TNF is a Reflection of America's Lack of Patients

By Kris Mead

Professional football is the epitome of a market economy. Demand drives everything and supply seems limitless. Americans’ thirst for grown men to charge into each other so badly that they have become addicts to the violence inflicted on the field. With the expansion of television and the cash that it has infused into the NFL, America’s addiction has exponentially gotten stronger. So much stronger that Americans demand football nearly every day of the week. The NFL recognized that demand and decided to move forward, at the expense and disagreement of its employees – the players, to have a nationally televised Thursday Night Football game during each week of the regular season.

The Thursday night games have been nothing more than unspectacular football. Just looking at the 2018 Thursday Night Football schedule, only 22% (through week 10 of the NFL season) have been decided by less than ten points. The average point differential is nineteen points. In a league in which everyone’s goal is to win a Super Bowl, it seems on Thursday nights only one team actually performs decently. That team is usually the home team, which has won 77% of all the 2018 Thursday night games. In the past, the excuse has been that there aren’t any good matchups on Thursday night. There are still bad matchups on Thursday night, but those bad matchups were typically between two pitiful teams, while other games were against two strong teams. Either way, the games were to be competitive and they have been anything but that. For instance, two extremely bad teams in the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers, were picked by Vegas to be decided by 1.5 points. In the end, the 49ers won by thirty-one points. However, blow outs are still prevalent when good teams play each other. Look at the most recent Thursday night game where the Steelers crushed the Panthers by a differential of thirty-one points; never mind the fact that the Steelers were picked to win by less than 3.5 points.   

 

The blowouts should be no surprise, as the players expressed to the league their disdain for Thursday night games. The players warned that they would be too fatigued to perform at a high level during Thursday night game since they would have just played a full game a mere four day prior. Further, the away team is set at a further disadvantage as they only have two days to prepare for the home team, with Wednesday being a travel day. So, it is easy to see why the home team has the advantage and the away team tends to get blown out – more time to prepare and no traveling. Although Thursday night games aren’t statistically higher in rate of injuries, compared to Sunday or Monday games, the competitiveness of Thursday night games is far more skewed than compared to its Sunday or Monday companions.

Thursday Night Football will continue because the NFL wants it, the television networks want it, and, most importantly, the addicted fans want it. No matter how scathingly bad the football on Thursday nights is, Americans rather watch bad football than have to wait until, say, Sunday to watch good football.

On a larger note, maybe Thursday Night Football is nothing more than an indictment on the American psyche. From investors wanting to see double digit returns within eighteen months to high schoolers getting upset when their iPhones don’t load their Instagram photos quickly enough, all Americans have turned into these “instantaneous simpletons.” An instantaneous simpleton is nothing more than a person who gets more satisfaction from having quick results, than having good results. They rather be satisfied with having something quickly than having something good.

The main culprit of an instantaneous simpleton is the onset of technology today. Starting with Cable T.V. where Americans could find whichever news outlet best “agreed” with them, to high tech cell phones that humans have become glued to, rather to the living, breathing humans around them, to social media today, which seems to become more of an ego measurer than actually bringing people together. Although these forms of technologies, which have brought a lot of good, are the culprit to creating “instantaneous simpletons.” they are not what has caused this phenomenon to continue. What has caused this phenomenon to continue is two prong.

The first prong is the fact that capitalists have realized that speed, not quality, is what drives business. Look at corporations today. They have devised a sound business strategy of eliminating workers, rather than investing in innovation. It’s due to that stock price needing to be a certain amount by a certain time and the quickest way to make the balance sheet look good is to lower expenses – employees. Look at the iPhone, people want faster phones so that they can quickly scan their social media so they can see which “friends” are “living their best lives.” Capitalists have tapped into a market that wants things faster, and in doing so have created an addictive customer – because the customer will always want something faster. Nothing will ever be quick enough to an “instantaneous simpleton.”

The second prong is the “simpleton” side of things. Due to Americans’ addiction to quick results, Americans refuse to critically think. Critical thinking takes time and to take time goes against the instantaneous simpleton’s addiction, which is to have things instantaneously. For example, the investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia is downplayed by many of his followers. His followers, who most likely are instantaneous simpletons, see things only in black and white. Because they claim to not have been influenced by Russia in the election, they conclude Trump did not conspire. Another example is Brett “Keganaugh” and how instantaneous simpletons made the claim that, if he really raped a woman, then the victim would have reported it when it happened, instead of waiting thirty-six years. However, these “instantaneous simpletons” refuse to critically think, or even seek an expert, to better understand the psychological scars, including repercussions, that a rape victim goes through. So long as instantaneous simpletons prefer expediency over critical analysis, this type of thinking will continue.

In turn, Thursday Night Football won’t go anywhere because instantaneous simpletons want it. No matter how much viewers may complain Friday morning that the game “sucked,” they will blame the players, rather than analyze the externalities which continue to cause the games to “suck.” The victims here are the NFL players and coaches who play with nonguaranteed contracts. Every missed tackle, fumble, or dropped pass just makes that player one step closer to the unemployment line. However, their only choice is to keep playing in order to satisfy the instantaneous simpleton’s addiction to have what he wants, when he wants, no matter how putrid the product continues to be.