In way of contrast, Sunday was the first time this season I've had the time and inclination to watch a considerable amount of NFL, and I was appalled.
My wife and I had a ritual with the kids and before the kids on Sunday watching the Bears. She really enjoyed the games. The dog, the kids curled up watching our beloved Bears every Sunday. Players would stay with the team for five or six years. You knew their personalities and they were active in the community on charitable activities. Chicago was known for tough defense and grinding run games.
We watch now, but many times I leave the house at half time and run the bobcat or cut grass. It has become a game of passing. The best qb usually controls the top positions in the league. There are no great teams with long term team members. Yes, you always have a good show from NE, but even Green Bay, Oakland, Bears, NY, and other mainstays seem like for the last five years they are lost. Maybe it was expansion which watered down the games. Maybe watching grown men possibly hurting themselves long term is not as much fun when that knowledge had most fans in ignorant bliss. I do not get the same reaction from a crushing tackle......a little bit of a sick feeling having seen players I grew to love commit suicide, and have their wives give them a list for their daily activities because they cannot remember the same. No when football was tough and tumble it was fun. When football became a gladiator stadium of media making millions off the carnage of humans.......not so much. I still love the game, but it is not the same.