Blood makes the grass grow...

I fell in love with the NFL as a young child in the very early 1980's. My passion came from three sources.

#1) I loved watching an underdog team know as the Jets. Those early 80's Jets uniforms were so blue-collar and so were their players. Guys like Klecko, Buttle, and Mehl looked like guys you would find in my north jersey neighborhood. Even at 6 and 7 years old I knew the Jets were for me.

#2) I really enjoyed playing football on the asphalt. We didn't have many wide open green acres where I grew up, so we simply played on the streets. It wasn't two hand touch either... we played tackle football, and I must admit that some of my fondest childhood memories are of being slammed against a Chrysler during a battle on the blacktop.

#3) NFL films is responsible for spreading the culture of pro-football across this country. When I was very young I was mesmerized by the way men like Jack Tatum and Ted Hendricks played the game. The first rule of the game is that there are no cowards on an NFL field. It is almost impossible to intimidate a player. However, it is possible to get in a players head by the use of pure brute force. Violence can be very persuasive.

The reason I held football on a higher level as compared to other sports was because of the contact, the hitting and punishment. It was much easier to tolerate the pretty boy, highly paid QB's when you knew that they were getting destroyed by LB's and D-linemen as a part of their job.

In a recent post I addressed the new defenseless receiver rule ( My post from October 14th ). I agree with a lot of the old school rules regarding grabbing face masks, clipping, and late hits out of bounds. No one wants to see anyone seriously injured, but unfortunately there is no way to avoid it completely. Sadly the NFL seems to think they can protect their big stars and control everything. The rules have become absurd, there is no way to sugar coat it.

I have to wonder if this is still my NFL. Defenders are totally handcuffed... fans are asked to pay ridiculous prices for PSL's, which are making the gameday experience an impossibility for the working man... and now the NFL is ready to award London their own personal franchise. American dollars built this league from nothing to a serious financial power. Now it's getting handed to the Europeans.

Blue-collar fans from places like Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Chicago, Cleveland and Baltimore were sold on this league by a simple motto... 'blood makes the grass grow'. Pro football used to be very pure. Players were paid reasonable salaries and they were allowed to play the game. Fans loved the game because it was real. It's starting to become more of pageant that a competition.

The NFL will only start to roll back some of these rules and ridiculous ticket/merchandise prices if they start to see it effecting their bottom lines.