Pro sports becoming unwatchable?

pete6032

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2010
7,443
3,004
136
NFL officiating has become arbitrary and capricious, with refs making poor calls and refusing to make obvious calls that could change the outcome of a season.

MLB games are averaging 3 hours in length, and 4-hour playoff games are not out of the ordinary. The ball is rarely put into play, and batters are perpetually fouling off pitches and swinging for the fences.

The NBA has become a 3-point shooting contest where superstars collude with one another to form super teams, virtually predetermining who will end up in the finals even before the season begins.

Is it time to switch to soccer?
 
  • Like
Reactions: tHa ShIzNiT

OccamsToothbrush

Golden Member
Aug 21, 2005
1,389
825
136
Is it time to switch to soccer?

Hey now, don't do anything crazy. There's still junior league cock-fighting from Burkina Faso and synchronized swimming if you need to get your sport fix without resorting to soccer.

I agree with you though. MLB is completely unwatchable. The NFL is heading in that direction too and there are so many bad teams and so many blowout matchups that there are only about 2 games per week that look good on paper and then those are ruined by the bad officiating. The NBA has always sucked and now it's worse. Hockey is a great sport live and awful on TV even if you can find it. About all I watch now are short stints of college football and college hoops.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: highland145

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
The Redskins sucking this year even more than they usually do has made me not care as much about NFL as a whole like I usually do. But I also think the Nats going deep into the playoffs has also made me not care about it as much. Last Monday I didn't even know MNF was on since I was watching the Nats. At like 9:40 I realized MNF was on and it was Packers/Lions too, so a pretty big game. But I don't really care about MLB in general. I'm just a homer and if the Nats weren't in it, I wouldn't be watching it.

NHL I like a lot too. I watch a lot of regular season Capitals games. They are like 2 hours and 30 minutes too, and it's non stop action other than the 2 intermissions. Maybe start getting into hockey.

I can watch any NBA game between two good teams, but I also have a lot of Wizards games on too. With regular season Wiz and Caps games, I will have them on while doing other stuff a lot of the time and not super focused on them. But if you have 2 good NBA teams going at it, it's fun to watch. 2nd round NBA playoffs and on are fantastic to watch.

I do agree about the officiating in the NFL though. They need to figure something out. It's getting ridiculous at how bad it is and how many flags are thrown.

Soccer I can't really get into at all. The only time I can is when it's like World Cup and I just hear about it everywhere. While soccer is pretty boring and slow for 90% of the match, I do like how short it is.
 

tHa ShIzNiT

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2000
2,321
8
81
I am starting to feel this way too. But I still love hockey. Hockey playoffs is undisputed #1 best for me. The playoffs become a whole different game where its a battle of attrition rather than just skill. Every hit whittles down your opponent, its great.

NFL you're totally right the calls and replays and stuff are slowing the game down so much its unbearable...and all the bad teams...and the patriots with the easiest schedule this year after winning the superbowl is a bit ridiculous, even though I understand they are in the worst division.

NBA you're spot on, in my opinion. The game is nothing like it was in the old days when I used to care, no defense anymore. Playoffs decent though.

Soccer sometimes kills me with the fake stuff, diving, but it is usually pretty fun to watch the bigger games. Especially world cup and olympics. Also, no commercials which is huge for me.
 

Luna1968

Golden Member
Mar 9, 2019
1,200
677
136
NFL officiating has become arbitrary and capricious, with refs making poor calls and refusing to make obvious calls that could change the outcome of a season.

MLB games are averaging 3 hours in length, and 4-hour playoff games are not out of the ordinary. The ball is rarely put into play, and batters are perpetually fouling off pitches and swinging for the fences.

The NBA has become a 3-point shooting contest where superstars collude with one another to form super teams, virtually predetermining who will end up in the finals even before the season begins.

Is it time to switch to soccer?
NFL, yea it sucks and i agree. too many commercials is the killer for me. and wtf is the purpose of the "extra point"? kickers never miss. just give the 6 points or go for 2. but take
the stupid extra point out of the game. the refs makes bad calls because there are so many rules now. in my opinion the refs are overloaded with looking for penalties.
NBA, not a fan so dont care.
MLB, shut your whore mouth.
MLS? meh its ok
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
NFL, yea it sucks and i agree. too many commercials is the killer for me. and wtf is the purpose of the "extra point"? kickers never miss. just give the 7 points or go for 2. but take the stupid extra point out of the game.
I mean you're just factually wrong about the extra point. If I counted correct, there have already been 20 missed this year through 7 weeks. That's nearly 3 missed per week.

https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/stats?season=2019&week=100&category=KICKING
 

UsandThem

Elite Member
May 4, 2000
16,068
7,380
146
I really only watch college football anymore, and a few MLB games per year. I usually watch a few college basketball games during March Madness as well.

I gave up watching the NFL and NBA a long time ago (not for political reasons).
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,511
29,096
146
yeah, it is not uncommon to miss the extra point...but I find the idea of removing it entirely for the option of the 2-point conversion or not, somewhat intriguing. ....But I think forcing a 2 point could easily add to many more unnecessary injuries.
 

woodman1999

Golden Member
Sep 19, 2003
1,690
104
106
I am finding more and more that if my teams aren't playing, I couldn't care less. I lost interest in baseball when the Red Sox shut Sale down as that meant they were mailing it in. I'll watch the Celtics play but couldn't care less about any other NBA game. Hockey I can sometimes watch other teams, but if it's not the Bruins, the game becomes something to watch while there are ads on during whatever else I am watching.

