOOWWW.
#3 - Hep hahineivaah
#1 - ANTOINE BOLDEN. With the 34. yard. touchdown behind Taylor Mays.
#3 - Yeahhhhhh.
#2 - It's all pretty but the Safety rat Thuuur HEE HEE HEE (fake laugh)
#3 - YEAAAAP The safety play was pretty horrible but we'll talk about that later. But. You Know. Antoine Bolden not a deep threat.
#2 - HORRIBLE CALL !!!
#3 - EEAAAAHHHHHHH youreallyCanSeeIt
#2 - That ball came out Darren.
#3 - EEEAAAHHHHHH Bad view hecouldn'ttell GIVE EM A TOUCHDOWN
#1 - I think the ball was moving. 17 to threeeeeeee.
#3 - See th-th-now This isn't smart. C'mon Safety Taylor Mays. You see the ball, if you have any awareness, if you see the ball flyin' by your head and it's not gonna get caught don't launch yourself into a defender (editors note - he is a defender, he launched himself into an offensive player) Cause it's not gonna cost you...it's only gonna cost you team and it's gonna cost you POCKETSss.
#2 - Like you say. IF you have any awareness. (oh-so-clever snark voice.) Maybe that's the issue.
#3 - (True Dat voice) That is the issue.
#1 - Taylor Mays flagged for 15 for that hit there on Ed Dixon he's likely going to be FINED. As well.
#3 - This kay hea
#1 - Ravens eventually punt it and what a night Andrew Hawkins had. Remember Archell Hawkins ?
#2 - HEY
#3 - They bout the same size
#2 - YEEESSSSSIIIIRRRR
#1 - Uh huh. Right. Archell's now doing radio.
#2 - With that deep voice he has
#3 - *belches* YEEEEAAA
#1 - That's 27 yards

That's all I could stands, and I can't stands no more.

They are all drunk aren't they.

I try to watch highlights on nfl.com, but it is so gawdawful, I don't know if I can bother this season.

The NFL postgame show with Rich Eisen is supposed to be pretty good, right? (never seen it, having Time Warner Cable) The highlight videos on their site are terrible.

That was truly god's work, JV.

Rich Eisen's commentary is always great. I remember his line last year for Tebow against the Jets, "What is it about Tebow in the 4th quarter that suddenly transforms the team he's playing into the Washington Generals ?!!! apologiestoCavaliersOwnerDanGilbert."

I must say, it is pretty funny when you read the transcript with the audio playing. It would be so much more entertaining if they offered that on the website.

Applause for JV!

I quite often turn the sound off and listen to music while I'm watching NFL games now. The commentary is just too stupid too much of the time.

Plus sometimes the action and music sync up in amusing ways.

American football really is a remarkable sport. You have to be a smart person to understand it. I can't think of a single good coach who wasn't, on some level, an intellectually-minded individual.

Yet a good portion of the people who play it, even the greats, are dumb as shit, and many of its fans are even dumber.

To make it worse, it feels like the NFL Network encourages a sort of bro culture on their shows with all the fucking yelling and macho-posturing.

By the way, does anybody else hate the owner fetishizing in the NFL?

Renart wrote:


I do enjoy listening to the radio broadcast during some games. Most NFL radio crews are meatheaded homers, but the 49ers crew is not half-bad.

That's not a bad idea. Can you stream the radio broadcasts, or are they area-restricted, too?

I hate NFL owner-fetishizing, too, except in the case of the Green Bay Packers.

Flynnie wrote:


Oh, absolutely.

/returns to shrine built to Jerry Buss