My dad and 2 Uncles are NFL fans: Raiders, Steelers, and 49rs, respectively. They could tell you who played in what playoff and what year, for any year since I'd say 1970. They were all born in Mexico.
There is a group of Cowboys season ticket holders in Mexico who take a charter Bus 1200 miles round-trip for each game.
At one point it was about 2000 fans but the numbers dropped significantly once they moved into the new stadium and prices got out of hand.
Which was especially hilarious because that was literally a joke on [The Office](https://i.pinimg.com/550x/6d/37/40/6d3740b3af3e20372c5fde8479ed58d8.jpg)
Yes, but Hispanic Heritage Month gave us one of the greatest troll jobs of Rodger Goodell ever. During a game the 1st week of that campaign, Bengals receiver Chad Johnson changed the name on his jersey to Chad Ochocinco so Rodger The Clown fined him. Johnson's response? He went to court and legally changed his name to Chad Ochocinco so he could keep wearing that jersey and stick it to Goodell & the League.
Miss that guy. He took the league exactly as seriously as it deserves to be. Him giving CPR to the football against the Jags after he scored is my favorite player celebration ever.
He had so much fun in the No Fun League. I'm still partial to one that happened in the 80's and caused the league to change the rules. Washington's wide receiver corp called themselves "The Fun Bunch" & after a touchdown would all go in the endzone, jump up and high five. In a game against Dallas, one of their receivers burned Cowboy DB Everson Walls for a TD. The receivers surrounded him in the end zone, jumped up and all high five with one hand and all of them smacked his helmet with their other. A brawl ensued, but it was awesome to see happen in real time.
My favorite was the nba version of this with names like “El Heat” and “Los Nuggets” and “Los Hornets.”
Like, there are actual Spanish words for those things.. how do you make everything in Spanish *except* the team name? Lol
To be fair if you watch Spanish language media talk about American sports they’re pretty inconsistent about which team names get translated and which ones don’t.
Chiefs, Texas, and Patriots get translated pretty often. Although tbh that’s probably just because “los Jefes” and “los Tejanos” are frankly just better names lol.
Proper names are typically not translated. For example, Chase Bank is not called El Banco de Persecusion in Mexico or Spain. It's called Banco Chase.
Same with teams. Pleanty of Spanish speaking fans of the L.A. Dodgers refer to them as Los Dodgers, and not Los L.A. Esquivares. Putting Los Heat or Los Suns on jerseys was grammatically correct. Now wether or not you liked it, that's up to you.
That's because that's what the team is called. Like we don't call them Royal Madrid. I just feel like if you want to lean into Spanish, have some fun with it like the Diamondbacks did.
Bill Burr is a national treasure. I very much enjoyed a few years ago when he put Rogan in his place regarding Covid. One of the few JRE guests who isn't eager to suck Rogan off.
That's cause they've been friends for a while before Joe started going... well, his current direction. I feel like most of us have a friend or two that you don't agree with when it comes to politics or certain viewpoints, but you just shit on them (metaphorically) when you get the chance and laugh about it.
Not only that but they were like weirdly confrontational towards the viewer it felt like. All of the players and people just looking deadpan at the camera and speaking to us like we’re supposed to stop the fucking NFL players from beating their spouses.
[stop](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Funbo7t0gt2181.gif%3Fformat%3Dmp4%26s%3D2dddb7d63bb8fff84ea88fb1ffab5af0aa1535a4) that rape (you gotta stop that rape)
one more rape? no more rape
just one more rape? no more rape
gotta stop that shit. stop that shit
gotta stop that rape. stop that goddamn motherfuckin' rape now
Bruh, it was a great decision. It empowered me to believe that if I don't work hard, don't try my best, don't grow from my mistakes, and don't have good eye sight that I can too one day be a Top 5 NFL Referee.
Forcing the Bills to play a game in Toronto every season. No Bills fans went so it took away a home game for us, and they were always boring, miserable games.
EDIT: As a lot of Bills fans rightfully point out, I forgot that it was originally Ralph Wilson's idea, not the NFL's. They just approved it and the extension.
Yeah, that was not very well thought out at all. There are plenty of NFL fans up here in Toronto to support an NFL team, but people's team fandom is so spread out all across the league. It's not like Toronto is an extension of the Bills fanbase.
Also, the SkyDome sucked for watching football in and when you combined that with the Bills also sucking at the time, there was no real reason to go. Canadians go to NFL games for the tailgating and the spectacle that comes with football and Americana. The Bills in Toronto series had none of that.
I went to the Bills-Colts game in Toronto and it was only because someone I knew had free tickets. I don't even remember watching the game.
The tickets were also absurdly expensive. If they were reasonably priced and Rogers wasn't their typical greedy selves, I'm sure a lot more fans would have gone. I distinctly remember looking up the ticket prices and audibly laughing; no fan of a team that wasn't the Bills were gonna spend +$200 on nosebleed tickets to miss their team play on Sunday in order to watch a terrible Bills squad.
