Too Much Football?
It is Sunday
night, and I am in bed watching the reconstruction of the actual house in the
old “The Brady Bunch” TV show, to look inside exactly like the studio set where
the iconic show was filmed.
About half
way through I had to ask Mrs. C,
“Why am I
watching this show?”
“What
stupid reality show do you want to watch, the one about unexpected pregnancies,
or the doctor that pops huge disgusting pimples?”
“Ah…FOOTBALL?”
“There is
no football, it’s Sunday night!”
“Ah yeah,
Sunday Night Football.”
“Really? OK, you can watch football.”
Thing is,
much as I am not interested in rebuilding “The Brady Bunch” home, I am also OK
without watching football.
Back in the
day, in the fifties and early sixties, football on TV was a big deal. There was one college “Game of the Week” on
Saturday afternoon, and a Professional game on Sunday.
If your
favorite local team was playing at home, that game was blacked out and you had to
listen to it on radio. They may have had
another game to replace the blackout game…I don’t remember.
When the Giants
played Philly at home, it was a big deal in our house, because Dad could climb
on the roof and aim the antennae toward Philly (our Jersey home was about 20 miles
from NYC and 50 miles from Philly) and we could get a snowy reception of the game. It felt like we were cheating somehow.
Some fans
would drive out of blackout range and rent a motel room to watch the game.
Sometime in
the sixties the blackout rule was waived and we got all the local games, plus
an extra game from out of town. Then the
AFC came along and there were two AFL games.
Holy cow, four games on Sunday, it was amazing.
With cable
TV and a zillion cable stations there are now so many college games on TV Saturdays
that it is impossible to see even half of them.
They start around 12:00 and the final game starts around 8:00 PM.
Then TV
decided to add a Pro game on Monday Night.
That game was, for a while, a really big deal. There were MNF parties every week, almost
like Super Bowl Parties today. Guess
what? Sunday nights were open…not for
long. Now there is Sunday Night Football.
Colleges wanted
in on the TV loot so there are now games on Thursday and Friday nights. Not to be outdone, The Pros now have a TV game
on Thursday night.
So currently
there is football on TV all day Saturday (early Saturday often has a High School game), all day Sunday, Monday night, and Thursday
and Friday nights.
Tuesdays and
Wednesdays are generally football free; except during December Bowl
season.
So as
difficult as it is for me to believe, I am watching the rebuild of an old
iconic, but lame TV show, and I do not even know what teams are playing on Sunday
Night Football! And this stupid “Brady
Bunch” show I am watching is “On Demand” which means I could watch it ANY
TIME!
Football on
TV, any football game, used to be a big deal.
If I am
choosing to watch a Brady Bunch Home rebuild instead of football, I think that
is a pretty good indictor that we have reached the TV football saturation
point.
Or maybe I need to turn in my Man Card.
i find people so amazing who love sports dear Joe
ReplyDeletethis is really positive investment of mental and physical energy
sorry that you were almost compelled to watch show that was out of your interest ,but at least you could have what you demanded ,this is good isn't it
i love football my most favorite game
Keep your Man card joeh, I agree TV football has reached saturation point, even out here, where school and university teams don't get broadcast, maybe they don't even get filmed, maybe we don't have school football teams. What do I know? anyway, Aussies aren't as Football mad as you Americans are.
ReplyDeleteI had to give up football when I moved here. The team I followed rarely made the screen. I use to follow the Dolphins in the Marino hey days but now I don't know any of the players names and they have a winning record a lot like the Marlins. I can only take beatings for so long. I have turned in my football card.
ReplyDeleteLOL,Joe! It does seem as though you can watch football all the time. My husband didn't like it that the Browns were playing last night because he had to get up for work this morning. I don't think he watched more than the first hour before he was snoozing.
ReplyDeleteI guess that we need more than Netflix or Amazon Prime to watch football. Gave up television years ago. Not been interested in sports since the mid-eighties. I do think you should keep your man-card though.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day and week, Joe. 😎
Well you and my husband can hand in your man cards. He was caught by me watching that dumb Brady house reno. And no, he did not watch any football. We dislike football in our home so he gets a lot of grief about it. Since he is built like a linebacker everyone assumes he is this big jock. He'd rather watch Good Bones on HGTV how funny is that?
ReplyDeletePizza companies probably like all the days football is on. I'm sure lots of deliveries get made especially during key match ups.
ReplyDeletebetty
St. Louis lost the Cardinals. St. Louis lost the Rams. Baker Mayfield graduated from OU. I've lost my interest in football. I can't quite bring myself to watch the Browns. It's not like we get coverage of there here anyway. I have the Brady renovation on DVR. Haven't watched it yet.
ReplyDeleteWhen Joe Montana set his foot on the 49er field, I was HOOKED on football. I had a football crazed husband and 2 sons. Either I whine and complain every time there is a football game or I could JOIN them. I got a book and read up and learned. I became a major football fan, following the stats etc. When Joe left, there was Steve Young. I like him and some of the older team was still there. But slowly they all left and you cannot replace that beautiful time in 49er history. Don't even talk to me about Kapernick.
ReplyDeleteI no longer care - I am a big baseball fan. I prefer to listen to baseball on the radio while I garden or do something constructive. Unless I am at the game - LOVE going to games.
3 sons - I can't believe I left out one.
DeleteI’m getting to that point as well. Alabama was on TV Saturday when I was at a beekeeper conference. I didn’t miss the game.
ReplyDeleteThere are some games coming up that I will make a point to watch, but even if I missed them, I think my life would go on :)
Too much of anything makes it not quite to special any more. Remember how that Who Wants to Be a Millionaire show was once a week, and everyone liked it so they put it on so much we got tired of it? If it's that common, it's not special any more.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahahahaha. I LOVE that Brady Bunch house reno!!! I want that house with all of the furniture and carpeting, everything just like it was on t.v. I've already got my lottery winnings set aside. :D - As for football... I am a die hard Detroit Lions fan altho I don't know why, none of us know why. The refs either do them in or they do themselves in. Nine times out of ten I think it's the latter. And, I would give up the Brady reno to watch them. :) U of M is my college team.
ReplyDelete