Marx Was Right, Sort Of

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx described the periodic crisis of capitalism in terms of “the enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces.” Marx argued that the productive forces unleashed by capitalism eventually get out of hand and the result is excess, thus collapsing the value of the means of production. The capital classes remedy this by enforced destruction of a mass of productive forces, the conquest of new markets, and by the more thorough exploitation of existing markets.

Marx gets blamed for the 100 million or so murders committed in his name, but he did make a few insightful observations. For instance, the nature of business to ruthlessly exploit existing markets in pursuit of growth, even when it becomes self-defeating, is still true today. Similarly, business will bankrupt itself in pursuit of new markets, all in the name of growth. Much of what plagues us these days is the result of global business desperately searching for a new market to exploit. It is also at the heart of what is ailing the NFL.

A lot of people are blaming the idiotic and offensive antics of the players for the sudden drop in ratings. Football players have short careers and most end up broke soon after leaving the game, but most men envy them anyway. Boys grow up wanting to be a sports star and that admiration carries over into adulthood, long after we know the reality of sport. Colin Kaepernick disrespecting the fans and the country by kneeling during the anthem grates on people. Normal people think he is an ungrateful prick.

That may be part of the problem the NFL is facing, but my sense is the impact is trivial. Maybe it is the last straw for some people, but if you are a sports fan, you are willing to overlook the antics of the meat heads wearing your team’s colors. The individual players are not all that important to the drama. The point of professional sport is to simulate the tribal warfare for which all of us were born. Instead of defeating the neighboring tribe’s men and stealing their women, we watch our team beat their team at a ball game.

The real issue that is plaguing the NFL is they have run out of ways to separate their customers from their money. In fact, they ran out of sensible ways to do that a long time ago. That’s why they have started holding games in foreign countries. They think they can maybe find new customers to exploit. The games they hold in London, for example, cost the league millions, but they hope that Brits will get hooked on the narcotic of the NFL and cough up millions for the product. So far, no good.

As Marx observed, they are also ruthlessly trying to exploit their existing market. Go to an NFL game and you come away feeling like you have just been mugged. It’s not the absurd prices for everything. They constantly bombard the fan with marketing, because they expect the fan to commit his life to the corporate entity known as his team. Go to a Dallas Cowboy game, for example, and you are treated to a long pre-game ceremony about how you are not just a fan, you are soldier in the army of the Dallas Cowboys.

Of course, most people consume their sports via the television and that’s where you see the ravenous appetite of the NFL as they ruthlessly exploit their market. It used to be that the NFL games were played at one o’clock on Sunday afternoon. Now, there are games all day on Sunday. There’s a game on Sunday night and Monday night. Now we have a game on Thursday night. If that is not enough, there’s the NFL package for your phone, tablet and whatever else you use to consume media.

The games are now more advertising than games. As the linked article points out, the games themselves are only about 10-15 minutes of action. The rest of the presentation is fluff and most of that is advertising. There’s a play and then the refs have to hold a meeting about it. That means a break to sell product for three or four minutes. They get back to the game for a few plays and then it is time to have a break for more commercials. It’s why the Red Zone Channel is so popular. It has no ads.

The NFL is in many ways emblematic of the modern credit economy. Rich guys buy the teams on borrowed money at artificially low interest rates. They don’t really care that much about the cash flow, like a normal business. Their game is to inflate the value of the franchise over the duration of their investment. To do that means maximizing the “brand” and that costs money, which is why they load up their product with ads to the point where it is more ads than product. The NFL is a big bust out.

What’s happening to the NFL is their endless pursuit of growth has put the live product out of reach for most people. The TV version is exhausting the viewers with marketing and advertising. In an effort to fully exploit its market, it is destroying the desirability of the product. This is not exactly as Marx imagined the crisis of capitalism, but it is a good lesson on the fantasy of endless growth. The whole point of the NFL as a business is to get bigger and that cannot go on forever.

This does not mean the NFL is about to go out of business, but it serves as a useful lesson about the limits of the asset model. The modern credit economy is based on the idea that asset values can grow forever, therefore the credit base can grow forever. The NFL is based on the same premise. In both cases, the effort to keep the fantasy alive in the face of objective reality, is doing more harm than good. The question is how long does it take the people in charge to figure it out.

 

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Jim Gates
7 years ago

I became disinterested in all professional sports once free agency was introduced. I was no longer expected to root for a team of players as much as i was expected to root for the franchise which now consists of a revolving door of disposable players.