NFL games I don't mind watching, but mostly just the redzone since I don't get Patriots games in NYC unless it's the Jets, Giants, or primetime. Also:

NFL you're totally right the calls and replays and stuff are slowing the game down so much its unbearable...and all the bad teams...and the patriots with the easiest schedule this year after winning the superbowl is a bit ridiculous, even though I understand they are in the worst division.

Regarding the above, I get that people are upset about our division. However, as far as the rest of the schedule goes, it's not up to us. It's strictly based on the year and which division we're scheduled to play. This year we play the NFC East, which is a shithole frankly, and the AFC North, which isn't exactly crushing it. But roll that back 5 or 6 years and those would be damn hard divisions to play against. So unless you want special rules where the Patriots can only play teams that came in 1st or 2nd in their division in the prior season, get over it. We're still killing the shitty teams like we're supposed to. /rant
 

dainthomas

Lifer
Dec 7, 2004
14,572
3,401
136
I am starting to feel this way too. But I still love hockey. Hockey playoffs is undisputed #1 best for me. The playoffs become a whole different game where its a battle of attrition rather than just skill. Every hit whittles down your opponent, its great.

Love hockey live or on TV. And playoff hockey even more so.

My girlfriend has gotten me into rugby. Games are really quick and there's a lot of action. Good luck finding it on TV in the US though. Did you know the rugby world cup is going on right now? Don't worry, no one else does either.
 

BudAshes

Lifer
Jul 20, 2003
13,911
3,195
146
Soccer has always been unwatchable so not sure how that is going to change anything.
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,044
41,729
136
Used to wathc a lot of hockey, a couple of strikes and playoff officiating has completely made me lose interest , MLB for me ended with the strike that canceled the world series, never go around to watching it again after that. The only sport i still watch and follow religiously is NFL, and that's mostly because of the RedZone and the no commercials
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,511
29,096
146
I am finding more and more that if my teams aren't playing, I couldn't care less. I lost interest in baseball when the Red Sox shut Sale down as that meant they were mailing it in. I'll watch the Celtics play but couldn't care less about any other NBA game. Hockey I can sometimes watch other teams, but if it's not the Bruins, the game becomes something to watch while there are ads on during whatever else I am watching.

NFL games I don't mind watching, but mostly just the redzone since I don't get Patriots games in NYC unless it's the Jets, Giants, or primetime. Also:



Regarding the above, I get that people are upset about our division. However, as far as the rest of the schedule goes, it's not up to us. It's strictly based on the year and which division we're scheduled to play. This year we play the NFC East, which is a shithole frankly, and the AFC North, which isn't exactly crushing it. But roll that back 5 or 6 years and those would be damn hard divisions to play against. So unless you want special rules where the Patriots can only play teams that came in 1st or 2nd in their division in the prior season, get over it. We're still killing the shitty teams like we're supposed to. /rant

Yeah, it's just a result of circumstance. If the Patriots manage to go undefeated, they will probably still carry that "yeah, but..." like the Miami Dolphins and their garbage schedule, on top of protracted season when they went undefeated.

The '07 Patriots or whatever year that was would have had no issues, because they had great competition. But then lolEli.
 
Last edited:

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,402
8,038
136
NFL officiating has become arbitrary and capricious, with refs making poor calls and refusing to make obvious calls that could change the outcome of a season.

MLB games are averaging 3 hours in length, and 4-hour playoff games are not out of the ordinary. The ball is rarely put into play, and batters are perpetually fouling off pitches and swinging for the fences.

The NBA has become a 3-point shooting contest where superstars collude with one another to form super teams, virtually predetermining who will end up in the finals even before the season begins.

Is it time to switch to soccer?
Don't necessarily agree with your observations but myself, I'm more and more preferring watching soccer.
 

kn51

Senior member
Aug 16, 2012
695
111
106
Number of flags thrown in the NFL is out of control. One game this past week there were six in a row.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Luna1968

Majes

Golden Member
Apr 8, 2008
1,164
148
106
Officiating in all sports is a huge issue.

Soccer is the absolute worst. Every single week multiple matches are determined by judgement calls.

Football recently dropped to second worse. Officials can call holding or pass interference on almost every single play and have a case. The way the game is played simply doesn't match up to the way the rules are written.

Basketball has the same problem. The rule book is antiquated when concerning the physicality of the game. I've actually watched a lot of officiating workshops and I think NBA officiating has improved almost as much as baseball. But some of this might be because there's so much more jump-shooting in today's game as well.

Baseball officiating is great for the most part. The problem baseball has is that it slows down an already slow game.

Hockey seems fine? I don't watch a lot of hockey so I'm no expert. I often see infractions missed, but it doesn't seem to impact the game too much. The flow of hockey is awesome, and the culture seems to just shrug off calls and move on while other sports magnify and focus on them.

Personally I watch a ton of football, lots of basketball, and some baseball/soccer/hockey. I play a ton of soccer though.
 

PW5843

Junior Member
Oct 18, 2019
12
2
41
As a recovering NFL addict i find watching the (no RGB) fans spin inside my case a better use of my time.
 

njdevilsfan87

Platinum Member
Apr 19, 2007
2,327
249
106
A little bit over a year ago I went to a LAFC MLS game for like $20 and have been sold on soccer since. It was their atmosphere that sold me on it - which was and is still by far the best I have been a part of in any sporting event AINEC. I assume the only events that would exceed it would be... soccer games in Europe.

I am very hyped to be attending LAFC vs LA Galaxy playoff matchup tomorrow. I just hope Zlatan isn't too quick of a buzzkill.

Soccer isn't as boring as a 0-0 game might depict from the outside once you start to realize that all rushes and crosses effectively are "good scoring chances" even when they don't register shots on goal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Muse and Majes