I have been a football fan (Buffalo Bills to be exact) since I was able to comprehend the game. I loved how a game could go from boring to edge of your seat exciting in the blink of an eye. I loved the low number of games, how they were once a week, how easy it was to keep track of games and players, and just the overall feel of this autumnal display. However, as of late, I am incredibly disappointed in the game. Well, not the game itself per se, just its biggest organization. The National Football League is ruining what truly is a good game. It's taking a sport and making it a spectacle, and taking a pastime and making it a commercialized monopoly. I for one, am tired of the NFL.

Now, the NFL is not an inherently bad thing. It has become successful because they have genuinely done many things well, such as their marketing strategies and creating schedules with good match ups. However, the NFL has lately become more of a media circus. They're the Kardashians of the sports world. I hear and read more about their players' personal lives and celebrity type behavior more than I see great plays and good games.

I am inundated with shallow politics, gossip magazines’ headlines of star players’ petty nonsense, and police reports of players the league failed to control and punish long ago. How can one enjoy a game of football when all an announcer can talk about is some silly money making promotion or some player's love life? Actually, how can we even appreciate the game when all the NFL does is take away from it?

The league, if it wants to be an actual business, should see their players as their workers and treat them accordingly, like in other jobs. The players should be taken care of instead of being thrown away at the drop of a hat for an injury. On the other side, players should not be wrongfully protected after breaking the law, in some cases flagrantly.

Sports as a whole are woefully extravagant. Players are treated like gods (until they are deemed useless) and the brand is to be protected at all costs. The NFL is just unfortunately the most far gone. The Kaepernick debacle is the latest showing of commercialized drama (that the NFL is using for their own benefit no doubt). While everyone focuses on a player protesting, regardless of whether you agree or not, the NFL is covering up and in some cases lauding players who are convicted rapists, abusers and petty criminals. While they divert your eyes to the flashier, headline grabbing news, the ugly side of what could be a clean game is continuously being covered up. That's why, for me, the game isn't a game anymore, it's a farce.