Thursday Night Football Sucks and You Know It – Saints/Falcons Edition
By Mark Laxman
Can’t wait for Thursday night…or something
Thursday Night Football. The stupidest thing the NFL has ever done.
For the second year in a row, the Saints travel to Atlanta on a short week to play their biggest division rival. The fact that the Falcons are a complete mess right now is irrelevant. These teams play close games no matter what. The unimpressive Saints knocked the Falcons from the ranks of the unbeaten last year even though nobody gave them a shot.
Thursday Night Football is supposedly about the fans. Fans want more football, right? Of course we do, but we don’t want a watered down product with a display of hobbled players while still either celebrating the previous week’s win or commiserating loss. Thursday is too soon. Nothing feels right about it. Saints-Falcons is something that has gotten me excited since I was in diapers, but for the second year in a row, I don’t have THAT feeling that I have when this game is played on an day when NFL football is supposed to be played.
The Commissioner and his goons have spent so much time touting the company line of “player safety” and “fan experience” but have listened to neither the fans nor the players when it comes to Thursday night games. Players like letting their bodies heal before abusing them again. I mean, the league agreed with the players’ union to limit the number of contact practices throughout the season in the name of “player safety” but kept the Thursday night games? Fans hate Thursday Night Football, especially when it’s their team who is stuck playing that game. You know what, dumb asses? Saints fans like to make the trip to Atlanta to take over that circus tent and make it so the Who Dat chants can be heard on television. You know what else? Those fans have jobs and therefore typically can’t make the trip. Hell, they can’t even really arrange a good game-night party considering they’ll be getting home from work 2 hours before kickoff. You know, dinner, kids, dogs, homework, work work…all these things that take place on a Thursday night still have to be taken care of whether the game is happening or not, therefore making it more of a chore to watch the game in your own home than something you can enjoy.
Your arrogance and desperation, Mr. Commissioner, to get a game exclusive to your shitty network also has killed the fan experience. Of course people who love football are going to watch. There is no better television option on a Thursday night than an NFL game (usually) but it just isn’t the same and if the morons running this league actually gave a damn about the things they so adamantly claim, they’d scrap the bullshit that is Thursday Night Football and put things back to the way they were.
Thursday Night Football sucks. You know it, I know it, the players know it. The $hield knows it too.
The bottom line is the dollar sign. Screw you NFL. I’m ordering a Jabari Greer Chinese knockoff jersey once I hit the save button just because you are killing what is the best sport on this planet.