The NFL is by far the most popular sport in American culture.  The game of football is aesthetically pleasing, and the action of the sport alone, reels in the ratings.  With the majority of televisions already tuned into the NFL and its coverage, shouldn’t the focus be on the actual game and not the nonsense outside the game?

For instance, instead of the attention going to an exciting divisional rival playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, the coverage was shifted to where Tony Romo opted to take a weekend vacation.  The story was that Romo was opting to spend time with Jessica Simpson, rather than concentrating on football.  For some reason nobody accused Jason Witten of not concentrating on football for going on that same vacation, nor did they say that Tom Brady was being selfish for spending his bye week parlaying in New York with a supermodel.

However, Brady has now become the story as he was spotted in New York again, this time wearing a walking boot.  It is without question that a possible injury to the MVP of the league right before the Super Bowl is a valid story.  That being said, now that Brady has stated that he would not miss the game, I think the story does not warrant further coverage. 

The media does an excellent job informing fans about the game and other events surrounding the NFL (hopefully myself included).  However, I think we are losing focus of what the coverage should be surrounded around…..the actual game!  

The Super Bowl is coming up, and there is a lot of time to kill with the extra week leading up to the game, but there is no need to try and create ”reality TV” as the eyes of most of the globe will already by watching the biggest sporting event in the world. 

*Please note, if you did not like this article, or if you think it lacked focus, I just got back from a two-day vacation and there is no way I can be expected to perform like I normally would.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Lance Armstrong will run in the 112th Boston Marathon on April 21st in order to raise money for his charity.  The idea of Lance trying another sport, it got me thinking of other athletes that tried to do a different skill.  The way these athletes performed, skill had nothing to do with it.  Do you remember these events?

• Michael Jordan attempting to make a career in professional baseball
• Charles Barkley attempting to beat a much older referee in a foot race, which lead to Barkley falling on his back
• Dennis Rodman challenging Karl Malone to a wrestling match
• Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant, and Allen Iverson all putting out rap albums that flopped
• Adam “Pacman” Jones trying to join professional wresting
• Oscar De La Hoya trying to have a singing career
• Bob Golic becoming an actor on Saved By the Bell

Popularity: 9% [?]

Should the NFL make a rule that would allow penalties to be reviewed by instant replay?

 The conventional thought is that penalties cannot be reviewed, because the replays would cause too many interruptions to the games.  It has also been said that it is not possible to review a judgement call.

However, who’s judgement would you trust more, a person that makes a call in a split second in real speed while under intense pressure, or perhaps that same official having a chance to look at the play again in slow motion with far less distractions?

It doesn’t seem necessary to have every penalty reviewed, but it also doesn’t seem fair to have a team get flagged for a phantom 50 yard pass interference play in a key moment in the game. 

Perhaps, the NFL could adopt a system similar to the one they use now in the final two minutes of each half.  The replay booth can call down to the officials on penalties that appear to be bad calls in key situations.  Then the officials could take a look at the replay to determine if the penalty should still be enforced.

There is a lot to debate on this topic, but one point that cannot be argued is that the human error will occur far more often at real speed than in slow motion. Bottom line, penalties play a huge role in football games, and what is wrong with coming up with a system that will help get more of the calls right?

Popularity: 6% [?]