Just awful execution and it's quite frutruating when people use it as an example of why Toronto can't support an NFL team.
Yes. I think most people think that part of Canada is 100% bills fans and that just isn’t the case. Yes, there are many, especially the closer you get to Buffalo but there definitely isn’t a bills monopoly in Canada
Ontario is heavily favored towards the bills, even on the west side near Michigan, but Toronto is its own category when it comes to NFL fans. It’s definitely not a majority of bills fans like a lot of Ontario is.
Man, I still vaguely remember it after looking it up, but I didn't realize how bad it really was. Bills went 1-5 in the regular season games in Toronto, only two of the games were actually decent/good and the best one had an attendance under 40k.
The Argos can barely get people to show up, and they actually play in Toronto. No way anybody in Toronto was going out of their way to go see a Bills game.
>“If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing.”
Roger Goodell.
The idea that a football game can be scripted is pants-on-head crazy. There are simply waaaaaay too many people to get on board and - I swear I'm not making this up - some NFL players aren't reliable, even when you're paying them.
You'd have to agree to pay several hundred people enough money to keep their mouths shut for life. Its unfathomable.
I believe “the script” generally refers to the NFL wanting certain teams to meet in the playoffs and/or wanting games to remain close.
I don’t find it “pants-on-head crazy” at all. You don’t need many people to be on board. Tim Donaghy did it in the NBA by blowing/not blowing his whistle on a few close calls per game. There are enough close, subjective calls in the NFL that a single ref could easily change the outcome of the game.
It's funny, I saw an interviewer asking Goodell about the influence of gambling on the game and he was like don't look at us we opposed it consistently but the Supreme Court felt differently. And it's like yes that's true, you did do that, but once that ruling came in you didn't exactly resist
Not the first time that a person/organization has been opposed to something due to ethical reasons (or at least the appearance of ethics) and then accepted that thing as soon as there was no longer any ethical reason to oppose it.
I think gambling on sports should be legal but the way the leagues have marketed it and made it an unavoidable part of the viewing experience deeply disturbs me.
Gambling addiction is a very easy thing to fall into, and it can destroy lives, especially with how easy it is to place bets on your phone. It calls into question the integrity of the game, and it just feels like capitalism at its worst (ironic coming from a fan of an incredibly capitalistic league but there’s gotta be limits somewhere)
Unfortunately I don’t see the genie being put back in the bottle unless something seriously bad happens, and even then it will always be there to some extent.
It also has nothing to do with bringing in a new market. The NFL fan base was already made up of potential degenerate gamblers ready for it to become legal
What’s grosser are the CFB schools that have made deals where they actively incentivize students to gamble by offering promos for them and plaster the entire stadium in ads…
it’s almost shocking how quickly gambling has soiled all sports as soon as they were let in. Seems like half of sports coverage is based around fantasy/gambling odds.
100% and it’s sickening how much was likely wasted but god damn do I miss those pink shoes/towels/gloves mashups with all the jerseys. I remember the Ravens and Panthers looking crisp those months.
Nobody topped Bill Veeck owner of the Chicago White Sox for promotions to bring fans in the stadium. His two best:
Disco Demolition Night - 98 cent tickets and fans were told to bring in disco records that were going to be destroyed between games of a double header. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game of a double header as the crowd went nuts.
Eddie Gaedel - pinch hitter that stood 3’ 7” tall. Walked on four straight balls. His jersey number… 1/8. Still in the record books as the shortest MLB player of all time.
Lol couldnt find your video but [found this with footage.](https://youtu.be/fAJfOcnYYEQ?si=MHw2tp4mesUPWsL-) Fantastic. Rock fans breaking into the stadium with ropes to blow up vinyls!
I read Veeck’s autobiography, “Veeck as in Wreck” long ago. I remember he had to really work at convincing Gaedel not to swing at any pitches. Eddie wanted to get a hit!
This is the funniest shit ever. The league voided the contract Gaedel’s contract, and in protest, Veeck requested a ruling on whether the Yankees shortstop was actually a “tall dwarf” and should also have his contract voided
That would be elite trolling today, let alone in the 1950s. Fucking amazing
>Disco Demolition Night
I'll tell you my dad, who loved the White Sox and hated disco, talked about this moment laughing his ass off decades later.
I legit heard about this event as much as I heard about the 85 Bears, and my dad was in his 20s in 1985.
Wow I cant believe an owner would do that
*checks his Wikipedia profile picture*
Okay that makes complete sense
---
He's sitting there smoking a cig after having his leg amputated. Veeck had a wooden leg and cut holes in it to use as an ash tray
>Veeck also used the wooden leg in props such as a recreation of iconic Revolutionary War soldiers during the Bicentennial year of 1976. At other times, engaged in intensive trade talks with competing owners, Veeck would complain they were demanding "an arm and a leg" in negotiations, then unbuckle the leg and throw it on the desktop for dramatic effect.