I was further disinterested when individual players decided that they had to conduct an elaborate celebration of their individual accomplishments during games. They became more self-absorbed entertainers than athletes. And the teams and leagues encouraged this despite the ‘excessive celebration’ penalty.

Shelby
Shelby
Reply to  Jim Gates
7 years ago

Adding the “girls” in the locker rooms and reporting from the sidelines did it for me.

Jim Gates
Reply to  Shelby
7 years ago

That wasn’t all that bad for me. It was just another bit of fluff added to the already fluff heavy broadcasts. And then there are the commercials required to finance these huge productions.

For something refreshing and nostalgic, purchase the NFL Films: Legends of Autumn DVD volumes. I saw many of these games years ago and yet I enjoy seeing them repeatedly versus not being able to make it through a single modern sports broadcast.

King George III
King George III
7 years ago

Here’s to hoping it goes down in flames. In fact, all TV sports should down in flames. (In fact, all TV should go down in flames.) If men want sports, it should be in an active participatory capacity. Meaning a pick-up game of something or other at the nearest field.

Let’s kill the lobotomy box and make sports real again.

teapartydoc
Member
7 years ago

I used to pay for the Red Zone. Quit that because of some PC crap I can’t even remember now. Went back to watching a few games and trying my best to boycott as much commentary as possible. Kept watching fewer and fewer games. Then Kaepernick. I haven’t watched a down this year even on replay. Not even college, because the universities are even more PC than the NFL (one exception: went to one game I was invited to by friends who worship their school. Clapped for their team, all the while hoping they would lose because the school is… Read more »

Desert Rat
Desert Rat
7 years ago

Yesterday I checked to see how much a World Series ticket costs. The cheapest I saw was over $700. I attended all three World Series when they were played in Oakland back in 1972,73 and 74. I don’t recall the exact ticket prices but I never paid more than $20 for a ticket (a box seat cost $4.50 during the regular season back then). Baseball doesn’t watch well on TV. Screen too small and doesn’t capture the game well. But the inning breaks are perfect for the advertisers. Pitching changes also work well for ad time. But now they’ve added… Read more »

Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

Developed a life long affinity for baseball on radio from listening to Cubs games on WGN on my grandparents farm downstate, then we would listen to night games on the clear channel stations like KMOX. Cable TV hadn’t come through and could barely pick up the Chicago stations. That and Paul Harvey at noon “dinner”.

Member
Reply to  Desert Rat
7 years ago

Desert Rat, ,prices are higher for post season baseball. Inflation since the 70’s in baseball prices is straight up. Your example is really unfair though…. this current series is between to large-market teams who have large fan bases and both are storied. This Cubs / Indians series is a one-off, and likely worth every penny to any long-time fan to go to at whatever price. We’re all gonna die and you can’t take your money with you.. attending a great event makes life rich… whatever your interests are. I really enjoy baseball. I listen to it on radio mostly now… Read more »

Desert Rat
Desert Rat
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

The reserve clause was still in effect in the early 70’s. Paying even marginal players 6 and 7 figure salaries (and superior players 7 and even 8 figure salaries) has, I suspect, more to do with ticket prices than inflation.

Member
Reply to  Desert Rat
7 years ago

I agree. Post strike, it’s out of control. I love the game though.

Severian
7 years ago

Marx was right about history being the history of class struggle, too. I’m not sure the people in charge actually will ever figure it out, as something like “false consciousness” takes over lots of people when they get hooked on a lifestyle. Cf. the Kevin Williamsons of the world – he worked so hard to get into (what he thinks is the) Tastemaking Class that he’ll be preaching Diversity and Equality even as the dindus are putting a gasoline-soaked tire around his neck. And since we’re giving scumbag Lefties credit for the one thing they got right, Barack Obama had… Read more »

Montefrío
Member
Reply to  Severian
7 years ago

Thanks for the one BO remark that made sense! It struck a chord for me, because I’ve always believed wealth was owning your time, not piling up stuff. I set myself a savings goal while working as an equities trader and when I hit it, I quit the same day (age 51) and never looked back, while colleagues laughed and sneered. Own my house and land outright, drive (seldom) a 16-yr-old car, grow a lot of my own food and seldom spend more than $600/mo in a beautiful spot in South America. Happier than I’ve ever been and would love… Read more »

