Ridiculous quotes from WO.com columnists

[soup23]

Even though I think Alan overrates a lot of what he sees, I do appreciate the enthusiasm he brings to wrestling and he justifies his opinon and the matches he likes fits his style.

[rovert]

Even though I think Alan overrates a lot of what he sees, I do appreciate the enthusiasm he brings to wrestling and he justifies his opinon and the matches he likes fits his style.

and watches more Wrestling than the vast majority of people and of more variety than he is given credit for.

[Tim Evans]

Tim is seriously reaching there. Poster FUCKYOURFACE accuses Alan of having a meltdown and Tim takes it as red. I guess Alan has officially made the enemies list here.

 

Anyway Alan was posting at like 4 am and Alan hates BigRum as he is legit one of the dumbest posters on the internet.

 

Usually Alan ignores the guy but not when talking about Bryan.

[rovert]

One instance = always

[rovert]

Todd Martin got ripped writing this last week:

CM Punk said that only the strong survive and they survive because they evolve. He said that Nexus is expanding and evolving with Mason Ryan. Mason Ryan said, “Faith.†Punk said they are bonded by faith, unlike Cena and the Core (I’m not misspelling the word to help WWE merchandising, sorry). Punk said that Nexus will see to it that he wins the Rumble.

On the Don Tony & Kevin Castle radio show:

http://www.wrestling-news.com/artman/uploads/013111.jpg

 

Todd striking a blow against big business here.

[tomk]

Justifies his opinions means what?

[Johnny Sorrow]

Here we go, oy fuckin' vey.

 

One of my favorite gimmicks the NFL does is the “Super Bowl Slump” where the losing team almost always misses the playoffs the next year. What a great angle to get over how devastating it is to lose in the Super Bowl.

Tell me I'm missing something and this is a spoof deal.

 

edit: Oh, here's the whole thing

 

Steve Te Tai on WWE needs to be like NFL, not NBA PDF Print E-mail

 

“WWE needs to be less like the NBA and more like the NFL”

 

 

 

Steve Te Tai ( [email protected] e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

 

 

 

I’ve always noticed how the WWE always seemed to emulate the NBA. They find crossover superstars like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Steve Austin, and Hulk Hogan and put them on the face of everything. Their championship spots tend to be limited to a very small number of select superstars. Then when their crossover superstars leave, there’s a lull in business and interest that lasts for years, as they each scramble to find the “next Jordan” or the “next Hulk Hogan”. Perhaps this is why the NBA and WWE’s popularity is so cyclical. These days they’ve put everything in yet another small group of superstars, topped off by John Cena and LeBron James, yet both groups have yet to meet or exceed the popularity of previous franchise talents. The NBA’s taken a novel approach by turning LeBron James heel by joining the Miami Heat doing a NWO gimmick. But rather than hot-shotting any angles with Cena, perhaps the WWE should simply stop emulating the NBA and try harder to be like the NFL.

 

 

 

Last year, the NFL broke all kinds of viewership records. And they did it without an individual crossover superstar or team. True, Brett Favre (who is like Ric Flair, the expired legend who just won’t go away) was responsible for much of the record viewership, but this year the NFL continued to break records without Favre. So what is the NFL’s secret, how do they do accomplish what the NBA and WWE cannot?

 

 

 

“Anyone can win the Super Bowl”

 

 

 

Throughout the 80’s and 90’s, the Super Bowl featured one of the dominant NFC teams, beating the crap out of the AFC team, basically every year. While most still watched the Super Bowl, no one really cared since the winner was rarely in doubt. But a little more than a decade ago that all changed. Seven of the past fourteen Super Bowls have featured Wild Card teams (bottom four seeds of twelve), five of those Wild Card teams actually won the Super Bowl, and the other one plays the Steelers this Sunday.