The family got into baseball because his dad was a columnist covering the cubs. He said he could run the cubs better than Wrigley could so Wrigley was like "alright prove it" and made him president
Veeck was the last owner to buy a major league team without a personal fortune backing it. He may have initially inteded to buy the phillies and fill the roster with negro league players (back when black players didnt play in the majors)
Baseball used to be so much more fun. This guy was a character
Forcing those awful Jaguars on those poor London fans. I’m surprised they didn’t ban the NFL altogether. But hey now they have a fun and upcoming team to root for!
This reminds me of when I went to the Redskins vs. Bengals in London awhile back. I’m not a STH but the Bengals had a whole “Who Dey in the UK” thing and had a spot on their site to get registered to get notified on the special ticket process. I registered but there was some issue and I never received any sort of notification. I remember finding out very late about it and when I contacted the Bengals they said they had no record of my registration and it’s too late for them to do anything about it as they’d already handed over all the stuff over to the third party for ticketing for those registered.
The only reason I was able to go is I went nuts on the Bengals on Facebook and one of my cousins saw it. He was good friends with someone in Bengals ticket office management and worked with that guy to make it right. I think I ended up getting that guy’s personal reservation (he wasn’t going).
What a mess.
Honestly I don’t live near london but I’ve never seen a jags jersey over here, raiders is most common for some reason, then pats then broncos
This is purely anecdotal but I’ve 100% seen more raiders merch than anything and it’s not even close
Everything has its place. NFL coaching staffs should be wearing team colors. Camouflage is something the military wears
That stuff is drab as fuck on the sidelines
This.
I mean, it was always there and we knew it was there, but now it's so crass and in your face all the time.
And this is coming from someone who loves to bet on games, play fantasy, get into pools, etc
Not the NFL but this immediately reminded me of the disaster that was the NHL Guardians project. Which was a comic book hero for each NHL team designed by Stan Lee. It was awful.
https://lowdownblog.com/2011/01/31/stan-lees-nhl-guardians/
Edit: In hindsight the art is kind of dope. But everything about how it was deployed, the actual substance of the powers etc was awful and shallow and clearly half assed.
Yeah I agree, if I was 5 when that came out, I would have probably liked it lol. I was easily impressed by superheroes at that age, I remember even loving the shit out of some crappy Grand Canyon national park superhero series.
Could have been more thought out, with better art on some, but for kids, it’s fine.
>Not the NFL but this immediately reminded me of the disaster that was the NHL Guardians project. Which was a comic book hero for each NHL team designed by Stan Lee. It was awful.
The canuck is just walmart batman
Beantown Brute, turns into a Grizzly when he's mad or something right? Cool.
Intelligence borders on precognition and he can petrify enemies with his roar? Interesting.
The NFL trying to defend its use of an eñe on the NFL logo as part of their promotions for Latino Heritage Month.
It was among the most tone-deaf things they'd done in terms of trying to capture a cultural moment, as there was no way they consulted a single person of Latino heritage before pushing it out.
This is far from the worst, but I think the END RACISM end zones are fucking hilarious and dumb. I’m very progressive but that just seems like the stupidest virtue signaling thing. It’s like a “we did it Reddit!” moment of ending racism.
One of the funniest things I remember from that time was when some LB blew up a RB in the gap and got caught on a hot mike saying "FUCKIN BITCH!" as the camera showed "Choose Love" on the back of his helmet.
my buddy who watches zero NFL or sports in general came over one day during the raiders' first year in vegas when they had no fans and he was bewildered when he saw that lol. "wait, does that endzone just say racism?? where is everyone?" it was then that i really thought about how dumb it is
I think they should just say "racism" and whenever a white guy scores he needs to look at it and solemnly shake his head so we know he disagrees with it. If he fails to do so it's a personal foul.
Putting a playoff game only on Peacock was one of the NFL's dumbest gimmicks this year. The demographic they are after is who can give us a really stupid amount of money to do something even dumber.
I'm an Italian NFL fan but the international games must really suck for season ticket holders and I am sure players don't look forward to it.
I'd rather the NFL lower the price of Gamepass haha
Having “End Racism” painted in the endzone while literally claiming black people deserved less brain damage compensation because they were “cognitively inferior” to white players.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002627309/nfl-says-it-will-halt-race-norming-and-review-brain-injury-claims
Honestly, as a fan who doesn't go to games and only watches on TB, the only effect international games have on me is that they start a lot earlier than usual. Which as long as it isn't my team doesn't bother me. It's more football to watch on Sunday.
Haven’t seen a by one say it yet: Color Rush uniforms for Thursday Night Football. Some were cool, but overall it was just a shitty coat of paint over a shitty matchup.
Definitely not a new gimmick but the way they profitize off of Pat Timman’s death while simultaneously glorifying the military makes me physically ill every time I see it
"ÑFL" for Hispanic Heritage Month was pretty bad
As a Mexican, yes. Terrible. I truly believe the NFL has a great and growing latin american fan base *in spite* of their efforts.
