Nitpicking the December Football Scene

The first Saturday in December usually coincides with the last day of college football’s regular season. This is an exciting Saturday in which conference championships are decided and all the bowl bids are finally nailed down. However, for the remainder of the month, we are stuck with what I call “dead-air” Saturdays. With the regular season wrapped up and the major bowls having yet to be played, there is no major college football to be found on my television screen. Sure, there is plenty of basketball airing during that time, but my basketball gene doesn’t awaken until January.

Then we have the problem of meaningless pro football games on December Sundays. Yes, plenty of teams are still in the playoff chase and most of the berths are decided in December. However, what are fans of those teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention to do? You see, pro football games are a means to end, with that end being making the playoffs. Individual games are not an end in and of themselves. When that end is no longer achievable (i.e., a given team is eliminated from playoff contention), its remaining games are rendered meaningless. For fans of those teams, Sunday afternoons in December can be a bit boring.