With Super Bowl XLV done and in the books, and with most of the state of Wisconsin still sleeping in its own alcohol induced vomit, the 2010 NFL season is officially closed.
The season was marked by controversy, concussions, rules on hitting, umpires changing position, overtime rules never used, and injuries, injuries, INJURIES!
For us Colts fans, we've sort of been in post-season mode now for three weeks. But, with the Super Bowl now done, we have seven months of zero football... we hope!
Before we get into all that, take a moment to congratulate the Packers and their fans. And for those of you who get pissy at me when I attack the tired, useless systems in place for the MLB and NBA, kindly know that a championship season for a city like Green Bay is impossible in baseball and basketball. It's for this reason that the friggin Pro Bowl gets ratings comparable to the World Series.
The triumph of the current NFL system is that any team, in any market, can win. Last night, NFL teams in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, and Philadelphia weren't playing. Small market Green Bay and mid-market Pittsburgh were, and it was the smallest of small markets that won.
While the MLB continues to rot under a system of no salary cap and the NBA remains the butt of many jokes with its laughable 'luxury tax' soft cap, the NFL system (with a salary floor, salary cap, and revenue sharing) is the best system for the best sport in the world.
So, for us small market Colts fans, a clink of the bubbly to the Packers, champions of the small market 'little guy.'
We now enter an off-season the likes of which many of us have never experienced before. We simply don't know:
- If there will be football next year, and
- What the new system will be
We're going to spend the next few days ironing out all the details on why this CBA situation is happening, but before we do that we ask you to PLEASE not fall into the 'silly trap.' You are going to see blowhard idiots like Patriots owner Robert Kraft makes baseless statements, like blaming 'lawyers' for the current CBA problem. As if this whole thing would get settled with a handshake and a beer if not for all these pesky 'laws' we have to live under.
Please don't buy that rhetoric. Even if it comes from a source like Jim Irsay, don't buy it.
The reality here is the CBA situation is a result of owner greed. Nothing more. Until the new CBA is agreed upon, we have no idea what will happen with things like free agency, the Scouting Combine, and the 2011 NFL Draft. If you followed Eddie White's Tweets last night, you caught this rather interesting nugget:
Hot rumor at post game party is agents telling seniors NOT to attend indy combine or NYC draft...dis gonna get ugly
What I ask of all of you, our readers, to do is to remember that NFL football is for US. It's not for the players. It's not for the owners. It's not for the PR heads at the ad agencies. It's not for the media networks.
It's for us, the fans.
And what we fans want (nay, DEMAND!) is that the playing field for the NFL to remain as level as it has been the last ten years. So, when we hear idiots like Jerry Jones say that revenue sharing is 'on its way out,' we want such owners muzzled and told to sit in the corner while the adults work out something that is best for the league and the fans.
BTW: Cowboys Stadium was a disaster last night for the Super Bowl. The entire area was a disaster all week. Unsafe seating. Fans who paid for tickets turned away. The roof was leaking rain water. The field looked awful.
Epic fail for Dallas.
Next season, when the Super Bowl is scheduled to be played in Indianapolis, I have a feeling that Lucas Oil Stadium will provide a better facility for the game than the farce that is 'Jerry's World.'
That said, here's to the end of the 2010. Here's to smart, intelligent, level-headed people coming together to bring us an even better 2011 season.
And, as always, Go Colts!