{"id":8195,"date":"2012-12-20T15:50:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-20T15:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rcntv.rcn.com\/?p=8195"},"modified":"2023-04-14T19:43:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T19:43:30","slug":"behind-the-mic-december-19th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/behind-the-mic-december-19th\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Mic – December 26th"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL is considering expanding the regular season and\/or expanding the number of playoff participants.\u00a0 Is this really necessary?\u00a0 The great thing about the NFL as opposed to the NHL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball is that the regular season games have tremendous importance.\u00a0 A 16 game schedule puts greater importance on an NFL regular season game than any of the regular season games of the other three major sports.\u00a0 Should the consideration be about the quality and importance of the games or the quantity and the financial gain of the product?\u00a0 I would like to think it is the former.<\/p>\n

By expanding the regular season to 18 games or allowing 16 teams into the playoffs, the quality of play will most likely decrease and, certainly, the quality of the teams making the playoffs will certainly decrease.\u00a0 Do we really want half of the league in playoff games, with some carrying a .500 or lower record?\u00a0 Last year, the Cardinals, Titans, Bears, and Chargers would have gotten in.\u00a0 Three of the four did not have winning records.<\/p>\n

Isn’t\u00a0this really the problem with the college football bowl system?\u00a0 There are currently 35 Bowl games allowing 70 college football teams into the postseason \u2013 70!!\u00a0 That is a ridiculous number and has watered down the interest to almost nil until the major bowls are played.\u00a0 Sure, it works for ESPN, but does it really create more interest from the average fan?\u00a0 It does not.<\/p>\n

There is no better sports product in the world than the NFL.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 The regular season games are important; the playoff games and the way they are scheduled are perfect; and the Super Bowl is the \u201cgreatest spectacle in sports\u201d.\u00a0 Diluting the product will undoubtedly make more money, but in the long run, it will, also, dilute interest.<\/p>\n

I know the only constant is change, but it is not always for the better \u2013 Leave the NFL alone!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)<\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. With the Newtown shooting, it was very difficult to watch the news this weekend and then try to enjoy regular programming.\u00a0 The topical shows like Saturday Night Live, David Letterman, Jay Leno, etc. just did not seem right for the moment.\u00a0 Laughing was difficult.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0I taught school for almost 30 years and was on the school safety committee.\u00a0 About 15 years ago, I was asked to go into a classroom, ask a young man to come out in the hallway with his gym bag, and search the bag for a weapon.\u00a0 Bringing a weapon to school back then was unthinkable.\u00a0 I thought this was a total waste of time.\u00a0 In the bag was a REAL gun and the police were called.\u00a0 The student was being bullied and brought the gun to school to feel safer.\u00a0 That was 15 years ago. I never forgot that day!\u00a0 This week made that memory more vivid again.<\/li>\n
  3. I mentioned last week that our playoff football teams all lost to bigger, stronger Philadelphia private schools.\u00a0 I said we, therefore, needed to get bigger and stronger.\u00a0 Well, none of the schools that beat our schools won the state championship playoff games (some did not even get there).\u00a0 Our schools need to get MUCH bigger and MUCH stronger.<\/li>\n
  4. High school basketball started last week.\u00a0 Two of our four games went overtime.\u00a0 An exciting start to what should be an exciting year.\u00a0 Lots of parity.<\/li>\n
  5. No blog next week so HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY WEEK<\/strong>!\u00a0 (I will make my NFL picks, however).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \u00a0<\/div>\n
    \n

     <\/p>\n

    NFL PICKS FOR THIS WEEK
    \n<\/span>(Last week \u2013 11-5 )\u00a0 (\u00a0 94-84 for the season \u2013 64% )<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • CINCINNATI<\/li>\n
    • ATLANTA<\/li>\n
    • HOUSTON<\/li>\n
    • GIANTS<\/li>\n
    • BUFFALO<\/li>\n
    • TENNESSEE<\/li>\n
    • PITTSBURGH<\/li>\n
    • NEW ORLEANS<\/li>\n
    • CHICAGO<\/li>\n
    • SEATTLE<\/li>\n
    • SAN FRANCISCO<\/li>\n
    • SAN DIEGO<\/li>\n
    • DENVER<\/li>\n
    • GREEN BAY<\/li>\n
    • NEW ENGLAND<\/li>\n
    • WASHINGTON<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The NFL is considering expanding the regular season and\/or expanding the number of playoff participants.\u00a0 Is this really necessary?\u00a0 The great thing about the NFL as opposed to the NHL, the NBA, and Major League Baseball is that the regular season games have tremendous importance.\u00a0 A 16 game schedule puts greater importance on an NFL…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[44,191,354,363,372,377,430],"class_list":["post-8195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-mic","category-featured","category-sports","tag-basketball","tag-football","tag-mlb","tag-nba","tag-nfl","tag-nhl","tag-playoffs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBehind the Mic - 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