I noticed that there are several NFL games on Christmas Day this year. I have never heard of this before. I've heard of there being a Sunday Night Football game on Christmas Night, and I've heard of there being NFL games on Christmas Eve Day, but this year they're having them on Christmas during the day. There's even a primetime game on Christmas Eve night airing on the NFL Network. I have to say I find this very weird. I always thought Christmas was a time for people to take off to celebrate with their families. Is this the first time this has happened?
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What's with the NFL playing on Christmas Eve/Day?
- Thread starter ssetta
- Start date
Nope. They've been doing it since the 70s. Three games on Sunday. The traditional Christmas day sport is basketball, and there is a full day of NBA games on ABC & ESPN on Christmas.
Things change, and evolve. So maybe they added some time slots compared to the past, but it’s also been since 2016 the last time there was a Christmas Sunday. Lots can happen over time.
2016 saw two Christmas Day games (the Steelers and Chiefs won, for those keeping score). Not a big change. NFL Network also aired a night game on 12/24–just like this year.
So, no appreciable change.
2016 saw two Christmas Day games (the Steelers and Chiefs won, for those keeping score). Not a big change. NFL Network also aired a night game on 12/24–just like this year.
So, no appreciable change.
Celebrating Christmas with family? Surely you jest. The NFL is a Cash Cow. More TV games on different days = Ratings & Revenue $$$$. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, they shifted most of the games to Saturday.
In recent years, the NFL has added 2 more playoff teams and a ridiculous 17 game schedule. They also have weekly Thursday night games. The Empire must grow and concern about player safety is lip service. Rome had its Gladiators and the US has NFL football. It's basically the same thing...
Seems to me the ratings for the Thanksgiving NFL games were very good, and I expect the same thing for Christmas.
People celebrate Christmas with the family watching sports on TV. The two things go together.
People celebrate Christmas with the family watching sports on TV. The two things go together.
If Xmas is on a Sunday they play the games on XMas Eve
The rest I suggest reading this
The rest I suggest reading this
For me, Christmas and British soap operas* go together. The level of drama on British soaps is high on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. None of that everything-is-hunky-dorky stuff that you see on places like the Hallmark Channel. Yes, when it comes to Christmas, I'm a realist.
The point is, people have different ideas about what goes together with Christmas Day.
* = I watch them on BritBox.
I once went to Mohegan Sun casino (Connecticut) on Christmas Eve and found it quite busy. The clientele was mostly Asian. I'd imagine many of them were back for more on the 25th.
Easter too.
The USA isn't nearly as "Christian" as it used to be. Plenty of other ethnic groups do not celebrate Christmas. When I was a kid it was 'normal' for every business to shut down for Christmas but that no longer applies. Even the businesses that did not 'close' (TV, radio for instance) presented some sort of religious programming for most of not all day long.
My family celebrated the day by eating a holiday dinner. Then the adult females would retire to the kitchen. The kids would grab their favorite toy and head outside. The male adults would grab a beer and turn on a football game. The only discussions you would hear was one of the dad's asking for another beer from the kitchen.
Sounds about right.
And what does being Christian have to do with Christmas? So many people don't treat it as a religious observance but a time to be with family and give presents.
I agree. In fact, 14 of our favorite Christmas carols were written, or at least co-written, by Jews.
Your favorite Christmas song was probably written by someone Jewish (Unpacked)
"Carols" or "Christmas songs"? The list and the article show "songs".
A carol is "a religious folk song or popular hymn, particularly one associated with Christmas" and has religious content.
It is, and was, a Christian celebration. People who celebrate the day outside of a Christian religion are not celebrating a religious holiday, merely another Black Friday and feasting on food and football.
Not religious? Doesn't matter. The nations retailers will love you anyway.
You're right. "White Christmas" and "Let It Snow" aren't carols. They are popular songs, written by Tin Pan Alley's professional songwriters, with a winter theme that loosely tie into the holiday of Christmas. They were written to be published, sung and recorded in hopes of making significant money for all involved. Not all of these odes to cold weather and other stuff that accompanies the last week of December were written by Jews, but the best-known ones were.
Now, as for seasonal songs with religious content, what would you call "Do You Hear What I Hear?" It was written by a Christian in the early '60s, and definitely is intended to tell at least a portion of the Christmas story, but does so by means of purely fanciful talking animals and takes liberties with the biblical narrative. Pop song or carol?
Except football is not usually a feature of Christmas. When the holiday falls on a weekday, the only football played is usually a very minor college "participation bowl" game, in Hawaii, between teams with 6-6 records. Christmas Eve is usually devoid of all sports. This year's Christmas weekend has a Black Friday/Thanksgiving feel to it because the NFL and its network partners and advertisers will never sacrifice a Saturday AND a Sunday to any holiday.
The whole NBA/Christmas Day synergy continues to puzzle me. I wonder why players haven't been more outspoken on this intrusion into family time and religion? (Yes, I know some are non-Christian, and spare me the woke/hate America narrative. It's just always seemed strange that the second holiest day on the Christian calendar is besotted with football. Of course, the holiest, Easter (and Good Friday), are just another day on the the MLB/NHL/NBA schedule, so ....)
Christmas was planted on December 25 to counter existing pagan celebrations and flatly borrowed those customs. The idea it’s a “Christian celebration” ignores history.
Nevertheless, we refer to the act of singing Christmas songs, religious or secular, as caroling.
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