Not to take a popular hot-button topic and beat it into submission, but…
It really does suck for NFL fans when teams intentionally lose rest their players at the end of the season, making sure they stay healthy for the postseason. Rex Ryan will be sending Christmas cards and fruit baskets to Jim Caldwell and Marvin Lewis for their teams’ tank jobs, boosting the Jets into the postseason (and actually looking like a formidable opponent, despite Mark Sanchez). And this just in: Steelers and Texans fans are really pissed.
I personally would rather watch a preseason game than a non-contender or team on life-support playing against a playoff team’s practice squad. I actually turned town a great deal on Lions-Cardinals tickets in September for fear of this. Because who wouldn’t want to watch Curtis Painter get thrown to the wolves, or JT O’Sullivan try to resurrect his… career (for lack of a better word). The worst part about it is there is really no good solution to this problem of “integrity for the game.”
How can the National Football League tell a head coach how to manage his team? How do you quantitatively measure when you can or cannot pull your players out of a game? It’s all so arbitrary that it seems almost impossible to come up with a practical solution. The best one that I have heard (the lesser of all evils) is to have a playoff committee, much like for the NCAA tournament, in which all of the playoff teams are seeded by said committee, with “integrity” playing a significant role in what seed you get. Is it likely? No. But I definitely think it should be discussed. The NFL is the biggest sport in the country, and hard-working, dedicated fans are getting robbed of the experience. The League is becoming more and more wussified with all of the rules of player protection and trends like not playing your starters. Bonuses, coach scrutiny, and perceived health are quickly replacing chances of immortality and respect for the game. Don’t worry Jim Caldwell, when San Diego beats you in the AFC Championship game, you probably won’t be wondering “what if…”. For the rest of your life.
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