It's been a while since I've written anything that wasn't about picks, so at the end of the season I'm finally getting around to writing something substantial. There have been a lot of things that have been getting on my nerves this season, so I figure it's time I let loose.
I am now wholly convinced that the Bears are one of the most hated teams in the NFL, and the Packers one of the most loved. Why this is I do not know, though I have some theories. The first one is that the Packers have a playstyle that many fans like: high octane passing game, blitz-heavy defense. They can put up big stats on both sides of the ball, which is something I will get into in more detail later, but they can also be burned by opportunistic teams and injuries. They have Aaron Rodgers, they have Clay Matthews, that's enough to give most fantasy players a woody.
Speaking of which, this is the other reason I think the Packers are loved, the love affair that announcers seem to have with Favre. Green Bay is still benefiting from that, especially with another good, young QB having replaced Favre. Everyone is aware of the obsession John Madden had with Favre, if it wasn't readily apparent from watching a broadcast then Frank Caliendo has preserved his obsession for the ages with his impressions. Years after Madden's retirement, though, broadcasters are still gushing over Brett Favre. Listening to John Gruden during the Bears game last night was enough to give me diabetes. We get it, everyone loves Favre. The best thing about Favre's probable retirement after this season is going to be not having to listen to announcers gush over him, though I'm sure the borderline erotic praise will be lauded on him for a short while after his retirement at least.
Speaking of Minnesota, they are not so great outside of the Metrodome, which is heresy for a Midwest team. The Minnesota players were whining and complaining all week before the game that they actually had to play *gasp* outdoors. Perhaps the numerous injuries they sustained, including one to Old Man Favre on a sack by rookie Corey Wooten, should be a confirmation of their worries, but the Bears didn't seem to suffer any ill effects from the weather or the field. Now Vikings owner Zigy Wilf is lobbying for an outdoor stadium, the first decent thing he's done since taking over. Look out babies, you might finally have to survive outside of your crib.
This is something that is driving me absolutely insane, stadium deals with the cities. I don't know exactly when this tradition started, but it is the most insane idea to me that these teams that are making millions upon millions of dollars each year are actually going to cities and demanding money to build stadiums. The Cubs threatened to pull out of Arizona if they didn't get a new multi-million dollar stadium built for them despite the entire state being in dire straights, Minnesota isn't much better and the Vikings are asking for money for a new field, the Cubs are asking the city of Chicago, which is knee deep in red ink, for money for stadium renovations, am I going insane here? Go to the Chicago Tribune online and read any article about preserving programs that help people in need, preserving education funding, preserving union jobs, and you get some ideological argument riddled with accusations of leeching and excessive use of the term "entitlement." Read an article about the Cubs wanting a new stadium and everyone talks about how it's common practice, about how we don't want them to leave (apparently), about how the Bears got money to renovate Soldier Field. I don't care if it HAS been done, it shouldn't be done. There are people in need, and they should take priority in receiving government funds over pro sports franchises that are extremely well off to being with. On top of all of this, ticket prices are enormously high. You would think the least these owners could do for people who build them stadiums is keep prices low, but fans get gouged from the parking lot to the ticket window to the concession stand. It's fucking bullshit, if people want to make a huge deal about government overspending and free market principles then they should start by demanding that pro sports franchises build their own goddamned stadiums.
We're getting to progressively hotter topics for me, and this one is really been getting to me lately. Fantasy football is ruining fans' brains. Fans today are so concerned about stats, they are so concerned about people making huge plays, that they forget that this game is more than stats. Everywhere I go I see fans making predictions based on win/loss records, talking teams down because they don't have a QB with MVP numbers or talking teams up simply because they have a productive fantasy player. The really strange thing is you would think they could look at the top fantasy players each year and realize that many times they don't play on winning teams. You would also think that they would be more easily able to look at a team like Detroit and realize that players that might put up big fantasy numbers but were injured could be affecting that record. That's one thing these fans aren't able to see, is the quality of play. For teams like Detroit and Buffalo quality play hasn't exactly translated into victories, but that doesn't mean they aren't a decent teams with a lot of potential. Anyone can watch the way those two teams, or other maligned teams such as Washington, have played this season and know they are on the cusp, but the fantasy-minded see only numbers.
Then you get to this new trend of fantasy analysts some networks are hiring, and they are by far the douchiest, know-nothingest bunch of obnoxious charlatans on TV this side of Fux News. They have absolutely no concept of breaking down a team, of looking at different stats, of evaluating how certain teams and players respond in certain conditions. They look at numbers, numbers, numbers and then go out in front of a camera and do their tired sports nerd machismo bit, playing up the teams and players with flashy numbers and attempting to emasculate those without. As if sports fans need any more machismo. Look, this is a team game, it takes 53 players to get to the playoffs and beyond. Obviously not every team has 53 all-pros, and not every team can be full to the teeth of fantasy standouts. This is what the fantasy generation cannot comprehend, is that teams with mediocre stats, or that excel in certain areas but not others, can remain competitive. I said it before the season started, this is a league of parity. You can look at teams like the Browns beating teams like the Patriots, at the Colts falling off after just one season,at the Bengals sweeping their division last season and going back to the bottom this season. Look at the way the Chiefs and Rams have turned things around, how the Raiders and Jaguars are hanging in there after seasons of fizzling out. Hell, forget the records and look at the way teams like the Lions, Bills, and Redskins are playing, look at the margin of victory, look at some of the good teams they've beaten or come close to beating. This is a league of parity, any team can win on any given Sunday, and that makes this league great. I don't really care if fantasy brains (and I use that word loosely) can't understand that, they just need to stop acting like they're experts when they can't get their heads around the core concepts of this league. If stats were all that mattered then why even play 16 games, why not play four or five and let statistical simulations dot he rest? At this time of year with the playoffs approaching, the fantasy brains are already anointing winners and losers based on stats and playmakers, but what they forget is that you haven't won squat until you actually go out there and win it. At this point in the year, regardless of strength of schedule or any other meaningless excuse used to disparage certain teams, every single team that is still alive has the chance and the ability to win the big one, and any real football fan wouldn't have it any other way.
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