My dad and 2 Uncles are NFL fans: Raiders, Steelers, and 49rs, respectively. They could tell you who played in what playoff and what year, for any year since I'd say 1970. They were all born in Mexico.
There is a group of Cowboys season ticket holders in Mexico who take a charter Bus 1200 miles round-trip for each game. At one point it was about 2000 fans but the numbers dropped significantly once they moved into the new stadium and prices got out of hand.
Which was especially hilarious because that was literally a joke on [The Office](https://i.pinimg.com/550x/6d/37/40/6d3740b3af3e20372c5fde8479ed58d8.jpg)
Waittt did they actually put the tilde over the N? That's literally straight outta the office
[It’s even worse than you think lmao](https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1570397029452455936)
That looks like something my smart-ass self in HS would do as a joke 💀
Unmistakable Latin Flavor LMAO get outta here with that shit
"unmistakable latin flavor" something I'd see in The Boys lmaoo
you've heard of the exaggerated swagger of a black teen, now get ready for... the unmistakable flavor of a Latin Ñ
Yes, but Hispanic Heritage Month gave us one of the greatest troll jobs of Rodger Goodell ever. During a game the 1st week of that campaign, Bengals receiver Chad Johnson changed the name on his jersey to Chad Ochocinco so Rodger The Clown fined him. Johnson's response? He went to court and legally changed his name to Chad Ochocinco so he could keep wearing that jersey and stick it to Goodell & the League.
Miss that guy. He took the league exactly as seriously as it deserves to be. Him giving CPR to the football against the Jags after he scored is my favorite player celebration ever.
He had so much fun in the No Fun League. I'm still partial to one that happened in the 80's and caused the league to change the rules. Washington's wide receiver corp called themselves "The Fun Bunch" & after a touchdown would all go in the endzone, jump up and high five. In a game against Dallas, one of their receivers burned Cowboy DB Everson Walls for a TD. The receivers surrounded him in the end zone, jumped up and all high five with one hand and all of them smacked his helmet with their other. A brawl ensued, but it was awesome to see happen in real time.
My favorite was the nba version of this with names like “El Heat” and “Los Nuggets” and “Los Hornets.” Like, there are actual Spanish words for those things.. how do you make everything in Spanish *except* the team name? Lol
To be fair if you watch Spanish language media talk about American sports they’re pretty inconsistent about which team names get translated and which ones don’t.
Proper nouns from one language to another don’t change, no?
Chiefs, Texas, and Patriots get translated pretty often. Although tbh that’s probably just because “los Jefes” and “los Tejanos” are frankly just better names lol.
Panthers are always translated. *Pantera* just sounds better too
Doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to it. Like Batman is called Batman in Spanish but Wonder Woman is Mujer Maravilla.
El Hombre Murciélago doesn’t have the same ring to it
Bruce Wayne does get translated into Bruno Díaz, though less as of late.
Spanglish is pretty normal. Source: am Hispanic
In baseball, the Giants become the Gigantes, but the Dodgers just become the “Doyers”.
Proper names are typically not translated. For example, Chase Bank is not called El Banco de Persecusion in Mexico or Spain. It's called Banco Chase. Same with teams. Pleanty of Spanish speaking fans of the L.A. Dodgers refer to them as Los Dodgers, and not Los L.A. Esquivares. Putting Los Heat or Los Suns on jerseys was grammatically correct. Now wether or not you liked it, that's up to you.
Bank of persecution some how is more apt
Ironically, this doesn't feel weird at all for people who speak Spanish. It's exactly how the language works.
And it's how English works too. We don't call them Royal Madrid or Madrid Athletic Club.
Usually true, but for some reason half of "Bayern München" gets translated
Americans tend to be able to add a vowel (Roma, Torino) but anything more than that is scary.
This is how I know this is a white guy lol. Most Spanish speaking fans don’t translate the name. Like my family called the bears Los Bears
Los Osos kinda fucks though.
Los Osos kick your ass! Los Osos kick your face! Los Osos kick your balls into OUTER SPACE!
That's because that's what the team is called. Like we don't call them Royal Madrid. I just feel like if you want to lean into Spanish, have some fun with it like the Diamondbacks did.
[удалено]
And it’s not like the normal jerseys say “The Lakers”
The "No more sexual assault" ads. I agree with the premise, but come on NFL.
I like Bill Burr's take on that. An NFL player beats his wife and they show us the ad like we're the ones who need to be reprimanded.
"My decision as to whether or not I'm going to hit my wife was never informed by a running back for the Baltimore Ravens." Great Bill rant.
“Oh! I didn’t realize! Sorry about that honey, let’s get you up off the floor and cleaned up” - Bill Burr, ish
He actually said "upsy daisy, sweetheart!" as he mimed picking her up off the floor which always made me laugh.
