Chateau Lloyd

I don't watch the NFL.  I'm a Lions fan.

I do, however, enjoy a bit of the college game.  In fact, I used to really enjoy it, watching 12 hours of games each Saturday.

In 2015, I had an unpaid gig as a guest writer on a Big Ten fan site called Off Tackle Empire.  I guess it's still around, but the parent company got downsized.

Anyway, the grind of doing a column each week (without remuneration!) burned me out.  I watched only a couple of games in 2016 before giving it up entirely.  Since MSU's team went into the tank, my timing was perfect.

As a result of that experience, I decided football was something best watched in limited quantities.  I cut the cable, canceled the dish and now I use a portable antenna which sits in a cabinet for most of the year.

I get only a few games, often ones I could care less about, but those are often more enjoyable to watch precisely because you don't get upset when your team loses because you have no team.

The fans seem happy, as do the announcers.  I notice there are a lot fewer commercial breaks, so the games are an hour shorter.  That was another reason I quit:  you'd get two plays and then break for commercial.  Going to a game in person was really obnoxious with all that idleness.

I'm sure viewership was suffering as was in-person attendance, which is where college sports really make their money.  Ticket prices vary by program, but if you get 50,000+ folks to pay to see something, you're bringing in millions of dollars.

I will probably attend the annual alumni gathering in a few weeks, so another fall ritual will be resumed.

The world is still going crazy, but it's nice to have a few touchstones remain in place.