 

 

 

After fourteen years of successfully running this “anyone can win” angle, NFL fans now know that as long as you get into the playoffs, you can win it all. Just last month, the 7-9 Seahawks weaseled their way into the playoffs, but once the tournament began, they were able to knock off the defending World Champion Saints. This is the sort of thing that keeps all fans tuned in to the entire NFL, because fans truly believe every good team has a shot, and it isn’t just restricted to a select few.

 

 

 

Do WWE fans feel like anyone can win a World Championship at WrestleMania? No. Do they even feel like anyone can win at the Royal Rumble? Probably not, and if they do, a quick look at history will prove them wrong. As Bryan Alvarez pointed out in his recent piece on the Rumble, the adage that “Anyone can win” is an empty statement. To illustrate that further, these are the World title matches from the modern era Wrestlemanias:

 

 

 

2005: Batista over Triple H©. John Cena over JBL©

 

2006: John Cena© over Triple H. Rey Mysterio over Kurt Angle © and Randy Orton.

 

2007: John Cena© over Shawn Michaels. Undertaker over Batista©

 

2008: Randy Orton© over John Cena & Triple H. Undertaker over Edge©

 

2009: Triple H© over Randy Orton. John Cena over Edge© & Big Show

 

2010: John Cena over Batista©. Chris Jericho© over Edge.

 

 

 

Cena, Batista, Triple H, Orton, Undertaker, Edge and Michaels account for 22 of these 27 World title slots. This is the equivalent of the Colts and Patriots playing the Cowboys and Giants literally every year in the Super Bowl. And worse yet, John Cena and the Undertaker are 7 out of 8 in title matches, which is the equivalent of the Patriots winning 4 Super Bowls and the Colts winning 3. Not very effective at getting anyone over except the Patriots and Colts is it?

 

 

 

The WWE needs to take a chance and put some new faces in the Wrestlemania main events. When the NFL does this, they make long-term superstars like the Patriots and Steelers who both started out as scrappy underdogs filled with unknown players. The NFL knows you can’t have the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl every year, despite being “America’s Team”. Yet does this hurt their drawing power? The Cowboys are still the most valuable team in the NFL despite not winning a World title since 1995.

 

 

 

I’m sure the WWE would claim they’ve tried this already, with “Wild Cards” Sheamus and Jack Swagger having had reigns as champ this past year alone. The problem isn’t the decision to make these guys champs, it’s the circumstance of how they became “champions” is what makes it completely different from how the NFL does it.

 

Me: (LOL)

 

 

 

 

The right question isn’t was giving Jack Swagger the World title the right move, it’s does a tree falling down make any noise if no one’s there to hear it? Title changes and reigns on the weekly tornado of RAW, or on a PPV show that barely 150,000 people ordered means nothing. They give these geeks a shot with no real chance to establish themselves. Then by the time WrestleMania arrives, “order is restored” and the “top” guys are back in the title picture ready to face off in the “Super Bowl”. The end results of this method is no new stars are created, and despite the “top” guys fighting for the belts, the show still gets beat by a standard UFC show.

 

 

 

I think the WWE has this procedure backwards. If the Sheamus/Swagger types were to win their championships at WrestleMania in a main event position, it would have real impact and significance. After all when the Browns beat the NFL Champion Saints in Week 7, no one cared. But when the Seahawks beat the Saints in the playoffs it was a very big deal.

 

 

 

If they’re worried about giving a lucrative Mania title match spot to someone that can’t “draw”, then they need to work harder on establishing that “spot”. In 2008, Sarah Palin was a complete unknown until they unveiled her at the RNC before 40 million people, which turned her into the biggest name in politics this side of Obama. Barely anyone knew Kate Middleton existed, but a couple months ago Prince William presented her as his new fiancée, and now I can’t go anywhere without seeing her on TV or magazine cover. People become overnight superstars not only because of the position they’ve gained, but because of the forum that they attain that position. Winning the World title at Wrestlemania would be a lot more effective than winning it in some four way match in the middle of Summer. Whether Vice-President, Princess of Wales, AFC/NFC Champion, or a World title winner at Wrestlemania, it’s the slot that makes the star.

