New Shoes, Football on the Other Side of Boise.

Before I talk about football...

I bought some new shoes today... big whoop, you say... but they were Nike Shoes. That is significant in that they are the first new shoes that were not Avia since I first started wearing them in the 9th grade. 1991, 16 years ago. There are some people I work with that were just out of diapers at that time. It speaks for the Avia shoe company that I would stay with them for that long. And I'll probably buy their shoes again, but this time over to Kohl's, I didn't find anything Avia that fit just right, but these Nike Air ones do. It all depends on when I go and what I get. I just thought it was significant. If you make good quality merchandise and sell them like Avia does, you're bound to wind up with loyal customers. That is the first rule of retail. Make the customer return. And I have, for 16 years.

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Oklahoma lost to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl in probably the most exciting game since last year's game twixt USC and Texas. My mom was complaining yesterday about the boring football games she watched this weekend (the NFL playoffs which I missed, so I can't validate how boring they were. I expect they were probably better than that, but anyway...) I admit myself that the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl were on as background noise in my room, that they didn't excite me that much.

And it got me thinking... what is it about Football these days that makes a game boring... I know I talked about that in an earlier Blog, but the point is still valid and unresolved. Is Football now getting so drawn out for today's ADD society that a full game is too boring for us? Or are we turning into fair weather fans, where the only people that liked the LSU Norte Dame game were those that lived in Louisiana and Indiana? I don't think so, cause I've watched some great football games where the teams are not ones I normally cheer for.

Why should the NFL network replay football games and shrink them into hour long games, or 30 minutes? Are just the highlights enough for us now to get the same feeling that we actually watched the game? Studies show that as we watch a game, with the suspense that builds, so does our adrenaline level. Our body temperatures rise as the stakes rise in the game. We appreciate high scoring offensive games that are thrilling instead of low scoring, defensive ones. Sports newscasters have to constantly flash graphics and interviews and off the wall comments in order to keep us entertained. The game can no longer do it.

All this points to a shortening of the human attention span to the point where even a football game cannot excite us. Movies have not enough explosions and violence...etc. Such is the fate of the ADD generation. If this is the case, then baseball is doomed, but that's another tale... time to watch the OSU / FLA game. :)