Football Overload ???

We all know that the wheels on the bus go round and round.  It appears that a football kerfuffle that has been around is about to go around again.  I refer here to the “18-game NFL regular season”; several reports say that someone discovered the crypt where that body had been buried with a wooden stake through its heart – – and went ahead to pull out the stake.  Once again, we know what happens next…

I have a simple request for the sports media on this one:

• Can we please dispense with the obvious arguments that have been voiced before and only deal with new ideas or new constraints?

Here it is in a nutshell:

• The league does not want it “for its wonderful fans”; the league wants it for the additional revenue it will create.
• The players – – particularly veteran players – – do not want it at all because of wear and tear on their bodies.
• There will be negotiations between the owners and the union.

I want to observe that the specter of an 18-game season wreaking irreparable damage on human bodies needs to be considered in light of:

1. The CFL plays an 18-game schedule and has done so since 1986.
2. With the expansion of the CFP to 12 teams, if a team seeded between fifth and 12^th advances to the final game, they could also play an 18-game schedule.

That is not to minimize the players’ concerns, but that does put some context on it.

I also want fans not to assume that an 18-game schedule would mean more readily available games for them to watch and enjoy.  This year the NFL will play “Wednesday Games” on Christmas Day but if you do not have Netflix, you won’t be able to see them.  Thursday Night Football is already on Amazon Prime Video which also requires a subscription.  So, until and unless there are assurances that the NFL will add the “extra games” to the networks, do not assume you are about to get a special dividend out of these negotiations.

Now, if only reporters and “insiders” can only stick to their guns and report only new information instead of pre-packaged leftovers…

Staying sort of with the idea of “extra football for the watching”, there is going to be a test of the NFOR – – the National Football Overdose Response – – in December.  Check out this scheduling:

• Thursday Dec. 19 @ 8:00 PM:  Browns/Bengals
• Friday Dec 20 @ 8:00 PM:  CFP Round 1 Game
• Saturday Dec 21 @ Noon:  CFP Round 1 Game
• Saturday Dec 21 @ 1:00 PM:  Texans/Chiefs
• Saturday Dec 21 @ 4:00PM:  CFP Round 1 Game
• Saturday Dec 21 @ 4:30PM:  Steelers @ Ravens
• Saturday Dec 21 @ 8:00 PM:  CFP Round 1 Game
• Sunday Dec 22 @ 1:00 PM:  Full Slate of NFL games through midnight
• Monday Dec 23 @ 8:15:  Saints/Packers

From the start of Thursday games on December 19^th until the end of the Saints/Packers game on Monday night, about 100 hours will have elapsed.  On a typical NFL Sunday, one can expect to switch back and forth between games in the early afternoon slot and then see the late afternoon “national game” and then wolf down a dinner to be in place for Sunday Night Football.  So that means in those 100 hours from Thursday night through Monday night you will have the opportunity to partake of 12 potentially top-shelf football games.

Oh, and if that is not enough for you, just two days later on Christmas Day there will be two games available for Netflix subscribers leading into the start of Week 17 of the NFL season on Thursday night.  Is this the point where the adage, “No rest for the weary,” applies?

I suspect the good folks who run sports betting establishments around the country are licking their chops over this weekend’s potential handle.  And that thought leads me to post a cautionary note here:

• Gentlemen, get your Christmas shopping done early this year.  In addition to your being overloaded with football the weekend before Christmas when you usually do your shopping, there is the potential to “have a bad streak” at the betting window over this time which could leave you short when you get around to shopping on Christmas Eve.
• As I learned in Latin class in high school, Verbum sapienti sat est.  [A word to the wise is sufficient.]

Finally, for those who think I have made mountains out of molehills today, let me close with a question posed by Ogden Nash:

“Do you think my mind is maturing late, or simply rotted early?”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………