The Preseason Queasies

The results are in. Clinton Portis suffered a partially dislocated shoulder while putting a huge hit on Keiwan Ratliff and will be out for the remainder of the preseason. More importantly, his status for the regular season opener is in question.

*Sigh.* Now we're left to spend the week chasing our tails with that old saw, the Preseason Games are Dangerous debate. Michael Wilbon, weighs in against the exhibition games in today's WaPo, and I agree with him. Wilbon argues that the preseason games are nothing more than a way for the owners and the networks to line their pockets at the expense of the players (who aren't paid for the games). Sure, the young players need the chance to get evaluated by coaches in real situations, but the veterans' participation is largely pointless and risky.

The preseason games are also designed to maximize the feeding of the ever-growing fantasy football beast. Last season I noticed that roughly half of all NFL-related ads specifically involved fantasy football. Last night it seemed that every commercial featured high-profile NFL players encouraging the fantasy-addled masses to check stats on their mobile phones, host leagues at various sites, or purchase fantasy-oriented products.

And that's the heart of the problem, isn't it? It's not about the players or the game anymore, at least not beyond the stats or their value in the office elimination league. I'll deal with this topic in a future post, but the carnivorous obsession with Fantasy has supplanted the actual meaning of the contests on the field and the players who participate in them. You can't talk football in America anymore without some asshole piping up: "oh, I've got him on my Fantasy team!" Ugh. The modern NFL has transcended sport to arrive at pure, pro-wrestling style spectacle.

I may be accused of defending the millionaire players from exploitaition by the billionaire owners. And let's face it, many players are all too eager to embrace their new role as entertainer. Look no further than Chad Johnson, who has become a caricature of an athlete over his five NFL seasons. But when it comes to preseason, the players, not the owners and network execs, who put their *CLs and their livelihoods on the line. Rookie running back Kerry Carter was taken off the field with a torn ACL and MCL in the first half last night. His career is probably over before it even got started. And for what?

I'd like to see the number of exhibition games limited to two and veterans, or those players assured of making the team, exempted from participation. Under these circumstances the preseason games wouldn't sell out or be broadcast in prime-time, but the coaches would still get to evaluate the marginal guys. Less money would be made in August, but in the cult of personality that is the NFL the league would probably win out in the end by having the season start with all of its stars intact. But the owners and their masters at the networks will never part with the preseason games, and this giant waste of time, money and ligaments will roll on.