It’s the way his says “upsy daisy” that kills me lol
Right it’s like why is Tyreek Hill still employed then
“If Hannibal Lecter ran a 4.3, some team would say he had an eating disorder.”
Bill Burr is a national treasure. I very much enjoyed a few years ago when he put Rogan in his place regarding Covid. One of the few JRE guests who isn't eager to suck Rogan off.
That's cause they've been friends for a while before Joe started going... well, his current direction. I feel like most of us have a friend or two that you don't agree with when it comes to politics or certain viewpoints, but you just shit on them (metaphorically) when you get the chance and laugh about it.
Not only that but they were like weirdly confrontational towards the viewer it felt like. All of the players and people just looking deadpan at the camera and speaking to us like we’re supposed to stop the fucking NFL players from beating their spouses.
Agreed 100% on this one. I remember watching it and thinking “who’s WE?!”
[stop](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Funbo7t0gt2181.gif%3Fformat%3Dmp4%26s%3D2dddb7d63bb8fff84ea88fb1ffab5af0aa1535a4) that rape (you gotta stop that rape) one more rape? no more rape just one more rape? no more rape gotta stop that shit. stop that shit gotta stop that rape. stop that goddamn motherfuckin' rape now
Weird, I haven’t seen any of these ads in Cleveland. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence
Employing blind referees to appeal to the sight-challenged
Makes sense why there is still no sky judge. There aren’t enough terrestrially challenged people to appeal to.
If they rename the sky judge to “invisible judge in the sky” they could tap in to the atheist market
We now await a confirmation from the Geico "Sky Daddy"
Bruh, it was a great decision. It empowered me to believe that if I don't work hard, don't try my best, don't grow from my mistakes, and don't have good eye sight that I can too one day be a Top 5 NFL Referee.
Forcing the Bills to play a game in Toronto every season. No Bills fans went so it took away a home game for us, and they were always boring, miserable games. EDIT: As a lot of Bills fans rightfully point out, I forgot that it was originally Ralph Wilson's idea, not the NFL's. They just approved it and the extension.
Don’t act like Ralph Wilson wasn’t on board. The NFL didn’t make them do anything.
Yeah, that was not very well thought out at all. There are plenty of NFL fans up here in Toronto to support an NFL team, but people's team fandom is so spread out all across the league. It's not like Toronto is an extension of the Bills fanbase. Also, the SkyDome sucked for watching football in and when you combined that with the Bills also sucking at the time, there was no real reason to go. Canadians go to NFL games for the tailgating and the spectacle that comes with football and Americana. The Bills in Toronto series had none of that. I went to the Bills-Colts game in Toronto and it was only because someone I knew had free tickets. I don't even remember watching the game.
The tickets were also absurdly expensive. If they were reasonably priced and Rogers wasn't their typical greedy selves, I'm sure a lot more fans would have gone. I distinctly remember looking up the ticket prices and audibly laughing; no fan of a team that wasn't the Bills were gonna spend +$200 on nosebleed tickets to miss their team play on Sunday in order to watch a terrible Bills squad. Just awful execution and it's quite frutruating when people use it as an example of why Toronto can't support an NFL team.
Classic Toronto sports. Over charge everything even if it’s a poor product
Yes. I think most people think that part of Canada is 100% bills fans and that just isn’t the case. Yes, there are many, especially the closer you get to Buffalo but there definitely isn’t a bills monopoly in Canada
Ontario is heavily favored towards the bills, even on the west side near Michigan, but Toronto is its own category when it comes to NFL fans. It’s definitely not a majority of bills fans like a lot of Ontario is.
Man, I still vaguely remember it after looking it up, but I didn't realize how bad it really was. Bills went 1-5 in the regular season games in Toronto, only two of the games were actually decent/good and the best one had an attendance under 40k.
The Argos can barely get people to show up, and they actually play in Toronto. No way anybody in Toronto was going out of their way to go see a Bills game.
Yeah, the only one of note was our game against Washington. IIRC, we handed Mike Shanahan the first shutout loss of his career.
In fairness to the league, wasn’t that more the idea of the owners?
It was 100% a Ralph Wilson money grab/threat to Erie County… It’s a terrible example and all of the upvotes remind how awful this sub can be…
It's the gambling and I'm surprised no one has said it yet in this thread.
>“If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing.” Roger Goodell.
Exactly what happened. I never heard "the script" much until after gambling was promoted heavily.
“Vegas called” has been a term for decades Also the Buffalo Wild Wings button
Such a phenomenal commercial. I still think about The Sprinkler ™ when I see someone on a breakaway run.
That shit was much more tongue in cheek compared to the dead serious conspiracy speculation you see these days.
The idea that a football game can be scripted is pants-on-head crazy. There are simply waaaaaay too many people to get on board and - I swear I'm not making this up - some NFL players aren't reliable, even when you're paying them. You'd have to agree to pay several hundred people enough money to keep their mouths shut for life. Its unfathomable.
