My Sick Mind

GEORGE: I think I can sum up the show for you with one word: Nothing. RUSSELL: Nothing? GEORGE: Nothing. RUSSELL: What does that mean? GEORGE: The show is about nothing. JERRY: (to George) Well, it's not about nothing. GEORGE: (to Jerry) No, it's about nothing. JERRY: Well, maybe in philosophy. But, even nothing is something . I didn't want to draw any more attention to it than necessary, but now that it's over I can write about it. The National Football League and their evil stepchild, The NFL Network made a 2-hour TV show out of the release of the 2009 NFL schedule. Seriously. It made me think of the exchange in the Seinfeld episode called "The Pitch" where George is pitching the idea of a show about nothing to NBC: GEORGE: What'd you do today? NFL Network: We released the schedule of our games. GEORGE: There's a show! That's a show! NFL Network: How is that a show? It's just a list of games. GEORGE: Oh, it's a show, baby...

All weekend, the NFL Network has been running the NFL Scouting Combine , which is a skills contest between all of the top college players who plan on coming to the pros. February is kind of a dead zone for TV, and it's made even more dead by broadcasting guys bench pressing and jumping up and down. The strange thing about the Combine is that it judges players on skills that they will never use on a football field, like bench pressing and jumping up and down. There is a mile of game film on every one of these guys, yet they insist on bringing them to Indianapolis and putting them through this stuff. There's something wrong with a system where guys play football for 3 or 4 years and you still have to put them through this nonsense. It'd be different if it led to better decisions, but mostly it leads to second-guessing and poor decisions. Can he break a tackle? I don't know, but he can bench 550. The other strange thing is that it's on TV. We live in an era where...

I'm always looking for the angle. I'm always looking for the swindle or the scam. Deep down, I don't think there are too many people who do things out of the goodness of their hearts - especially when it comes to sports or entertainment. I'm cynical that way. Last night , the Patriots' record-setting game against the Giants was televised on three networks. CBS, NBC and The NFL Network, which is a network by name only. Since The NFL Network is only available to 40% of households, it meant that the biggest event of the season so far would not be viewed by a majority of football fans, so the NFL signed up two real networks to help. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell went on TV last night and told America that the game was on network television "for the fans." He stressed it and said it a few times. He kept repeating it, as though the more he said it, the more he would believe it and - hopefully - the more we would believe it. Mr. Goodell : Did you invent The N...