We’ve reached the portion of the football schedule where players can be forgiven for sounding like kids on a long trip as they ask: Are we there yet?
The short answer is: “No.”
Too Much of A Good Thing
Football is funny, in that many fans simply cannot wait for it to start. They spend the Spring arguing about draft choices. The Giants drafted Daniel Jones?! “He wasn’t even the best quarterback in this draft. Dwayne Haskins was, and he’s on the Redskins. And Daniel Snyder got him at 15,” writes Steve Serby in the New York Post.
These fans then spend the Summer daydreaming about championships. “The Browns enter 2019 with the sixth-best odds to win Super Bowl LIV,” writes Sports Illustrated in an August cover story. The curse seems to be holding; at 5-7 the stumbling, helmet-swinging Browns seem unlikely to even make the playoffs.
Things go well throughout the early Fall. After watching him take over and “lift” the team to 2-3, observers call Daniel Jones: “the quarterback of the future.”
But as the leaves and the temperatures fall, reality sets in. Most NFL teams realize they have no chance of making the playoffs, which are still a month away.
Winter brings questions. Did the Giants pull Eli Manning too soon? The New York Post’s line now is that: “Eli Manning is a Giant for life even though these are almost definitely the final four games wearing the uniform. Jones was the present until this high ankle sprain and is the future, but the present, for now, is Manning behind center.” In any event, few football teams have much reason to get out of bed on Sunday morning.
It’s Not Just the Pros
The same thing is true in college football. Thanksgiving weekend features the all-important rivalry games, and should be the final weekend of the season. Instead, several leagues will host less-than-meaningless “championship” games this weekend.
Keep in mind that LSU is expected to make the four-team college football playoff, whether or not it wins this weekend. In 2003, Oklahoma did just that: a blowout loss in its “championship” game was followed by a loss in the national title game (not present in that game: Number 1 USC). We wondered: How could you lose a “championship” and be rewarded with the opportunity to play for a championship? It’s never made sense to have the exhibition games at the end of the year.
Call Me When You’re 5-G
By the way, and this has nothing to do with football but also doesn’t make sense: Why would T-Mobile roll out 5-G that isn’t faster than 4-G? News reports explain its version of 5-G is only available in limited areas, uses the wrong bandwidth, can’t penetrate buildings, and isn’t very fast. Sign me up!
The company is in danger of confirming an idea expressed on the comics page: that it’s all a marketing ploy that doesn’t means anything. Why not act like an astronaut and toss a few more Gs in there? Somebody could launch 45-G and really blow away the competition; your performance may vary.
Room For More ?
Anyway, that aside aside, NFL owners occasionally discuss making the season even longer, perhaps 17 or 18 games, or more playoffs. Why not both? Play right into March.
That would be a mistake. There’s too much football already. Fans are right to ask, “How can I miss you if you won’t go away?” It’s time for the playoffs already.