JohnTyler
JohnTyler
Reply to  Severian
7 years ago

The problem, the error in Obama’s comments about making too much money , is that you are allowing someone else to decide for you what exactly is too much. Once you forgo the right to decide for yourself what is too much (or what to say, how to think, etc, ), well, you will become a slave of the elites; you will lose your individual rights. As far as making too much $$$, please tell me how Steve Jobs becoming a billionaire, impeded or prevented anybody else from striving for and achieving their own goals?? And who decides what is… Read more »

Saurons_Lazy_Eye
Member
Reply to  JohnTyler
7 years ago

Jake Gittes: How much are you worth?
Noah Cross: I have no idea. How much do you want?
Jake Gittes: I just wanna know what you’re worth. More than 10 million?
Noah Cross: Oh my, yes!
Jake Gittes: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you can’t already afford?
Noah Cross: The future, Mr. Gittes! The future.

Zeroh Tollrants
Zeroh Tollrants
Reply to  Severian
7 years ago

I’m a fairly short woman, but if the dindus are willing to have Williamson bend a bit, I’ll gladly light the tire. I just hope they bring enough for everyone…

Dutch
Dutch
7 years ago

A couple of years ago I realized I was watching a bunch of thugs that turned their football skills into something big, but they were still a bunch of thugs preening for the audience with all of the canned dances and gestures. Turned it off and never looked back. Football was a different sport altogether back when I was a kid, 40 and 50 years ago.

Dr. Mabuse
7 years ago

I remember 7 or 8 years ago, Rush Limbaugh was getting involved in a plan to buy a pro football team, when he was very noisily dumped for PC reasons. He was mad at the time, but maybe now he’s figuring they dindus did him a favor.

Drake
Drake
7 years ago

1. I’m a Patriots fan and I tried to watch the game on Sunday against the Steelers. The ads were overwhelming as the linked article described. Since I own a remote control, I often turned to other channels during the endless commercials and forgot to turn back for the brief segments of action. If I can’t stick with a game I care about, how could they expect me to watch a game I don’t care about just for entertainment? 2. Smart businesses realize there is a limit to growth. At a certain point, management should replace growth targets with operating… Read more »

Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

I play a game of trying to judge when a commercial is over and then flip back. I’m pretty good at it and can watch a few things at once. Sometimes I can watch ten to twelve plays in a row without ever seeing them huddle up, which is just down time while the announcers blab. Then I get bored and forget to flip back or realize that it’s pretty much all commercials all the time and go back to reading something, or daydreaming which is a lost art and I think very healthy.

Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

I bought a Tivo box a few years back and it has saved me to watch OTA golf or baseball or football. I record it and go do other things… then start watching about an hour in.. usually works for football to zap all commercial breaks. But for football, I only watch the Cowboys this season. Maybe they’ll continue to win? heh.

Oblivia
Member
Reply to  Uncle_Max
7 years ago

Without a DVR I could not possibly watch broadcast tv.

Oblivia
Member
Reply to  Drake
7 years ago

Also a Pats fan. I must confess that my favorite bit is coach Belichick’s post-game interview. The contempt he dispalys toward the media is both an inspiration and a comfort to me.

ChiefIlliniCake
ChiefIlliniCake
7 years ago

It occurs to me that in a simpler time, say pre-1975, that the level of play in all sports, including football, was just as high as it is now, but the athletes were earning orders of magnitude less than subsequent generations have. And yet, if you ask any of them now, even those who ended up crippled or demented from the injuries they sustained all those years ago, if they would go back and do it all again, the answer back is variably a hearty “HELL YES”! Which indicates strongly that what makes sports imp[important to both the participant and… Read more »

Wayne Parker
Wayne Parker
7 years ago

In addition to the observations below, I’d add another. In its efforts to maximize growth, the NFL leadership has tried ever so hard to make the game attractive to female viewers in a number of ways. Before 2008, I don’t recall an entire month of NFL teams wearing pink anything for “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” Now every season we see the teams wearing pink hand towels or something else dyed pink for an entire month. Not that I have a problem with bringing awareness of a medical issue like breast cancer to the general populace’s attention. But the NFL audience… Read more »

Dan Kurt
Dan Kurt
Member
7 years ago

I am in my mid 70s and Football has much less appeal than it had earlier in my life. Is it me or is it the game? At any rate I find that I can not watch a game in real time but for a few minutes as the ads unsettle me. So what doI do? I record all the games on a DVR and watch selected games or part of games using the jump buttons and fast forward feature. Most games I watch now only waste half an hour instead of the bulk of the afternoon. Actually, most games… Read more »

Toddy Cat
Toddy Cat
Reply to  Dan Kurt
7 years ago

Oddly, as I get older, I find that baseball and hockey are about the only team sports I can get interested in anymore, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. But yeah, I’m degrees of magnitude less interested in sports than I was in my teens, 20’s and 30’s.

