Nobody has mentioned this, so...

I have this question. What are the green stickers on the backs of everybody's helmets today? They are on the left in the back on EVERYBODY'S helmet.

 

I think it has to do with that NFL in Mexico shit, or whatever.

 

They say "futbol Americano"

 

Ah. Okay. I could never see what it said on there.

 

From PFT:

PLAYERS PISSED ABOUT "FUTBOL" DECAL

As the NFL prepares to tightly embrace (i.e., make a lot of pesos off of) the burgeoning Spanish-speaking population, players throughout the league are pissed that they are being required to don ugly-ass decals that read "Futbol Americano" on their helmets this weekend.

The concern isn't that the league is going a bit too far (it is) with its efforts to sell a few urban sombreros emblazoned with the NFL shield, but that the NFL is requiring these decals to be worn not long after it utilized half-hearted, in comparison, efforts to memorialize guys like Johnny Unitas and Pat Tillman.

A year ago, the powers-that-be threatened to fine Jake Plummer 30 large if he dared to wear a decal in honor of Tillman, an American solider who died in a hail of friendly fire after giving up his NFL career to do his part to preserve freedom. In 2002, the NFL refused to let Colts quarterback Peyton Manning to wear black high tops after Unitas died of a heart attack.

So let's hope that, the next time a high-profile NFL player passes, the league will keep its cabeza out of its culata and permit the guy to be properly honored. If helmets can be used to curry favor with our muchachos in Mexico, they can and should be used to pay tribute to the guys who have made the game what it is.

 

Speaking of being pissed...

I don't think the players are too excited about playing regular season games outside of the US.

Posted on Sun, Oct. 02, 2005

Cómo se dice ‘play-action pass’?

By DAVID NEWTON

Senior Writer


CHARLOTTE

Muy bien. Como se llama usted. Uno, dos, tres. Por favor. Feliz Navidad.

This is what my parents got for two years of high school Spanish, two years of college Spanish and one year of college French in which my professor said I spoke with a Southern-Spanish accent.

That’s slightly less than Carolina Panthers coach John Fox can deliver, and he spent five years with the Chargers in San Diego, where he made occasional trips across the Mexican border to Tijuana.

“Most of the things I learned there are not repeatable,” he says with a laugh.

Fox better brush up on the acceptable things. For the first time in the 86-year-old history of the NFL, a regular-season game will be played outside the borders of the United States tonight when the Arizona Cardinals face the San Francisco 49ers at Estadio Azteca.

Plans already are underway to take a game next season to Wembley Stadium in London, where former Clemson star William “The Refrigerator” Perry recently visited to help promote the idea.

“From what I have seen of the new stadium, it is going to be one of the greatest in the world, and I know that NFL players would love to be a part of a major international event in a venue like this,” says Perry, who played an exhibition game at Wembley in 1986 the year after leading the Chicago Bears to victory in the Super Bowl.

But a quick survey of Carolina players revealed that they are not crazy about the idea of international football. They don’t like flights across the country for games, much less flights across the ocean.

And they most certainly don’t like the idea of giving up a home game. Their idea of heading for the border is a trip to Taco Bell.

But as Fox says, “They don’t ask my opinion on those decisions.”

We’ve known for years the NFL was interested in expanding onto foreign turf. They have held preseason games for years in places such as Barcelona and Toyko. They have been to Mexico City seven times for preseason games, with three of them drawing more than 100,000 fans and two drawing more than 87,000.

“Mexico is the country with the most NFL fans outside of the United States,” commissioner Paul Tagliabue says. “Our fans in Mexico are knowledgeable and passionate, and they are ready for this next step.”

Un momento.

If the NFL is serious about going to Mexico City, then why send the Cardinals and 49ers, which are a combined 0-6 this season and a combined 8-30 since the start of last season?

That’s the equivalent of NASCAR sending the Busch Series to Mexico City this year instead of the Nextel Cup. No, it’s less than the equivalent, since several Cup stars drove in the Busch race.

The 49ers and Cardinals don’t have any stars.

Perhaps the league really isn’t serious about expanding its borders, and this is a way to ruin foreign relations. Perhaps the Cardinals’ “home” crowd will be so disgusted with the level of play that they will request the league never come back.

Perhaps that’s why “The Fridge” was sent to London instead of Tagliabue. Perhaps when Parliament gets Perry’s food bill for the trip it will decide the cost of hosting an NFL game is too high.

But, like it or not, this is going to happen. The NFL is the biggest self-promotion machine in all of sports. Yes, even larger than NASCAR, where drivers can’t say two words without spitting out the names of half a dozen sponsors.

The bottom line here is money and exposure.

“It’s different,” Carolina running back Stephen Davis says.

Davis speaks from experience. He went to Tokyo in 2002 with the Washington Redskins to face the 49ers in a preseason game. The food wasn’t quite what he was used to at “The Beacon” in Spartanburg, and the fans definitely didn’t speak the language of upstate South Carolina.

“They were cheering for somebody, but I didn’t know who,” Davis says. “And they’re going for both teams, so they don’t know when to be quiet when the offense is out there.”

Defensive tackle Brentson Buckner says it was the same way when he played for Clemson and faced Duke in Tokyo.

“In Tokyo, they don’t care that much about football,” he says. “They love the music, so the bands played the whole time. They would cheer the band even when the game wasn’t going on.”

Buckner, like me, has a few years of Spanish under his belt, but he’s not ready to brush up on it if Carolina is sent abroad in the near future. Neither is Davis.

“I can barely speak my own (language),” he says.

 

since 1% of the people have 90% of the money, I have a hard time seeing who will buy the expensive tickets. Don't say the 1%, they are busy guarding the crops.

 

referees speaking spanish...



the NFL didn't even go that realistic when hosting the saints game in NY.

 

That applies to the U.S., too, doesn't it?

 

our 10% is a lot larger than theirs.