 

 

 

“One important format change”

 

 

 

To establish that slot, they need to make one major change to Wrestlemania, and that is from now on, there are two main events, and two main events only-the WWE title and the World title, and they have to be the last two matches of the show. Out of those 27 slots for title matches I referenced earlier, many of those matches weren’t even promoted as main events! I realize they need to hotshot angles like Trump’s hair, Floyd Mayweather, and endless retirement matches to sell buys, but the two World championships need to be presented as the ONLY main events from now on. Even if the Super Bowl matchup “sucks” (like the Steelers-Cardinals), the NFL still pushes it, and because of the “anyone can win” gimmick they’ve worked so hard to establish, that Super Bowl ended up being a 5-star game. And even if it wasn’t, people still refer to it as one of the best Super Bowls ever, because the NFL knows how to sell a gimmick.

 

 

 

And once they’ve established that the main events are THE title matches, then you’ve just made Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber that much more important. The AFC and NFC championships are drawing bigger numbers than ever because fans understand the winners face each other in the Super Bowl in THE main event. At present, while fans understand the winners of the Rumble and Chamber get title shots, they also know that if there isn’t enough “starpower” in that matchup, the match will either be relegated to the mid-card or be expanded into a three-way or four-way. If the WWE booked the NFL, they’d determine the Packers don’t have enough starpower, and would put them on against Pittsburgh in the afternoon and feature a Vikings vs. Cowboys prime time game with Brett Favre’s career vs. Jerry Jones hair on the line. As cool as that might actually be, the NFC championship game would be that less important knowing that winning didn’t guarantee the important slot.

 

 

 

And while the NFL is great at creating these instant superstars, they do so wisely. Every Super Bowl has always had at least one established superstar team or player on one side and that’s been key to their success. After all, Cinderella beating Cinderella isn’t very impressive. The Steelers, Patriots, and Colts have represented the AFC in every Super Bowl (except 2002) since 2001, while the NFC has sent a different team to the Super Bowl every year since 1998. So by all means, let the established guys like Cena, Undertaker, and Orton take their rightful money spot in the Wrestlemania main event. But rather than see them wrestle each other (yet again), let the other half be a “Wild Card” like Alberto Del Rios, Daniel Bryan, Miz, Jerry Lawler, etc. And most importantly let one of these “Wild Cards” win once in a while. The Colts and Patriots both did jobs in the Super Bowl and their drawing power is still intact.

 

 

 

“Follow Up”

 

 

 

And once there is an important title win in the main event at Wrestlemania, you can’t piss away its impact by having the champ lose to someone cashing in their MITB suitcase, or losing it in a “Fatal 4-Way” a few weeks later. The champ needs to hold that belt for at least 4-6 months with the announcers constantly reminding people about their Mania victory, just like announcers do the same with the NFL champs every season.

 

 

 

One of my favorite gimmicks the NFL does is the “Super Bowl Slump” where the losing team almost always misses the playoffs the next year. What a great angle to get over how devastating it is to lose in the Super Bowl. WWE should do the same thing with the Wrestlemania main event loser. Perhaps doing nothing but jobs for 3-6 months would achieve the same effect. But just like in the NFL, all you need to do is get yourself in the playoffs (Chamber/Rumble) and you can be right back in there to redeem yourself.

 

 

 

If you follow the same patterns as the NFL, you can see how the entire year can truly revolve around the first three months of every year. Right now the first three months are the best for WWE fans but only because the rest of the year seems such an erratic mess, with the only time they seemingly do any real planning being the two months before Wrestlemania. But with a few simple changes, The Rumble, Chamber, and Wrestlemania can truly be like the NFL playoffs, to the fans and at the “box office”. Maybe they could somehow brand the three shows with a common name like the “Wrestlemania Series” or something.

