Gumbel Gone From NFL Network

For the past two years Bryant Gumbel has been teamed up with Chris Collinsworth on the NFL Network. 

 It was announced today that Gumbel is no longer going to be doing games. 

It sounds like he was canned. NFL Network says they are immediately searching for a new play-by-play guy. 

Gumbel has a reputation for being, uh...er...difficult to work with. Perhaps his difficulty has finally surpassed his popularity.

No reason to be sad for the guy. I'm sure he'll surface, somewhere.

NFL: Everywhere!

Can the Patriots go 16-0? Until recently, you'd have to have access to the NFL network to see (live) if this would happen as they play the Giants in East Rutherford, NJ on Saturday night. The game was to be an NFL Network exclusive. The NFL has agreed to let NBC and CBS broadcast the game, along with the NFL network. This is being done so fans can actually see the game. 60% of American households with televisions cannot receive the NFL network. Why? Because the NFL is too greedy in their negotiations with major cable companies like Time Warner and COMCAST. Until this recent, one time decision was made, who was the loser? The fan, of course. Now that two major networks will broadcast the game, side-by-side with NFL network, what about the NFL Network sponsors? They are set to lose whatever audience they would have had on Saturday night as NBC and CBS waters down their captive audience.

NFL fumbles, again.

Except for the 16-0 regular season milestone, the game is meaningless. Both teams are already in the playoffs. Neither has anything to gain with a win. The Super Bowl is the only prize that either of them wants. So, tune in on Saturday night and watch as both teams replace their starters, early in the game.

If you want NFL Network, I'd suggest Dish Network or DirecTv. I have Dish Network which is great, except when it rains. Oh, and they raise their prices, every month.

What all this means is that, after paying for the NFL Network, I have to live with my wife on a Saturday night with no "CBS Mystery." Thanks, NFL.

Now, If The NFL Really Wants To Make Some Money!

Like many American men, and more and more women, I watch a lot of football on Sunday. Not just any football, the NFL! I've noticed that it takes more than 3 hours to play a game. A game with 4 fifteen minute quarters! So for each game thet we watch, we are seeing 2 hours of stuff that we did not tune-in to see. Most of it is commercials. Now, I know the importance of commercials. They bring money to the commercial networks so they can afford to pay the NFL for the rights to carry the games. This is free enterprise at its best! Or is it?

The NFL has its own network, right? Many of us can't see it because our cable companies are too cheap to fork over the money to the NFL to carry the network. This is a side issue and it can take care of itself.

What the NFL should do is broadcast all of its games on it's own network. This eliminates the networks, who in this case are simply "middlemen." Therefore we can cut the commercial time within the football broadcast so that a game will last, say 2 1/2 hours instead of 3+ hours. Schedule two games a day, one at 6PM EST and the next at 8:30 or 9PM EST, Monday thru Friday. This makes 10 games during the week. The other six games would be broadcast as tripleheaders on Saturday & Sunday. This way it would be possible for NFL fans to see every game. The NFL makes more money - each game is nationally televised - and we don't have to watch reruns. So many people would be watching the NFL network on a daily basis that it could be made available to any cable company for little or no charge at all! As for the teams, with games being played every day, it might even be possible for teams to have more than 6 days to recuperate and prepare between games.

Like the idea, NFL? You can use it - for free. Well, OK, if you must compensate me, I'll settle for a sandwich to be named after me. Available at all NFL venues "The General Tom" - a toasted baloney and cheese sandwich. The way you guys charge for food you could easily get 8 bucks a pop!