NFL Season Thread

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:02 am

XXXIV wrote:
JRod wrote:
XXXIV wrote: The refs had nothing do with the outcome of that game...Was all Hester and Shanahan the genius.

Was hella fun to watch though
You can't blame Shanahan for that loss. His offense put 34 points on chicago. You can thank Hester and Broncos defense for that win.
Why did he kick to him? Is there some rule that you have to that I dont know about?

They were still up when they stopped kicking to him. Hester kept them in the game. The defense lost it for the Broncos. Simple as that.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 1:32 am

JRod wrote:
XXXIV wrote:
JRod wrote: You can't blame Shanahan for that loss. His offense put 34 points on chicago. You can thank Hester and Broncos defense for that win.
Why did he kick to him? Is there some rule that you have to that I dont know about?
They were still up when they stopped kicking to him. Hester kept them in the game. The defense lost it for the Broncos. Simple as that.

They would have been up 28...even simpler.

lexbur · Post by **lexbur** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:12 pm

If the season ended today it would be Browns vs. Steelers... AGAIN!

(3 seed vs. 6 seed)

We are gluttons for punishment!

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:39 am

Big game Thursday night and it is on the NFL Network.

The NFL can suspend Pac Man Jones for a hundred years, but the worst thing that has happened to the league is the NFL network. We get less network games, less highlights, less everything - unless of course you have and pay for the NFL Network.

I am starting to feel about the NFL the way I felt about baseball after the last strike - f 'em. There is always something to do in the yard on a Sunday afternoon and I love to be outside in the fall weather.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:49 am

kevinpars wrote:Big game Thursday night and it is on the NFL Network.

The NFL can suspend Pac Man Jones for a hundred years, but the worst thing that has happened to the league is the NFL network. We get less network games, less highlights, less everything - unless of course you have and pay for the NFL Network.

I am starting to feel about the NFL the way I felt about baseball after the last strike - f 'em. There is always something to do in the yard on a Sunday afternoon and I love to be outside in the fall weather.

Will the game be shown locally in Dallas and Green Bay? I have DTV so I get NFL Network, but it sucks that such a big game isn't on a channel that's more widely available. Is NFL not on most cable networks?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:58 am

Brando70 wrote:Will the game be shown locally in Dallas and Green Bay? I have DTV so I get NFL Network, but it sucks that such a big game isn't on a channel that's more widely available. Is NFL not on most cable networks?

It's not on TimeWarner, one of the biggest cable networks. At least it's not on TimeWarner in Syracuse. Can any TimeWarner subscribers in other cities confirm whether they get it?

It's pretty sad that I can get the NHL Network starting Dec. 1 but still can't get the NFL Network. I LOVE hockey and am very eager to watch the NHL Network, but good Lord, the NFL dwarfs the NHL in popularity.

Take care,
PK

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:07 am

Sounds like good business sense to me. This is just what the NFL wants. They want you to call your local cable company and ask for the NFL Network so they can make more money. I know it sucks for those without the NFL Network but you'd be fooling yourselves into thinking any other league would do anything differently.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:11 am

It's a big battle between the NFL and cable companies. I think NFL is demanding higher fees and cable doesn't want to pay them without putting the NFL Network on some additional tier where you pay more.

There's a similar battle between the Big Ten Network and cable as well.

Meanwhile, Direct TV has them both in the regular tier, also available in HD too.

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:29 am

pk500 wrote:
Brando70 wrote:Will the game be shown locally in Dallas and Green Bay? I have DTV so I get NFL Network, but it sucks that such a big game isn't on a channel that's more widely available. Is NFL not on most cable networks?
It's not on TimeWarner, one of the biggest cable networks. At least it's not on TimeWarner in Syracuse. Can any TimeWarner subscribers in other cities confirm whether they get it?

It's pretty sad that I can get the NHL Network starting Dec. 1 but still can't get the NFL Network. I LOVE hockey and am very eager to watch the NHL Network, but good Lord, the NFL dwarfs the NHL in popularity.

