No one knows how long this damn lockout will last, of course, but if it does end with us experiencing NFL-free Sundays in the fall, every other football organization in the world seems to have a plan for capturing your eyeballs.
The fledgling UFL sees it as its chance to shine. The Lingerie Football League wants to seduce you. College football conferences are thinking of moving games to Sundays. Everyone wants what you used to give to the NFL.
I'm curious, though: Does any of that really appeal to you? Can you just plug in some other form of football and be just as content?
I speak only for myself, but no, no I can't. I don't think I'd watch any of those things.
I like college football, and I consume oodles of it on Saturdays, but I don't like it so much that I'd give it a few more hours of my time on Sundays. The quality of play isn't close to the same, there's no satisfactory conclusion to the season, and there's way too much Lee Corso. I can't do it. I like it, I'll continue to enjoy it in the same capacity as I did before, but an NFL substitute, it is not.
The UFL? I know this sounds cynical and belittling, but I can't shake the feeling that it's closer to a YMCA flag football game than an NFL game. Yes, there are quality players and elite athletes out there, but at the end of the day, it's still decidedly minor league. Maybe the level of play there will be better this year than it was last year, but I just can't get past that these are not the best players. This is not the game at its highest level.
As for the Lingerie Football League, well, it's like comparing apples to luscious, luscious melons. I like seeing Eric Steinbach pull around the end and pancake a guy on a sweep. I also like her. But they are very, very different feelings.
I really don't think I'd watch any of it.
I watch the NFL on Sundays because the NFL is awesome. I don't watch because it's Sunday, and I have some kind of football quota that needs to be met on that particular day. If they played NFL games at 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Tuesday mornings, I'd make some waffles and watch then, and on Sundays, I'll, I don't know ... start a fight club or something.
It's not just Sunday football that I'll miss; it's the NFL's particular brand of football. I don't know that it can be replaced.
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