Peter King's Commissioner for a Day

[Duchess Jack]

Commissioner for a Day

 

Posted: Thursday July 6, 2006 11:40AM; Updated: Friday July 7, 2006 12:19PM

 

 

1. Expand the regular season to 18 games: Cut the preseason to two games, and expand the regular season by two. Now, I understand how football's a war of attrition, and so you'd have to adjust how teams play the game. So expand the rosters to have every one of the 53 players on the active roster active for each game, instead of only 45. This would give the best players, theoretically, the opportunity to play fewer plays and give each player a better chance to last 18 games. Of course, you'd have to pay the players more because they'd be performing for two more games, but that's for another day. I'm only the commissioner for a day, not a mathematician.

 

2. Pass a bylaw prohibiting playoff expansion: Twelve teams is enough. It's almost perfect, by the way. Any more, and you risk an 8-8 team in the hockey-like postseason every year. And because some teams that win 10 will occasionally miss the playoffs, the sentiment will be there every year to expand the postseason. So the NFL should act right now and make it next to impossible to ever have a playoff field bigger than 12 teams.

 

3. Make long field goals more valuable: Simple: Any field goal 50 yards or further is worth four points. No traditionalist would want it. But no traditionalist wanted the three-point shot in basketball, and look how much fun it is to see Dwyane Wade or Vince Carter go wild from 28 feet. Electric stuff. Imagine the Lincoln Financial Field crowd at a 14-10 game, Philadelphia trailing Dallas, late fourth quarter, Eagles' ball, fourth-and-six at the Cowboy 35. "A-kers! A-kers! A-kers!" the crowd shouts, serenading David Akers as he runs on the field. And now the game's in his hands. Or on his foot. It'd add value to the long field goal, and make more games competitive late.

 

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: There are too many people -- like me -- who will never get a dish because digital cable is so good. Makes no sense. How many of those people have no intention of going through the gyrations to get a dish just so they can have every NFL game in their house on 17 Sundays? I don't care what the NFL is making off the dish. The league would make more on digital cable -- and what's more, more people would watch more football. My theory, anyway.

 

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles: Just stop it. I was in L.A. in April and conducted my own unscientific poll at an Irish pub (the L.A. Red Sox bar) in Santa Monica: Do you want an NFL team here? Now, most of the people in there were twentysomethings on their fourth Harp or Red Hook, but I didn't hear one enthusiastic response. And that's half of the demographic the NFL wants. The other half -- the big-moneyed -- will support a franchise. But I don't think the populace will. And the NFL hasn't been hurt by it since the Raiders and Rams left.

 

6. Put more mikes on players and officials, and put the game on a seven-second delay: There's still an antiseptic feel to games, and you know what fans want. They want to be closer to the action. The way to do that, simply, is to make the field closer to the living room. By putting the seven-second delay on, you'd have a red button in every control truck to knock out the curse words. The game would be more alive, more organic.

This is not as laughable as you might think. The NFL is as close to flawless as any sports league in America -- big surprise there -- but the key word there is "close." I can make it better. I can make it perfect. I can out-Tagliabue Paul Tagliabue. And here goes.

 

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: Allow players to purchase the number they wish for $250,000. One-time fee. That $250,000, which players could write off, would go into a pool to benefit 10 charities to be agreed upon by the players' association and the league. And once a year, the league would cut an equal check to each charity. So imagine a player changes teams, or a draft choice comes on a new team, and he wants to wear an odd number. Reggie Bush with number 5, for instance. Imagine you've got 20 of those guys per year. And new commissioner Roger Goodell appears in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans to hand a check for $500,000 to Habitat for Humanity, which guarantees to build 100 homes in 30 days with the money. Gee, the more I write about this, the more I like it.

 

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: Make this a "for the good of the game" issue. It's ludicrous to think of kicking a city when it's so down. Now's the time to be a good neighbor and a loyal corporate partner, not greedy.

 

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: Let's just call this "The Ben Roethlisberger Rule."

 

10. Make the Super Bowl the best two out of three: Ha! Made you look. Just kidding. I may be commissioner, but I'm not that stupid

Edited July 22, 2006 by Duchess Jack

[Chief Dick]

I like all of these ideas except the computer chip one.

[CaptainHook]

Check out this quote from Peter King in this week's SI:

 

There's a ridiculous overemphasis on running backs in fantasy football. Running backs in the NFL are eminetly more replaceable than quarterbacks, left tackles, and pass rushers, yet when you look at the mock fantasy drafts this summer, you see backs like Tiki Barber ranked ahead of Peyton Manning. Absurd.

