You’ve got the Power

6 thoughts on “You’ve got the Power”

1. Good Morning from Omaha,

   the networks keep feeding this monster and the sponsors keep feeding the networks and the public keeps feeding the sponsors. During the off season not many people give a hoot about then nfl. The owners know it, the players know it.

   as long as their money holds up there is no hurry to get this deal done and as we all know you don’t run to a gun fight. I can’t or don’t see a “season of our discontent” across the country. Its a great idea about the web site to gauge the feelings of the football viewing public. The lemmings where at the draft hooting and hollering at every pick.I kept a eye on the draft as well. They keep feeding our addiction to sports.

   I don’t know much about web site creation. I’ll have to check into it but the finances at the home for the people with words in search of idea is rather dreary.

   Strive for excellence, nothing but your best.

   Gene

2. on it drew!

3. Many years ago I exercised my power. The straw that break my back was when the owners started playing “free- agent” with their teams and moving them around while blackmailing cities, that is when I lost interest and reprioritized things in my life. If I have the time, I may catch a game but if there is something more important, like sleep or eating, then the game loses. Unfortunately many of today’s fans are more forgiving or they just do not have much of a memory because once the billionaires and millionaires resolve their disagreements and resume playing the “sheeple” will return and will gladly fork over their hard earned dollars. Now on to something more important, reading a good book.

4. Drew,

   I sense frustration and I can understand it. However, what power does a fan have in boycotting advertising – when nobody is playing on TV and thus nobody is advertising on TV. So punish advertisers of the past? I would be careful with an Egypt analogy. Iran likely started that uprising – most likely nothing to do with a democracy movement. And the Texas 400 – was that a failing of the NFL or a local stadium management? There is not an obvious boogeyman here. If there wasn’t a players union, I guess there wouldn’t be a strike. Regarding the “greed of professional sports,” if you were one of those running backs with a 6-seasons lifespan in your knees, your definition of greed may vary from his fans. Which leaves us with – this is a dynamic free country with a market economy – start your own league. You could make it international. Then when they crown a World Champion, they really would be a world champion. You could call it something sensitive like, Earth’s International Ecologically Inflated Ovalball, or EIEIO. There could be no salaries, no unions, no advertising, no injured knees, no competition, no costing fans anything – just good clean fun and clean air. . . EIEIO ! Santa Rosa could have a farm team !

5. Dear Drew,

   Love your idea, love your concept. I wish there was some way to work with this but I do not possess the knowledge to even start the things you are suggesting except not but the things NFL advertisers are selling. Wish I had the IQ knowledge to get the ball rolling.

   All the best.

   Louis

6. Hey, Drew. If I were to start something similar to what you suggest, can I have permission to use this cartoon on the resulting site/page?

   This whole situation makes me irate. My suggestion is that instead of giving one side or the other a higher percentage of the profits, we take the portion in question and give it to the fans in the form of lower ticket prices (that only cost an arm OR a leg). It’s ridiculous that an average family has to take out a second mortgage just to see a game. And maybe I’m insensitive, but I don’t feel sorry for the players and their tragically short careers. If I made $10 million a year, I think I could find a way to put some aside for retirement, even if that retirement is the following year. Most of them make more in a year than I will see in my lifetime. You don’t see our military whining about “only” making $10 million a year (or the 1/3 of 1% of that salary that they actually take home), and I think the risk of them having a shortened career is a tad higher. And don’t get me started on the owners. “Boo hoo hoo. My operating costs are high!” So are your profit margins. DEAL WITH IT!