Festivus Airing of Grievances

Along with the aluminum pole and feats of strength, the highlight of any Festivus celebration is the airing of grievances.  I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're gonna hear about them.  I have a wide range of grievances.  Some are very nitpicky personal preferences.  Some are on a much larger scale.  And hopefully some of them will be resolved in 2025.

FIFA: Where do I start with FIFA?  Their corruption was on full display in 2024.  They put three games of the 2030 World Cup in South America just so they could say the continent used its turn as "host" and use that as an excuse to give Saudi Arabia 2034 unopposed.  They expanded the Club World Cup to a 32-team event using the old World Cup format even though there was no desire for it and despite complaints from the players who'll actually have to play the games.  But, who cares about player safety when there's money to be made?

Soccer's Streaming Obsession: Speaking of FIFA, they made a deal with Netflix for U.S. rights to the next two Women's World Cups.  Yet another soccer event that will be stuck behind a paywall.  I'm not trying to sound like an old man complaining about streaming, which will only grow.  Still, it's gotta be tough to be a soccer fan and having to pay for different streaming services to watch the Women's World Cup (Netflix), MLS (Apple), the Premier League (Peacock), the Champions League (Paramount+) and whatever European leagues are on ESPN+.  Some of them at least have deals that combine linear TV and streaming, but it's not exactly the most user-friendly setup.  Especially with the U.S. hosting the 2026 World Cup, they should be doing everything they can to make it easier to watch games.  Having different leagues/tournaments on every conceivable streaming service isn't doing that.

The New York Rangers: This season started so well.  Then it was...not.  They won the President's Trophy last season and brought virtually everybody back from that team.  Then all of the dirty laundry got aired.  Players were traded or waived and made it known they weren't happy about it.  Lines got shuffled and guys taken in and out of the lineup.  That hasn't worked, either.  For all the complaining about their defense and hanging the goalies out to dry, the team has completely lost the ability to score!  Which is just as much of a problem!

NCAA Eligibility Rules: The eligibility rules in college sports keep changing so much it's enough to give you whiplash!  I'm not just talking about the NIL and college athletes receiving revenue sharing, either.  First there was the transfer portal, allowing players to change schools whenever they want without having to sit out and causing rosters to completely turn over from one year to the next.  Now there's the whole thing with JUCO players getting a full four years of NCAA eligibility.  It's ridiculous.  You're gonna have guys with eight-year college careers and guys still in college who graduated high school with pros (and I'm not talking rookies here...I'm talking multi-year veterans).

MLB Contract Loopholes: Nothing the Dodgers are doing with all of this deferred money garbage is against the rules.  At least not currently (although, hopefully it'll be addressed in negotiations for the new CBA).  And it's true that every team can theoretically do it.  But the idea of signing players to massive contracts and deferring a good portion of their salary to bring down the amount they count against the luxury tax goes against the entire spirit of the luxury tax rules.  This is a loophole I'd love to see closed. 

NHL Roster Manipulation: Nobody does roster manipulation like the Vegas Golden Knights.  They've become masters at it.  For the past several seasons, the Knights have put guys on IR so they can stockpile veterans at the trade deadline without going over the salary cap.  Then all of those "injured" players magically get healthy and return for the playoffs!  Again, not against the rules.  But it should be.

NFL White Helmets/Uniforms: Plenty of teams took advantage of the NFL's decision to start allowing alternate helmets again.  Some reintroduced cool throwbacks.  Others made I'll go with "interesting" calls that some people probably love while others hate.  But what's with all the teams that introduced white helmets and all-white versions of their uniform to go with it?  None of them look good!  (The Cardinals, Colts, Dolphins, Bills and Chargers are exceptions since their primary helmets are white.)

City Connect Uniforms: There is something worse than the NFL's white helmets/uniforms...the MLB City Connect uniforms.  Far too many teams have them, and, while some aren't as bad as others, they're all terrible!  MLB even had its own City Connects with the AL and NL All*Star uniforms, which this season were so bad that Rob Manfred actually gave in to what fans wanted and said they'd go back to team uniforms at the All*Star Game next season in Atlanta.  (The same could also be said about the abundance of different uniform options in the NBA and WNBA.)

NFL Scheduling Decisions: Why are the Chicago Bears featured on national TV so frequently?  They aren't good!  Same thing with the Bengals.  Ditto about that early season obsession with the Jets.  Even with flex scheduling improving some of the matchups later in the season, some of the teams/games selected for the national windows are just odd at best, questionable at worst.

The Paris Olympic Ceremonies: As great as the Paris Olympics were, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies left a lot to be desired.  The ambitious Opening Ceremony on the Seine was either gonna be great or an absolute mess.  Unfortunately, it was the latter.  It was memorable alright, but not for the right reasons.  The Closing Ceremony wasn't much better.  The bar was set pretty low, and they barely cleared it.  The only cool part was Tom Cruise's entrance and exit during the LA handover portion (and that concert on the beach for LA's part wasn't exactly great, either).

Clay Holmes: Yes, he gets his own grievance!  That's what happens when you're so bad that you keep finding new and creative ways to blow saves before Yankees fans were finally put out of their misery after lucky No. 13 on a walk-off grand slam in Texas in early September.  Why he then pitched all five games of the World Series is beyond me!  Fortunately, the Yankees traded for Devin Williams and will have an actual closer for the first time since Aroldis Chapman was demoted and fired for Holmes, who signed with the Mets to be a starter.  They can have him.  Although, I'm not sure how he'll be able to blow saves at the beginning of the game.

NFL Players Wearing Whatever Number They Want: It's been a few years since the NFL started letting players wear whatever number they want regardless of position (with the exception of offensive linemen, who still have to wear ineligible numbers).  I'm still not used to it and I still don't like it.  Not only do we have random defensive guys wearing single-digit numbers left and right, we've got kickers wearing numbers in the 20s, 30s and 40s because all the single-digit numbers are taken.  It just looks so wrong.  This is the NFL.  Not college or high school football.

Those are my main grievances for this Festivus.  As I said, some make a much bigger difference than others.  But that doesn't mean it can't be a grievance.  And, frankly, it's good to get these off my chest.  It's a Festivus Miracle!