 

Me: "Or The Road To Wrestlemania"!

 

And maybe you could take it a step further and somehow have your performance from April through December determine placement or eligibility into the Rumble or Chamber, like a regular season of the NFL? Worried that no one would bother ordering PPV shows during a “regular season” of WWE, then just look at the numbers the NFL broke this past regular season on Sunday and Monday nights.

 

 

 

Despite them no-selling last year’s PPV TKO from the UFC, the WWE is at a crossroads with this year’s Wrestlemania. If they continue like the recent past they’ll be like the NBA, which has literally had only 8 World Champion teams since 1980, alienating more and more fans every year, while they raid middle schools constantly searching for the next Michael Jordan to save them. Instead, just do what the NFL does, open it up, and create your own series of superstars annually, using the tools and talent you already have. Because something tells me that next crossover megastar was probably rejected by developmental for being too short, and is already working on his jiu-jitsu as we speak.

 

Holy fucking shit.

[rovert]

Im amazed you guys slept on that article for so long.

[kjh]

It fits Dave's meme that the NFL scheduler is a booking genius after reading this article.

[KrisZ]

Dave giving that diatribe Wednesday on WOR was fantastic. I loved the part where he basically whined about how NFL, NBA, MLB, et al book just like UFC but UFC gets crapped on because by MMA fans for being "too much pro wrestling."

[jdw]

He lost me at this:

 

Last year, the NFL broke all kinds of viewership records. And they did it without an individual crossover superstar or team. True, Brett Favre (who is like Ric Flair, the expired legend who just won’t go away) was responsible for much of the record viewership, but this year the NFL continued to break records without Favre. So what is the NFL’s secret, how do they do accomplish what the NBA and WWE cannot?

Can you get anymore cross over than this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo5gbTirdn4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEIj-wsUinc

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elxpr7pzZTc

 

Wait... let's make this easier. My gf loves him, so I've listend to probably every single one of these get put over through the years:

 

 

That high five one might be her favorite of all-time.

 

Anyone remember the Mama McNabb commercials for Chunky?

 

 

For fucks sake.

 

WWE wrestlers haven't had dick on cross over compared to NFL players. Hulk Hogan, Rock and Austin... the biggest "cross over" wrestlers of the past 30 years, don't have a pot to piss in compared to guy like Manning, Farve, Joe Willie, etc. Christ... Hogan would have loved to have the massive, long term endorsement campaign that McNabb had with Chunky.

 

John

[jdw]

It fits Dave's meme that the NFL scheduler is a booking genius after reading this article.

 

Dave giving that diatribe Wednesday on WOR was fantastic. I loved the part where he basically whined about how NFL, NBA, MLB, et al book just like UFC but UFC gets crapped on because by MMA fans for being "too much pro wrestling."

Yeah... I suspect Dave doesn't get what other people have explained to him.

 

"Who" NFL teams play isn't determined due to ratings. People have walked through how that is come up with.

 

"When" NFL teams play each other, and what time slots they go into, are determined by (i) ratings, (ii) keeping all the partners happy, and (iii) various limitations of fitting every scheduled game into a slot.

 

You simply can't book the first one. People have gone over that again and again with him.

 

The second has major limitations, one of the critical one being (ii): the Best Ratings for the NFL would be to put all the best match-ups (from a ratings standpoint) into Sunday Night Football, and to a lesser degree Monday Night Football. The problem is that CBS and FOX would shit a brick if they lost all their best match ups to NBC and ESPN, which in turn would lower the value that the NFL can collect from CBS and FOX. As some of us have mentioned, the NFL has long been masterful in getting all the major networks to the table to have access to programing. In addition to getting to air the Super Bowl, the key way to keep them happy is to let them have games that draw.

 

Dave, since he doesn't follow football as closely as many of the rest of us, seems to think that the SNF match up each week is the #1 bestest ratings drawing match up of that week.

