Rotten NFL inspires guilt

The term "guilty pleasure" is usually brought up in regards to something entertainment-related and something you wouldn't be willing to divulge in mixed company.\nFor example, maybe a movie like Master of Disguise floats your boat, or maybe you have a Britney Spears' CD -- you might not know it but if you have her CD, you have also been to one of her concerts -- in the midst of your large collection of speed metal. (For the record, just because I list them as examples doesn't mean they apply to me. After all, I do not have a large collection of speed metal.)\nIn sports, I have to believe that the NFL is my guilty pleasure. There, I said it.\nThis league is beyond rotten to the point where skunks walking by NFL stadiums have been known to say, "Man, I've been getting a bad rap." Yet I keep watching.\nAfter all, the salary cap has not had a beneficial impact on the NFL and has not provided competitive balance. If the league had competitive balance, wouldn't the Bengals at least have a mediocre season once in awhile? Wouldn't somebody other than the Cowboys or 49ers have made the Super Bowl from the NFC in the 1990s?\nIf the cap were remotely fair, the Baltimore Ravens wouldn't nearly have to start over the way they have this season after winning the Super Bowl just 21 months ago. MLB critics might argue that all the best players wind up with a few teams, but what the NFL does is an unfunny joke. "Sorry, guys, you were just too good. We're going to have to release a few of you." And if the mediocre Jaguars have to give up a good player like Keenan McCardell and he winds up with the Buccaneers, isn't that just taking from the poor and giving to the rich?\nThe quality of play has declined steadily, even from where it was ten years ago. One-dimensional teams like the Rams and Ravens can win Super Bowls. Average or unproven quarterbacks like Trent Dilfer and Tom Brady are winning Super Bowls. If these guys are winning Super Bowls, what does it say about the rest of the league?\nFurthermore, while you might enjoy what you watch in September, by December, injuries have changed the face of teams to the point of unrecognizability. \nAny discussion regarding Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer's death in August 2001 due to heat stroke after a grueling practice begins with the supposed need to push these athletes beyond all reasonable human boundaries despite the fact that the 16-game season is probably longer and more tiring relatively speaking than any other American professional sports leagues. Towards the end of his life, Johnny Unitas couldn't even use his right hand after all the punishment he had taken. \nThe notion that MLB players lack character while NFL players are great, noble warriors is an absolute crock. What's especially amazing is that MLB players can be labeled "whiny crybabies" for merely threatening to strike while the NFL saw former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth go away for murder in January 2001 and fined its best defensive player, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, $250,000 after Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after lying to police about details he knew of a double homicide outside an Atlanta nightclub during Super Bowl week in 2000. \nGiven all this, I wondered why I still watch this weekly feeding of humans to the lions and the Lions to whomever they may be playing. First, I have a fantasy football team, and fantasy football isn't so much about football as it is about numbers. Second, it's purely Pavlovian. Since I have turned on the television every around noon for as long as I can remember, it becomes an automatic response. As networks like ESPN come up with Sunday afternoon counter-programming like the Pro Bowlers Association Tour or pennant race baseball games, I think it's possible I might wean myself from football for better uses of my time.\nWish me luck.