RANT TIME!

10(!) years ago I made a comic about how the NFL schedule release is now “a thing”, and it’s stupid. In those 10 years, I’ve largely made my peace with that. This is the offseason, the content mill is going to churn. The NFL schedule release has its value. It offers fans a chance to plan for their games. It operates as the super bowl for team social media accounts. Finally, a championship the Chargers can win. It gives us a morsel of gruel to chew on during the long incoming dark. It’s still ridiculous that the release of the NFL schedule is a cultural event, but it’s harmless kind of ridiculous.

What freaked me out this time were the leaks.

We had people leaking the schedules early. The SCHEDULE. The thing we knew 75% of already (reminder we knew the teams to be played months ago, all we didn’t know was in what order and what times). People are posting and sharing blurry photos of paper with schedules on it. ITS THE FUCKING SCHEDULE. ARE YOU THIS DESPERATE THAT YOU CAN’T WAIT AN EXTRA COUPLE OF HOURS FOR THE OFFICIAL RELEASE. Why is the SCHEDULE a fucking SCOOP. Why are people trying to figure out who the Texans are playing week 3 slightly early like this means fucking anything? GO OUTSIDE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. TAKE A WALK.

It’s not like figuring out who your team plays in the second week of October an extra few hours early is going to make a difference in your travel plans! You aren’t rushing to buy plane tickets for a game 6 months from now! At best you are just checking it out and seeing what games you might plan around! Hell, with flex scheduling, you can really only plan for the first half of the season reliably anyway! WHY DO WE NEED LEAKS FOR THE SCHEDULE. This comic came about because people were posting them in the DrawPlay Discord as I was telling them to stop, this is unnecessary.

Are you so hungry for any scrap of NFL content that leaks of the NFL schedule slightly early matter to you? Go outside. Did you share them, comment on them, before they were officially announced? Go outside. Did you have meaningful opinions on these things before the NFL officially released it into the wild? For the love of god, GO OUTSIDE. Rethink what is important to you. I have spent almost 15 years making NFL content as a hobby for funsies and even I have my limits. Wait a few extra hours for the official release and then have at it. Enjoy the schedule release videos the teams do. Hell, read up on your team’s rookies and rookie camp content, we aren’t so starved for subject matter right now as we will be in a month. It’s spring. Flowers are blooming. My eyes water with the possibilities and pollen count.

If we’ve reached the point where the NFL schedule release matters so much people are leaking it like draft pick spoilers I cannot fathom what kind of nonsense we will be doing in another 10 years.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go outside