You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘NFL’ tag.
Travis Hunter Goes Both Ways
By Shlomo Maital
Travis Hunter
Travis Hunter has just won the Heisman Trophy, for the outstanding college football player of the year. Usually it goes to quarterbacks. But not this year.
Hunter is unusual. Most highly-paid football players play either offense or defense. That alone is hard enough. Football players suffer injuries constantly, and many end their careers with CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — brain damage incurred through repeated blows to the head and concussions.
Travis plays both offense and defense. The 21-year-old athlete played for Colorado. He caught 92 passes for 1,152 yards on offense, with 14 touchdowns. On defense, as a corner linebacker, he made 32 tackles, 4 interceptions and 7 pass breakups. He helped his team shift from a big time loser to a 9-3 record this year, under coach Deion Sanders. In the season finale, his team routed Oklahoma State 52-0, and Hunter caught three touchdown passes.
Once upon a time, football players played both offense and defense. No longer, In fact, many players are platooned – they play one down, then are taken out to rest. A typical NFL team has 53 players on the roster – divided into three groups, offense, defense and special teams (who handle kickoffs and punts).
Travis Hunter broke the mold. When he is drafted for the professional NFL, I doubt he will be allowed to play both ways. He calls to mind the incredible Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball player who both pitches and hits and excels at both for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
What Unites America? Sunday Night Football
By Shlomo Maital
Drew Esocoff
Americans are disunited – perhaps, more than ever, since the Civil War.
A 2017 poll found this: “Seven in 10 Americans say the nation’s political divisions are at least as big as during the Vietnam War, according to a new poll, which also finds nearly 6 in 10 saying Donald Trump’s presidency is making the U.S. political system more dysfunctional. The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll — conducted nine months into Trump’s tumultuous presidency — reveals a starkly pessimistic view of U.S. politics, widespread distrust of the nation’s political leaders and their ability to compromise, and an erosion of pride in the way democracy works in America.”
Since then, it’s gotten worse. E.g., Jan. 6. So, what does unite America?
Football! Specifically, Sunday Night Football on NBC TV.
Jody Rosen explains why on the podcast The Daily (NYT), reading his Sunday NYT essay “How an Ordinary Sunday Night Football Game Turns Into the Most Spectacular Thing on TV”.
Tune in to the game, to tune out the world, is the slogan.
NBC pays the NFL $3 billion for the rights. It loses money. Ad revenue doesn’t pay for the huge costs – even though a 30 second commercial costs over $800,000! But it’s worth it. TV viewing is plummeting, yet ratings for the Sunday night football game (SNF) on TV are soaring.
Who watches SNF? Well – pretty much everyone. Blacks, white Americans, women, Hispanics, young, middle-aged, old.
Why?
Rosen describes someone few have heard of – the legendary director Drew Esocoff. Each week, during the 18 week regular season, plus the playoffs, a convoy of a dozen or so huge trucks travels to the city that hosts the game – and goes to work. Esocoff choreographs 200 screens, cameras, sound men, play-by-play, commentators… all this, to tell a story, for a violent game that has players injured every game – sometimes seriously. (A Buffalo Bills player had his heart stopped, after a hard tackle, and was revived by speedy medical attention; he has resumed play since).
I am a regular viewer. As a part-time journalist and blogger, I am amazed at how Esocoff tells a gripping story each game – shots of jubilation, heartbreak, near misses, frustration, anger, mingling crowd views, players, referees. Some games are gripping to the end, but many are one-sided, challenging the commentators and producer to maintain the viewer interest.
SNF is the most-watched program on television, and has been every year, for years. SNF averaged 18.7 million TV viewers in 2022 ranking as primetime’s #1 TV show for an unprecedented 12th consecutive year. In Sept. 2023, Esocoff began his 18th season directing SNF.
If football unites Americans, perhaps politics can learn from football. Football has clear rules. Those rules are enforced with skill (video replays make certain of this). Bad behavior is penalized. Performance is well compensated. The system finds those with skill, no matter what their race, background or status. (Caveat: There is a paucity of Black coaches).
And Esocoff? We can learn from him too. DIE. Document. Inform. Entertain. He and play-by-play announcer Mike Tiriko follow this mantra brilliantly. Facts. Recount them. Never bore, but entertain. Find the human interest. Tell stories for 3 hours weekly.
Football unites America. Politics disunites America. Politicians — learn from football.
TIMnovate 