Now I don't mean to put him down. But I hope Mr. King will remember, Jaguar fans don't need him around anyhow.
The next time "Sweet Home Alabama" plays at the stadium, I will consider it our response to Mr. King's odious view of Jacksonville.
Since when did this arrogant elitism invade the NFL? I think it started in 1990's when the NFL found out it could hold both television and taxpayers for ransom. When CBS dropped the NFL, Fox picked it up along with a large number of CBS affiliates. Cities across the United States backstabbed each other for the privilege of having an NFL team. Just owning an NFL franchise enabled a businessman to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and appreciating value without regard for the quality of the product on the field. After all, they owned a piece of America's National Pastime and were entitled to it, right?
Times have changed and the NFL, including their sycophant lapdogs like Mr. King, need to wake up. There are no cities with an extra billion dollars laying around begging for an NFL team. Once Los Angeles is fed, and they have had three teams before, that is it. No where left to go in America. Well, how about London and Europe? If you can't sell America's past time to Americans, don't count on the Europeans to save you. Earth to the NFL, you are beginning to annoy your fan base by sending out petulant warnings through the likes of Peter King.
I have heard a lot of reasons why the Jaguars are not selling out this year. I will tell you what they are and there are three of them.
First, when 20% of the NFL players have a criminal record and some act out badly, decent people are turned off. They choose not to enable that behavior with their money or time. The NFL knows it has a serious problem and is working on it. They better.
Second, the people of Jacksonville and most other cities enjoy watching a group of men team together to bring glory to the city. They respond very well to that. What we witnessed last year was a group of me first, where's my money paycheck grabbers. Instead of football, this city was treated to a weekly NFL version of the Jerry Springer show. The professional people I know who can afford tickets walked away in disgust. I don't blame them and Wayne Weaver, Gene Smith, and Jack Del Rio understand it. Those people who walked away will be back when the right attitude shows up.
Third, when 25% of the households are underwater in their mortgages through no fault of their own and are now scrambling to back away from financial ruin, an NFL ticket seems like a luxury. They want to be there for the team and will try, but their family and financial security comes first. They will be back in a couple of years but right now I think they are making the right decision.
So if holding to a set of morals and ensuring your family is taken care of makes a city seem "unworthy" to people like Mr. King, so be it. Jacksonville is a fine city and to think an NFL team is its symbol only trivializes this city to the point of insulting it. Jacksonville will be ok, I am not sure the NFL will be until it reconnects with its roots quits looking down on the people who support it.
Economic times always improve. The Jaguars under Wayne Weaver and Gene Smith will come back. But when we do Mr. King, you are not invited to participate. Jacksonville doesn't need you around anyhow.