Let me start by saying that I'm an enormous fan of puppy football, that great American pastime. But this most recent incarnation of the Puppy Bowl was a true sham, a disgrace to the sport—in just six years, the Puppy Bowl has gone from an innocent celebration of an historic game, to a commercialized mockery of epic proportions.

When the Puppy Bowl was first started, in the heady days of 2004, the idea was to crown a true Puppy Champion. Now? All you hear about are Bandit's DUI, and Chocolate's contract renegotiations. What happened to the love of the game, puppies?

If the behavior of the athletes wasn't bad enough, the sport itself has become so capitalist you can barely see the actual competition beneath the veneer of advertising dollars and sponsored segments. There's an ad or logo on every available inch of wall-space in the stadium, sponsored highlights, sponsored replays, sponsored halftime specials, sponsored blimps. They've opened the doors to so many different animals that it's barely the puppy-centric endeavor we all came to know and love. Kitties and rabbits as cheerleaders? Gerbils flying the blimp? Fat Justin Long as the referee?

Fat Justin Long's officiating this year was so clearly biased it made the 2002 Lakers/Kings game look honest in contrast. And the enormous, greased logo on the center of the field—instituted to cause more "cute slipping" is nothing more than a giant injury hazard, worse than the Vet in Philly.

In short—I can keep watching, for the love of it. For the love of games of old, the athletes of old, with their trimmed hair and great work ethic, for the love of the spirit of the sport. But it will grow harder each year as more animals crowd the frame, as advertisements clutter the field of play, as Fat JL continues to throw dubious flags. It will grow harder as the sport I love grows more and more loveless.

JK y'all! Here's to the next six months of football-less life going smoothly and quickly, so we have something worthwhile to do with Sundays again.

Labels: Football, Generalness, puppy bowl

Football is back!!!!!!!!! Tonight was the first game I've been able to see on TV since the Super Bowl (the actual first preseason game was the Hall of Fame game last Sunday in Canton that was only televised on NFL Network), and I am fucking excited. Ryan and I make our first trip down to San Diego on Sunday, to watch the Seahawks get the shit kicked out of them. And things are looking up for the Niners. And life is looking up, generally; it's so much easier to be happy during football season...

It's well-known by now that Hunter S. Thompson waited to kill himself until after the NFL season was over (proving what a champ he was, he even waited until after the Pro Bowl), writing a suicide note/essay before his death entitled "Football Season is Over." I don't take football that seriously...but I'm glad it's back on.

Labels: Football, Generalness

My favorite coach of all time, possibly the greatest coach of all time, and undeniably the smartest coach of all time, died today at the age of 75. Bill Walsh had leukemia, which wasn't right. But he lived a long, good life, and was the kind of guy that I'm relatively sure never had a bad word spoken about him.

If I were still with the Union, J.J. would have called me ten minutes after the news broke and asked me to write a 500 word article about it, which I would have been happy to do; sadly that time has passed, and this blog is my only outlet for appreciation and sadness. Bill Walsh was a thinking man's coach, the coach who made me realize that you can study football like you study literature, or chess, or any other intellectual pursuit. For extra credit in a KPE class, I wrote a five page essay on how brilliant the drive that led to The Catch in 1981 was. Walsh, nicknamed the Genius, was brilliant, and really may have been a genius. He's famous for creating the West Coast offense, but as John Madden pointed out, his contribution is greater than that: Madden says Walsh was the NFL's first coach to use the run to support the pass, instead of the other way around, often eliminating a rushing offense entirely for whole drives. That kind of pass-first mentality, even without the rigid West Coast scheme, has largely taken over the league today. Practically every assistant or coordinator who ever worked with Walsh has gone on to coach his own team, further cementing his ongoing legacy.

Not only did he revolutionize the game of football, and make it worthwhile to be a 49ers fan, but he did it all with the kind of class and grace that Bill Belichick could never imagine. He created champions, and he cared about them as though they were family.

Jerry Rice, the greatest football player to ever set foot on a field, earlier today: "I went to San Francisco, and I found a second father: Bill Walsh." For Walsh, Hall of Famer and owner of three Super Bowl rings, there could have been no higher compliment.

Good night, coach.

Labels: Football, Generalness