COLUMN: Why the NFL is king of sports leagues
The NFL is truly in a class all its own in professional sports.
This time each year, sports fans find themselves saddened by the end of college football and anxious for the excitement of March Madness. This lackluster, boring sports gap is filled by the NFL playoffs. The NFL playoff system is only one of the many reasons that make the NFL the best professional sports league.
Playoffs that are run on the series system just don’t have the same appeal a “one and done” system has. Players and fans alike are more intensely involved if they know it’s all over if they lose. In a series system, a team can have an off performance and it’s “see ya next game.” If a team in the NFL playoffs has an off performance, it’s “see ya next year.”
That is another great thing about the NFL – “See ya next year” is not always a guarantee. It’s never a sure thing who will be there at the end of the season. In the NFL, it is possible for bad teams to become contenders in one year and vice versa. The Carolina Panthers went from the cellar in their division last year to the NFC Championship this year. A last place team from the year prior could be in the Super Bowl!
I love the Detroit Tigers but I like my odds in getting a date with Halle Berry over the Tigers making a trip to the World Series and I am not an attractive person.
No other league championship can compare to the Super Bowl. We only see a good one every couple of years, but come on, it’s the Super Bowl. Besides, if it’s a bad game at least the commercials are entertaining. To see a team win back-to-back Super Bowls is a rarity.
In other sports, back-to-back championships are quite common, especially in our lifetime. Joe Torre and Phil Jackson know what I am talking about.
Torre and Jackson are great coaches, but they have always gone into the playoffs with loaded teams. Bill Parcells, in his first year as coach of Dallas led the Cowboys, who finished last place in 2002-03, to the playoffs. Torre and Jackson have had some of the best players of all time on their teams. Parcells was able to ride the talent and leadership skills of Troy Hambrick.
Who?
This shows that coaches still run football teams. Their decisions and actions count. Parcells’ coaching philosophies made a difference. Phil Jackson could have been in another state and coached the Bulls to six championships.
Season length and arrangement contribute to the appeal of NFL football as well. Games are played weekly, not daily. If you followed every professional baseball or hockey game you wouldn’t have time to breathe.
The regular NFL season consists of 16 fan-friendly weeks with games mostly being played on Sundays, thus allowing the working man to keep close tabs on his favorite team.
The term team sport, however, is beginning to mean less and less. The national media sells a game as Shaq vs. Yao, not Lakers vs. Rockets. Personal accomplishments have replaced team glory. As professional sports become more and more about self-promotion, football still holds to those unifying principles that teach team over self. Just ask Keyshawn Johnson, the three-time Pro Bowler who got cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he disrupted those principles. A team cutting its most talented offensive player because he was harming team unity is what makes the NFL so great.
Branigan Knowlton is a junior majoring in public relations. Comments can be sent to bknowlt@cc.usu.edu.