 

My advice: Buck the trend. Let's say I'm in a 12-team league, drafting in the middle of the pack. I take Manning with my first pick, thinking he's going to take essentially every snap - he always does - and if he puts up average numbers, based on his past four seasons (33 touckdowns, 4,193 yards), all I have to do at running back is be pretty good. And over the next three rounds I'm going to get three of these six backs: Ronnnie Brown, Tatum Bell, Brian Westbrook, Chester Taylor, Laurence Maroney and DeAngelo Williams. I'll cobble together a receiving coprs - and I'll be in the money in December.

 

 

 

 

And now SI is bragging about it's fantasy coverage this year with King writing articles for it.

 

I'll say this, I wish Peter was in a couple of my money leagues. . .

Edited July 22, 2006 by CaptainHook

[i_am_the_swammi]

Commissioner for a Day

 

Posted: Thursday July 6, 2006 11:40AM; Updated: Friday July 7, 2006 12:19PM

1. Expand the regular season to 18 games: Not sure here...extra games from a fan-perspective would be cool, but then do we go to 20, 24, etc??....part of the drama of the NFL is that fact that each game carries such weight...whereas in basketball and hockey, losing a game is almost irrelevant, since you play so many. I kinda think the 16-game, September-December regular-season is just right.

2. Pass a bylaw prohibiting playoff expansion: 100% agree.

3. Make long field goals more valuable: This would be awesome. The NFL taking a page from fantasy football. But from a strategy standpoint, King couldn't be more on the money.

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: Every point on target. Look for it to happen when the current contract expires...and a mass exadous from satellite to digital cable.

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles Nah, give LA a team....make it a four-sport town.

6. Put more mikes on players and officials, and put the game on a seven-second delay: Disagree from the player angle...we already have enough showboats...can you imagine the ridiculous commentary we'd be forced to endue if we had to listen to Chad/T.O/Horn/etc. toot their own horn? Fox would think we'd like it, play alot of it, and it would probably make me puke. But officials would be cool, since we'd be able to listen in on all those zebra-huddles throughout the game. "Did anyone see if he had his feet in?" "Nah, I was checkin' out that Cowboy cheerleader with the hairy chest" And we'd also get to hear their chatter when they are deciding a potentially game-deciding play.

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: good idea, i guess, if it can raise money for a good cause...hell, the players wouldn't miss the chump change. And let it be a minimum charge...if two players want the same number, make 'em bid for it...highest bid wins.

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years:

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: Why not? We see way too many missed calls, especially in those pile-ups where you can't even see the ball. I assume the theory would be similar to the red light going on in hockey (although the red light is human-operated.) The ref on the ice still has to rule it a goal, the same way a ref on the field would still have to raise his arms. Further, I think the ref stilll should have make the call on the field...the computer chip then would only be used in challenge situations.

10. Make the Super Bowl the best two out of three: Actually....think about the revenue...if it goes three games, it would be triple...and you could have the Super Bowl in three cities....each team gets to host one, with the third game (if needed) in a neutral city.

Edited July 22, 2006 by i_am_the_swammi

[irish]

Check out this quote from Peter King in this week's SI:

 

There's a ridiculous overemphasis on running backs in fantasy football. Running backs in the NFL are eminetly more replaceable than quarterbacks, left tackles, and pass rushers, yet when you look at the mock fantasy drafts this summer, you see backs like Tiki Barber ranked ahead of Peyton Manning. Absurd.

 

My advice: Buck the trend. Let's say I'm in a 12-team league, drafting in the middle of the pack. I take Manning with my first pick, thinking he's going to take essentially every snap - he always does - and if he puts up average numbers, based on his past four seasons (33 touckdowns, 4,193 yards), all I have to do at running back is be pretty good. And over the next three rounds I'm going to get three of these six backs: Ronnnie Brown, Tatum Bell, Brian Westbrook, Chester Taylor, Laurence Maroney and DeAngelo Williams. I'll cobble together a receiving coprs - and I'll be in the money in December.

 

 

And now SI is bragging about it's fantasy coverage this year with King writing articles for it.

 

I'll say this, I wish Peter was in a couple of my money leagues. . .

 

That's just pitiful advice. I wish he were in my league too. I hate the computer chip in the football idea as well. A player could be down and just stretch the ball across the goalline (like Big Ben did) and TD!

