Back again. Bossman’s back. Tell a friend (who likes football).
That’s right I have finally decided to return to the ol’ blogosphere (do they still call it that). I’ve been off for about four months and it feels like it has been four years. Are things better for me? Meh. I guess. Now I feel I need a distraction again to keep me sane so it’s back to this thing. Not like much has happened in the football world since I was gone AW SHIT TOM BRADY DIDN’T RETIRE. Sometimes the offseason is much more entertaining than the actual season. But I digress.
I figured I would return by doing a little bit of research. I know what you’re thinking: when has this jagoff ever really delved into researching stuff? Well I have…every so often. OK not enough. Maybe this is part of my metamorphosis into a newer, better Bossman. Or, I just have a bit of time on my hands. Oh yeah, the research! I am going to research….me! More specifically my blog.
You see, over the years I have made demands or requests or said things I would like to see change about college football or the NFL. I don’t know how often I have followed up on those but I am going to venture a guess and say almost never. So I am rectifying that by going back into the vault to see some of the things I’ve said and update on what has happened with them. In some cases, quite a bit. In others, nothing at all. So strap in and let’s go on a journey…or more like one of those car trips where everything looks the same and you crave any new scenery or you’re going to veer off the road and crash into the guardrail.
August 13, 2013: I think it’s high time for them (Tulane) to move out of the Superdome and into a smaller stadium considering they wouldn’t be able to fill a Texas high school football stadium these days. First off, some Texas high school football stadiums are big. Like 10-20,000 seats big. And they damn near fill them! Insane. But anyway, this was my first, let’s call it request on this blog. And it worked! I don’t want to take credit for this but I am going to take credit for this. Tulane moved into on-campus Yulman Stadium one year after this comment. And they arguably get more fans in a stadium that, by all accounts, looks quite nice.
November 24, 2013: I still believe they need to cut down on the individual bowl tie-ins as there could be some somewhat unwatchable matchups come December that could be avoided with better flexibility. At the Power Five level, this has not changed and we could argue it has got a bit worse. At the Group of Five level, we now see a bit more flexibility with bowl bids. Some bowls just pick out of the G-5 conferences as a whole. And other bowls get a choice of two or three conferences. So it’s slightly better but really I was hoping there would be more at-large bids. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear.
October 15, 2014: I would say it makes the most sense to put all the ESPNU games, for example, on one channel throughout the day. Bell (and, presumably, Rogers) doesn’t think that way for some odd reason. And they still don’t. I don’t get it. It seems so easy but obviously someone in programming suffers from temporary brain damage when they are figuring out the schedule. IT’S THE SAME FUCKING THING FOR LIKE THIRTEEN WEEKS EVERY YEAR!
February 17, 2015: In OT, they should start farther back than the 25-yard line. Instead, the NCAA decided “Fuck it” and changed OT completely after the second overtime. That nine-overtime debacle between Illinois and Penn State should be proof that the new method is garbage. Should have listened to me guys. Even starting overtime from the 30 could have changed things radically since not many college kickers can routinely hit 47-yard field goals.
February 17, 2015: Stop time after EVERY first down makes the game a little longer than most can handle. Why they haven’t dealt with this I don’t know. There is no need for the clock to stop after a first down in the first or third quarters. You could make the argument that other than the final five minutes of either half you don’t need to either and I would be fine with that too. Shave about ten minutes off the average game? Sounds like a win for the college game if you ask me.
February 17, 2015: Three-hour TV windows are dumb. I was on a roll this day (although, to be fair, the whole point of this blog post was changed I’d make). And yes, whoever thinks these make sense are morons. I’m looking at you, ESPN, since you are the only ones that do it. Well, that isn’t entirely true. The ACC Network, for one week early on in the season every year now, does the same thing. It’s stupid. Just stop it.