JohnTyler
JohnTyler
7 years ago

No one is compelled to attend or watch any NFL game or to buy any NFL mugs (or a Ford or GM car, or a specific brand of cereal or coffee, etc.) . If someone does not like watching 2 hours and 45 minutes of advertising to glimpse 15 minutes of action watching an NFL game, here is an idea; don’t watch the F’n game . Don’t like spending 5 bucks for watered down stadium beer? Then don’t buy it or don’t go to the game. I do not have to read the US Constitution to know that watching a… Read more »

Drake
Drake
Reply to  JohnTyler
7 years ago

“5 bucks for watered down stadium beer”

Haven’t been to a game for a while have you? Last time I was at the a stadium, swill like Coors lite was $9. Sam Adams and such was $12. I decided I wasn’t thirsty.

What really pissed me off was the parking fee – after I paid a couple hundred dollars for tickets, I got to the Meadowlands and was extorted for another $20 (for a college game!) for the privilege of parking my car.

LetsPlay
LetsPlay
Member
Reply to  Drake
7 years ago

Amen. When I went to a 49er’s pre-season game, the prices made me feel like I had to take out a second mortgage to afford the experience. If people are willing to pay for it, go be it. But not for this guy. That is ridiculous.

And the thing about legacy ticket owners also left a bad taste in my mouth with people on waiting lists for season tickets forever.

notsothoreau
notsothoreau
Reply to  JohnTyler
7 years ago

I think you could be missing an important point. (And I’m thinking about baseball here, rather than football). Going to a game was one of the ways that people of all sorts came together. We used to have a lot of ways to do that. You could see a game, go to watch a movie, attend a social club like the Masons, even attend a political rally. All of those things help build community. Sitting at home, staring at a screen builds isolation. When my late husband was a boy in Vallejo, his folks let him take the bus to… Read more »

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  notsothoreau
7 years ago

A possibly apocryphal story: Sherry Robertson, Calvin Griffith’s brother, was head of stadium operations for the Twins in the pre-Metrodome days. It was reported to him that there were kids sneaking into the park through the CF fence. His response was something like “there should be a place in every ballpark for where kids can sneak in”. That was when Calvin ran the club, and was widely derided for his cheapness. I can’t imagine anyone in a position of authority in pro sports saying that today.

Dr. Mabuse
Reply to  JohnTyler
7 years ago

It’s very true that companies rise and fall, and it’s a natural process. But the companies you list were replaced by others, who did what they did better or cheaper, or because they had something newer that made the old products obsolete. What is replacing major league football? There isn’t a new game sweeping the nation, people haven’t turned to other football producers who can provide a better, cheaper game. It’s just… withering. Things can change: populations age, demographics alter, and things that once were popular cease to be so, but that usually takes time. This is much faster, which… Read more »

jack
jack
Reply to  Dr. Mabuse
7 years ago

The young are kinder and gentler. They don’t drive, and they don’t really watch sportsball because it’s mean and dangerous. Video games.are the new football.

Now that consumer virtual reality rigs are becoming available, they will soon essentially displace all broadcast sportsball. No danger of concussion and best of all girls can play!

Drake
Drake
Reply to  Dr. Mabuse
7 years ago

I go to my son’s High School games (Varsity on Friday night or Saturday / JV on Monday) then maybe catch some college football. By Sunday I’ve had enough. I find the High School and college far more interesting than the slow / soulless NFL games.

Ganderson
Ganderson
Reply to  Drake
7 years ago

My boys are out of the house- but I live down the street from the stadium of a good D III team. Quite enjoyable.

LetsPlay
LetsPlay
Member
Reply to  JohnTyler
7 years ago

what is so stupid about their antics is that “they” are not being screwed over as you say, but they are supposedly upset about things that happened some 150 years ago up until the Civil Rights Act that game them special status. Maybe it is the “special” status that grates on them. That in itself is racist.

