The 2013 NFL season begins tonight in a real nice game between the defending champion Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos. The annual Kickoff game is supposed to be hosted by the defending Super Bowl champion. Denver got it instead because baseball's Baltimore Orioles wouldn't play ball. I never understood why this was a factor as the Ravens and Orioles play in different stadiums. I say bring in 75,000 Baltimore football fans and leave the crumbs for the Orioles. A baseball team in a playoff chase might still lose many of their fans to TV sets tuned to a football game from Denver. I guess that the NFL doesn't play that game. They just move their game to a different city. They only move the date of the game for Obama acceptance speeches. The National Football League Kickoff Game was introduced in 2002. In the years since it has become a spectacle and a tradition. There are concerts and other ceremonies. They even find time for a football game.
That first Thursday night to kickoff the 2002 season was conceived as an effort to boost economic recovery in the New York and Washington areas following 9/11. The New York Giants hosted the San Francisco 49ers. ESPN televised that first game. It was considered an economic success for football as well as those that actually needed it. The NFL, never blind to potential dollar signs and the expansion of the shield, saw opportunity. The rights to televise the game and the pregame concert were transferred immediately after the season to ABC as part of their Monday Night Football package. The 2004 Kickoff Game started the tradition of the defending Super Bowl champion hosting the game. That matchup has proved fruitful for the champs as only the New York Giants have lost to start the new season. That was last year when the Dallas Cowboys prevailed in the Giants home. The new television contracts in 2006 gave the Kickoff Game to NBC. That network has had the game ever since. National politics impacted the start of the 2008 and 2012 seasons. In 2008 the time of the game was moved so that we could listen to John McCain during the Republican National Convention. In 2008, the game was actually moved to Wednesday so as not to interfere with Barack Obama and the Democratic National Convention. The sitting President carries more weight than the Republican nominee. That brings us to 2013 and baseball fouling up the start of the NFL season. I can understand why baseball ruffles it's feathers when the big, bad NFL comes around. It's been a while since a World Series game generated more interest than a routine regular season football game. Tonight, the city of Baltimore and the Orioles will be in the shadow of a Ravens game in Denver.
I've been slow to warm to these Thursday night Kickoff games. I've never seen the need for NFL games on Thursday outside of those on Thanksgiving. Football and Thanksgiving has always been a beautiful union. I've never really seen much need for NFL games outside of Sunday. I'm a traditionalist that way. I also don't think that the Sunday to Thursday turnaround is good for the players. They're barely moving around from the collisions of Sunday when they have to be ready to collide again. It isn't right but those that run the game and don't actually play the game have always seen more as better. I see Sunday football as just right. No matter the day, I am ready for some football.
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