 

It's not.

 

At times it is, because everyone knows that if it's Pats-Colts that the best drawing match up of the weekend and it goes in Prime Time.

 

Wait...

 

11/21 SNF Games: NYG vs PHI

 

That as the week the Colts and Pats played.

 

Yes, Giants-Eagles is a big draw because of two major media markets, so SNF got one of the better ratings drawing matchups of the weekend.

 

It just didn't get the best, because the NFL makes sure to keep all the networks happy. It doesn't always give CBS's biggest regular season match up of the year (that one) to NBC for SNF.

 

That one of those limitations we talk about. There are others, such as if there was a ratings draw as big as Michael Jordan in the NFL, his team couldn't be on SNF/MNF every week. The NFL has limits on the number of times a year that any team can appear in prime time. Again, this is done to make sure that CBS/FOX (which are each the "homes" to one the conference) don't take it up the ass by losing their top team to primetime every week.

 

Here's the difference between WWE and NFL "booking":

 

Austin can main event every PPV in a year. Manning and Brady *combined* can't.

 

The WWE can make Austin win every match if they want to. The NFL would much rather have Brady, Manning or Sanchez in the Super Bowl than Big Ben. No, not because Big Ben is a jerk off. Because PIT doesn't have a pot to piss in as market (relative to New York and Boston), and Big Ben has never been the tv draw than Manning and Brady are.

 

The WWE can make Austin's PPV match a barn burner. The NFL have been stuck with more shitty Super Bowls than any of us can remember. That entire era of NFC dominance from Raiders-Skins until Elway beat Farve was loaded with dogshit games... that were only entertaining if you were (i) a fan of the winner, or (ii) hated the loser. If you happened to hate the winner (*cough*Cowboys*cough*), some of those games were nearly unwatchable.

 

John

[KrisZ]

The only time the schedule is moved around is when flex scheduling kicks in for the last month of the season so NBC can change their game but even then FOX & CBS gets to keep one game a piece before NBC can pick and ESPN is already locked for MNF so that can't change at all. You can't tell what teams are going to do each year so you can have games between teams that were great one year then end up being like 5-8 and 6-7 going into MNF on Week 15 leaving ESPN holding the bag.

[Wahoos Leg]

That article has to be sarcasm... doesn't it?

[kjh]

Dave giving that diatribe Wednesday on WOR was fantastic. I loved the part where he basically whined about how NFL, NBA, MLB, et al book just like UFC but UFC gets crapped on because by MMA fans for being "too much pro wrestling."

Even better was Dave complaining about when he gives Strikeforce storyline ideas, they turn around to him and say you want to turn us into pro wrestling.

[Dooley]

I wonder if Dave is really starting to alienate both "halves" of his base. The pro wres half seems to resent his constant covering of MMA, and MMA folk seem to resent him wanting to turn everything into pro wres.

[KrisZ]

Chico on Rashad Evans getting injured and being pulled out of the Shogun fight with Jon Jones being put in.

 

Better angle than almost anything you see in wrestling nowadays. Perfect timing too because when Rashad comes back he will probably have to fight Jackson first.

[sek69]

The WWE can make Austin win every match if they want to. The NFL would much rather have Brady, Manning or Sanchez in the Super Bowl than Big Ben. No, not because Big Ben is a jerk off. Because PIT doesn't have a pot to piss in as market (relative to New York and Boston), and Big Ben has never been the tv draw than Manning and Brady are.

Just saying, the Steelers have one of the largest fanbases in all of sports. To steal a phrase, IT DOESN'T MATTER how big the market is in Pittsburgh, Steelers = ratings. The AFC title game was the highest rated ever and I don't think people are predicting the Super Bowl to be the highest rated TV event ever just for Green Bay. I will concede people probably aren't watching to see Ben, the Steelers have been able to succeed at getting the brand over instead of the players in a way WWE could only dream of.

