NFL 2022: The training camp thread

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Rat Boy wrote:

Are things that boring for the Ravens that they got to do a WWE plot with their mascot?

Boring is good

Rat Boy wrote:

Are things that boring for the Ravens that they got to do a WWE plot with their mascot?

Well everyone's gotten tired of trying to figure out what Lamar Jackson the sports agent is doing. They needed the distraction.

NFL's best deep passers...

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Zero surprise. The injury may not have been season ending, but it was obviously worse than they let on.

And that return date is Week 4 "at the earliest", meaning Week 4 isn't locked in by any means either. I won't be surprised if it lingers further.

*Legion* wrote:

Zero surprise. The injury may not have been season ending, but it was obviously worse than they let on.

And that return date is Week 4 "at the earliest", meaning Week 4 isn't locked in by any means either. I won't be surprised if it lingers further.

The Joe Flacco Era has begun.

Everyone call your moms and older sisters!

A thing I've been trying to understand is how teflon the NFL remains despite all the scandals. A theory:

NFL is THE entertainment vehicle for the vast majority of American males from little kids on up through retirees. It has all the pieces needed for entertainment:

- Drama
- Violence
- Scarcity
- Price (games free on regular TV)
- Availability (the entire week's sports' narrative revolves around what happened on Thu/Sun/Mon)

It also has some below-the-radar aspects that rope in more folks and/or enhance the entertainment for fans:
- Gambling (and fantasy sports)
- Drinking culture
- Camaraderie/social connection
- Food (America loves pizza!)
- ties to a youth sport at the HS level on up through college
- Long tradition of decades of fandom across the country (as opposed to hockey, as just one example)

Taken together, all of these combine for a very resilient entertainment activity that can withstand outside events in a way that maybe other traditional sports might not (94 strike really hurt MLB, NHL doesn't have national cultural cachet in the US, soccer doesn't have the tradition, etc.).

A piece I never hear discussed is the core consumer of the NFL. My read (could be wrong) is that in marketing rooms there has to be a profile of the uber-fan who produces the most revenue and/or engagement for the NFL. Maybe "revenue" is the wrong metric as there are likely luxury-box owners who are the "whales" (to use a gaming term) but really could care less if the NFL lost its perch and, say, the NBA became the #1 sport...they would just move their client-entertainment dollars over to the Lakers/Clips instead of the Rams.

My read is that these uber-fans are NOT folks like Legion and others in our thread that are consuming FO's Football Prospectus. Those are the nerds. The real uber-fans are the ones who buy the jerseys, spend all Sunday glued to each game and are the folks that consume all the ads on Sundays. I don't know about you all but NFL ads are nearly lost on me. Sure, I "get" some of the them and I'll chuckle at one/two but I don't really buy those products/services. I think they're aimed at someone else.

Who are those folks?

Speaking as a Seahawks fan, they're the fans in the suburbs that drive their trucks to the stadium and are hardcore. They've got the bling on their trucks and you see them EVERYWHERE in the suburbs, never in the city and much less in progressive holdouts. I don't know what this looks like in other parts of the country but these folks seem to be the target demo for all the ads: beer, trucks, Frank Thomas/Doug Flutie T-ads, game promos featuring Thunderstruck, etc.

The counterpoint is that the NFL is for "everyone" and there are in-roads into other demos with who is featured in ads and attempts to get more women as fans. But I think we can all agree these are weak-sauce and the ad money really doesn't reflect a desire to court non-Gen X/Boomer white males.

NONE of the Sunday ads barely register as products/services for my wife. Even "universal" services (insurance, etc.) still revolve around the male audience (see: Baker's Book Club ad from a couple years ago where it's all inside sports jokes about stadium nachos, stadium bathrooms and the "humorous" juxtaposition of #1 QB pick getting in touch with his feminine side by hosting a book club where the jokes are about some character's "steamyness" - that whole ad campaign felt like a dude's idea of an SNL bit about an non-threatening elite male athlete trying to connect with tEh LaDiEz).

As I keep mulling this over, I feel like the NFL is becoming disconnected from what America is becoming and while TODAY the NFL remains on top, I feel like it's getting hollowed out and the boom times of today aren't going to be here at some point in the future. I don't want to predict WHEN the league starts to falter but my sense is it's building. Evidence:

- Youth participation is dropping
- The uber-fans (according to my armchair analysis above) are going to age out and those same white males are losing their influence in other venues. Won't the same happen in the NFL?

The embracing of gambling could bolster the NFL for some time as states legalize it. It could also hasten it's collapse if it further ties the game to uber-fans who may be out of step with the NFL's stances on non-mainstream things (allowing sexual predators to make millions and keep playing, letting billionaires keep acting like fools - do we really think Stern would have allowed an owner to preside over a cheerleader/escort/videotape scandal? - only in the regressive-fan-audience NFL). I don't know a lot of non-dude-bros really stoked about their Draft Kings app.

And maybe there will always be enough folks in this core demographic to keep NFL #1 for decades to come.

But I'm betting it turns into NASCAR sooner rather than later.

Sorry if this is Off Topic.

From above, I loathe the fantasy football dynamic.

I can get it if you are in a league with a close group of super NFL stat nerds.

Otherwise it's essentially the perfect conduit for bro small talk and fake work engagement.

Sadly I got roped into a league this year via my partner who wanted to network more at her job. So go Joe Burrow+ Ja'Marr Chase + Deebo?

Let's not discuss how my auto draft list with 15m tweaking landed us 2 defenses 2 kickers and no viable RBs.

