Punt, Pass, Kick

No one reading this is likely to care. But I have to rant.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter (ooo, look at the cynical manipulation to force an audience from the people who do other things during halftime because it's always a waste of time) of one of the NFL playoff games today, we had a pointless listing of winners of something called the "Punt, Pass, Kick" competition for kids. There are so many things wrong with this that I can hardly list them all.

First, I'm happy the kids got their moment of glory, but given that we saw only meaningless clips without scoring, no one cares. Particularly no one cares about listing off the names of six random kids while showing them on the screen, without showing any actual competition. I prefer at least some sporting competition in publicity stunts I'm subjected to.

Second, "punt, pass, kick"? Where "pass" involves heaving the ball downfield as far as one can without any accuracy? What does this have to do with the sport? Did the NFL ever consider that maybe these kids might want to do something like the NFL skills competition that has something to do with the actual game?

Third, oh look, separate girls and boys competitions. I don't know why the utterly sexist NFL even bothers with the girls competition, since none of those girls will be allowed to play in the NFL anyway (or even in college). Oh, sure, it's probably not technically against the rules, but I'm sure that sexual harassment will be applied until they get the point. The presence of girls in this is pure publicity stunt on the part of the NFL, and while I hope the girls participating had fun, I have to wonder if they'll feel a little used later on when they realize that the NFL never cared about their gender, except maybe as sideline reporters.

And of course the TV commentators don't point out any of this because they're bought off by the NFL.

I like sports. I watch a lot of sports. But sometimes the distinctions between professional wrestling and a professional sports league like the NFL start looking a little thin. With the paid-off commentators, the old-boys club of mutual support, and the unwillingness of anyone on TV to point out when something is stupid, the corporate packaged entertainment aspects of this start smelling.

Posted: 2006-01-15 12:36 — Why no comments?

Last spun 2022-02-06 from thread modified 2013-01-04