NFL Network

Tonight's simulcast of the NFL Network could utterly backfire on the NFL. Instead of opening the eyes of the football world and fans nationwide, and compelling them to demand this channel from their cable providers - I see an opposite result. As anyone who has watched a game on the NFL Network will tell you, the play-by-play is horrible. No, horrible is too nice. Think "fingernails-on-chalkboard" painful.

The simulcast will make the broadcast available nationwide - to hundreds of millions of more people than could have seen the game (and associated broadcast deficiencies). Those who have been thinking they'd like this thing called the NFL Network will get a preview - free. And they'll realize they'd probably never watch it again - and most definitely wouldn't pay good money to watch it. With NFL history on display, and a network that will underwhelm even a granny in Iowa, the NFL Network may have just doomed itself to failure.