NFL, Hat in Hand

Before we begin, let me highlight this amazing site. Also I will say hello to Jaybebo of the newly redesigned Fantasy Football Whiz. He's the fifth person to comment on my blog who wasn't trying to sell something. Jay is only 1600 forum posts from catching Taz as "Top Forum Whiz." It's an unfortunate yet memorable site name.

The NFL clearly is not making enough money. When I was at the Don Funk Sports Bar this Sunday, we found out that the sports bar did not have the HD channels. There were frantic calls to Direct TV, who naturally was watching the games and not available.

The non HD games were cropped like a full screen movie on a wide screen TV. Compared to the local channels that did come in HD, the game looked like me not wearing my glasses. Without the HD options, the games would have been fine. Without, it was a sad time.

The NFL is the super soaker of money grabbers in today's insane economy. It's $300 to get the Sunday Ticket through Direct TV, and that's after you plop down around $100 a month for the service. It's another $100 for HD. The NFL is the league that invented the Personal Seat License. I get it if the PSL money is used to pay for a stadium, but now teams get public money and PSL money. If I want a replica jersey of my favorite player, it's $74.99 if you buy it through nfl.com or reebok.com. If said player gets traded or has a mental meltdown, you're screwed. If the player changes his name legally and Reebok's on the hook for thousands of jerseys with the old name, your new legal name isn't legal in the eyes of the NFL.

How bad does Samie Parker feel today? He was signed and released by the Seahawks last week. The Seahawks have seen a mind-boggling six wide receivers leave the field for the season. Parker was released, and after the Seahawks lost two more guys, they signed Koren Robinson and traded for Keary Colbert instead. Robinson famously drank his way off the team, and won me a fantasy football title five years ago.