The Sports Watercooler

Its pretty much common knowledge that the NFL is the sports that rules all sports. They make the most money, they have the most fans, they get the best ratings.

And so, in recent years, they have tried to push it further. Afterall, their season is only like 4 months long, whereas the NBA actually starts their season a week after the finals are over. Or maybe it just seems that way. (Sidenote: stay tuned, this afternoon we have a great NBA Playoffs preview. And just in case you weren't so pumped about the NHL Playoff preview I did, the NBA one is written by someone who actually knows the sport!).

So the NFL decides to really amp up the publicity of their out of season events. The Combine is being covered like never before. The draft has become insanely huge, even though it is, for the most part, utterly unwatchable. They broadcast the preseason games, ESPN shows footage of training camps, and SI sends reporters to give reports from every minicamp available.

And to be honest with you, I love most of that stuff. The Combine creeps me out a bit (its sort of like a pedophile checking out a grade school yearbook for potential. A bunch of media-types watching young men in their underwear, measuring every aspect of their bodies, and watching them do strange exercises), but the draft is real fun to follow.

Yesterday though, I think a line was crossed. To much fanfare, they announced the NFL schedule. It dominated the front page of ESPN, Deadspin, and SI. It was the talk of Sportscenter and Mike and Mike this morning. And you just couldn't get away from it.

What really is the point? Although its nice to be able to plan a weekend around specific game, and know when your favorite team will be in your hometown, thats the extent of the importance of the day.

People are making a big deal about the Steelers getting the "hardest" schedule, and the Patriots getting the "easiest" schedule. But those numbers are based on last seasons records. Patriot fans are already up in arms over their back to back West Coast road trip weeks, but what if LT tears his ACL in a collision with Shawn Merrian who breaks his femur in a training camp incident? Then that game is a cake walk. What if people chalking up an easy week on the schedule during the Miami week suddenly turns hard when the Tuna drafts every sleeper out of college and has the top 5 rookies in the league?

My main point: don't press this on me. I don't care what the schedule is, especially not in April. Sure you can try and guess how your team will fare, but you are going to be wrong. Its impossible to guess and there is no reason why this should have dominated the sports news from last night.

Instead maybe we can talk about the Twins blowing a lead 2 games in a row in the 8th inning by giving up a combined 9 points to the hapless Tigers.

*bangs head on desk