It was announced today, with the news that the NFL will be expanding the playoff format for the 2020 NFL season, that some of the playoff games will air on Nickeledeon, aimed at engaging a younger audience.
That immediately touched off a number of jokes on Twitter, with football fans talking about slime and physical challenges and other aspects that are elements of the network’s staple of shows. But I turned to two experts on the channel for ideas on what a playoff game could look like on Nickeledeon.
My son Owen (eight) and my daughter Simone (six). Who better to ask than the experts?
Here is what they came up with.
SpongeBob Studio Show
Courtesy of my son Owen, who went through a massive SpongeBob Squarepants a few years ago, comes this idea: A pre-game show featuring the main characters from the long-running Nickelodeon cartoon.
Think about it for a second. The main hero SpongeBob SquarePants. Often hopelessly friendly and optimistic, an endless enthusiasm for life, that he somehow manages to keep while working as a short order cook at the Krusty Krab, keeping the denizens of Pineapple Bottom fed with Krabby Pattys. Your perfect, cheerful main host.
The two sidekicks? Of course Patrick, SpongeBob’s best friend and a starfish with a lack of intelligence that he makes up for with a similar happy and refreshing outlook on life. Squidward Tentacles rounds out the studio team, an ill-tempered octopus who also works at the Krusty Krab, but fails to share the happy view of life in Pineapple Bottom that his neighbors SpongeBob and Patrick bring on a daily basis.
SpongeBob and Patrick can provide the cheerful outlook on each team and a “best case scenario” for each team’s playoff hopes, while Squidward can bring everyone back to earth about how none of this even matters and every should just eat at Arby’s…I mean the Krusty Krab.