July 6, 2015: TSN and Sportsnet both would be smart to stop the regional channel horseshit and make one channel a full news channel (a la Headline Sports way back in the day). This hasn’t happened and probably never will. Whether it should now is a matter of debate. I don’t know how many viewers Sportscentre and Sports Central get but it can’t be nearly as many as there were back in 2015. So to have a full sports news channel would still make sense but they would both have to restructure the way there channels operate (and, in Sportsnet’s case, talk to the NHL about the archaic blackout policy).
November 19, 2015: However, in my opinion, pretty much all FBS vs. FCS games should be in September (or August if the season starts then). I have softened my stance a bit on this. Buy games are necessary for FCS teams and I understand that. I still am not a fan of seeing these games in November but having them in October would be fine as well. With more conferences going to a 9-game conference schedule, I have a feeling there will be less of these games in November but we shall see.
August 4, 2017: Let’s be honest here: Conference USA is a hodge-podge bag of crap. If they were smart they would start talks with the Sun Belt to “create” two new conferences with more of a geographical natured to them. Oh this is one of my favourite blog posts of all-time. The amount of flack I got for this from Conference USA fans was hilarious. But look what happened. The conference is on the brink of disaster now because they did nothing, thinking they were even remotely special. Fucking dumb. So let them die. Many of the teams left for greener pastures and the rest…well, sorry for your damn luck.
November 20, 2018: I look forward, though, to balanced divisions in 2020, which I believe is the year the Atlantic Schooners begin play. Oh Bossman, what were you thinking? Forget adding a tenth team: almost every year it seems like one of the current nine CFL teams is in some sense of financial peril.
January 20, 2020: I agree there should be a holiday after the Super Bowl. Hasn’t even been discussed in the U.S. so no chance of it happening here yet. At least my plea for Daylight Savings Time to end might come to fruition!
August 3, 2020: If a division winner has a worse record than a Wild Card team, they should get the #5 seed and not the #4. I have said this in previous seasons when there were only two Wild Card teams but it goes the same now with three. You shouldn’t be rewarded for winning a shitty division with a bad record. You already get into the playoffs. That’s your reward. Same the other way as a really good Wild Card team shouldn’t be punished for having the audacity to be in a division with one of the best teams in the league. It’s dumb. And won’t be changed. Dumb owners and dumb Commissioner Gingerhammer.
December 17, 2020: I will say it again for the millionth time: why bother with the conference affiliation towards either CBS or FOX? It doesn’t matter anymore. Well look at that! They are finally getting rid of the completely archaic NFC-to-FOX and AFC-to-CBS way of broadcasting NFL games. It will now be a bit of a free-for-all which, honestly, is much better. You want the best games, at the best times, with the best available crew. Many times that didn’t happen in the past because of how things were done. Not anymore!
August 11, 2021: I still believe every team should have one road, one home and one neutral-site game during the preseason but that’s a conversation I’ve had many times before that no one wants to listen to. Naw, much better to have regular season games in London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Baghdad, rural Kazakhstan and the Maldives. And no bye week afterwards ya pussies!
Every time I did a post on if I ran the bowl games. Look, my plan would work. Or the various plans I’ve had over the years. Cut a few bowls and make it a 7-win minimum to be bowl-eligible for sure. Give as many games a national spotlight (which they almost do but they could be better at it). Put a few more games on non-ESPN networks (I don’t know when this will ever happen). And the selection show. It would work so much better and make that thing worth watching.
So there you go. I know I have made other requests or had other ideas but I think you get the picture…I’m not influential at all. Saying that, some of my ideas have come to fruition which makes me happy if not a tiny bit proud. Maybe in the next few years a few more of my ideas will come true and I will be a very happy Bossman.
Alright. First post back. Feels good. Shake the cobwebs off. I am goofing around with new themes for the site to see what works. So if you notice things changing from week to week, it’s probably my undiagnosed ADD.
It’s already June. Where does the time go? I guess that happens when the days start melting together and you have very little sense of time. Have a great rest of the week everyone.
Bossman's Blog 