 

Also, didn't Dave used to make fun of old time wrestler types who used to insist all sports were worked?

[Guest Slickster]

To be fair, the NFL has in a way 'booked' this season by scheduling key divisional matchups at the beginning and end of the regular season.

 

They've done a great job of artificially creating 'must-see' matchups since they can push what used to be lame-duck late-season games as having playoff relevance.

 

Remember, there were about 16 of the NFL's 32 teams in playoff contention going into the last week of the season

(http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2011/1/2/1908872/nfl-playoff-picture-afc-nfc-week-17).

 

I think that keeping 50% of their fans emotionally involved in NFL programming up to the very last week of the season is a key element in the NFL's meteoric television success this year.

 

I'm not sure the NFL has any real breakout pop culture stars other than Peyton Manning to help hook in non-hardcore fans, which would also work against them (in theory).

However, this Sunday's game is supposed to be the most-watched TV event of all time.

 

Also, I really don't think that the NFL much cares about which teams make it to the Super Bowl.

The game has become such a pop culture event that it really doesn't matter which teams are playing.

Millions of casual fans and even non-fans are abuzz about the ads and the halftime show spectacle.

I'm confident a Jaguars-Buccaneers game would get about the same rating as a Giants-Patriots game would.

[sek69]

No way a Jags-Bucs game gets the ratings a Giants-Pats game would. For one, no one cares about the Jags (they actually had a decent squad making a playoff run this season and the stadium was maybe half filled every game), and both the Giants and Pats have rabid fanbases.

 

There's basically a few levels of "draws" in the NFL:

 

Teams with huge fanbases that draw year in and out: Steelers, Patriots, Colts, Giants, Packers, Bears, Cowboys, possibly Chargers (they were in the second group for a while but they've been good long enough to graduate to this level now)

 

Teams who have fairly recent fanbases due to winning: Falcons, Saints, Jets, Chiefs

 

Teams who have decent fanbases but don't draw much because they've been losing a lot recently: Redskins, Browns, Raiders, 49ers

 

Teams who have been bad recently but have shown signs of turnaround and will attract people who root for the underdog: Dolphins, Rams, Seahawks, Bucs

 

Everyone else pretty much has no rating/drawing power.

 

There are some exceptions, like the Vikings being a draw despite losing but that was more due to Favre and the trainwreck factor of the wheels falling off that team at a record rate.

[sek69]

Also, you better believe the NFL cares who makes the Super Bowl after several lopsided blowouts in the 80s/90s where anyone who bought ad time in the late 3rd quarter on lost money because people tuned out early.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

Well, that's proof that the NFL is just like wrestling, right? An aside, but I was upset that the Steelers "did the job" tonight.

[jdw]

Just saying, the Steelers have one of the largest fanbases in all of sports. To steal a phrase, IT DOESN'T MATTER how big the market is in Pittsburgh, Steelers = ratings.

I would highly doubt that Pitt has shown to be a better ratings draw over the past decade as Brady and Manning if one studied the ratings in detail.

 

The AFC title game was the highest rated ever and I don't think people are predicting the Super Bowl to be the highest rated TV event ever just for Green Bay.

Overall, NFL ratings were up this year. Not terribly surpriding that it drew a big AFC title rating, especially when the biggest market in the country was in it country. It was up 10% from last year (Colts-Jets), but that was in the earlier time zone. More telling is that Jets-Colts beat the late broadcast of Pitt-Ravens in 2009, and the Ravens are a much better market than Indy. The big jump in the last two years wasn't 2010 to 2011, but 2009 to 2010 especially when one considers the slots.

 

The record viewership is really due to the NFL being insanely hot product in the country.

 

 

I will concede people probably aren't watching to see Ben, the Steelers have been able to succeed at getting the brand over instead of the players in a way WWE could only dream of.

