I started this blog in 2009. I had a few reasons for doing so, but the real driver, the catalyst for the entire thing, was to have a place to write about my thoughts on the NFL. It was the sport at that time in my life I cared about more than any other. I wanted a place to express my opinions, on who the best teams were, on what the real best players were, on how wins for QBs were useless, on how Manning was better than Brady, and on who I thought would win each week. Eight years later, more than anything else football has owned this blog. And for the first time, I think that isn't true.
In 2009-2011, I wrote a lot about football. In 2012, it went to a new level, for a few reasons. First, I got a job early that football season and could essentially relax and write more. Second, it was Manning's first year back from injury and was probably the last year I was truly invested week to week. Third, it was the year I started betting on football. Not a lot, not enough to where I was risking bankruptcy, but betting all the same. That year I started writing a piece each week called 'The Power Rankings & the Rest' where I not only ranked each of the 32 teams, but also ranked the games in the upcoming week. It was the apex of my love of the game.
Five years later, I have hit the nadir. I honestly have to work myself up to care about the upcoming season. I had a fantasy draft today in a league filled with friends who I knew back in the pre-blog days, where I would use our lunch table to expound on the game the same way I would on this site. In that draft, I caught myself numerous times thinking "who is this guy?" or "he plays for that team?" These are questions I wouldn't be asking myself even last year. For instance, I had no idea that Pierre Garcon now played for the 49ers. I would be stricken with fear if I didn't know this 10 years ago.
I wrote multiple times during the last season how my interest was waning, and that was true. The largest story for me was the rise of the Raiders, rekindling a love for my first football wife. The Patriots ended up winning the Super Bowl, in excruciating fashion, a game I did not watch, though mostly because I did not care to see the Patriots win another Super Bowl in ridiculously close fashion. Last year was the start of a new era, where I cared more about other things on Sundays, where I tried to follow European Football more closely (Hala Madrid!). I tried to avoid thinking about the NFL, which I knew was in a post-Peyton world. Sadly it was not yet in a post-Brady world.
I shouldn't say my lack of interest is totally due to the continuing dominant presence of the Patriots. Certainly, they were a dynasty from 2001-2007, a period where my interest in the sport only grew. Strangely, in that period, the Patriots owned my team, while I at least can take solace over the last handful of years, the Mannings have had more positive results against New England than anyone else. No, it isn't really just the continued brillaince of New England. It is also not just Peyton leaving. It is a whole era of players leaving.
My favorite games that I've ever seen were probably from the 2006-2009 timeframe, maybe add in 2011-13. It is stunning how few of the players who played in those games are still left. I know the NFL has a quicker, faster turnover than most sports, but still, when I load up the 2011 NFC Championship Game (NYG vs. SF), I am startled by how few of those players are still in the game today. Maybe it is a sign of age, but when all the good players are younger than you, or at most five years older (Rodgers), it makes you re-evaluate things.
I will never not love the NFL in an intrisnic, almost unconditional way. The strategy, the physicality, the settings, the beautiful tapestry it has woven across America. All those things resonate with me. But from a day-to-day following the league, well that has stopped. Maybe I'm stupid to live in the past, to spin up the 2007 NFC Championship Game and revel in a setting a decade ago, but that was the NFL I remember, not the game it is now where each QB is worth the highest salary in the league and each one throws for 4,000 yards unless they get hurt. I grew up in a very different league. The fundamentals may still be the same, but the result is not.
Ever since the Pats epic comeback, I've thought a lot about this upcoming season. On how I could better use my Sundays. On what the NFL really means to me. On if there is a path forward in my life as a sports fan without the NFL being a central element. And at least for one off-season there was. I didn't follow Free Agency at all. I only extremely tangentially followed the draft. I barely cared about training camps or preseasons. Again, I honestly did not know a lot of the offseason transactions around the league. And you know what... it's made me actually get excited for the season to come.
I have no doubt my love for the NFL has peaked and reached its plateau years ago. I think it ended its high period in 2015, when somehow the Broncos stole the #1 seed and won the Super Bowl, and the other conference was full of incredibly fun teams like Carolina and Arizona. Maybe it one day comes back. In some ways, it hurts that I am something of an NFL free agent. I still love the Raiders, my first true NFL love. Manning is gone, and I've come to realize my ties the Colts were tenuous at best - I care far more about the Colts fans, specifically the ones I came to know on 18to88.com, or StampedeBlue and Colts Authority, rather than the actual team. A man without a direction is not a good position to be in as an NFL fan.
Ultimately, come Sunday, September 10th, I'll probably still care (I'm going to avoid New England's opener like the plague), but I definitely won't care as much. I won't care enough for it to rule my Sunday's starting at 12:55 PM EST. I won't care enough to waste hours during the week scouring ProFootballTalk. And I feel for the first time, I won't care enough that the Patriots seemingly inevitable romp to a 6th Super Bowl won't impact my life too much. In reality, this is a better position to be in, but it does ultimately feel like something is missing. No matter how much I say my football loving phase is in the rear-view mirror, it truly won't ever escape me/.
