FAB 4. COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BETTER THAN THE NFL
NFL TV viewership is down, and both the league and the TV networks are freaking out.

We’re not talking about down a few percentage points. We’re talking about an 11 percent drop.

There have been a lot of articles written about the various reasons within the last week and I’ll add my two cents worth based upon what I’ve read and some of my own conclusions. If you are looking for some good resources on this topic, check out this article from SI.com, this one from Yahoo Sports and this one from CBS Boston.

Yahoo Sports and YouGov did a poll and found out that 29 percent of participants were watching fewer games this year, and the number one reason was the Colin Kaepernick National Anthem protests (40 percent) that were deemed disrespectful, a lack of opportunity to watch (31 percent), lost interest (28 percent) and the U.S. Presidential elections (17 percent).

The NFL is trying to tell the networks that the hotly contested presidential election coverage has suppressed ratings and to wait until after November 8 to make real determinations. I don’t think the ratings are going to bounce right back, though.

49ers QB Colin Kaepernick – Photo by: Getty Images

Just as the election has split the country, so has the Kaepernick debate. Kaepernick was fiercely booed and chants of “USA, USA” as he kneeled down during the National Anthem before last week’s 45-17 thrashing at the hands of the Buffalo Bills. When you factor 40 percent of the 29 percent that are turning the NFL off due to the Kaepernick protests that’s 11.7 percent right there.

But it’s more than that. The NFL has long been called the No Fun League, especially under unpopular commission Roger Goodell, who had a 28 percent approval ratings from fans back in February. Under Goodell’s leadership players are very limited in the ways they can celebrate or a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty is assessed. NFL fans want to see touchdowns – and celebrations. By reining in the celebrations the league is taking a lot of the fun out of the game.

I also don’t know what a catch is in the NFL anymore. Do you?

I’m tired of seeing a player cleanly catch the ball in the back of the end zone with his hands, get two feet in bounds, go out of bounds in the back of the end zone, fall to the ground and upon impact the ball is jarred loose – and it’s ruled an incompletion because he didn’t complete the act of a catch.

Wait a minute. I thought that when a player went out of bounds the play was over?

Now he has to go all the way to the ground with it in a vise grip and not one dimple of leather can touch the ground or it’s incomplete? So if he spikes it in the back of the end zone without going to the ground, is that incomplete, too?

You catch my drift?

I love watching college football because the officials don’t typically interfere with game as much as they seem to do in the NFL. College football has the targeting rule where plays in which a targeting flag has been thrown are reviewed – quickly – by instant replay and then the player is either ejected or allowed to remain in the game.

And the whole instant replay system in college is so much better than the NFL. Instead of the referee running across the field to look in the peep show booth, college officials are buzzed that a play is under review from an official in the press box and the delays are often much, much shorter as a result.

Clemson WR Mike Williams – Photo by: Getty Images

Between the pageantry of college football, the upsets and the way the games are better officiated, I find college football much more enjoyable to watch than the NFL. I used to be a huge NFL fan growing up. Now I just have tunnel vision on the Buccaneers – and the NFC South – because it’s my profession.

I rarely watch Thursday Night Football because the match-ups have been so awful lately. I tune in for a few minutes to look at the radical Color Rush uniforms and then switch over to college football on ESPN on Thursday nights to do some draft study and be entertained by a better product.

After Bucs games on Sundays I rarely watch Sunday Night Football unless the Patriots are on and I need to see some really good football – just to remember what it looks like – if the Bucs played awful earlier in the day.

I coach my son’s 6-1 playoff-bound South Pasco Predators football team on Monday nights, and I don’t usually race home to turn on Monday Night Football afterwards. I just think the NFL has a lousy product right now between no-calls on concussion-causing hits, ticky-tack calls on pansy hits and having no idea what constitutes a catch.

Goodell is quick to throw a four-game suspension at Kwon Alexander for ingesting the wrong kind of energy drink, but Giants kicker Josh Brown, who admitted to spousal abuse, can get a one-game suspension? There was no definitive proof against Tom Brady in Deflategate, yet he still got hit with a four-game suspension by

I’m not a Patriots fan, but I do admire their excellence from afar, and I have to admit that I was rooting for New England early this year during the team’s 3-1 start in Brady’s absence – just as a shot to Goodell.

My wife and I went to Mr. Dunderbak’s, a fine Bavarian restaurant and biergarten in Tampa, and ate in the bar area where we had to watch Tennessee at Miami. I almost fell asleep during dinner watching that boring game in which the Titans prevailed, 21-10.

Yawn.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell – Photo by: Getty Images

Yes, Peyton Manning retired, J.J. Watt is out for the season and Cam Newton’s Panthers are 1-5 right now. But there is more going on with the NFL’s dip in attendance than just that. In an article on ESPN.com, NBA Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said the NFL was heading for trouble earlier this year.

“I think the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion,” Cuban said. “I’m just telling you: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy.

“Just watch. Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way. I’m just telling you, when you’ve got a good thing and you get greedy, it always, always, always, always, always turns on you. That’s rule No. 1 of business.”

Goodell’s arrogance, a lack of an interesting product and the oversaturation of the league with games on Sunday night, Monday night and Thursday night have led to its decline, as forecasted by Cuban.

“They’re trying to take over every night of TV,” Cuban said. “Initially, it’ll be, ‘Yeah, they’re the biggest-rating thing that there is.’ OK, Thursday, that’s great, regardless of whether it impacts [the NBA] during that period when we cross over. Then if it gets Saturday, now you’re impacting colleges. Now it’s on four days a week. It’s all football. At some point, the people get sick of it.”

I know the Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t a popular team nationally, but they have some really interesting players and really interesting storylines that keep me engaged and excited to cover the team. I wish I could say the same thing about other teams around the NFL, but I can’t. I would much rather watch college football, whose ratings are still nowhere close to that of the NFL, but are growing.

Bucs RB Jacquizz Rodgers – Photo by: Mark Lomoglio/PR

One change I would institute would be to increase the team’s roster to 60 players with an eight-person practice squad, and have 53 active players on game days rather than 46. Having more reserves on the team that have been through a training camp and preseason with a team can help teams weather injuries better as there are rarely saviors on the street from September – December outside of the occasional Jacquizz Rodgers. Better prepared players leads to better performances, which leads to more interesting games and a better product on the field.

I would also replace the NFL’s instant replay system with college football’s instant replay mechanism, better clarify the catch rule and get Goodell out of the business of disciplining players. Those are some changes that would lead me to watch more NFL games, but I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, I’ll get my kicks with college football on Saturday and tune in on Sundays for my lone regular NFL watching experience covering your Tampa Bay Buccaneers.