Fitz on FOX 25: NFL Gripers Need to Quiet Down

If you need proof that we, as New Englanders and sports fans, like to complain, look no further than the NFL.  The NFL is the best sports league in America, and it's not even close.  It has done nothing but increase in popularity.

Jersey sales, TV ratings and ticket prices are all on the rise, but so many complain that the NFL is becoming "unwatchable."

The refs are terrible!

The game has gone soft!

Too much offense!

Too many commercials!

Sound familiar?

And yet, everyone still tunes in.  Why is that?  If it's "unwatchable," don't watch.  I personally like a league that, like clockwork, entertains us every Sunday for months.  Week 17 in the NFL was one of the best regular season days in league history.  So many teams had their season or important playoff seedings on the line, it essentially doubled as an extra round of the playoffs.  I'll put up with an extra commercial break for that.

And we really need to stop griping about an outdoor Super Bowl in New York.  In the eyes of the naysayers, it's completely fine to determine an NFC champion in Arctic conditions in Green Bay or New York, an AFC champ in Denver or New England, but a Super Bowl champ?  That should be on climate-controlled dry turf.

I get it… the weather could play a huge factor.  Yes, it could snow.  But if the NFL never tried anything new, there would be no 2-point conversions and pulling people down by their facemask would be perfectly legal.

This year's Super Bowl will be the most watched thing on TV in 2014, and I'm willing to bet that if it snows, the ratings will only be higher (I had this thought before the NHL's recent Winter Classic in a snowy Michigan Stadium was the highest ever rated regular season game in league history).

So football fans, please stop telling complaining about how the NFL is going downhill until you actually stop watching.

Follow Brendan on Twitter @FITZonFOX25

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