There are too many penalties in the NFL. I said it. It seems like every game I watch is held up, stopped, drawn out and essentially boring. Between all the beer commercials, penalties, timeouts and instant video reviews.

How irritating is it to have to watch a referee watch a play in a little booth on the sideline? 

Holding calls are out of control. Every other play is a freakin' holding penalty. It's like a war out there and the referees are becoming like some fascist United Nations of sport. I watched a sequence last weekend where in three plays there were four penalties. Two were holding (offsetting) and two were for pass interference. Shortly afterward there was a booth review, which caused a commercial break. You could even see all the players undo their chin straps and wander off. It just felt like the teams should have hired lawyers and negotiated the outcome of the game at the 50 yard line.

It makes for boring TV and a sport where the players seem to occassionally play the game I am watching. I love football. I think it symbolizes the well thought out violence of America. But I like my strategic violence with more fluidity on continuity.

Remember in the late 90s when baseball was getting criticized for batters rituals taking too long in the batter's box and pitchers taking too much time to deliver the ball? Yeah, this is that for the NFL.