UKer
UKer
7 years ago

As a Brit talking about gridiron it will seem that I am out of my depth, which is almost right but… I have attended both NFL games in both London and New York and also, at Wembley, went to a few of the old ill-fated London Monarchs games. So yes, I have seen it without looking solely through the lens of the TV camera (and I suspect the size of the States means a lot of fans can’t get to see an NFL game ever.) Oh yes, I was also chairman of an American football team here in the UK… Read more »

Thud
Reply to  UKer
7 years ago

I’m one of the LFC fans that stood up and walked out last season in protest at price rise…it worked for now which is good.For family reasons I’ve always followed NFL as well but in spite of countless promotions and ch4 it has never taken off and never will which is goo also as I like its Americanism.

el_baboso
Member
7 years ago

The question is how long does it take the people in charge to figure it out.

The old guys I started out with in business would have “taken a bath” years ago. You’re right. Low interest credit plus quasi-legal crap like what went on at Enron have made this go on way too long. It won’t be pretty when it ends. When we’re digging out of the financial rubble, will we have businessmen and policy makers that have a real understanding of risk anymore?

el_baboso
Member
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

I’m sure the banksters will get student loans and consumer debt excluded from the jubilee.

Soviet of Washington
Soviet of Washington
Reply to  el_baboso
7 years ago

Probably. While we’re on Marx…his term for bankers (“the roving cavaliers of credit”) was spot on.

fred z
Member
7 years ago

Happily, capitalism has bankruptcy for when business does stupid things. Consumers may be slow to react, but when they do it’s all over.

Except of course for the crony capitalists who cleverly manipulate idiot politicians into subsidizing them.

New stadium, anyone?

J Palmer Cass
J Palmer Cass
7 years ago

In business 30 or so years ago we called it the greater fool theory. Worked pretty well until you ran out of fools.

Toddy Cat
Toddy Cat
7 years ago

“the effort to keep the fantasy alive in the face of objective reality, is doing more harm than good.” This almost rises to the status of an axiom in the modern world. This desire for expensive play-acting certainly brought down the Soviet Union, as the were still pouring billions of rubles into dead-end shitholes like Cuba and North Korea, and gangs of losers like the FMLN and CPUSA in the name of a fantasy “World Revolution”, even as their country was going bankrupt. It also played a role in the fall of the British Empire as well. It very obviously… Read more »

AngloBilly
AngloBilly
7 years ago

Well, I was turned off by the NFL because of its cultural and political qualities, and I stopped watching and caring about it long before Kaepernick’s capers. Players who dance around and beat their chests after every single play is not something I enjoy in the slightest. In fact, their behavior is often obscene and always disgusting. When I was a kid, if a player behaved that way, not only would opposing players physically punish him during the next play, but his own teammates were likely to punish him in various ways. Sportsmanship seems to have almost disappeared though, and… Read more »

kokor hekkus
kokor hekkus
7 years ago

I and several friends, long time fans, have pretty much stopped watching. They’ve ruined the game, the players are acting like morons, and thus its just a waste of time. Now I see Monday Night Football viewers are down 24%…

Jack
Jack
7 years ago

Kaepernick may simply be the stimulus that triggers the preference cascade. All of the negatives have been building for years, but the fans felt obligated to devote their lives to the cause of FOOTBALL!!!!! Kaepernick managed to attack the team a lot of fans support more than sports, i.e the Country. He made the mistake of giving people who were gritting their teeth to endure another four hour marathon of commercials a reason to go, “I’m not watching any more.”

Alcogito
Alcogito
7 years ago

I just wish I could find horse-racing on TV. THAT I would watch. But unfortunately we only get a few minutes before, during and after the Kentucky Derby, and a short snippet on the news about who won the Preakness and Belmont.

Solomon Honeypickle IV
Solomon Honeypickle IV
7 years ago

check out zunox.hk <= URL they have (free) live streams for almost every pro and collegiate sports events. i will have rd zone in one window, and two different games in 2 other windows.

Al from da Nort
Al from da Nort
7 years ago

IMHO, the ‘cult of growth’ in business really took off when ‘professional’ (i.e. not owner) management became widespread in the ’60’s. This happened because founders’ children, many of them having no skills, yet hoping to become trustafarians, realized that they could cash out their ownership for vast credit-money fortunes by taking the firm public via IPO. The stock price multiplier of reported earnings is driven by earnings’ (hence sales) growth rates. Despite the mathematical absurdity that most of the exchange-traded firms’ sales would exceed the entire GDP within the lifetime of a person now living were they able to maintain… Read more »

Drake
Drake
7 years ago

In the 80’s, teams often ran completely different schemes. The 49ers were totally different from the Bears on both sides of the ball – and both were great teams.

