There’s a lot of conjecture on the how and why America’s most popular sport is losing popularity. Some might point to it being an election season, which doesn’t make much sense as I’m sure most people are struggling to put themselves as far away from stated election season as much as possible. I mean, talk about bad timing for cut backs at NASA. Could it be the lack of quality matchups on Monday Night and Thursday Night Football? I guess that could be part of it, seeing as how I’ve seen enough of the Bears, Titans, and Jaguars in prime time to think that it’s a deliberate attempt by the league to test the limits of profitability. There was also a compelling World Series, with a ratings-heavy postseason for baseball. And of course, lastly, there is a structural mechanism here that’s in play, the fact that America is moving away from cable viewership, mostly because we as a nation love cat GIFs. And I sort of agree here, all of these aspects do seem to be well-reasoned arguments of why the sport is in decline. But in all this thought-exercise, you’d have to admit that the biggest factor here is perhaps the quality of the sport is in decline… right? Call me crazy, but I’ve been pointing out every week it seems now that the quality that the NFL is providing is not on par with what I think our expectations are. The outlandish reactions to a black quarterback utilizing his first amendment rights, the continued nepotistic boys club of announcers who are just completely awful at what they do. I mean, has anyone understood north of 25% of the words that even come out of Shannon Sharpe’s mouth? Berman, you’ve been yelling RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAIDERS! for fifty years man. You got anything else? I mean, the fact that Ray Lewis held a job with ESPN was the biggest gaslighting I’ve seen from that network. And then you add in all the penalties for jumping two inches off the ground, yet Vontaze Burfict is in the league. Are we the viewers starting to notice? Maybe. All I know is, I love football, but hate the NFL at this point, and I can certainly see that maybe I’m not the only one…
On a lighter note, maybe this is why we have fantasy football! Be sure to check out our Start and Sits for today’s games here, along with Rudy’s updated projections for Week 9 by clicking here. And as always, our updated rankings are available after the jump!
Select the “Flex” tab if you need a more complete picture to decide your starts and sits. Use the “OP” tab for 2QB Leagues. And you can access our Half PPR and PPR rankings using the drop down box in the top left of our rankings when you select the RB, WR, TE, or Flex positions. Any and all questions will be answered below…
