AAF

[Uppercut]

Never heard of this until today. Guess I have been in a vacuum.

https://aaf.com/

[Seahawks4Ever]

Good! We are watching the death throes of the NFL now. We fans DESERVE something better than the FIXED SLOP we have to watch now.

RIP NFL In any other era this new league would not stand a chance, this time how ever the timing might be perfect!

P.S. If I was 20 years younger I would have clicked on "I want to work for the XFL"! It is a BLAST to be in on the ground floor of a venture!

[c_hawkbob]

Yeah, their gonna crush the NFL alright.

[burrrton]

What Bob said...

[curmudgeon]

“Yeah, their gonna crush the NFL alright.”

They won’t have to. The NFL will crush itself.......

[Rambo2014]

Heard the Hawks were moving into this new leugue

[NorthHawk]

Oh, WOW! What a ZINGER!!!!

[Seahawks4Ever]

The NFL has real problems, most are by their own making. One thing that they can't control is if millions of Americans decide that youth football and therefore high school football is just too dangerous a sport for their children to take up.

The drop off in talent heading into college football could be a disaster. The MLB started financing Central and South American leagues to develop talent outside of the U.S.A. and Canada when communities here decided it was too expensive to under write baseball fields. Ball Parks and park services all across America had their budgets cut to the bone. The costs of running little leagues and pony leagues grew and grew until most parents couldn't bear the and only well heeled communities could field teams and/or leagues. The MLB was well placed to keep their talent level high, but what about the NFL? If they lose the youth here in America do they really expect the talent level will be made up else where in the world??

The NFL is ruing the fan experience with every rule change designed to enhance the fan experience. The defense is stifled at every turn in favor of the offense and these stupid is it a catch or not a catch instant replay flip flops. How on earth do officials reverse what every body can see with their own eyes???

So, lets see how this thing works. Will it last? Probably not but you never know, one of these times one of these things is going to take off.

[RiverDog]

The drop off in talent heading into college football could be a disaster. The MLB started financing Central and South American leagues to develop talent outside of the U.S.A. and Canada when communities here decided it was too expensive to under write baseball fields. Ball Parks and park services all across America had their budgets cut to the bone. The costs of running little leagues and pony leagues grew and grew until most parents couldn't bear the and only well heeled communities could field teams and/or leagues. The MLB was well placed to keep their talent level high, but what about the NFL? If they lose the youth here in America do they really expect the talent level will be made up else where in the world??

The NFL is ruing the fan experience with every rule change designed to enhance the fan experience. The defense is stifled at every turn in favor of the offense and these stupid is it a catch or not a catch instant replay flip flops. How on earth do officials reverse what every body can see with their own eyes???

So, lets see how this thing works. Will it last? Probably not but you never know, one of these times one of these things is going to take off.

IMO the "drop off in talent" has a number of causes. Soccer has drawn a huge number of players away from the football and baseball. When I was in high school, there were ZREO teams. Title IX had more of an effect on baseball and football than the cost of participation did. Add to that all the entertainment options young kids have nowadays and it's pretty easy to see how participation has declined.

But I do agree that the NFL's days are numbered and that it will start dying at the roots as you've suggested.

[Uppercut]

http://arizonasports.com/story/1531731/new-football-league-has-investors-tv-deal-and-now-neuheisel-to-coach-in-valley/
\
LOL Neuheisel has a new job

[trents]

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s every vacant lot became a sandlot football or baseball field. We constantly played sandlot football and baseball after school, on weekends and in the summer. You never see kids do that anymore. They are glued to their computers or cell phones now. And this trend has contributed immensely to the ever growing obesity problem. Physical activity among youth is now confined to organized leagues and school programs. What a pitty! Of course, there's more to the story. Another major contributor to this trend is all the two income families. No one to supervise kids doing physically active things after school so they get put into some public school-based program.

[RiverDog]

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s every vacant lot became a sandlot football or baseball field. We constantly played sandlot football and baseball after school, on weekends and in the summer. You never see kids do that anymore. They are glued to their computers or cell phones now. And this trend has contributed immensely to the ever growing obesity problem. Physical activity among youth is now confined to organized leagues and school programs. What a pitty! Of course, there's more to the story. Another major contributor to this trend is all the two income families. No one to supervise kids doing physically active things after school so they get put into some public school-based program.

Like you, I grew up in the 50's and 60's. Anywhere I wanted to go, I had to ride my bike. My mom and dad didn't haul my arse all over the place like parents do today. Nowadays it's very common for parents to drive their kids a few blocks to the bus stop, something I never, ever saw happen when I was going to school.

Oh, well, them were the good 'ol days.

