I immediately beamed at this idea and I hate that. It sucks that what should be an aspect of baseline morality--empathy and restraint contra demagoguery--is so fucking rare.

The NFL is America’s new light cigarette: It looks cool and feels good but you and your friends can only get a few cigarette breaks a day -- or eight home games a year. And man are you going to pay for those in the long run.

NFL ratings considerably down: http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/with-week…

Kaepernick and cord-cutters are hypothesized to be the problem. Personally, I don’t believe that in our era social media and interconnectedness an industry can bitterly alienate ~ 10M people (SD + STL + OAK metro areas) and emerge unscathed.

Here in Oklahoma-not a bastion of higher reasoning-any mention of Barry Switzer provokes complicated and largely negative feelings; yet that dude was insanely charismatic and like, you know, *won a shit-ton of football games.* Someone explain to me how Joe Pa is so goddamn saintly to Penn-folk.

I grew up obsessed with my NFL teams; now I’m too disgusted by the league to pay it much notice.

What’s interesting: once the “bubble of enchantment” popped I found the game itself—or the broadcast format, at least—hardly watchable. If you have any attention span whatsoever the incessant starting and stopping and…

This will go over horribly I’m sure, but I like the idea of a legitimately ‘green’ or Woodstock-ish Olympics in which many of the venues are just like open fields. To me the Olympics are far more about coming together than seeing world records broken / if Bolt wins against the worlds best but doesn’t break 10 seconds…

Has anyone ever seen a breakdown of venue construction cost vs sport popularity? Maybe some of the less globally popular sports that require egregiously expensive venues (bobsled and white water kayak, I’m guessing) can be outsourced to ready-made venues in other cities or even countries, kind of like how landlocked…

Thanks Edwardian. So, based on what LongbowMkll says, does the ref also need to give the Mongolian wrestler a caution prior to giving him the penalty? And did he? ... I know nothing about wrestling but I have seen these ‘failure to engage’ penalties decide a few matches in these Games, so I found it incredulous that…

Cart goes after the horse, not before it. There’s no shame in going all-in to represent your country in its most beloved sport on its own turf; that it’s not the most prestigious title doesn’t make it meaningless.

Obviously. But the crime (for now) is falsely reporting a crime, not vandalism. Did Lochte go forward to report that? Or did they *haul him in for questioning* after things took off in the media, and *then* he reported it? I am as disgusted by Lochte as the next guy and I desperately feel for Rio’s image (these people…

Wait, what? Did Lochte report anything prior to being hauled into the spotlight by his mother and, subsequently, the police? So police can force you to formally report a crime (read: a CYA lie to mom and gf that you didn’t ever mean to go public) and then punish you for it?

Very hot take. I guess it would be dumb to view the ancient Olympics, which for a thousand fucking years nurtured the cradle of Western civilization with some pretty badass ideals, as anything more than the FIFA or IOC or NFL of yesteryear.

The stupidity of the 20-30 split was the product of the times: lower TV viewership, no Jerry Worlds, a conscionable owner, etc.

?? Are you saying that if STL gets off the hook for this there will not be an increase in actionable public funds? I’m sure it’s not 1:1, but zero net gain seems unlikely to me.

“Nothing more, nothing less” - why, you’ve just nailed it!!! ...are you God? Or just a member of a public that’s *not* on the hook for paying $100+ million for a stadium for a team that shit all over you and then left? (PS-if you are God, can you do something terrible to Kroenke?)

Funny you mention Snyder. My first job out of college was in DC, in the Spurrier era. I thought: how great to have *two* teams to root for (!) and tried to psych myself into that fandom... I didn’t make it two years, I just couldn’t stand that shitbag (Snyder).

There’s too much else to do in life, man. I can’t moralize every choice I make—I will buy another MacBook Pro made in some god-awful Foxconn sweatshop; because I “need” it—but I’m not going to *try* to watch a team where my relatives live when there’s a million other things I could be doing. Anyway gl next fall.

Fuck, it’s so true. I could manufacture a passion for a different team—one that actually wins—or even follow the Rams remotely. But I just throw up in my mouth every time I think of these shitbag owners. Jones, Kroenke, Bisciotti, Mara (I live in NYC now), Irsay, Spanos, Davis, Richardson, ok I'll stop. I just can't…

Thanks for covering this, Deadspin. This is a heartbreaking event that ESPN and every outlet outside SD and STL with cheer with fresh obsequiousness. We love you for this, even our cards fans - STL

I’m from STL, and I apologize for Jnco’s grammar and mixed and harshly gendered metaphors.