In applying the most simple and base evaluation methodologies, the National Football League nearly crawled out of a Mariana level trench of discontent, as the pair of conference championship games featured all the glitz, glamour and intrigue of a guy’s weekend in Vegas.
However, reality dictates that the complex moving parts of the league ruled by the indelible and crafty Roger Goodell, does not provide a transparent and easy clairvoyant painting of an organization built with a daunting stratified complexity rivaling Maxwellian equations explaining electromagnetism. After enduring an horrendous year of controversy generated by polarizing and unpatriotic players protesting and opting out of the National Anthem, the league inexplicably has detached itself from the anti-american and social justice warriors in miraculous fashion, a testament to the public relations genius of the rock star lineup of communications professionals. Colin who?
Aided by the epic finishes to each championship game and the narratives worthy of a decadent script and screenplay topped with a bourbon infused cherry, the television ratings once at a Harvey Weinstein pitchfork and flaming torch riot of obscurity, have nearly recovered to sustainable levels, even with the hypocritical undertone of an anti-law enforcement sentiment emanating from certain players. The success of middle America teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bear, helped to offset the damage from the horrific and incorrigible actions of the quarterback who cannot even erect a shelter on the landscape of the gridiron. Speaking of Weinstein, and maybe Mao or Castro, he should hire the NFL PR gurus to make his Wilt Chamberlain marathon of sexual assault and abuse lineage disappear into the sea of smartphones and the 15-second news cycle. The obvious distinction between Wilt and Harvey, is Chamberlain’s harem was more than willing to a man who should receive a Hollywood star and a pedestal adjacent to the Hefner Washington monument shaped memorial.
As everything seems hunky dory with the legion of hardcore fans watching games and buying copious amounts of merchandise, is the recent upward viewership simply a microcosm of the game morphing into a high scoring fireworks show, and once the showmanship wears off, the loss of a high percentage of conservative leaning fans, will lead to long-term financial stagnation? The answer may not involve the loyal base of supporters, but the paradigm shift in demographics, based off the variables of birth rate and immigration. As less US born women are having children, especially within the Generation X ranks, and immigrants flood into the country and procreate, the global game of Futbol is gradually replacing the American football. With concerns over debilitating head brain trauma, many parents are not allowing their children to participate, further alienating a group of people who view the game as barbaric, offensive, and triggering a Time’s Square LED billboard of microaggressions.
In an interesting and ironic sidenote, #Metwo movement organizers decided to hold large scale protests and rallies on the second most important professional football weekend of the year in further distancing the planetary bodies of Mars and Venus. It is always refreshing when a few militant misandrists encourage hate towards men (well, white men), and attempt to force a circle into a square peg by eliminating the concept of gender only when it is convenient to their agenda. They themselves become just as vile as the a-holes who torment women in a moment typified by pure blind rage and absent of logic. Lost within the shuffle is that women and men both have a set of unbelievably amazing qualities and stupefying faults unique to the sexes, a dichotomy which makes the world an intriguing place. That being said, feminists creating an estrogen versus testosterone, and X versus Y battlefield, could not detract from the super dad heroics of New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady in culminating an epic weekend of football by leading yet another stunning comeback. The football menu for Superbowl 53 is set as the old guard Patriots, will face the upstart Los Angeles Rams, a gritty collection of veterans and young talent that is eagerly awaiting the completion of a new home stadium.
While many fans are in a “wait and see” mode in giving their hearts back to the NFL, athletic entrepreneurs are eagerly courting this crucial and lucrative group in attempting to woo them away from the traditional Sunday couch viewing parties. Professional wrestling magnate Vince McMahon and investors plan to relaunch the XFL brand in eight major media markets in 2020, which will not directly compete with the Goodell empire, but will provide a litmus test as to the allegiances of sports consumers.
Contemporary toxic political ideologies and activism continue to hammer away at traditions which transcend the realm of policy and influence the marketplace as shaming has reached a deplorable level and nonsense, threatening to eliminate the intricacies of culture. In these dangerous times, when a woman is still a woman, and a man is still a man, at the end of the day football is a game and the fun Autumn weekends of hard hitting action and cheerleaders, are a sign that hope still exists for the future of society, as the next two decades will decide the fate of the country.
A thrilling weekend of gridiron bliss cannot single-handedly redirect the trajectory of cultural phenomenon, but can provide a clairvoyant perspective as to the immediate future of the product and the impact on fans and friends.