Had a rare in person work event last week also. Guess what the first topic was when internal gossip was running dry.... Fantasy football. It's the worst form of small talk. At least when people talk about the weather there's a chance someone will tell me it's going to rain and I can plan accordingly.

Top_Shelf wrote:

A thing I've been trying to understand is how teflon the NFL remains despite all the scandals. A theory ...

I think you're on to something, TS. The NFL has done an outstanding job of assembling a big-tent coalition from a number of warring factions. Not only will NFL Fan watch his team, he'll watch all the others. College football doesn't have that (yet), and MLB (#RIP) never will again.

Don't underestimate the gambling. The NFL doesn't seem to like to play that up, but that brings in a ton of interest (money, advertising, eyeballs, buzz).

PS: I've been outside the desired NFL ad demographics for years, and I'm over it, Besides, all the commercials give me plenty of chances to empty my bladder, which seems to have shrunk to the size of the Falcons' playoff chances. HEYYYYY-YO!

Speaking of "playoff chances" and "things that smell like pee," the Week 1 thread will be up later today. Y'all aren't paying me $100 an hour to write stuff, so you folks will just have to cross your legs and hold it.

I don't know how to account for the gambling part. But I feel like gambling is a super-hardcore targeted demo that doesn't really expand the fanbase past dude bros who roll coal in their F-250 and their 12 sticker (to take a shot at my fanbase). It may get more revenue out of existing fans, but are more people (degenerate gamblers?) going to get on the NFL heroin drip because of Draft Kings? Nah, those folks are already hooked.

Calling it here:

NFL won't be top league in...2032.

Top_Shelf wrote:

My read is that these uber-fans are NOT folks like Legion and others in our thread that are consuming FO's Football Prospectus. Those are the nerds.

Bro just called me a nerd and kept on walking.

*Legion* wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

My read is that these uber-fans are NOT folks like Legion and others in our thread that are consuming FO's Football Prospectus. Those are the nerds.

Bro just called me a nerd and kept on walking.

Time to update the signature

*Legion* wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

My read is that these uber-fans are NOT folks like Legion and others in our thread that are consuming FO's Football Prospectus. Those are the nerds.

Bro just called me a nerd and kept on walking.

*looks around at the hardcore fan of statistical analysis in football on a video game site*

Wherever, pray tell, might that idea have come from.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

My read is that these uber-fans are NOT folks like Legion and others in our thread that are consuming FO's Football Prospectus. Those are the nerds.

Bro just called me a nerd and kept on walking.

*looks around at the hardcore fan of statistical analysis in football on a video game site*

Wherever, pray tell, might that idea have come from.

Hahahaha.

Legion do you drive an F-150 and rock Niners Oakley Gascan shades while blasting Limp Bizkit and wearing a backwards camo Niners fitted hat (and say things like "rock" and "blast")?

(I am guilty of 1.5 of these things)

Top_Shelf wrote:

Legion do you drive an F-150

Not yet but I'm tryin to get one of the new electric ones.

I don't imagine that helps my case with the nerd label.

But you can bet I'm getting that sucker in red and Niner-ing it up.

Haha! Do it! (In all seriousness the Lightnings do look cool)

I'll buy your decal of Calvin pissing on the Hawks logo for your rear window!

Top_Shelf wrote:

A thing I've been trying to understand is how teflon the NFL remains despite all the scandals. A theory:

NFL is THE entertainment vehicle for the vast majority of American males from little kids on up through retirees. It has all the pieces needed for entertainment:

- Drama
- Violence
- Scarcity
- Price (games free on regular TV)
- Availability (the entire week's sports' narrative revolves around what happened on Thu/Sun/Mon)

It also has some below-the-radar aspects that rope in more folks and/or enhance the entertainment for fans:
- Gambling (and fantasy sports)
- Drinking culture
- Camaraderie/social connection
- Food (America loves pizza!)
- ties to a youth sport at the HS level on up through college
- Long tradition of decades of fandom across the country (as opposed to hockey, as just one example)

Taken together, all of these combine for a very resilient entertainment activity that can withstand outside events in a way that maybe other traditional sports might not (94 strike really hurt MLB, NHL doesn't have national cultural cachet in the US, soccer doesn't have the tradition, etc.)...

It's also worth remembering that the NFL has worked hard to spread the football 'gospel' around the world too. There are a lot of merchandise-, subscriptions- and ticket-buying fans in Europe, for example.

An exhibition game between two NFL teams was played in the UK as far back as 1983 (shortly after Channel 4 began covering the game). And from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, pre-season games were held abroad under the 'American Bowl' banner. And, of course, since 2007 'The International Series' has seen regular season games have been held outside of the United States.

I haven't been to an International Series game since 2016. However, then and now, fans attend from all over Europe. You'll hear plenty of German, Polish and Spanish being spoken.

And you'll see some epic 'throwback' jerseys too! At my last game, I saw a few 'Jim Plunkett' jerseys sprinkled among the crowds (worn on slightly bowed, middle-aged backs, of course).

Legion has come a long way from reading Football for Dummies upside down for sure.

Enix wrote:

Week 1 thread

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*ahem*

You nerds of all people should know about these things called "links" that take you to other places on the "World Wide Web."

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Enix wrote:

You nerds of all people should know about these things called "links" that take you to other places on the "World Wide Web."

But, but... we want to stay HEEEEEEEERE where we're safe from the Eagles starting 0-4. Please don't make us go!

-BEP

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If you're looking to hide out from the inevitable Dashing of Hopes represented by actually playing the games, BEP, maybe you won't clear waivers and you'll get claimed by another forum.

If you do, there's always room on the NFL Weekly Thread practice squad for ya!

PS: The Eagles might be good this year. Don't despair (yet).

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