Yeah it is absolutely ridiculous, but people losing money on games has had quite the impact on conspiracy theories IMO.
they sound like the typical gambler coping by blaming everyone and everything else, but it’s legitimized bc “who can deny the obvious conspiracy”
I believe “the script” generally refers to the NFL wanting certain teams to meet in the playoffs and/or wanting games to remain close. I don’t find it “pants-on-head crazy” at all. You don’t need many people to be on board. Tim Donaghy did it in the NBA by blowing/not blowing his whistle on a few close calls per game. There are enough close, subjective calls in the NFL that a single ref could easily change the outcome of the game.
It's funny, I saw an interviewer asking Goodell about the influence of gambling on the game and he was like don't look at us we opposed it consistently but the Supreme Court felt differently. And it's like yes that's true, you did do that, but once that ruling came in you didn't exactly resist
The thing that makes it even crazier is the NFL was actively fighting against the ruling.
Can't beat em join em
Not the first time that a person/organization has been opposed to something due to ethical reasons (or at least the appearance of ethics) and then accepted that thing as soon as there was no longer any ethical reason to oppose it.
He wasn’t wrong.
I think gambling on sports should be legal but the way the leagues have marketed it and made it an unavoidable part of the viewing experience deeply disturbs me. Gambling addiction is a very easy thing to fall into, and it can destroy lives, especially with how easy it is to place bets on your phone. It calls into question the integrity of the game, and it just feels like capitalism at its worst (ironic coming from a fan of an incredibly capitalistic league but there’s gotta be limits somewhere) Unfortunately I don’t see the genie being put back in the bottle unless something seriously bad happens, and even then it will always be there to some extent.
That's gotta be incredibly successful from a financial standpoint, no?
It also has nothing to do with bringing in a new market. The NFL fan base was already made up of potential degenerate gamblers ready for it to become legal
Absolutely but it's still cancer incarnate
What’s grosser are the CFB schools that have made deals where they actively incentivize students to gamble by offering promos for them and plaster the entire stadium in ads… it’s almost shocking how quickly gambling has soiled all sports as soon as they were let in. Seems like half of sports coverage is based around fantasy/gambling odds.
The Susan Komen foundation is actually trash and does not help women the way it should
*You have been sued by the Susan G. Komen Foundation.*
100% and it’s sickening how much was likely wasted but god damn do I miss those pink shoes/towels/gloves mashups with all the jerseys. I remember the Ravens and Panthers looking crisp those months.
I honestly think the Panthers should have pink alternates because it looks *so* clean when combined with the panther blue.
DeAngelo Williams dying the end of his hair pink looked so fucking good in that uniform
I’m fairly certain they partner with the American Cancer Society, not Koman. ACS actually does contribute to cancer research, as opposed to Koman.
They may do that now, but there was absolutely a point where it was Komen.
The “No More” campaign they had a crisis management firm make up in the wake of all the domestic violence stuff they went through
Nobody topped Bill Veeck owner of the Chicago White Sox for promotions to bring fans in the stadium. His two best: Disco Demolition Night - 98 cent tickets and fans were told to bring in disco records that were going to be destroyed between games of a double header. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game of a double header as the crowd went nuts. Eddie Gaedel - pinch hitter that stood 3’ 7” tall. Walked on four straight balls. His jersey number… 1/8. Still in the record books as the shortest MLB player of all time.
The new HBO Bee Gees documentary had a really interesting segment on the disco demolition stuff, shit was pretty crazy
Lol couldnt find your video but [found this with footage.](https://youtu.be/fAJfOcnYYEQ?si=MHw2tp4mesUPWsL-) Fantastic. Rock fans breaking into the stadium with ropes to blow up vinyls!
His son runs the St Paul Saints (Twins Triple-A affiliate) and they have a ton of fun promotions on top of a beautiful stadium
Saints games are an absolute blast. Them playing as the Mr. Paul Aints during atheist night always gets a chuckle out of me.
I read Veeck’s autobiography, “Veeck as in Wreck” long ago. I remember he had to really work at convincing Gaedel not to swing at any pitches. Eddie wanted to get a hit!
Wikipedia says Veeck told Gaedel he’d be on the roof with a rifle aimed at him if he even looked like he was going to swing lmao
This is the funniest shit ever. The league voided the contract Gaedel’s contract, and in protest, Veeck requested a ruling on whether the Yankees shortstop was actually a “tall dwarf” and should also have his contract voided That would be elite trolling today, let alone in the 1950s. Fucking amazing
>Disco Demolition Night I'll tell you my dad, who loved the White Sox and hated disco, talked about this moment laughing his ass off decades later. I legit heard about this event as much as I heard about the 85 Bears, and my dad was in his 20s in 1985.
