Hated Rivals????

 

The only hated rivalry stems from the marketing department and the NFL and each franchise's quest to sell tickets. This is big business people. It's a show, a scam, a perception.

 

These are professional athletes. They have no allegiance to you or your city, only their wallets and their contracts.

The NFL is becoming more like Professional Wrestling or Hockey.

Histrionics! Theatrics! Enrage the public - Sell more tickets.

 

There are no winners in rooting for an NFL or MLB team. Check your wallet at the end of the day or season, and it will tell you very clearly who the winners are (franchise owners) and losers are - YOU!

 

Guess what??? MLB can play too. The Reds HATE the Cardinals. Yeah, right!!!!!

They are professionals with special interests - themselves, neither team gives a rats patoot about each other. It is a perception created for the edification of the fans of two cities to get embroiled in a so-called rivalry and Sell Tickets!!!

 

Scott Bantel, the editor of the verbage above, just took up the best part of this page describing nothing more than big business. Marvin will get fired when the franchise starts losing money. It is a weak administration that allows the lunatics to run the asylum. But at the end of the day it is big business, and those who become passionate about it are the biggest losers.

 

 

In the aftermath of Saturday night’s Steelers-Bengals debacle, the NFL was publicly wringing its hands by issuing suspensions and threatening fines. Privately, the NFL was rubbing its palms together with glee.

 

It’s the post-Concussion equivalent of the Bone Crunchers phenomenon, from the days when the NFL not only downplayed the long-term effects of brain injuries but also sold highlight videos featuring the most spectacular concussion-inducing hits. When it comes to players and coaches acting like hooligans during games, the NFL has imposed punishment while quietly reveling in the afterglow of a game that held an audience of 27.5 million during the worst of the bad behavior not in spite of it but perhaps because of it.

 

The revelry isn’t all that quiet. The NFL morning show that used to be called something else but that now has another name that eventually will be something else played earlier in the hour a package of NFL Films video and sound from the Steelers-Bengals game. And, of course, it featured not examples of football skill and uplifting moments among teammates but the various instances of discipline-inducing conflict.

 

It starts with a shot of Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak pulling the hair of Bengals safety Reggie Nelson, and then the two of them and others tussling on the sideline as an official tries to pull them apart. It then shows Steelers linebackers coach Joey Porter smugly surrounded by Bengals players as the game-deciding moment arrives, with Bengals cornerback Pacman Jones charging in and making contact with an official while protesting Porter’s presence on the field.

 

Next, Bengals running back Jeremy Hill confronts multiple Steelers following the legal-but-devastating hit applied by Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier to Bengals running back Gio Bernard, with Hill repeatedly saying, “That’s dirty!” as an official pulls him away.

 

Then comes Bengals coach Marvin Lewis trying to calm down linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who eventually breaks away from Lewis to yell directly to the NFL Films camera, “They want a wrestling match! They want a wrestling match! We gonna give to to ’em!”

 

And of course that’s followed by a shot of Burfict’s finishing move on Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. Which, given that Burfict considers it a wrestling match, makes Pacman’s allegation that Brown was “faking” his injury even more understandable.

 

The package then cuts to the anguish of Hill, whose fumble set up the drive that resulted in the back-to-back penalties (one on Burfict, one on Pacman) that gave the Steelers the game.

 

It ends with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin meeting Lewis at the middle of the field saying, “I’m sorry about that. I’ll talk to you later.”

 

The NFL Films highlight package played on NFL Network contained not a single image of the uncanny (and, frankly, not valid) touchdown catch from Steelers receiver Martavis Bryant, who caught the ball behind his leg, got two feet down, and flipped forward out of the end zone.

 

If a fight had broken out immediately after the score, then maybe it would have made the cut.

 

Next on the NFL morning show came more highlights under the NFL Replay “Game of the Week” heading. Think about that one for a second. The Seahawks and Vikings played a subzero game for the ages in Minnesota, featuring plenty of big plays and clean hits and memorable images and, ultimately, a devastating miss of a field goal that would have allowed the Vikings to reverse a 31-point blowout from only five weeks before. But the “Game of the Week,” marketed after the fact with the worst moments of the game not the best, gets more attention.

 

Here’s where I’m tempted to say that the NFL can’t have it both ways. But the NFL is having it both ways, because the NFL knows that, while it has to act like it doesn’t condone thuggish behavior, millions of people love to watch it.

 

NFL loves/hates (loves) Steelers-Bengals aftermath | ProFootballTalk

^ I was glad to read the bolded.

^ I was glad to read the bolded.

I'd like to know what any post game convo was like between the two, if indeed there was one.

The average NFL team is worth close to $2 Billion. The NFL would not be that valuable if they played flag football. It's all about the money and violence sells.

I can basically guarantee it won't be done. When a team is only winning by less than a field goal, with 90 seconds left and the other team has 3 time outs left. No team is going to say lets only take 6 total seconds off of the clock and take a knee. When running the ball could take up to 15 seconds off the clock and still make them take their timeouts. You just won't see it, point blank. If a team only had 2 timeouts left then maybe, but not with 3 timeouts and 90 seconds left and the other team only needing a field goal to win.

 

As I said, we'll never agree.

You are saying the Bengals should have taken a knee three times?

 

Yep.

Antonio Brown still unable to practice, in concussion protocol for his grammy winning fake job

Antonio Brown still unable to practice, in concussion protocol for his grammy winning fake job

Let's see if he plays...

If he does, it's fishy... If he doesn't, then Pac says he'll apologize for saying it.

Let's see if he plays...

If he does, it's fishy... If he doesn't, then Pac says he'll apologize for saying it.

Independent administration of the test, separate from the Steelers, so if they say he's not cleared yet, he's not faking. Hope he clears by tomorrow. Or at least by game time.

 

Not sure Pacman knows how to apologize. He's never been sorry for any of his idiocy in the past, including his stay in Morgantown.

My oldest just bought this shirt:

 

My oldest just bought this shirt:

 

I love it!

 

Although I would argue Who/We Dey is the Bengals.