The NFL Wants You to Put a Stupid Dish on Your House

We interrupt our NCAA-centric blogging with breaking news which completely pisses me off - the lack of access to the NFL's Sunday ticket will be extended to 2014.

DirecTV will continue to have exclusive access to broadcast out of market NFL games, and for millions of fans like yours truly who root for teams that aren't local, this means one thing - you will continue to be forced out of your house if you want to see your team play on most Sundays.

Now, any reader of this blog knows I enjoy spending time in bars, and all 3 idiots have been known to knock back a few adult beverages back from time to time, but being FORCED TO if you want to watch your favorite team for a few hours on a Sunday is bullshit.

The new agreement does make some concessions to cable subscribers, most notably, according to the report on the NFL web site, people can pay to get the Sunday Ticket over the internet if they live in places such as apartment buildings or in residences where poor sightlines make satellite unavailable. How they determine that is anyone's guess.

Also, the Red Zone channel will be available on cable - for what fee we don't know - which provides live cut ins to games where teams are close to scoring. While these concesssions do represent progress, it's still not enough, and here's why -I want to watch these games -- and pay for the privilege of doing so but -- I DON'T WANT TO PUT A FUCKING SATELLITE DISH ON MY HOUSE.

For a league that gets so many things right from a fan's perspective, the NFL's continued failure on this issue is infuriating, mostly because as a consumer I don't have any choices. As a cable subscriber I can pay for and watch every LA Clippers game, or every Vancouver Cannuck game (is hockey still played?), but if I want to watch the Eagles, I have to go to a bar. That makes sense.

However, I know that when Sunday in September rolls around, I'll be running to that watering hole like Amy Winehouse runs to her crack dealer -- and like Amy, rehab isn't an option. But screaming at Roger Goodell on this dopey little blog is so - hey Roger, on this issue you FAIL.

And tell your PR people that making up retarded, not even close to truthful quotes like this -- "This new content enhances our tradition of being the most pro-consumer, widely available sport on television," -- does not help. I may be an idiot, but I'm also a customer who would actually like purchase your product, and because of this deal, I cannot. Dummy.