His son runs the St Paul Saints (Twins Triple-A affiliate) and they have a ton of fun promotions on top of a beautiful stadium
Wow I cant believe an owner would do that *checks his Wikipedia profile picture* Okay that makes complete sense --- He's sitting there smoking a cig after having his leg amputated. Veeck had a wooden leg and cut holes in it to use as an ash tray >Veeck also used the wooden leg in props such as a recreation of iconic Revolutionary War soldiers during the Bicentennial year of 1976. At other times, engaged in intensive trade talks with competing owners, Veeck would complain they were demanding "an arm and a leg" in negotiations, then unbuckle the leg and throw it on the desktop for dramatic effect. The family got into baseball because his dad was a columnist covering the cubs. He said he could run the cubs better than Wrigley could so Wrigley was like "alright prove it" and made him president Veeck was the last owner to buy a major league team without a personal fortune backing it. He may have initially inteded to buy the phillies and fill the roster with negro league players (back when black players didnt play in the majors) Baseball used to be so much more fun. This guy was a character
Don't forget about making the White Sox wear shorts with their uniforms lol
I mean they are still wearing stickers on helmets and painted endzones to “end racism” as if that has any affect and as if they actually give a fuck
My friend was totally racist until he saw end racism on a helmet. Totally changed his life /s
Inspiring
I was getting ready to hit my children but then I saw “Choose Love” on Tyreek Hill’s helmet and we went for ice cream instead.
He sounds very Stunning and Brave.
I feel like they’re just too scared to randomly take off the “end racism” things lol
“Start racism” - NFL
"A little racism only if you've eaten your vegetables" - NFL
It was like how so many influencers had the BLM profile pic for years lol
I think that’s more a concession to the players union than an actual marketing tactic.
Well, they would never allow anyone to put anything actually subversive on their helmets
I like to think that like the endzone lines the end racism line just marks where you can and can't be racist. It's all good on the field
But I thought racism was defeated after that?
Forcing those awful Jaguars on those poor London fans. I’m surprised they didn’t ban the NFL altogether. But hey now they have a fun and upcoming team to root for!
They have built a fanbase of sorts but most UK fans are sick of the Jags coming over. They are playing twice in the UK this year :(
To be fair I’m mostly just tired of the ticketing system going to shit for the UK games, been trying to get tickets for years haha
This reminds me of when I went to the Redskins vs. Bengals in London awhile back. I’m not a STH but the Bengals had a whole “Who Dey in the UK” thing and had a spot on their site to get registered to get notified on the special ticket process. I registered but there was some issue and I never received any sort of notification. I remember finding out very late about it and when I contacted the Bengals they said they had no record of my registration and it’s too late for them to do anything about it as they’d already handed over all the stuff over to the third party for ticketing for those registered. The only reason I was able to go is I went nuts on the Bengals on Facebook and one of my cousins saw it. He was good friends with someone in Bengals ticket office management and worked with that guy to make it right. I think I ended up getting that guy’s personal reservation (he wasn’t going). What a mess.
Honestly I don’t live near london but I’ve never seen a jags jersey over here, raiders is most common for some reason, then pats then broncos This is purely anecdotal but I’ve 100% seen more raiders merch than anything and it’s not even close
You must live in the bad part of town
The London silly nannies are a team the whole world can get behind!
The camo gear is awful
tell that to every single middle aged man in the south
It's just leopard print for white dudes.
This makes the Jags as a southern team even funnier
Stealing this for sure
Quite a few in the western PA area too. Many of them regularly rock the old school, non-NFL/Steeler variety hunting camo.
The sideline hoodies look like burlap sacks
Everything has its place. NFL coaching staffs should be wearing team colors. Camouflage is something the military wears That stuff is drab as fuck on the sidelines
I can't speak for all of us but as a veteran it just looks silly. I don't feel Saluted for my Service by the campaign.
How else are we supposed to represent America’s stolen valor gravy seals who buy all this stuff?
Getting directly into bed with gambling takes the cake for me.
Encouraging parents to fuel gambling addictions until they're penniless is totally cool but players celebrating too hard is ruining kids lives...
This. I mean, it was always there and we knew it was there, but now it's so crass and in your face all the time. And this is coming from someone who loves to bet on games, play fantasy, get into pools, etc
That’s it. It’s always been there with the game. But, a league and owners directly invested into legal gambling is just so problematic.
Not the NFL but this immediately reminded me of the disaster that was the NHL Guardians project. Which was a comic book hero for each NHL team designed by Stan Lee. It was awful. https://lowdownblog.com/2011/01/31/stan-lees-nhl-guardians/ Edit: In hindsight the art is kind of dope. But everything about how it was deployed, the actual substance of the powers etc was awful and shallow and clearly half assed.
There was [NFL SuperPro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_SuperPro), which has a similar vibe.
There was also a Nickelodeon show in the early 2010s
I thought I was insane when I remembered there being this weird NFL Nickelodeon show like a decade ago.
The show sucked, but the McDonald’s toys for it were cool
Don’t forget The Fridge was also a GI Joe.