In 2009-2011, I wrote a lot about football. In 2012, it went to a new level, for a few reasons. First, I got a job early that football season and could essentially relax and write more. Second, it was Manning's first year back from injury and was probably the last year I was truly invested week to week. Third, it was the year I started betting on football. Not a lot, not enough to where I was risking bankruptcy, but betting all the same. That year I started writing a piece each week called 'The Power Rankings & the Rest' where I not only ranked each of the 32 teams, but also ranked the games in the upcoming week. It was the apex of my love of the game.
Five years later, I have hit the nadir. I honestly have to work myself up to care about the upcoming season. I had a fantasy draft today in a league filled with friends who I knew back in the pre-blog days, where I would use our lunch table to expound on the game the same way I would on this site. In that draft, I caught myself numerous times thinking "who is this guy?" or "he plays for that team?" These are questions I wouldn't be asking myself even last year. For instance, I had no idea that Pierre Garcon now played for the 49ers. I would be stricken with fear if I didn't know this 10 years ago.
I wrote multiple times during the last season how my interest was waning, and that was true. The largest story for me was the rise of the Raiders, rekindling a love for my first football wife. The Patriots ended up winning the Super Bowl, in excruciating fashion, a game I did not watch, though mostly because I did not care to see the Patriots win another Super Bowl in ridiculously close fashion. Last year was the start of a new era, where I cared more about other things on Sundays, where I tried to follow European Football more closely (Hala Madrid!). I tried to avoid thinking about the NFL, which I knew was in a post-Peyton world. Sadly it was not yet in a post-Brady world.
I shouldn't say my lack of interest is totally due to the continuing dominant presence of the Patriots. Certainly, they were a dynasty from 2001-2007, a period where my interest in the sport only grew. Strangely, in that period, the Patriots owned my team, while I at least can take solace over the last handful of years, the Mannings have had more positive results against New England than anyone else. No, it isn't really just the continued brillaince of New England. It is also not just Peyton leaving. It is a whole era of players leaving.
My favorite games that I've ever seen were probably from the 2006-2009 timeframe, maybe add in 2011-13. It is stunning how few of the players who played in those games are still left. I know the NFL has a quicker, faster turnover than most sports, but still, when I load up the 2011 NFC Championship Game (NYG vs. SF), I am startled by how few of those players are still in the game today. Maybe it is a sign of age, but when all the good players are younger than you, or at most five years older (Rodgers), it makes you re-evaluate things.
I will never not love the NFL in an intrisnic, almost unconditional way. The strategy, the physicality, the settings, the beautiful tapestry it has woven across America. All those things resonate with me. But from a day-to-day following the league, well that has stopped. Maybe I'm stupid to live in the past, to spin up the 2007 NFC Championship Game and revel in a setting a decade ago, but that was the NFL I remember, not the game it is now where each QB is worth the highest salary in the league and each one throws for 4,000 yards unless they get hurt. I grew up in a very different league. The fundamentals may still be the same, but the result is not.
Ever since the Pats epic comeback, I've thought a lot about this upcoming season. On how I could better use my Sundays. On what the NFL really means to me. On if there is a path forward in my life as a sports fan without the NFL being a central element. And at least for one off-season there was. I didn't follow Free Agency at all. I only extremely tangentially followed the draft. I barely cared about training camps or preseasons. Again, I honestly did not know a lot of the offseason transactions around the league. And you know what... it's made me actually get excited for the season to come.
I have no doubt my love for the NFL has peaked and reached its plateau years ago. I think it ended its high period in 2015, when somehow the Broncos stole the #1 seed and won the Super Bowl, and the other conference was full of incredibly fun teams like Carolina and Arizona. Maybe it one day comes back. In some ways, it hurts that I am something of an NFL free agent. I still love the Raiders, my first true NFL love. Manning is gone, and I've come to realize my ties the Colts were tenuous at best - I care far more about the Colts fans, specifically the ones I came to know on 18to88.com, or StampedeBlue and Colts Authority, rather than the actual team. A man without a direction is not a good position to be in as an NFL fan.
Ultimately, come Sunday, September 10th, I'll probably still care (I'm going to avoid New England's opener like the plague), but I definitely won't care as much. I won't care enough for it to rule my Sunday's starting at 12:55 PM EST. I won't care enough to waste hours during the week scouring ProFootballTalk. And I feel for the first time, I won't care enough that the Patriots seemingly inevitable romp to a 6th Super Bowl won't impact my life too much. In reality, this is a better position to be in, but it does ultimately feel like something is missing. No matter how much I say my football loving phase is in the rear-view mirror, it truly won't ever escape me/.
