NFL Network Sacked For A Loss

So, it looks like the Patriot – Giants game will be on ‘free’ over-the-air TV (seen mainly on ‘paid’ cable or satellite). Originally it was scheduled to be on the NFL Network alone.

This is a complex story, but it seems the NFL is the real short term loser here.

Basically, the NFL created its own sports network and seeded it with a handful of games. In years gone by, these would have been shown on free TV and, in fact, they were still going to be shown on free TV in the teams’ home markets.

The idea was to force cable companies to carry the network year round. That would be the only way to have access to these individual games. The NFL wanted it to be included on cable as a basic service, like CNN or ESPN and not a pay add-on, like HBO or Showtime.

It was a lot to swallow for a few out-of-market games and lots (and lots) of filler.

Unfortunately for the NFL, the cable companies balked and few fans cared. Did you really miss the Broncos – Texans game on December 13 (or the other random match-ups&#185)?

This would have all passed quietly, except for this weekend and the Patriots going for an undefeated season. Now the NFL had leverage. Fortunately, it blew up in their faces.

Under enormous pressure from Congress on down, the NFL relented. Now, this marquee game will be seen on the NFL Network, NBC and CBS! In Boston and New York City it will be on a fourth station as well! ABC might as well run the “All-Star Salute to Cheese.”

In trying to force the cable companies to carry their network, the NFL didn’t have a leg to stand on because of one other move they’d made: NFL Sunday Ticket.

NFL Sunday Ticket is the NFL’s package, offering every game live. As much as the cable companies and Dish Network want that (and I’d probably buy it), it is only offered on DirectTV.

This is a guess on my part, but I’ll bet Sunday Ticket is the most powerful selling point DirectTV has.

The cable ops (and I) wondered, how the could NFL cry about their fans inability to watch these NFL Network games when it wouldn’t provide all the other games to those same poor fans? This is the definition of chutzpah!

There’s an old story about a guy who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he’s an orphan. That’s the NFL!

I don’t know how this will all come out. At some point the NFL will have to accept defeat and decide if this in-house network is really a viable concept.

Is it just me, or is there a cosmic thread which runs through America where we root for the evil, greedy corporation to get its comeuppance. At the moment, I couldn’t be happier.

In the Fox house, we will continue to root against the Giants. The Pats achievement is less important.

&#185 – NFL Network 2007 Game Schedule

Week 12: Thursday, November 22 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Indianapolis Colts at Atlanta Falcons (Thanksgiving)

Week 13: Thursday, November 29 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys

Week 14: Thursday, December 6 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Chicago Bears at Washington Redskins

Week 15: Thursday, December 13 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Denver Broncos at Houston Texans

Week 15: Saturday, December 15 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Cincinnati Bengals at San Francisco 49ers

Week 16: Thursday, December 20 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Pittsburgh Steelers at St. Louis Rams

Week 16: Saturday, December 22 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

Dallas Cowboys at Carolina Panthers

Week 17: Saturday, December 29 at 8:00 PM ET (Live)

New England Patriots at New York Giants

Eagles – Helaine’s Got The Sound Down By Now

We are die hard Eagles fans, we Foxes. Before we caught on that even non-drinkers could watch the game at a bar, we listened on the computer. Before that we scrounged as best we could.

Being an Eagles fan is an exercise in self flagellation. They have found nearly every way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

After losing last year’s Super Bowl they proceeded to self destruct in the off season.

Superstar Terrell Owens started sniping at superstar quarterback about the same time the ref shot off the gun ending the game. Had the gun contained more than blanks, who knows what would have happened.

Owens also protested his superstar contract. It didn’t pay enough.

Then there were injuries and unhappy talk from other players. No one was well. No one was happy. It was the Eagles as only a true fan knows them.

I started as an Eagles fan through a strange quirk. A friend had tickets. That first game was played in the sun, on a warm late summer’s day. An American flag covered the entire length of the field as I walked in and gazed down at The Vet.

It would be like prejudging airline service based on airline ads. I started attending games anyway.

By the time that first season ended on an amazingly cold December day, the Eagles had managed to go 4 – 10&#185. I was hooked.

Tonight is the first game of the new season and the Eagles are playing in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. As I type, they are down 7-14. The league’s most accurate kicker has missed two so far.

Hey, the night’s young.

Before the game began a scuffle broke out on the field. Forty five minutes before the game began, a ref threw a flag! Jeremiah Trotter of the Eagles was disqualified.

The Atlanta Falcons drew first blood. They flowed down the field like water into New Orleans. They were a torrent. Before long they did it again.

This is not to say the Eagles aren’t playing too. They scored a touchdown and missed those two aforementioned field goals.

The game is young. There’s still a full half to go. The Eagles could turn it around and win big… or get blown out.

Meanwhile, at home, Helaine has a game plan going. The next few sentences are based on my 20+ years experience with her.

She turned on the set, but kept the volume low. Then, after the Falcons scored, she turned it off entirely. At the moment, it is Helaine in the darkened house, the flickering TV dimly lighting the room – but no sound.

I would call her, but… Well, I value our relationship too much too call now. She is in pre-mourning, if you will. Even if the Eagles win she will have spent the entire evening knowing they would lose.

Hey, that’s what real Eagles fandom is all about.

&#185 – Back then the season was mercifully 14 games.

Eagles Get To Go To Jacksonville

If I wouldn’t have seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons today, and will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. This was a very convincing win.

Helaine and I sat in the family room to watch the game. We were more than a little pleased to be joined by Stefanie. I’m not going to call her a football fan, because she’d deny it on principle, but she’s getting awfully close.

The Eagles looked great from the the first series. On defense, they kept Michael Vick – a quarterback known for his athleticism and mobility, immobile.

I’m not going to write more about the game, because if you’re a football fan you already know. If you’re not a fan, you don’t care.

Two things do need addressing. Earlier last week, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb (who wears his hair tightly braided) showed up with it totally ‘free.’ I commented on the air, it looked like Oscar Gamble’s. Luckily, thanks to the net, Oscar Gamble photos are available.

Then there’s Eagles tight end Chad Lewis. As a Mormon, Lewis performed missionary work in China. So, of course, he learned to speak the Mandarin dialect of Chinese.

Last year when the Super Bowl was broadcast in China, he worked the telecast as the color commentator, in Chinese. This year he’ll be busy on Super Bowl Sunday.