But nothing could be further from the truth.
In the grand scheme of things, everything is temporary.
Viewed through the broad arc of history, everything is a fad.
Just look at what happened to boxing.
Late night talk shows.
Toys ‘R Us.
All basically went the way of Ozymandias.Look on my works, ye mighty.
The water hole that attracts every species of the American animal to it.
The only product we produce that has more people consuming it with each passing year.
And that is the NFL itself.
And that happens when that special treatment becomes a punchline.
And we are at that point.
But as with the concussion crisis, they do tend to get there eventually.
Yes, this is long overdue.
Worse still, a joke.
For the longest time I’ve been screaming into the void about the NBAification of football.
Gronk is the primary example.
In fact, they went the other way.
The older Gronk got the more they called Offensive Pass Interference against him.
Like he needed to push off some 6-0, 190lb defensive back just to get open.
But it was a conscious effort to level the playing field and make him defendable.
Spoiler: It didn’t work.
We’ll see if this business of bringing the replay assist rule into this mess will help.
I like to think it’ll be like a Civilian Review Board looking into law enforcement corruption.
But it’s more likely to be dirty cops working with other dirty cops.
The benefit of all the doubts.
Starting next year, we’ll know for sure.
I know what you’re thinking, Don’t try and “But what about Tom Brady?”
The Tuck Rule was the correct call.
And they suspended him for a month over footballs losing pressure in the cold.
(pV = nRT.Look it up.)
Fortunately, I didn’t have to.
Just spare me your indignation.
