McCombs: NFL's troubles are downer heading into big game

Super Bowl Sunday is finally here. And I'll be watching the game with the masses.

But don't call me excited.

I'm sure if my team were in the game, I'd be totally invested. But I'm afraid that's what it would take these days for me to feel that way.

It's not that I totally don't care. Given my occupation, of course I'll pay attention. And there are a few storylines I am interested in.

Will the Seahawks repeat and join the discussion about the great teams and defenses? Will the title drought continue for Tom Brady, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time?

I'm actually kind of interested to see how the cheating allegations affect the Pats. Are they fired up? Are they focused?

And I have an individual player or two I'm pulling for.

But that's it.

The reality is that, for me, the NFL has never rated higher than my first love, baseball. People don't have to agree with me, but though it's a slower, less TV-friendly game, I believe it's a better game.

It's no one thing that has me down on the NFL.

Instead, it seems like there dozens of reasons to be unhappy with the league.

Roger Goodell. He's a start. He says a lot of things I simply don't believe.

I won't call him a liar, but I'll say I have a hard time believing he's being truthful when I hear him talk about things like Ray Rice's transgressions or the concussion rate in the league.

The aforementioned concussions are another issue. As athletes have gotten bigger and stronger, there's simply no way anymore to keep them safe from themselves.

So we use them up. Like gladiators in ancient Rome, they play until they can't.

We continue to cheer these imaginary institutions called teams while the flesh and blood that made them up in the not-so-distant past limps off to a painful pasture.

Only it's the injuries we can't see that are killing them. The game is violent and we, as a society, give it a pass. But there's a price being paid.

I've been as guilty of this as the next fan. And maybe I can't justify it anymore. I'm not sure.

What I do know is that the gazillionaire owners that pay Goodell's $44 million salary to keep their profits safe aren't interested in ponying up to make sure past players, the ones whose careers ended before we knew what the real cost of playing was, are taken care of.

Did I mention the same league that pays Goodell $44 million a year is also operating as a nonprofit and doesn't pay taxes? How is that right?

All those are off-the-field concerns.

On the field, the rules of the game trouble me.

The standard is that the ground can't cause a fumble. In other words, it does not determine possession.

Unless ... you're making a catch. Then, somehow, it becomes the sole determiner of possession. Makes sense, right? Uh, no.

And don't get me started on the term "football move." I find it ironic that at the highest level of football on earth, no one has a clear grasp of what that is.

I've come this far without mentioning deflate-gate. Maybe that's for the best.

And when it comes to the Super Bowl, what is supposed to be the biggest game of the year, we've been tricked into caring about who said what on media day and what the cost of a 30-second commercial is. I care more about Bruce Jenner's plastic surgeries.

My discontent with the NFL won't sink the league. I understand that.

But if I feel this way, the way many people feel about politics, I'll guarantee there are others, and that should worry those in charge of the game.

I haven't given up on the NFL. I'll watch the Super Bowl this year.

Next year?

That's a long way away.

This story was originally published February 1, 2015 at 12:07 AM with the headline "McCombs: NFL's troubles are downer heading into big game."