Now they all do exactly the same thing on both sides of the ball – BORING! College is more fun to watch.

Drake
Drake
Reply to  thezman
7 years ago

I would prefer to watch Newton run around – it’s fun to guess when he’ll try cutting back at the wrong time and a linebacker breaks all his ribs.

Watching a mediocre QB do a Tom Brady impression is boring as hell. My eyes glaze over after a half-dozen 5-yard passes.

Bucky barkingham
Bucky barkingham
7 years ago

I recently came across the Chinese Arena Football League on a cable channel. Apparently the NFL wants to expand into the Chinese market.

JohnTyler
JohnTyler
Reply to  Bucky barkingham
7 years ago

There is actually a professional (sort of) baseball league in France. I am not making this up!

walt reed
walt reed
Member
Reply to  JohnTyler
7 years ago

Anything on the Islamic team? They seem to win a lot of contests against the Frogs. Best regards.

Clayton Bigsby
Clayton Bigsby
7 years ago

It was the baseball strike that was my wake up call…that was the end of any interest in commercial organized team sports for me. As much as I dislike TV and rarely watch, I do appreciate being able to watch incredible individual feats of human skill and daring in alternate activities like…..most of Red Bulls endeavors….and having been a huge fan of boxing in its heyday I’m REALLY happy that Dana White and the UFC elevated the “no holds barred” fight game…from the gutter. For me its the quintescence of what we are subconsciously after, instead of using the analogs… Read more »

Member
7 years ago

I’m going to disagree with this statement: “Their game is to inflate the value of the franchise over the duration of their investment. To do that means maximizing the “brand” and that costs money,” If this were really true, Tim Tebow would be playing somewhere in the NFL. He is not. He would put butts in the seats for sure, and that cannot be argued with. However, they don’t want him. Why? I think the feminists have taken over the board rooms of the NFL. They have ruined the game with pink uniforms, homosexual glorification and other social justice crap,… Read more »

scrivener3
7 years ago

Interesting that you select a legal monopoly as an example of the contradictions of capitalism. By act of Congress, the NFL is exempt from Antitrust concerns. All monopolies treat their customers like crap. There is no where else to go. Better examples of capitalism are smartphones, computers, oil production, freelance design and coding, uber (low cost high quality rides), Kmart-Amazon-Costco-Trader Joe’s. Wherever capitalism florishes prices go down and quality goes up.

Member
7 years ago

I remember the movie BASEketball lampooning the downfall of professional sports and it made many of the same points. The NFL like many other successful enterprises (countries?) before has believed that their growth trend is permanent. It isn’t.

Solomon Honeypickle IV
Solomon Honeypickle IV
7 years ago

Don’t forget the NFL wants to add 2 more regular season games — on top of the stupid ass pre-season pretend games. Even though half the players in the league are out of action by the time playoffs roll around. One of the things I love about soccer (save your ignorant parochial comments please) is they let the game continue without interruption for the entire half (45 minutes) even on NBC! The top players can put a ball downfield, further, faster, and with more accuracy, than any NFL QB can.

teapartydoc
Member
Reply to  Solomon Honeypickle IV
7 years ago

Soccer was fun to play. Can’t stand to watch it. Cricket, too.

Drake
Drake
Reply to  Solomon Honeypickle IV
7 years ago

Rugby has the same time-keeping rules but also involves actual action.

Rob De Witt
Rob De Witt
Reply to  Solomon Honeypickle IV
7 years ago

My “ignorant parochial comment” is that kickball bores the living shit out of me. My gratitude at being allowed to express it in your august presence is virtually inexpressible.

Julio
Julio
Reply to  Rob De Witt
7 years ago

I’m dying….ding, ding, ding! And we have a winner, comeback of the year to Mr. De Witt. Just Glorious.

jdallen
jdallen
7 years ago

Yeah, I couldn’t say for sure about Karl, but Tolstoy had it all down pretty good. And surprisingly relevant, still.

trackback
7 years ago

[…] SOURCE […]

Ofay Cat
Ofay Cat
7 years ago

I see team sports the same way I see a committee or a collective. It’s mindless and boring like Hillary rallies. I never watch any team sports. I do occasionally enjoy some one on one sports such as tennis or boxing. That is real competition. You can’t be a bench warmer in those sports. It’s all up to you.

Karl Hungus
Karl Hungus
Reply to  Ofay Cat
7 years ago

tennis is a game, not a sport. same with golf.