The National Goodball League

With respect and admiration to one of the 50 crew JW900. He sent me an email with a diatribe on Imam Roger and this new league he is creating. I add on his idea and submit to BTSC faithful an old schoolers view on the newest Sunday entertainment replacing the once National Football League;

I am very proud of the six Lombardi trophies that sit in the offices of the Pittsburgh Steelers. When Three Rivers Stadium was in tact and I was visiting Pittsburgh I had my picture taken with the then four. Someday soon I will update the picture with the six Lombardi's. No one will ever win as many National Football League Lombardi trophies as the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is a fact that makes me proud. I wonder if Imam Roger will now change the name of the sport he has wrecked in the name of player safety and political correctness?

This sport I watch every Sunday is no longer the sport I grew up watching. It is no longer the sport that was dominated by Nitschke, Butkis, Lambert, Lott or Lewis. Vince Lombardi must be turning in his grave to see this new sport to which the Championship Trophy bears his name. While not as fun to watch as the NFL of the 76 Steelers, 85 Bears or 00 Ravens it  is a fun sport to watch. I would describe it as somewhere in between tackle football and flag football.

To call this product being produced for us all day Sunday and every Monday and Thursday night "NFL" is an injustice to the brave men that participated in this sport from it's inception. Rules have been changed through the ages to make the game safer for the players. Equipment has been upgraded through the years to make the game safer for the players. Unions have been formed through the years to make the game safer and more lucrative for the players. The entertainment community has embraced these men as true athletes and helped heap riches on top of the riches already heaped on these men by business owners and networks the world over. But this sport that I now watch on Sunday is not the National Football League of my youth.

The NFL is dead. This sport no longer the NFL. The NFL has a team called the Pittsburgh Steelers. This team will continue on in name only. Their brand of football has been abolished. Along with that the Pittsburgh Steelers that I know and love have been abolished. Every year for the last 80 years or so a group of men called the Pittsburgh Steelers showed up for work on Sunday, rolled up their sleeves and punched their opponent in the mouth and both squads left bloody. For the first 40 years of their existence, the Pittsburgh NFL team did this regardless of their won and lost record. It was usually a poor record. They didn't even get paid that much or have any recognition. They did it because they loved the game. For the next 40 years their play became a recipe for victory.

For 80 years the Pittsburgh Steelers have been playing football the way it is supposed to be played. For the last 40 the Pittsburgh Steelers have had more success that any other team in the game. But as stated, the Pittsburgh Steelers that I know and love are gone. Gone to the bleeding hearts that never wore shoulder pads and helmets and never played the game. Gone to those that see an injury and compare it to death on the battlefield. The Steelers are being used by Goodell as whipping boys. Make no mistake; the Steelers are being targeted. Not one roughing the passer penalty called for Ben Roethlisberger all year? How many in his career? Seymour punches Ben in the face and plays the next week? What if Ben was Brady? Yet James Harrison is fined 125K this year and save maybe one hit against the Browns I can't find 125K worth? Not when Seymour is fined only 25K.

It's over. Boxing and Ultimate Fighting will make more revenue. I guess hockey is the only true man's game left? I love the Steelers and will continue to follow this brand of effeminate football. But any trophy gained after number six is not a Lombardi Trophy. I guess we could call it a Goodball Trophy. I hope we win our first Goodball Trophy soon. We can start counting on our fingers until we get to five. But for me and a few others, I will always put the first six National Football League Lombardi Trophies we won over any future Championships. It pains me to say. The National Football League is dead. Long live the National Goodball League. I really wonder what Vince Lombardi would say. Based on interviews and news reel I have seen I bet he would want his name removed from any future trophies.