Rome Is Right

Let me begin by saying that I'm not a big fan of Jim Rome. He's awful on radio--the undisputed KING of dead air, but I watch his show on TV almost every afternoon. It's not bad, but the man can be an arrogant prick. On the other hand, the format of his TV show, and the constraints of time, combine to keep the topics flowing, so I guess you could say I'm kind of a fan, but not a big fan. And I still giggle about the time he cowered like little girl back when Jim Everett came over the table and threatened to beat his ass on national TV.

However, his 'Final Burn' today kind of stole my thunder--it was a rant I wanted to address the other day, but figured it could wait. But he jumped on the subject, and now thousands of viewers are already in the know.

Basically, his issue (and mine), is the annoying habit of NFL analysts to constantly say 'National Football League' over and over again, instead of just saying 'NFL', like it carries some kind of gravity and mystical importance. Just pay attention some Sunday morning before the games start, and listen to how many times the talking heads say the drawn out 'National Football League' instead of just going with the more common acronym. And it's even worse once the games come on. The color commentators, most of which are former players, do it even beyond the point of annoyance.

Seriously, test the theory with a drinking game--do a shot of tequila every time an announcer says National. Football. League. next time there is a marquis matchup on TV. You'll be dead of alcohol poisoning by halftime.

I guess it wouldn't be so bad, except that they choose to go the drawn-out route, instead of choosing the economy of words and using the acronym like the rest of the world does, but it sounds even dumber when you consider that none of them can muster up the effort to say 'Roethlisburger' when referring to Pittsburgh's quarterback.

To a man, he's just 'Ben'. They say Peyton Manning's full name. Same with Tom Brady, Drew Breeze, Donovan McNabb, etc, but where the Steelers are concerned, it's just Ben, like they're all on a first-name basis with him. 'Roethlisburger' apparently takes way too much effort, but National. Football. League. is beaten into the ground like a dead horse every week. I don't know why I find it so irritating, but I do. It's like annoying country music fans, always referring to the stars by just their first names, like they were best of friends or something-- I saw Tim and Faith at Vittles yesterday!

Gag.

I don't know why they do it. I'm guessing that Roger Goodell came down with an edict from On High, and like Alyson Hannigan in American Pie, directing all TV personalities to Say my name, Bitch! Either that, or it's just a case of mass group-think. One moron did it, and it just caught on, kinda like the first newscaster jerkoff who decided that Quatar now rhymes with 'gutter'.


Mikey