NFL Blackout: Jacksonville Goes Dark

A week after the Grill Room reported that up to 20 percent of the NFL games could be blacked out in home teams' markets this year, it looks like every host city but Jacksonville was able to escape the dark curtain this weekend.

Under NFL rules, a game must be sold out at least 72 hours in advance to be televised in the home team's local market.

Because of the challenging economic landscape, it is feared that many teams, especially those in hard-hit areas like Detroit, the Florida markets, and San Diego, might have trouble selling out home games this year.

We took our spotlight around the four NFL markets that were in jeopardy of going black this weekend, to bring light to our clientele at the GR on this dark subject:

(Continue to The Grill Room)

Life After DirecTV

And today it begins. Yes, the full slate of games that begins the NFL season, but on a personal level, for me it's life after DirecTV.


When we bought and moved into our house five years ago, it represented a freedom of choice for us - if we wanted a dish, we could get a dish. (As opposed to our apartment, which had a restriction on satellite dishes.) Thus, we fulfilled my dream of watching the Jets when I wanted, without having to leave the comfort of my own home (and allowing me to let fly whatever I needed to say during a game in the company of family rather than complete strangers).

Well, after last year's debacle of a season, I succumbed to my wife's request to go to a cheaper cable option, thinking I would never care to schedule my Sundays around the Jets again.

Then this weekend hit. And I still care.

(Continue to 200 Miles From the Citi)

Are You Ready to Talk Football?

Because our members take their football very seriously, the management at the Grill Room have been working feverishly over the past couple of days to get our TVs aimed just right at the great NFL satellite in the sky for the impending 2009 season.

Nothing better than a hearty meal, a German bier or five, and some good ol' football to help wile away the darkening months of a European fall and winter.

And because our discerning clientele know that the only sure-fire way to botch up an expertly prepared main course -- in this case the great game itself -- is a shoddy announcing crew, we have carefully prepared a diner's guide aimed at rating the best and worst of those talking teams from the five networks that will be offering up NFL football fare this year: CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC and the NFL Network.

(Continue to The Grill Room)

Reality of Shaq's TV Show ... It Bites

They say reality bites, but I think they were actually talking about reality shows.

No argument there if that's the point, because if people have watched Shaq O'Neal's reality show "Shaq Vs," they have but one conclusion to draw: The show bites.

Two minutes into his second episode last Tuesday (I skipped his first episode and won't dare tune in tonight for his third), I wondered why a proud network like ESPN would even bother with a show that takes viewers deep inside an athlete's obsession for the spotlight. The network had to think it's doing what paparazzi do daily as they trail Hollywood stars into the toilet.

(Continue t0 Justice Is Served)