The Cowboys brand is stronger. As is, at the moment, the Pats brand because of Brady. In turn, the Farve Brand was drawing tons of big ratings over the last three years with the Jets and Vikes. I'll confess that it annoys the shit out of me because I loathed having Farve on my TV. But the ratings bore out that he drew.

 

I suspect the Pitt Brand wasn't all that strong of a draw in the "down" period before they rebuilt it around Ben. Probably a bit of a difference with the Cowboys who still draw above average even when they are down. Suspect that a lot of people will stick around to watch them get beat.

 

 

Also, didn't Dave used to make fun of old time wrestler types who used to insist all sports were worked?

Yes. He made fun of wrestlers who thought that UFC was worked.

 

John

[jdw]

*snipping the stuff on parity booking since it's old news in the NFL*

 

The NFL also espanded it's playoffs well ahead of baseball to get more teams into the post season, which in turn keeps more teams having shots at the post season deeper into the season.

 

I'm not sure the NFL has any real breakout pop culture stars other than Peyton Manning to help hook in non-hardcore fans, which would also work against them (in theory).

Farve is an obvious one.

 

Brady could have beed one if he wanted to. He seems not to. On the other hand, the media has pushed him enough that he is.

 

Vick is a pop culture star, thanks to the dogs. But even setting that aside, he was rather large before that.

 

Historically, the top stars in the NFL have been very big. There are other big stars in the past 40 or so years: the occassional heavyweight box champ (Ali and Tyson, Foreman late in life), the rarer lower weighted boxer (Leonard the true exception, though ODLH could be argued due to the hispanic crossover), the every few year Olympic Stars (Bruce, Mary Lou, etc) and of course NBA's biggest stars. The NBA and the shoe companies have been rather smart in pushing NBA stars, probably the trend setters in that. But the NFL has run laps around MLB.

 

 

Also, I really don't think that the NFL much cares about which teams make it to the Super Bowl.

The game has become such a pop culture event that it really doesn't matter which teams are playing.

Millions of casual fans and even non-fans are abuzz about the ads and the halftime show spectacle.

I'm confident a Jaguars-Buccaneers game would get about the same rating as a Giants-Patriots game would.

This year, Giants-Pats or Giants-Jets would have drawn a better rating than Pack-Pitt. And a much better rating than Jags-Bucs.

 

That said, the NFL cares *less* than other sports. Their Super Bowl ratings don't fluctuate as much as other spots depending on the match up. The Super Bowl remains the biggest event in the country.

 

On the other hand, Fox would have loved Cowboys/Giants vs Jets/Pats/Colts over the game they got. The higher rating has value to the network more than it does to the NFL.

 

John

[Bob Morris]

Well, if Aaron Rodgers can continue to perform at a high level and the Packers start building something resembling a dynasty, you'll have your quarterback who can take over the spotlight from Peyton and Brady. Peyton may have hit his peak and Brady is approaching the age where he will hit his peak. So the NFL needs a new draw.

 

True, they'd love for it to happen with a big market team, but the only big market team with such a quarterback is Mark Sanchez... and while he's played in two AFC title games, his level of play is nowhere near that of Peyton, Brady or Rodgers. If Sanchez's play doesn't reach that level soon, the NFL will look elsewhere.

 

And while it remains to be seen if Tim Tebow can be a long-term NFL starter, I'm sure the NFL folks would love for that to happen. You could tell when they went over Broncos highlights that they were intent on pimping Tebow.

 

Time will tell if Sam Bradford gets to that level.

 

But really, your younger QBs are playing for teams that aren't that big of a draw, at least when compared to the big-market teams. The exception, of course, is Tony Romo, but he has yet to show he can take the Cowboys over the top.

 

Oh, and if sek wants to get into teams with loyal fanbases, the Broncos definitely have that. They aren't the draw that the likes of the Cowboys and Patriots are, but the fans they do have are quite rabid.