[i_am_the_swammi]

I hate the computer chip in the football idea as well. A player could be down and just stretch the ball across the goalline (like Big Ben did) and TD!

 

That's why the idea of making the ref call it on the field, and the chip only being used in replay scanarios, would work better.

 

BTW, the chip wouldn't have affected the Roethlisberger play. The ref blew the call by not ruling him down, not about whether the ball crossed the stripe....his knee touching was what should have been reviewed (and changed).

[godtomsatan]

Commissioner for a Day

 

Posted: Thursday July 6, 2006 11:40AM; Updated: Friday July 7, 2006 12:19PM

1. Expand the regular season to 18 games: Reasonable.

2. Pass a bylaw prohibiting playoff expansion: Is there really a clamoring every year to expand the playoffs? I don't ever hear it. Not in the NFL anyway.

3. Make long field goals more valuable: Dumb.

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: Absolutely.

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles: Who cares? The NFL needs some $$$ to come in and they think LA is the answer to that.

6. Put more mikes on players and officials, and put the game on a seven-second delay: I don't particularly care about this.

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk:

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: Why?

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: I understand this sentiment, but what's instant replay for? If we're going to have chips in the football, put chips in the shoulder pads to for offsides, holding, PI, etc..

10. Make the Super Bowl the best two out of three: Michael Silver would have compiled a much more interesting and well thought out article for this topic.

[budlitebrad]

11. Dye that white patch of hair I have to match the rest of my head.

[whitem0nkey]

3. is so crazy, when you kick a 50 yard filed goal you do so cause you offence stunk. That does not work with his basketball analogy.

 

7. I’ll just say Keeshan Johnson.

 

A bit off the subject but about the numbers, I would like for the NBA to have the shortest guy have the lowest number and the tallest guy have the highest number on each team.

[whitem0nkey]

11. a penalty that happens on the other side of the field that does not effect the play is ignored. because it has no baring on the play.

[whitem0nkey]

12. make OT like college, and allow each team to have the ball. this thing about 80% of teams that win the coin flip win the game is absurd. Some how the Lions did not get the memo, they like to kick the ball in OT cause of a 3 MHP wind.

Edited July 22, 2006 by whitem0nkey

[TDFFFreak]

Commissioner for a Day

 

Posted: Thursday July 6, 2006 11:40AM; Updated: Friday July 7, 2006 12:19PM

 

 

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: There are too many people -- like me -- who will never get a dish because digital cable is so good. Makes no sense. How many of those people have no intention of going through the gyrations to get a dish just so they can have every NFL game in their house on 17 Sundays? I don't care what the NFL is making off the dish. The league would make more on digital cable -- and what's more, more people would watch more football. My theory, anyway.

 

 

He obviously has never had DirectTV. As good if not better then digital cable.

 

P.S. Love the idea of 18 games in the regular season.

Edited July 22, 2006 by TDFFFreak

[cre8tiff]

13. Have obvious, prove-able blown calls by the refs punishable by flogging unless publically acknowleged by the NFL head of officiating.

 

[Sgt. Ryan]

Id make OT this way.

 

Both teams get the ball at least once. If the team with the ball first scores, they must kick off to the other team. IF they do not score the same as the first team, its over. If both teams score, kick off until one does not. If the team who gets the ball first doest score and punts, its sudden death, as long as it isnt a fake punt, as the opposing team gets at least one offensive possesion.

 

 

I dont like the college system where teams start at the opoosing teams 25 yard line. I think they have a great idea, just think it should be a kickoff, not automatic start inside FG range.

Edited July 22, 2006 by Sgt. Ryan

[Scooby]

9 and 2 are the only ones I agree with. the chip for the goalline (like in tennis on the serve) and no to playoff expansion.

[i_am_the_swammi]

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: I understand this sentiment, but what's instant replay for? If we're going to have chips in the football, put chips in the shoulder pads to for offsides, holding, PI, etc..

 

Well that's taking the idea a little to far. Offsides, holding, etc. are NOT reviewable plays. I think King wants to put a simple idea into play (like instant replay) that can help correct correctable calls.

 

A flag for holding or offsides, under the current "instant replay" rules, is not a correctable call.

[i_am_the_swammi]

11. a penalty that happens on the other side of the field that does not effect the play is ignored. because it has no baring on the play.

 

 

I love the idea your toying with, but what happens when someone away from the ball sucker punches, clips or otherwise tries to maim someone away from the play, since they know their foul won't be enforced?