Take care,
PK

You will love the NHL Network. I've had it for about 3 weeks. I gladly pay the 5.99 a month for the Sports Tier now.

The NHL gets it. The NFL takes it for granted.

The cable networks are right IMO. They want to put the channel on Sports Tiers and not charge people that don't give a s*** about football. The NFL wants it's channel to be on regular cable like ESPN. The same applies for the Big Ten Network. They are asking a lot for crappy shows and a slate of 8 games that are really not that good. IMO the only good match-ups are Packers/Cowboys and maybe Bears/Redskins.

Thursday night I'll just head on down to Brady's. It's a great Irish Pub we have here that has awesome wings and cold Guinness draft.

Time to go snowboarding!!!! Later fellas.

Badger_Fan · Post by **Badger_Fan** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:35 am

JackDog wrote:IMO the only good match-ups are Packers/Cowboys and maybe Bears/Redskins.

The Pats play their last game of the year against the Giants on the NFL network. If they're going for perfection that might be a matchup people want to watch.

I'm getting DirecTV installed on Thursday. I'm mostly doing it for the Big 10 network (as I already had NFL through Comcast on a sports tier). I think that the leagues (NFL, Big 10) and cable companies are all wrong, but I'm not going to miss a season of Badger basketball while waiting for them to all pull their heads out of their asses. The Badger/OSU football game being on the BTN was the final straw for me. Add the fact that 19 Badger bball games are going to be on the BTN and I had to make the switch. The good news is that I'm actually saving money with the Qwest bundle over the Comcast bundle that I had.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:06 pm

If the cable TV companies get people to pay extra for NFL Network, BTN, they will only be encouraged to put ESPN and other popular networks on there.

ESPN is a big headache for both satellite and cable operators because of its popularity and because they demand the highest fees.

So besides hiking subscription fees, the other obvious way to increase revenues is to condition subscribers into paying extra for sports.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:26 pm

pk500 wrote:
It's not on TimeWarner, one of the biggest cable networks. At least it's not on TimeWarner in Syracuse. Can any TimeWarner subscribers in other cities confirm whether they get it?

I have TW here in NYC and I don't recall seeing anything for NFL Network. There's the NBA League Pass, MLB, NHL, etc.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:27 pm

TWC and the NFL Network are at a total standstill, and neither is interested in relenting on their position. I've seen numbers that say the NFL Network fees would amount to less than 10 cents a subscriber per month, but TWC wants to charge more like $10 a month and put it on a special sports tier.

I've also seen where the head of one of the other big cable companies has said he'll think about carrying the NFL Network when the NFL lets him carry Sunday Ticket. It really stinks for NFL fans, but hey, what ya gonna do? At least Madden has chimed in and said he thinks the whole thing stinks, commenting that when the NFL even approaches any kind of pay per view thing, it's as wrong as you can get. So there's one voice out there willing to take the side of the fans. But the owners in the NFL only see the dollar signs out there in the future, so they aren't too interested in what's 'right.' Until the fans start staying away, they aren't going to see anything wrong with it, and the more big games that everyone wants to see they can get on their network, the better for them.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:30 pm

Zeppo wrote:TWC and the NFL Network are at a total standstill, and neither is interested in relenting on their position. I've seen numbers that say the NFL Network fees would amount to less than 10 cents a subscriber per month, but TWC wants to charge more like $10 a month and put it on a special sports tier.

I've also seen where the head of one of the other big cable companies has said he'll think about carrying the NFL Network when the NFL lets him carry Sunday Ticket.

Amen to that! Gregg Easterbrook has written extensively about this issue in his TMQ columns over the years. It's a sordid affair on all sides, unfortunately.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:55 pm

I pay extra for it but I think Fox Soccer chanel and Gol TV are part of the package on my system .

