Sports Junkie

Ah, yes, it’s back. The NFL season kicks off for real. How nice indeed! It’s like a long-lost best friend knocking on your door.

NFL, I missed you, buddy, I missed you.

Nothing stays the same. If it does, it’s doomed. Remember Larry the Liquidator’s speech in "Other People’s Money" when he said that the manufacturer of the best buggy whips wound up losing the most money because they stayed around the longest.

That won’t happen to the NFL. In this century, more likely much sooner than later, look for changes. Knee braces will have computer chips. Sports drinks will dissolve the body chemicals that cause fatigue. Television replays will show everything the ball-carrier saw, right up to the collision.

The future will be the past, only with more bells and whistles and lasers. Older fans will insist the players were better in their day (I do that.) But they will recognize the game, just as pro football fans of the ’40s recognize pro football of today.

The progress of evolution follows some constant themes.

Paul Brown was the first coach to show game film to his players as a teaching tool. Sid Gilman was the first to organize clips of game film according to offensive plays. Now that they’re on videotape, coded on computers, the clips are organized by play and defensive coverage. The play books will no doubt be video one day soon.

Soon, the marriage of computer and video technology will make it possible to measure the speed of things players actually do during a game; driving from a three-point stance into the defender, bursting from the line of scrimmage into the secondary, dropping from the center to the pass-pocket, throwing from the pocket to the sideline.

Protective pads have gone from tiny to bulky to smaller again, trying to accommodate both safety and speed. They’ll probably continue to shrink, but they’ll withstand more force. Gloves for wide-receivers (I’m vehemently opposed to them) have gone from zero to tolerable in cold weather to commonplace, even in domed stadiums.

Please tell me quarterbacks aren’t going to wear them, too.

Even off the field, some things will come full-circle. Promotional stunts were needed to sell pro football in the ’20s. The NFL didn’t need much of that stuff in the last 25 years; television did it for them. But now, with prices going through the proverbial roof, entertainment choices on the rise and international markets beckoning, there’ll probably be an emphasis on drum-beating and promotion like there was when football was fighting for a place in the sun.

I suspect the NFL will continue to enjoy increased popularity in the future. The NFL recognizes the importance of and the need for revenue-sharing and salary caps to enhance competition, and give small-market teams a fighting chance.

It’s too bad major league baseball doesn’t have a clue.

Last Week’s Trivia

Who’s the only pitcher in major league baseball history to win 20 games in a season and record 20 saves in a season?

John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves. Look at his recorded saves this season—and it’s not over yet.

Trivia Question of the Week

There was a year when four players in two major sports all wore No. 32, and all were MVPs of their respective leagues. What year and who were they?

See next week’s Sports Junkie for the answer.

Visit the Sports Junkie Website at www.sportsjunkie.info.