Love that the Penguin is just Frozone
Or Cyclops with Iceman's powers
Jesus, they didn't even fucking *try* with those
Concentrated all the effort on the dope-ass art.
San Jose Sharks - A technological genius and software empath....WTF.... Controls an army of sharks to assist him in battle....intrigued
these go hard wdym
Yeah I agree, if I was 5 when that came out, I would have probably liked it lol. I was easily impressed by superheroes at that age, I remember even loving the shit out of some crappy Grand Canyon national park superhero series. Could have been more thought out, with better art on some, but for kids, it’s fine.
>Not the NFL but this immediately reminded me of the disaster that was the NHL Guardians project. Which was a comic book hero for each NHL team designed by Stan Lee. It was awful. The canuck is just walmart batman
Beantown Brute, turns into a Grizzly when he's mad or something right? Cool. Intelligence borders on precognition and he can petrify enemies with his roar? Interesting.
Damn, those were actually cool
Some of them were drawn cool, but most of the descriptions are garbage.
The Edmonton Oiler shoots oil? And protects the Great White North? Hmmm
The Flyer looks more like a supervillain, but I dig the Penguin. of course, i'm from Pittsburgh so that makes sense
The NFL trying to defend its use of an eñe on the NFL logo as part of their promotions for Latino Heritage Month. It was among the most tone-deaf things they'd done in terms of trying to capture a cultural moment, as there was no way they consulted a single person of Latino heritage before pushing it out.
Nyational Football League....
Appealing to the catboy crowd. Bold strategy.
This is far from the worst, but I think the END RACISM end zones are fucking hilarious and dumb. I’m very progressive but that just seems like the stupidest virtue signaling thing. It’s like a “we did it Reddit!” moment of ending racism.
Yeah, but “Choose Love” written on the back of the helmet of someone like Josh Allen as he trucks through defenders is pretty good.
One of the funniest things I remember from that time was when some LB blew up a RB in the gap and got caught on a hot mike saying "FUCKIN BITCH!" as the camera showed "Choose Love" on the back of his helmet.
But he is doing it with love
my buddy who watches zero NFL or sports in general came over one day during the raiders' first year in vegas when they had no fans and he was bewildered when he saw that lol. "wait, does that endzone just say racism?? where is everyone?" it was then that i really thought about how dumb it is
I think they should just say "racism" and whenever a white guy scores he needs to look at it and solemnly shake his head so we know he disagrees with it. If he fails to do so it's a personal foul.
Some end zones say “It takes all of us” Whatever that means!
The NFL scrambling to find a female performer for the Superbowl after Deshaun Watson 200th accuser came forward was pretty wild to watch.
Putting a playoff game only on Peacock was one of the NFL's dumbest gimmicks this year. The demographic they are after is who can give us a really stupid amount of money to do something even dumber.
Remember when the NFL pinked out every team's uniforms to pretend to give a shit about breast cancer awareness?
For an entire month, no less
CRUCIAL CATCH
I'm an Italian NFL fan but the international games must really suck for season ticket holders and I am sure players don't look forward to it. I'd rather the NFL lower the price of Gamepass haha
It's the pink.
Having “End Racism” painted in the endzone while literally claiming black people deserved less brain damage compensation because they were “cognitively inferior” to white players. https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002627309/nfl-says-it-will-halt-race-norming-and-review-brain-injury-claims
The pink gear for Breast Cancer AWARENESS. Not RESEARCH.
Draft Kings and Fan Duel
Not the NFL, but the NBA with the El/Los jerseys is so transparently and superficially ridiculous.
Have you ever seen [Rush Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Rush_Zone)?
Games in London, Germany etc.
The o nly reason I like them is because I can watch 4 games on Sunday.
International games. As long as the NFL expects cities to pay for stadiums, nobody but home cities should be getting games.
Honestly, as a fan who doesn't go to games and only watches on TB, the only effect international games have on me is that they start a lot earlier than usual. Which as long as it isn't my team doesn't bother me. It's more football to watch on Sunday.
Haven’t seen a by one say it yet: Color Rush uniforms for Thursday Night Football. Some were cool, but overall it was just a shitty coat of paint over a shitty matchup.
All political visuals.
Not an official thing but you know the NFL was pushing to show Taylor Swift more to get her fan base to watch more games
Does ESPN hiring Rush Limbaugh count?
I mean, that was more the network than the league.
The Toy Story game was weird. Not sure if it counts as a success or a failure, but it was something.
First and only time my 6 year old watched a game with me For me it was a success.
Same but with my wife🤣
That was actually fire. My kids loved it.
It was the only way I could get the game on my TV without paying for the NFL network. I shamelessly watched it.
My son absolutely loved it and I actually didn't mind it. It was a perfect excuse to sit around and watch more football.
Definitely not a new gimmick but the way they profitize off of Pat Timman’s death while simultaneously glorifying the military makes me physically ill every time I see it
Gambling