[NorthHawk]

Yah, you don't see many pickup games much anymore.
The helicopter parenting is ruining a lot of imaginative fun that kids could have without their parents or adults around when they make up games with different rules and such.

[HumanCockroach]

Lol... always good ol days to older people, as I age, I realize that I'm falling into that habit, thankfully I'm not so removed as to take shots at the parents or kids out of hand, but I'm sure my time is coming soon.... just remember y'all, you RAISED those parents, so quite a bit of the blame, rest squarely on your shoulders... no one lives in a vacuum ...

[Aseahawkfan]

Lol... always good ol days to older people, as I age, I realize that I'm falling into that habit, thankfully I'm not so removed as to take shots at the parents or kids out of hand, but I'm sure my time is coming soon.... just remember y'all, you RAISED those parents, so quite a bit of the blame, rest squarely on your shoulders... no one lives in a vacuum ...

Or didn't raise them. The amount of divorce and poor parenting from the my parent's generation born in the mid 40s to 50s. combined with parents from the 60s, and on down the line, good parenting I would think has become a rarity. Drunk, drug-addled parents. Divorce. Generally selfish, self-absorbed behavior. Both parents working even if they have two parents. And more reliance on drugs for any abnormality with the child as well as electronic addiction with TV and now computers and video games. Then toss in social media. I wouldn't bank on a great future as far as the strength of character of the people. It's going to be one soft, shallow, less physical, and weaker world with less reliance and closeness with families.

The downhill roll started probably 50 or 60 years ago.

[Oly]

There are a lot of factors contributing to this, but I agree with everyone here that fields without kids playing in them represent a tragedy. But I don't know if we can pin it down on absent parents, because helicopter parents are just as big of a problem. And as tempting as it is to blame overprotective, helicopter parents for driving their kids 3 blocks to the bus stop, it's also the case that parents have been prosecuted for letting 8 year olds walk to the park by themselves (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... /25700823/). And after the recession, parents are getting so anxious about their kids not getting into college that they are putting tons of pressure on them to get good grades, extra tutoring, piano lessons, soccer, etc.

The most common denominator I see is a hyper-focus that parents have on protecting kids from [usually imagined] dangers and risks, leading to laws that criminalize letting kids play by themselves outside (except Utah, which just fixed that) and activities that ensure kids aren't at risk for missing out on college. If we just took a big, deep breath as a culture, acknowledged that kids are safer than ever, didn't get worked up about the possibility of our kids breaking an arm by climbing trees, and let them learn from getting an occasional F in class, I think we'd all be better off.

[Aseahawkfan]

There are a lot of factors contributing to this, but I agree with everyone here that fields without kids playing in them represent a tragedy. But I don't know if we can pin it down on absent parents, because helicopter parents are just as big of a problem. And as tempting as it is to blame overprotective, helicopter parents for driving their kids 3 blocks to the bus stop, it's also the case that parents have been prosecuted for letting 8 year olds walk to the park by themselves (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... /25700823/). And after the recession, parents are getting so anxious about their kids not getting into college that they are putting tons of pressure on them to get good grades, extra tutoring, piano lessons, soccer, etc.

The most common denominator I see is a hyper-focus that parents have on protecting kids from [usually imagined] dangers and risks, leading to laws that criminalize letting kids play by themselves outside (except Utah, which just fixed that) and activities that ensure kids aren't at risk for missing out on college. If we just took a big, deep breath as a culture, acknowledged that kids are safer than ever, didn't get worked up about the possibility of our kids breaking an arm by climbing trees, and let them learn from getting an occasional F in class, I think we'd all be better off.

But mostly phones, video games, and the like with parents not telling them no. I've never seen a generation so addicted to digital stimulation. It's like watching phone zombies.

[HumanCockroach]

Eh, they don't come with manuals, and they aren't all the same. Disingenuous to assume all kids would respond similarly to same exact type of upbringing( if they did we would ALL be doing it, churning out automitrons, with zero crime, laziness, individual thought process, emotions etc), especially in today's digital age. What worked for your kid, wouldn't work for mine and vice versa... that's life, we do what we can, hope for the best.

This "in my day" isn't relevant, because it ISN'T our day. I find that most seem to miss this fundamental difference, time and time again. Always changing, always adapting, that's life, and each generation is affected. It isn't tougher as every younger generation insists ( though that's certainly aspects that are no matter what someone says to the contrary. Just a natural product of more competition, longer lives, longer productive work years, inflation etc) just like it isn't easier as older generations insist ( though there's certainly aspects that are far easier).

To many get wrapped up in the "this is the right" of it, Just as they do in society in general. Incapable of being flexible enough to examine things from a different perspective. That isn't a young person problem, OR an old person problem, it's a person problem, and that spans ALL generations.