Preseason Will Never Be Worth Your Investment
I am once again using my soapbox to implore you to stop watching preseason games. We only have a few weeks left, spend them with people you love. In places you want to be. Doing things you want to do. Don’t trick yourself into thinking the battle for 3rd string cornerback is really worth your time. If a fringe player makes the team, cool! You’ll learn their name when it matters in a few weeks if they see the field. Even for those fans who want to see their fresh new face of the franchise throw safe balls against third-stringers, is it really worth it? Really? rrrrrrrreeeeaaaaalllllyyyy?
If enough people go outside and touch grass instead of watch preseason football, maybe we can get them to reduce the number of games from 3 to 1, or even zero!
As a follow up to my last comic about the new taunting rule, we better hope this is the “over-call it in preseason to try and set a tone” situation someone in the comments mentioned, because if they are actually going to flag this in real games, we are in for some righteous anger. Absolute bonkers level of No Fun league bullshit right there.
You, uh, know that they already reduced it to three this year, right Dave? Like that was where the 17th game came from.
Was about to comment that
I am very aware of that, which is why I said “reduce the games from 3 to 1 or even zero”
3 games is still too many
They’re referring to the last panel of the comic, in which the Jets fan is watching a game whilst commenting that he has “just three more games to watch.” If he’s watching 1, and there are 3 more… that’s 4.
Then the last panel was a bit unclear, I meant it as in games played that day
oh
A simple “Whoops, I didn’t intend it like that, but I can see why you took it that way!” woulda sufficed.
Instead, we get the hilariously relevant news headline: “Local man gets angry at refs for ‘misinterpreting’ ambiguous player celebrations, then blames internet for ‘misinterpreting’ his ambiguous joke and tells everyone to get off his lawn. News at 11.”
Takes like this are why I enjoy busting your chops all the time. X’D
good lord dude we ironed out the miscommunication and explained it and now you’re getting all annoyed about decor, who gives a shit, go touch some grass
Ahhhh, chops… busted. LOL.
I don’t like grass, and the sun burns my eyes. I have not left my cave in 517 days, 22 hrs, 32 minutes, and… some number of seconds.
how have you not gone outside
Oh, suuuuuuure, edit the comment. Now I look like an even bigger jerk than my wife says I am for picking on what has become such a finely phrased sentiment. Youuuuu rapscallion! XD
Please blueberries I am begging you to go outside
I sure hope I remember football exists by the time regular season starts. Have forgotten to watch them all so far except the last two mins of the HoF game.
I just want to see something that vaguely looks like football man
The CFL is underway and that vaguely looks like football.
I like to at least watch a half or 3 quarters just to see some of the new additions look like. Sure, it’s ugly, but I like seeing guys wearing specific-colored laundry that I arbitrarily cheer for. Is that so wrong?
Yeah? Well, you know, that’s just like uh, your opinion, man.
When it comes to the preseason, I always try to keep in mind the 2008 Lions. 4-0 in preseason, 0-16 in the regular season: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Detroit_Lions_season#Schedule
2017 Browns were same
Preseason football: Where Nathan Peterman has a career passer rating of 94.8 and a TD:INT ratio of 7:1
He can’t keep getting away with it.gif
holy shit that linked video of the flag for… almost no celebration? o_O
I don’t think they should get rid of them; I’m sure they’re useful to coaches somehow.
But I sure as hell ain’t much of it either
As a pats fan, I 100% enjoyed the use of jets fans as “dorks”.
To the topic at hand, I like watching the first 2-3 quarters because you get a first look at new additions and back ups competing for an actual roster spot. You never know when you might find a gem, even if they won’t see much regular season action for another year because they need more experience. The 4th quarter isn’t worth it because none of those people will be on a team come regular season.
Preseason is a very important time for me. Teams use this opportunity to iron out their depth, test new players, and generally just get back into the swing of things. I also use the opportunity to warm up for the season. Got a new snack you’re thinking about working into your game day? Test it out in preseason, see how it pairs with football. Summer got you too active, a little out of shape and out of practice sitting for three or more hours without moving? Preseason is a great time to get yourself back into shape, specifically the actual shape of a potato.
Don’t disregard the preseason. Approach it like a pro.
pro-tato
Yes, it’s really worth it. Regular season or preseason games both have the capacity to thrill and to suck, no point in deciding they aren’t worth your time until the gameplay gets too shitty to bear.
The difference is preseason games don’t mean anything. A bad game during the season has consequences and implications. A bad preseason game, hell a good preseason game, means pretty much nothing, because they exist basically just for roster judgement.
Things without any meaningful stakes aren’t as interesting. My team lost this weekend and it doesn’t matter in the slightest. A game is inherently more interesting if the outcome has meaning. That’s why playoffs are the best games of all, even when they are bad.
No games in professional sports have meaning for the fans. Things won’t actually change for you, the fan, whether the Giants make the playoffs or not. We’re watching all these games because this is the funnest sport to be a spectator. If you aren’t physically playing snaps the stakes are what you decide to make them.
That’s not entirely true. Lots of people bet actual money so the outcome actually does matter, tangibly, on the outcomes. I guess preseason games take bets too but if you bet on a preseason game you are just asking for trouble since winning isn’t the top priority.
The 2008 Lions went 4-0 in the preseason
What about once teams are eliminated from playoff contention during the season? I don’t know about you, but I still watch those.
Draft position and spoiler results are still at play in those games, so there is still some worth there. It might also have coaches jobs hanging in the balance or new interim coaches trying to make their mark. They still tend to have higher level stakes than a preseason game.
But if I have the the option of watching a battle between a 5-10 Raiders and 6-9 Broncos in week 16, it’s not going to be my first choice to watch if something with more stakes is on at the same time. I also won’t feel too bad if I just…do something else and miss it.
Good point, I didn’t think about draft position.
Depends what else you are doing with your time. I’m a Pats fan in Chicago. I was in an airport on Saturday with nothing better to do (but free wifi), so I watched most of the Bears preseason game. It was a way that I can learn more about my new-ish home town. What else would I have done with my time, read a book?
Ever since the Packers had season-enders in preseason to Desmond Bishop, Bryan Bulaga, BJ Raji and Jordy Nelson in four consecutive years I just aggressively ignore preseason and hope to god there’s no news.
The only news you can get during preseason that’s concrete and has a real impact on the season is bad news.
Preseason is a storm that you have to weather and hope it doesn’t destroy anything important of yours. I often feel like a preseason ACL tear for a practice squad guy is a starter that dodged a bullet.