A new survey says 33% of NFL fans stopped watching the NFL this year.
Conservatives will say that this was largely due to players kneeling during the national anthem. But some who turned off the NFL did so because they SUPPORTED the players who knelt.
The results also show an interesting difference between male and female respondents: more men said they turned away from the NFL in support of Trump (35% to 25%), while more women said they did it in support of the players kneeling (30% to 17%) or in support of Kaepernick (17% to 10%).
It's the classic definition of a "no win" situation for the NFL. A number of former NFL fans stopped watching in support of President Trump (who blasted players for kneeling during the Anthem) or because they opposed using kneeling during the Anthem as a means of protest.
But other fans SUPPORTED the kneeling and/or were upset that Colin Kaepernick wasn't playing the league. So they chose not to watch, as well.
While I object to players using the Anthem as a means of protest, my reason for turning off the NFL was primarily that it has become BORING.
Video review was supposed to minimize controversial calls. It hasn't. But it does hold up the game and cause endless discussions of the rules and multiple (ridiculous) discussions of what constitutes a catch.
Do television networks realize that constant discussions with their resident "rules" expert makes the game feel like we are watching lawyers debate? I'm married to a lawyer but even I know AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!