Changes in the NFL

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Just came across this little news blurb from ESPN:

DANA POINT, Calif. -- More games that count, perhaps as early as August 2011? That's exactly what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wants.

There are several hurdles before the league can expand its regular season from 16 to 17 or 18 games. Among them is reaching a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.

Still, the commissioner hopes to present a proposal to the owners in May after the matter was discussed at length this week at the owners meetings.

"It's possible that we could vote in May, but we want to have core discussions on this," Goodell said Wednesday. "Anytime you have change, there is some reluctance. But it's clear we don't need four preseason games anymore."

I would LOVE another game or two. My seasons have been messed up lately because of Darcy, she hated football and was so glad when the season was over. It made the Super Bowl bittersweet for me because that was the one game she liked - because it was the last one for many months.

I actually missed most of the season, seeing maybe one game a week, if that, because I wanted to spend my time with Darcy for however much time she had left. There was none to waste.

Now it's just the opposite, with Darcy gone I very much want as much football as I can get because it will make me not think about Darcy. So an extra game or two would be great. And I hate pre-season games, not worth watching and not worth getting a star player hurt.

One or two more games would place quite a toll on the players, though, a football game is pretty brutal, it's rare to come out of one without some kind of injury. Plus there is the fatigue factor.

I'd still be very happy to see it, I don't watch pre-seaso0n or collage football because they just aren't the same .

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The Patriots

I'm a big NFL fan, which is odd because I'm much more the bookworm type than a jock. In fact, there isn't any other sport I will watch 5 minutes of. So how did I get hooked on football? Simple, back in the early 80's I lived in Seattle. I soon discovered that on Monday morning at work the only thing everyone talked about was the Seahawks game the day before. So I started watching just so I would have something to talk to people about on Monday. Wasn't long before I was hooked and I've been watching ever since.

Once I left Seattle it was hard to find a team to root for, especially in the LA/Orange County area. I hated the Raiders and the Rams were just too pitiful. So I started getting hooked on the good teams because they were so much fun to watch. First it was the the 49ers with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, who didn't like them? And they were even in one of my favorite cities in California. The combo of Joe and Jerry hooked me in even farther and Darcy got us tickets to one Monday night game at Anaheim Stadium (just up the street from us) so I got to see Joe and Jerry and the rest of the 49ers play the rams. My one and only pro game, I'd rather watch at home, much more comfortable.

There have been other teams over the years, especially with the Raiders and Rams eventually moving away so I didn't have a local team to cheer for even if they were good. The Bears when McMahon was QB, the Packers when Farve took them to the Superbowl, and of course, the 49ers under Steve Young who was almost as good as Montana. And, naturally, the St. Loius Rams, figires those guys would only become good after leaving OC. I thought Joe the best quarterback I had ever seen (but I'd never seen one before 1983). Until today when I think Tom Brady has now donned the mantle of best QB ever. And this year is his best year. So what fun to find a video of highlights of yesterday's game (which I missed because Darcy came home from the hospital) on the NFL site with links to it just like YouTube. It is so much fun living here in the future.

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Hrrumph. After several minutes of trying it is clear the link for the NFL video does NOT operate like YouTube so I can't embed the video itself on the blog. Sometimes living here in the future is very annoying. I will have to give the link to the website and have people go there to watch if they want. It's less than seven minutes but really gives you the feel of the game and the quality is FAR better than YouTube.

Monday Night Football: Patriots and Ravens Highlights