I was thinking of writing something about the Super Bowl to get one last ‘football’ blog in before the season is officially over. But, that seems like a very obvious thing to write about this week. I would think there are thousands of ‘cloggers’ doing just as I am at this very moment. Still, there is much to be said about the big event, and my life experience with the sport seems to scream that I should comment on the game of football as I have a few times here before. So, I can’t resist. I began to filter through topics that I find amusing beginning with the most obvious;
1. Dwight Freeney and his ankle injury.
2. Who will win or lose the Super Bowl (the above seems to have a great deal of influence on my thoughts here)
Then the most ridiculous to me;
1. Who is playing at half-time.
2. What my favorite commercial might be?
Or, the one I am scared to write about;
1. Entire Church congregations wearing Football Jersey’s to Sunday service??
Instead I want to write once again about the ‘game’. No, not the super bowl game in particular, but the game of football.
You see having played the game, and having a great deal of respect for its place in our society, and the lessons to be learned from it I would like to suggest a couple of things to the NCAA, and the NFL commissioner. Keep in mind these are only suggestions… and I am injecting some fun.
1. The Goal Post.  All my life I have heard stories of thousands of people that have somehow had seats in the end zone of every game in which the most important kick of the year, the kick that was heard around the world either was called ‘good’, or ‘no good’.  The kicks that send the ball over the edge (one way or the other) of the goal post.  The one that the home team screams was GOOD, and the away team screams NO GOOD.  But, should you ask ANYONE at the game, they all had seats right behind the goal post.. Yep.. all sixty plus thousand fans, all seating in one end zone, and they will tell you the correct call.
Well, I say add ten feet to the length of each goal post, extending it higher in the air, and then place a bar across connecting the two making it a huge rectangle.  Then attach a net behind the goal post.. (like a huge soccer net of sorts), and at the back / at the bottom of the net a hole big enough for a football to exit.  If that balls goes through the goal posts, and finds its way to the back of the net and down to it’s exit.. “IT’S GOOD!”  It’s that simple, and then each home team could sell the rest of their stadium seats and get everyone out of the end zone!
2. Off setting penalties.  This one has bothered me for years.  I am not speaking of the off setting penalties such as an illegal block in the back vs. an interference. I am speaking of off setting personal foul penalties.  The nasty ones.  The penalties called when two players are grabbing each others face masks, jerking someones head around, and punching with the other hand.
Now, I will say I have had my share of ‘hidden’ fights on the football field, there are ways to sneak in many ‘unseen messages’, but these are never called, and if two players are seasoned in the game, neither whines, it’s just a good old fashioned playground battle. But, when it escalates into an after the whistle ‘fight’, that’s taking it too far. Hey, I’m a grown man, I have played the game and I realize this is bound to happen from time to time. Still, I am glad to see the penalty flags thrown and the ruling that these two players have committed ‘personal fouls’. (The key word there being ‘personal’.)  Both players have just committed the worst of all penalties in our game, and the reason is they lost control. They have demonstrated no respect for each other, their teams, their fans, and the ‘GAME’..and while the flags were thrown, and the game was stopped, neither player is penalized?  There is no actual penalty! Oh, there are yellow hankies all over the field.. some ref’s have thrown their back up, but no penalty, they ‘off set’.  Come on… What does that mean? What does that say? What does teach young kids, and older ones?  I think there is a better way, and a simple solution; make each player involved sit out 4 downs. This serves both as an actual ‘penalty’, and it gives each combatant involved a chance to cool down. This method serves well in the game of Hockey.  (You might should know I am a HUGE hockey fan.. Can I get an amen BILLY HUARD?)
3.  This one will be fast; When a fumble occurs and the pile is formed, and the whistle has blown… All those guys that are not in the pile…  the ones that run around the edge and start grabbing legs of the guys fighting for the ball in the pile, then they start pulling and twisting their legs and hitting them in the back. That is so cheap.. Just throw those guys out of the game.  Again, learn from ‘the third man in’ rule like hockey.
To end I want to comment on not a rule change, but the ‘game’.  So I will only comment about the receiver who hits no one, gets hit by no one, runs down the field, catches a football in the end zone, and forms a dance squad, flexes, points, and does a three act play complete with an intermission break!  Hello!  He just caught a ball people! Mothers and daughters, kids, mailmen, computer techs, we can all pretty much run and catch a ball!
I say go shake the hands of your center, guards, and tackles.  Hey, maybe thank the guy that threw it? Or, how about hand the ball the ref and get ready to run and catch again?  I don’t know.. Just a comment.
Regardless,  I love the game.  And I look forward to Super Bowl Sunday.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.