Americans and Football

Sunday nights are usually dedicated to watching football on the T.V. in most households. It is even stated in the article, In N.F.L., the Show Goes On and On, that the most watched T.V. show this past T.V. season was NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”. However, many football fans are starting to complain about the pace of the game. By that I mean there is too much stopping and starting in the game due to the replacement officials, thus interrupting the flow of the game. The officials constantly stop time to either huddle to discuss calls; or talk to sideline officials, or even go over incorrect yardage mark offs. In the past two weeks the average game time was three hours and fourteen minutes, about a half an hour longer than expected. Basically the officials, as Even Jon Gruden, an ESPN analyst, stated were, “taking a long time to organize justice here”. All of the “discussing” between the officials slows down the game tremendously, and many Americans are not happy about it.

What I find most interesting about this situation is how Americans have a need to be constantly entertained. Even football, a pretty violent and upbeat sport, can seem boring when there isn’t constant action being shown. If nothing exciting is being illustrated on the screen, like officials just talking, or a commercial being played, Americans tend to either switch the channel or find something more interesting to do because we constantly need to be entertained. If slowing down a football game causes for this must attention and frustration, I wonder how much longer Americans will have the capability of just sitting still without being entertained?