IT'S NOT NFL'S DAY.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI The question about the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga has always been: When would the league go too far in its lust for world domination “World conquest” redirects here. For other uses, see World domination (disambiguation). The concept of world domination (sometimes world conquest) has long been a popular theme in both history and fiction. , and spoil what made it special? And now we have the answer: Thursday. Forever and ever, the NFL was a Sunday thing alongside church-going and lawn mowing, in exactly that order for most red-blooded American men. Then, the NFL became a Sunday and Monday thing, which was fine because Monday Night Football “MNF” redirects here. For other uses, see MNF (disambiguation). Monday Night Football (MNF) is a live television broadcast of the National Football League. expanded the game's culture appeal and helped to attract red-blooded American women. Then, somewhere along the way, the NFL annexed Saturday, and even that was OK because pro football was considerate enough to wait until December after the end of the college football regular season. The question was where this would end. And the answer is that it wouldn't. Check the schedule for the upcoming NFL season. It kicks off on a Thursday (Miami-Pittsburgh, Sept. 7), and it features three Thursday games on a Thanksgiving. Neither the Thursday opener nor the Thanksgiving football is new. Beginning with Thanksgiving, there will be Thursday games for five straight weeks down the season's homestretch home·stretch n. 1. The portion of a racetrack from the last turn to the finish line. 2. Informal The final stages of an undertaking. Noun 1. . This is new. That old NFL platitude about how ``on any given Sunday, any team can beat any other team,'' is going to have to be stretched and twisted to ``on any given Saturday Any Given Saturday (foaled January 29, 2004 in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. From the mare Weekend in Indy, a daughter of the 1992 U.S. Horse of the Year and U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, A.P. , Sunday, Monday or Thursday ...'' If you guessed the schedule's spread to Thursday has something to do with that devil television, you're right -- the Thursday games post-Thanksgiving will be among the first batch of regular-season games to be shown by the NFL Network. If you guessed that getting the NFL Network's Thursday games on your TV set sounds as if it's going to cost money, right again. But that's not the real problem with Thursday. A big part of the fun of pro football has always been the roller-coaster rhythm leading up to and out of your team's weekly game. If you live (as we in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. used to) in a city with a team, that cycle of buildup and rehash re·hash tr.v. re·hashed, re·hash·ing, re·hash·es 1. To bring forth again in another form without significant alteration: rehashing old ideas. 2. To discuss again. carried the whole community along, the sort of widely shared experience that only sport and a just war can provide. When every game is on Sunday, you can mark the autumn-winter calendar: Sunday -- Game, biggest of season. Your team loses. Monday -- Recriminations. Debate whether to fire coach, bench quarterback or both. Tuesday -- Third-string nose guard comes down with groin pull. Put on sackcloth and ashes sackcloth and ashes traditional garb of contrition. [O.T.: Jonah 3:6; Esther 4:1–3; N.T.: Matthew 11:21] See : Penitence , which conveniently is the team's latest alternate jersey. Wednesday -- Begin to obsess ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. about next Sunday's game, biggest of season. Thursday -- Debate whether to establish run, then pass, or establish pass, then run. Friday -- Study USA Today USA Today National U.S. daily general-interest newspaper, the first of its kind. Launched in 1982 by Allen Neuharth, head of the Gannett newspaper chain, it reached a circulation of one million within a year and surpassed two million in the 1990s. match-up box to see if your OLBs can handle their RB, or if your FS is really going to have to be on his toes. Saturday -- Notice that a week of betting has dropped line from plus-4 1/2 to plus-1. Phone bookie to lock in bet before the amateur money comes in. Sunday -- Repeat. This routine is easily adjusted for Saturday and Monday games. But Thursday throws everything off. Can it be long before the NFL spreads out again, following the trend of college football, which used to be a Saturday thing but now shows up on ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network 34 any old night of the week? Baseball is the sport that's supposed to be played every day, the schedule so relentless that a dozing fan can easily miss a week. ``How are the Dodgers doing?'' ``The whole roster is having a sex-change operation. They haven't been able to field a team for a week.'' ``Wow, I guess I missed that.'' ``The weird thing is, they've gained four games in the division.'' Sure, there must have been a big Thursday game somewhere in the dark recesses of NFL lore. If so, it will be found in one of those kids' books with titles like ``The Weirdest Stories in Football History,'' and it'll turn out that one of the teams played in snowshoes snowshoes, footgear enabling the wearer to walk on soft snow without sinking. A snowshoe consists of a light frame of tough wood or aluminum, roughly the shape of a large tennis racket, which is strung with caribou skin or other material and is attached to the shoe . I vow not to watch any of the NFL's Thursday games this season, and I ask you to join me in this boycott. Let's keep Sunday as the day when American life is dominated by pro football, the way God intended. heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com (818) 713-3616 CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Head coach Bill Cowher and the Steelers take on the Dolphins in the NFL season opener Thursday, Sept. 7. Associated Press Box: NFL WEEK ONE SCHEDULE |
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