NFL: Enough with the Manufactured Nostalgia

October 12, 2009

Yes, dear readers, now that the “Los Angeles” Angels of Anaheim, California have succeeded in sweeping my #2 team, the “Boston” Red Sox of Boston, Taxachucetts, and thus, sweeping my MLB enthusiam out the door until next spring, it’s time for another heart-warming episode of “Jonestein B!tches About Petty Things Completely Out of His Control”, and yes, another exacerbatingly long opening sentence wrought with comma abuse, typos, and diction ineptness, all brought to you by the Texas State Board of Education, where evolution is Just a Theory® and The Bible is the only science text book God’s Children® will ever need.

In today’s episode, we discuss the insipid practice of shilling NFL merchandise under the pretense of “nostalgia“, otherwise known as the “Throwback Game”.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the libertarian, free market economics guy in me (insert tasteless joke here) is all for making money, but there is just something disingenuous at work here that leaves a bad taste in my mouth(I’m just lobbing these over the plate, eh?) and this, once again, “manufactured nostalgia” is just one of the many off-putting things that have made me a marginal NFL fan over the years. 

Yeah, yeah, I know, MLB does it’s share of Fake Nostalgia Games, as well as it’s Racism-Guilt Baiting Games, but like any blogger worth his salt, I choose to ignore that fact and continue to wax sanctimoniously, not missing a beat.

Anyway, much like the awarding of the now meaningless Nobel Peace Prize and it’s manufactured prestige to our President, Saint Hopenchange, these “throwback” games are just grandiose marketing schemes designed to sell us a bunch of crap we don’t need: more “authentic”/replica jerseys, t-shirts, and socialized medicine that we can’t pay for and haven’t really thought through. 

And of course, there’s the putrid aesthetics.  Take those gawd-awful throwbacks sported by the Denver Broncos yesterday.  Those things were hideous back when they were hideous.  I’m certainly no fashion maven, but what kind of bush-league, embarrasment of an organization would subject their players to the ridicule inherent with sporting yellow and brown uniforms?

Not only did I want to go all Oedipus(sans the mom-porking) over those hideous Broncos throwbacks,  I had to endure yet another game watching Brady & Co. wear their bland throwbacks, you know, the ones with the Smiling, Patriotic Reach-Around Guy on the helmet?  Blech.

Then there was my beloved heroes, the Dallas Cowboys, decked out in their circa 1960 blue and white abominations, playing “The Game That Never Was” with the Kansas City Chefs/Dallas Texans.  Yeah, I got a warm fuzzy, harkening back to those days in 1960 I remember so fondly, floating around in Dad’s gnads, waiting for that call up to Big Leagues.  Thing is, those unis were hideous back then too, so much that the paisley-like former incarnation of myself could even sense it down at Double A.

(TMI?)

So please, NFL, spare us the smarmy, manufactured nostalgia.  Limit this nonsense to ONE week per season, preferably during the Cowboys bye week.

Cheers,

–Jonestein

 Photo from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Alfred E. Obama from here.

Written by Jonestein Posted in Dailies Tagged with Angels, Astros, Athletics, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Broncos, Chiels, Cowboys, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Jonestein, Manufactured Nostalgia, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Nobel Peace Prize, Obama, Orioles, Padres, Patriots, Phillies, Pirates, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Reds, Royals, Throwback Games, Throwback Uniforms, Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Yankees