Oblong Ball and the Big H

Man, I am pumped for the NFL season to start. This Sunday, I will be planted in front of a TV somewhere for 8 glorious hours of football.

Speaking of TV coverage of the NFL, I have a question; Back in the 80s and 90s the networks would show player profiles in the beginning of the game much as they do today. The only difference is that in the past few years, instead of a still photo of the player, they now have a video clip of them smiling and blinking. Why do they do this? I can understand this is the natural progression of things and technology must move forward in an ever increasingly over-stimulated society, but this is ridiculous. These poor guys have to stand there, shifting their weight from side to side and smiling like morons. For a long time too. Some of the linemen do the tough guy face, but most of them just look uncomfortable. There's no way I would be able to do that without flaring my nostrils, wiggling my ears or just busting into the Robot (with my own beat-boxed theme music, of course). There's probably some anal director there in the studio that would yell "Cut! You can't do that!". At that point I would get all hollywood and tell him, "You got the shot- i'll be in my trailer.", then storm out. They would have to use the footage of me acting like an idiot and it would be great.