Sundays vs. Saturdays: Give me NFL parity over NCAA parody
Dodd: In college, every game is a must-win
The commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, was in Baltimore this past week and met with a small group of media members. I was there and had only one question: What did he think about the excitement that was the end of the NFL's regular season?
"Well, it's a day of great drama. The consequences are high and teams are playing to get into the playoffs," Goodell said. "I think it's great for our fans."
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| Stories like Chad Pennington and Miami bouncing back made the 2008 NFL regular season so compelling. (AP) |
On the final NFL Sunday, there were a stunning 10 of 16 games that had playoff implications. Read those numbers again: 10 of 16.
Teams such as Chicago, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, among others, were playing for their postseason lives. The San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos fought over the division title and a playoff spot. It doesn't get much better than that.
In college football's regular season, you'll see Oklahoma versus the Sewing Technological Institute of America.
While college football will have its occasional regular season drama -- Florida against Alabama wasn't bad -- the NFL has it every week.
To compare the NFL's regular season to college football's is like comparing Tony Romo to Roger Staubach.
Proponents of college football's regular season, like my man Dennis Dodd, have it backward. The college regular season means nothing because too many of the opponents scheduled by the superpowers are cream-filled cupcakes. The two best teams in the nation, Florida and Oklahoma, each had jelly doughnuts on their regular-season schedule. The Gators beat the Citadel 70-19. Seventy ... to ... 19.
The freaking Citadel.
The Sooners won their first three games against Chattanooga, Cincinnati and Washington by a combined score of 164-42.
Chattanooga scored two points. Drama on top of intrigue in that one.
The third-best team in the nation, Texas, opened with Florida Atlantic and UTEP and won by a combined score of 94-23. That was the same Florida Atlantic team that lost 30-17 to Troy.
Troy. Not the movie starring Brad Pitt. The football team.
Cupcakes, doughnuts and pansies.
In the NFL, the best team can always lose to the worst. In the NFL, every week matters. In college, the No. 1 team in the nation will never lose to Towson State.
My argument is contrary to Dodd's, who I'm debating this time instead of Gregg Doyel. Ol' Two G's was busy with his usual delusions of grandeur.
This battle deluxe will be easier to win than normal because horses pooping on a parade route are more entertaining than the college regular season.
And I ask a simple question: If, as college proponents maintain, the college regular season is so vital, and the NFL's is worthless, why are television ratings for NFL regular season games so extraordinarily high?
Nothing in sports right now is more popular than professional football and its regular season is the reason why.
The regular season is so big in the NFL, opening weekend features a Thursday night game, the regular Sunday plate and two Monday night games. Still, fans obviously don't think there's saturation because the ratings sing.
I want my man Dodd to try and put two regular-season college games on Monday night back-to-back and see what happens ... besides television sets turning off by the millions.
You picked the wrong year to have this argument, Dennis. This was one of the greatest seasons we've ever seen in any sport.
Meanwhile, Boise State is busy putting together its 2009 schedule. They Broncos put in a call to the Society of Municipal Arborists.
The Arborists have an open week.
