The NFL Headlock.

I'm a pretty progressive person and hold a lot of skepticism for corporations especially when it comes to slick marketing when they tell us they care deeply about their customers and employees.  Anytime I see some advertisement that tries to pull on heart-strings or see some kind of promotional or PR campaign aimed at appealing to sentimentality, patriotism or humanity, I tend to call BS.

And, being a long-time PR person, I tend to be more seasoned and wise than the average Joe when it comes to all things BS-ery.

So with that preamble, offered, one would think the NFL and I have long parted ways.  I mean, can you name a corporation, more repugnant and dishonest and slimy and slick and sugar-coated and American Flag saccharin BS-table?

No, and I can't either.  The NFL, doesn't care about its players safety.  The NFL wants its poor and middle class fans to buy stadiums for billionaire owners.  The NFL, is fine with players beating up women until it hurts their bottom line.  The NFL is fine using tax payer money to buy ads that tell us how much this multi-billion industry cares about our troops.

The NFL is the ISIS of sports.

But, the game is amazing.  The game, unlike ANY other sport is an event - An event DURING THE REGULAR SEASON that can't be missed.

My God.  People (including me) give up a weekend to watch a show about selecting employees for this corporation. We pay attention year round with reverence.  We care almost as much in July as we do in December. 

The NFL owns us.  They are this huge wrestler with a massive headlock on our attention and our wallets and our allegiance.