Week 5: The NFL punishes fans because?

Last week, I got super excited. As I was watching the Seattle game, they advertised that Detroit-Dallas was the game of the week in the early slot on Fox. Seattle was playing in the late slot. I assumed this meant that I would finally get to see the Lions! I caught 45 seconds of the end of the Minnesota game (3 downs: false start by Backus, false start by Backus, sack allowed by Backus), but other than that I've been living on highlights.

Imagine my confusion then when Fox turns off football and goes to infomercials. That's right. Instead of the game of the week, I would have to watch infomercials.

There are some seriously archaic rules when it comes to broadcasting NFL games - for example, when the Seahawks are playing at home, other channels can't play other games during the same time frame! Apparently you are only allowed to support the home team.

Does the NFL realize that all this does is drive people to watch illegally? I found a live stream of the Lions game and watched that, crappy stream and all. If Roger Goodell can explain this in a way that tells me why it's important to the game that I can't watch Detroit, please do so.


Week 4 Correct Picks: Carolina, Tennessee (Upset 2-2), New Orleans, New York Giants, New England (Lock 2-2), San Diego, Tampa Bay
Week 4 Incorrect Picks: Buffalo, Dallas, Minnesota, St Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Denver, New York Jets,
Week 4: 7-9
Year thus Far: 34-28-2

Week 5 Games:
Eagles at Bills (Phi by 3): Weird line, based on the records. Vegas is still just a little too in love with Philly. Still... I like Philly to turn things around a bit here and steal this one in Buffalo.
Chiefs at Colts (Ind by 3): Another strange line. We're saying these two teams are basically even, huh? I don't know. I like the Chiefs as my upset.
Cardinals at Vikings (Min by 3): If Min is going to win one, has to be here, right? Plus, don't take NFC west teams on the road. I'll even dare destiny and take an 0-4 team as my lock.
Seahawks at Giants (NYG by 10): Don't take NFC west teams on the road. Just don't.
Titans at Steelers (Pit by 4): Thursday Update: Forgot to write anything about this game. Maybe because I don't like the idea of picking either team. Anyway, I like Tennesee.
Saints at Panthers (NO by 7): You can throw on New Orleans, and Cam Newton can cover a spread. I'll take Carolina.
Bengals at Jaguars (Jac by 2): Gross game. I'll take the home team, but I don't feel good about it.
Oakland at Houston (Hou by 6): I don't know that Houston will have as much success running on Oakland as they did Pittsburgh. But I think McFadden will have some decent success. So I like Oakland.
Buccanneers at 49ers (SF by 2): I want to talk myself into not liking San Francisco... But I think the smart money here is on SF. Tampa Bay coming across the country on a short week spells trouble.
Chargers at Broncos (SD by 4): It's like Philip Rivers is messing with me. The spread was 9 last week, and they won by 10. Barely. I think we'll finally see a San Diego blowout.
Jets at Patriots (NE by 9): Dear lord, I'm taking the Jets. Gulp. I think they are a little better than they played the last two weeks, and they always play New England hard. I think it will be a close one though.
Packers at Falcons (GB by 6): I can't for the life of me pick a team that should have lost to Seattle. Atlanta made a old-time-lions mistake at the end which would have been the talk of the league had they lost (well, after the Dallas talk anyway). It was a 3rd and medium just after the two minute warning. Seattle had one timeout left and was down by 2. If Atlanta just rushes here, they guarantee that Seattle has to use their timeout - regardless of whether Atlanta gets the first down. Instead, they threw it, incomplete, and Seattle got the ball back with plenty of time and a timeout remaining. If Tarvaris Jackson wasn't so inept, ATL would have lost because of that play. And thus, I pick the Packers.
Bears at Lions (Det by 6): I actually don't think I would pick the Lions this week even if I hadn't sworn to keep picking against them (as a reverse-jinx). I think there will be a lot of pressure for playing on Monday night; and I think it will be close. So I'll take Chicago hear, but only because I think Detroit will only win by 3. 27-24 final score. Oh, and for the love of God, don't kick it to Hester.

Fantasy Review:
Bleh. Went 1-2 this week; Henderson threw goose eggs in two leagues for me - the same two leagues I ended up playing against Forte. I did win in the Go Lions League to stay even with the top of my division. Have a big division showdown against Dave this week.