To say that people watch professional football differently these days is like saying that John Madden had a better post-playing career than O.J. Simpson. In my 1980s childhood, one had to monitor televised games like a champion birdwatcher, lest one miss the occasional flitting by of the score. Until 1994, when NFL Sunday Ticket began bringing out-of-market games into viewers’ homes, one saw one’s regional team on game day, along with whatever national contests the networks deigned to air — and one liked it.

The idea of choice in those days was limited strictly to one’s accessories: Barcalounger or sofa, Bud Light or Bud. Today, however, the home audience is king. Want a traditional, single-game telecast, albeit with enough “score bugs” (i.e., digital on-screen graphics) to launch a plague? CBS and Fox are happy to help. Want a seven-hour, commercial-free, highlight-reel apocalypse? You just might be in the market for NFL RedZone.