 

Or if that foul away from the ball was on the one person who might have been fast enough to get into the play (like a TD saving tackle after a RB breaks off a long run)?

[JoJoTheWebToedBoy]

He obviously has never had DirectTV. As good if not better then digital cable.

 

P.S. Love the idea of 18 games in the regular season.

 

 

Yea but it pisses me off that I have to pay extra for the NFL HD package. I already pay extra for their lame HD package and for NFL Sunday Ticket. How much more do the need to gouge.

[cheezhed]

Didn't they try #6 already........It was called the XFL. Didn't work.

[Zooty]

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable:

 

 

That would suck. Believe it or not there are still lots of places where you can't even get cable or high-speed internet . Dish or antenna.

 

 

Plus you can't have cable in a parking lot tailgate.

[ajh2]

The chips will allow the refs to know if the ball crossed the goal line in a pile very easy and will be linked to instant reply so that down by contact can be easily checked. The only other one I agree with is No. 2.

 

1. Expand the regular season to 18 games: I agree the 16-game, September-December regular-season is just right. Besides this would increase ticket prices, NFL Season Ticket on cable and digital, and salaries.

2. Pass a bylaw prohibiting playoff expansion: Just fine as it is.

3. Make long field goals more valuable: No way. Stupid idea because how would misses be scored? Negative points? Just football would not be enough on a missed long FG.

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: Every point on target. Look for it to happen when the current contract expires...and a mass exadous from satellite to digital cable. It is already available on Cable... baka.

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles Nah, give LA a team....make it a four-sport town. Possible, but.... I would rather have a team in an area were there are no other pro sports. Better draw, more local interest, and good for local economy.

6. Put more mikes on players and officials, and put the game on a seven-second delay: The league would have to heavy censor the comments, and what was not censored would probably offend some like the ACLU or PITA or Oprah.

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: Instead let the players pay some of their money for the rights. Use the money to help the retired players who have no retirement or very little.

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: Bad business decision unless the league is willing to pay money for a new stadium in New Orleans. Not going to happen. Saints will move to another city soon... LA maybe.

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: See above.

10. Make the Super Bowl the best two out of three: NO WAY. ALL of February for football? It would actually delute the Super Bowl game itself.

[Scooby]

nothing wrong with putting a chip in the ball and on the goalline solely for goaline plays.

[Chavez]

1. Expand the regular season to 18 games: - King puts forth a reasonably workable plan for this. I don't know that an expansion to 18 games is needed; I'd almost rather shorten training camp so players are a bit fresher for the regular season - say a max of 3 preseason games, with an average of 2.

 

 

2. Pass a bylaw prohibiting playoff expansion: - much like an 18 game season, I don't think this is particularly necessary

 

3. Make long field goals more valuable: - sounds good in theory, but highly flawed. What does a team do if it's down by 4 and on the 20 with time ticking down - go for the td on 4th down, or take a 14 yard loss? Could compromise the integrity of the game to an extent.

 

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: - King does his typical schtick with this - "I don't want the dish so do something to benefit myself"; I love my dish and will hopefully NEVER have to go back to cable. Put it on both.

 

5. Stop the love affair with Los Angeles: - screw LA and South Florida.

 

6. Put more mikes on players and officials, and put the game on a seven-second delay: - current coverage is fine by me. I'd rather they dumped sideline reporters and brought down the jock-ocracy of the booth.

 

7. Let players wear the numbers of their choice -- with an asterisk: - I don't really see the need for the asterisk; skill position players wear 1-49 and the 80s, linemen wear 50-79 and 99-00; LBs get their choice (remember ol' 77 Karl Mecklenberg?)

 

 

8. Prohibit the moving of the Saints for five years: - eh, Benson may be a roach, but so are Art Modell, Al Davis, and Bud Adams. This would hold up for about 2 seconds in court.

 

9. Put two computer chips in the football, and make the goal line, in essence, capable of sending a signal when the football touches the plane of the goal line: - heck, why not have it work that way for 1st downs and out of bounds as well? Not the worst idea

 

10. Make the Super Bowl the best two out of three: - wotta riot

[Big John]

 

4. Take NFL Sunday Ticket off the dish and put it on digital cable: Every point on target. Look for it to happen when the current contract expires...and a mass exadous from satellite to digital cable. It is already available on Cable... baka.

DirecTV still has exclusive rights to Sunday Ticket to until at least 2010.