NFL, Woo-Hoo to Ho-Hum

I was probably more excited for last year’s NFL season than I had ever been in the past.

I was just itching for another Fantasy Football title, and the Oakland Raiders were coming off their first winning season since 2002. I smelled the playoffs; that glorious whiff of January football.

But then that pesky kneeling-during-the-National-Anthem debate roared back up.

Then the Raiders got shellacked in Week 3 against the damn Redskins.

Then all my Fantasy running backs not named LeSean McCoy underwhelmed.

Then Marshawn Lynch (my 2nd running back in Fantasy) knelt during the playing of the National Anthem, but stood for the Mexican Anthem, before the Raiders-Patriots game in Mexico City.

Then the Raiders finished 6-10.

Then I finished 4th in my Fantasy league and lost in the first round of the playoffs, losing 50 bucks.

Noooot a great season for me.

I’m not even sure I’ll be paying attention to the NFL now. I have reached peak NFL Fatigue.

I’m not one of those “The NFL players MUST STAND FOR THE ANTHEM!” fans either.

I’m just tired of hearing about it. The debate goes on and on and on and on and on and nothing really changes.

I’m tired of President Trump going on and on and on and on and on about it.

I’m tired of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell performing his duties with all the finesse of an intoxicated surgeon. From concussions to domestic violence to now this Anthem discussion, he continuously makes Barney Fife look like Sherlock Holmes.

And I’m sorry, but how is someone going to kneel for the US Anthem then stand for the Mexican Anthem? Do I think Marshawn Lynch is an SOB and should be suspended from the game for that sort of thing? No. It just rubbed me the wrong way. I know Lynch wasn’t the only one who knelt (in the Mexico City game or any of the London games).

Besides, now I can save the 50 bucks I would have lost playing Fantasy Football to take my wife out to Red Lobster. We both win.

Now my wife won’t have to listen to me babble on about which running back I SHOULD have started in Week 4, or whether I should have traded Tom Brady for Kareem Hunt (I tried, but the other Fantasy owner didn’t take the bait).

Now I can focus all my attention on college ball, and NC State as they rumble down the halls of slightly-above-average toward another 8-4 (hopefully) season.

Then again, it IS football. So I’ll say there’s actually only a 75% chance I don’t watch the NFL this season.