A Bit on Football

I'm not making any predictions, but I will note that the top four teams were a combined 55-9 this season. If you throw out games against each other and the meaningless last week of the season, the Patriots, Colts, Cowboys, and Packers lost a total of four games - the Packers twice to the Bears, the Cowboys once to the Eagles I believe, and the Colts to the Chargers because their quarterback and kicker happened to have the worst days of their career at the same time.

If the Cowboys lose to the Giants tomorrow, the only possible reason is because Tony Romo is dating a Jessica Simpson. You see, he's the first-ever high-profile athlete to ever be in love with a gorgeous woman, so of course it MUST be distracting him and tarnishing his performance. During the Eagles game, for instance, Fox cameras often cut to Simpson in the press box, and this caused Tony Romo to stink on the field. Maybe when he on the sidelines he was watching the Fox telecast, saw his girlfriend on screen, and let his mind wander. And of course, when his coach tells the team to take a few days off and not worry about football, Romo was completely unprofessional to take that literally.

You see, Romo isn't very committed to football or to winning. He went from undrafted free agent to elite NFL quarterback - the hardest job in sports - because, uh, he's a slacker?

Is Watching the Patriots a Basic Human Right?

So the NFL caved, and not only will the Patriots-Giants game be carried on the NFL Network, but will also be simulcast free on NBC and CBS. This in at least partial response to pressure from politicians such as Sens. Leahy and Spector, who threatened to revoke the NFL's anti-trust exemption.

The conflict seemed to be that the NFL network wanted to be offered as a basic cable channel, but many cable companies have refused to do so. Presumably, these channels would have accepted the NFL Network as a premium channel. But this means people unwilling to pay extra would still be unable to see the game. Wouldn't there be an outrage over that? Wouldn't the NFL take an even bigger public relations hit?

In any case, why do people feel they have a right to watch this game? What if it had been scheduled at what would have been its normal time: 1 pm Eastern, as aregional-coverage game? Would that have been acceptable, because it's free?

I agree that the NFL shouldn't have an antitrust exemption, but that's because there shouldn't be anti-trust law, period. Particularly not for the leisure and entertainment industries, where no one is being "gouged" or otherwise forced to pay high prices for anything.

This struggle is between the NFL and cable companies. Public pressure may swing to one end or the other, but the government should stay out of it.