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:00 pm

The FCC is considering activating a 23-year old rule where if 70% of US households subscribe to cable TV, the FCC would be able to impose additional regulations.

Kevin Martin, the Republican chairman, has talked in the past about a la carte pricing for instance.

But the cable industry's allies in Congress are going after the FCC for even contemplating this and those allies include the White House.

You wonder if Congress might hear from irate viewers if they miss some big games because NFL Network isn't available on certain cable systems.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:06 pm

The only thing Im irate about is the exclusivety of NFL ticket to Direct TV...Now that blows...How much is Direct TV paying anyway for that deal? It has got to be alot for the NFL to turn its back on millions of potential customers.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:11 pm

XXXIV wrote:The only thing Im irate about is the exclusivety of NFL ticket to Direct TV...Now that blows...How much is Direct TV paying anyway for that deal? It has got to be alot for the NFL to turn its back on millions of potential customers.

This was the most recent TMQ on the subject. Contains a lot of interesting history about the Sunday Ticket business..

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ook/071030

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:16 pm

It's well over $100 million from the last contract.

Cable could have bid for it, they chose not to.

If the cable industry thinks they can force NFL to break the exclusivity of Sunday Ticket in exchange for carrying the NFL Network, they're dreaming.

They're not going to get ST on the cheap.

I think the NFL would like to have the NFL Network as insurance or leverage, so that if one of the networks balk on paying higher fees in the future, they will just broadcast games on NFLN.

They're not stupid enough to think going to PPV wouldn't hurt fan interest in the game. That is why they don't want NFLN on some premium tier of any kind.

They will mine the rich customers from luxury boxes and ST subscriptions. But they have to also draw the mainstream fans with "free" TV coverage.

Otherwise, they might as well be the NHL.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 3:18 pm

XXXIV wrote:The only thing Im irate about is the exclusivety of NFL ticket to Direct TV...Now that blows...How much is Direct TV paying anyway for that deal? It has got to be alot for the NFL to turn its back on millions of potential customers.

It's $700 million per year.

I am happy for Sunday Ticket because, as a Bears fan who has lived outside of the Bears market for half of his life, I can watch my favorite team no matter where I live. When I was in NYC, I got stuck watching the Jets and Giants almost exclusively because of the NFL's arcane local programming restrictions, so I welcome anything that lets me watch whichever games I want.

It does suck for cable subscribers, but at the same time, this process was open to bidding. It's just that DTV outbids everyone for Sunday Ticket. And I hate cable companies. Worst, most unresponsive monopolies in America. I have had my share of issues with DTV over the years but generally speaking have enjoyed satellite much more than any cable company.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:36 pm

We pay extra money for the NFL network. Cant the NFL network spend some money on a color guy? or actual refs who know the game?

Collinsworth is a total d*****bag.

The Packer DB makes a fantastic play only to have a retarded ref blow hes whistle prematurely.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:55 pm

NFL Ticket = Worth changing to DirecTv. Though, I'd say if people haven't switched to DTV for NFL Ticket, they surely won't switch for the NFL network & those 8 games.

I bet the bars are doing good business tonight!

The more I read about the whole Cable vs NFL, the cable companies seem like the real A-holes (unless you consider the NFL the ultimate Ahole for creating their own network). Cable knows that IF NFL Network was on a special tier, people would be adding it like crazy this week - OR worse, they would be offering it as a "pay per view" special.

The day NFL games become pay per view, we're all toast....

And just wait, MLB network is on the way!

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:23 pm

Since I moved I cant get a dish for DTV. Condo Association rules. Im at the mercy of the douchebags at the NFL.

Im only thankful Im not also at the mercy of Time warner.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:28 pm

Holy Cowboys...

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:39 pm

2nd time tonight the clowns the NFL is calling refs gave TO a catch he OBVIOUSLY didnt make....

The downside of instant replay...these guys seem to have become very lazy and incompetent.

Now the morons cant remember where the play started...sad!