Parity? Not in the NFL

For the first time ever, there are three undefeated teams in the NFL through Week 7.

Say hello to the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints.

On the other side, there are three winless teams.

Say goodbye to the St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans.

Maybe the reason there are so many good teams in the NFL is because there are so many bad teams to make perfection possible.

Speaking of horrible teams, don’t forget the likes of the Cleveland Browns (1-6), Kansas City Chiefs (1-6) and Detroit Lions (1-5). Throw in the Washington Redskins (2-4), who are a total mess, and you can see that the bad outweighs the good in the NFL.

So much for the theory of the NFL having “parity.”

This weekend’s scores alone show just how bad the disparity has become.

Consider the following: New York Jets 38, Oakland 0; Indianapolis 42, St. Louis 6; San Diego 37, Kansas City 7; Green Bay 31, Cleveland 3; New England 35, Tampa Bay 7. All were mismatches with the good vs. the bad.

Then there was Cincinnati’s 45-10 win over Chicago, which fit the mold of good vs. bad (although both teams are better than average in this year’s NFL.)

The late Commissioner Pete Rozelle used to preach parity in the NFL ... but so much for parity in 2009.

A local NFL blackout may be coming your way

NFL fans, beware!

Television blackouts may soon be coming to your area for your home team.

If you are a fan of teams such as the Washington Redskins or Green Bay Packers, it’s no problem. Your team’s home games will be sold out (and not blacked out) for generations to come.
But in front-runner cities such as San Diego, TV blackouts may be on their way.

Jim Steeg, chief operating officer of the San Diego Chargers, said as much this week to chargers.com.

“Yes, local television blackouts are a definite possibility,” said Steeg. “Our goal right now is to make everyone aware that tickets are still available and that, at this point at least, blackouts are likely.

“It appears that both preseason home games (against Seattle and San Francisco) will be blacked out. Hopefully the knowledge that most home games likely will not be shown locally will spur additional fans to join us at the stadium. Our players want to play in a full stadium, and we want all of our fans to be able to watch all of our games on TV.”
There are issues:

First of all – and most of all – the nation’s economy is still hurting. People aren’t going to rush out to buy tickets primarily ranging from $74 to $98 to ensure someone else can watch the game on TV.

Local Native American casinos and TV stations – which have stepped up to the plate in recent years to buy tickets and ensure sellouts – just don’t have the funds to do so in this economic climate. Last year, TV bought out remaining tickets three times so games could be seen locally.

Charger fans are front-runners, anyhow. In the team’s only Super Bowl season (1994), the first home game vs. the Cincinnati Bengals was 10,000 seats short of a sellout.

The NFL could make an exception and televise all games locally in this down economy. But the chances of that happening are about as likely as the Oakland Raiders winning the Super Bowl this season.

Norv Turner: Back to his old head coaching tricks?

Lance McCune of Bonsall may come from a small community, but he made a major comment concerning the San Diego Chargers in the San Diego Union-Tribune this week:

“Memo to A.J. Smith: Looks like you kept the wrong Turner,” McCune wrote.

With Michael Turner leading the NFL in rushing for the upstart Atlanta Falcons, maybe the Chargers did indeed keep the wrong Turner.

After all, through five games, it appears as if head coach Norv Turner is back to his old tricks with a 2-3 record.

Turner, now in his 11th season as a head coach, has a career record of 71-90-1 (.441 winning percentage.)

He’s only been to the postseason twice, splitting two games as head coach of the Washington Redskins in 1999 and going 2-1 in the postseason with the 2007 Chargers.

Of course, he was brought here to win in the postseason. Previous Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer couldn’t win in the postseason if the game was handed to him on a platter.

Therein comes the next debate. At least Schottenheimer reached the playoffs, which is more than Turner has done 80% of the time as a head coach.

The Chargers are supposed to be Super Bowl-worthy this year. Thus far, it appears as if they are more than “worthy” of Turner’s losing record as a head coach.

They better turn things around soon, or else it will be obvious they got rid of the wrong Turner.