Sep 1, 2012 5 min read

How much longer can the NFL get away with four exhibition games?

Did you see how many empty seats their were for Thursday night’s game between the Steelers and the Carolina Panthers at Heinz Field? Forget what they announced as an attendance figure. There were as many empty seats as there were living human beings. How bad is an event when half the people who paid at least $66 for a ticket choose to eat the money and stay home?

How bad is it when half the people who bought tickets for an event can’t find someone to use their tickets and go to the game?

And how bad is it when you lose your first- and third-round draft picks to potential season-ending injuries in a meaningless game?

The scariest thing about NFL exhibition games is that many of them are on national TV. Forcing prisoners in solitary confinement to watch the Giants beat the Patriots, 6-3, would be cruel and unusual punishment.

The people who did show up Thursday night used tickets that were forced upon everybody who bought a season package. If tickets weren’t mandatory, it says here that the Steelers and Panthers wouldn’t have drawn more than 20,000.

If the NFL owners feel a need to play four exhibition games for team development purposes, and they continue to insist that season ticket holders buy two meaningless, boring games, maybe they should throw their fans a bone and give them a post-game concert.

If the Pirates can give their fans Daughtry or Boyz II Men after a regular season game, would it be too much to for the Steelers to give them Huey Lewis & the News?

Only a business with a monopoly could get away with the level of arrogance that the NFL continues to show by taking advantage of its loyal paying customers. Is there a number of empty seats that could embarrass NFL owners enough to eliminate at least two of the exhibition games? It sure would be fun to find out.

Could the Rooneys at least throw in a fireworks night?

n The DVR is one of the greatest inventions in the history of human civilization. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was invented by a guy who got tired of trying to stay awake during NFL exhibition games.

n Is there any doubt that the NHL owners want a lockout? Why wouldn’t they? It sure worked for them the last time.

Talks broke off on Friday with no progress being made toward a new CBA. The current one expires Sept. 15, which means nobody should expect any movement until at least Sept. 12. Deadlines tend to make negotiations progress, but is Sept. 15 really an important deadline?

If there is no deal, will delaying the start of training camp matter all that much to either side? Chances are pretty good that there will be little or no progress until at least October 1, two weeks before the start of the regular season.

Teams will need at least 10 days of training camp to get ready for opening day on October 15.

n Donald Fehr, director of the National Hockey League Players Association walked all over Major League Baseball owners for years. They let him know early on that they were perfectly willing to give everything away.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL owners showed just the opposite when they cancelled an entire season eight years ago. Fehr’s going to earn his money this time around.

n If Fehr is thinking that the possibility of delaying the start of the season will intimidate Bettman, he should keep in mind that NHL owners are stupid enough to play the Stanley Cup Finals in July.

n Is it me or were there fewer penalties called this by the NFL’s replacement officials? It sure seemed like it.

I might be willing to trade better calls for fewer calls. The regular season games might be a lot more entertaining if the officials were willing to err on the side of letting the ticky-tacky calls go, especially on kick and punt returns.

There’s something wrong when you are expecting a flag every time there is a good return. If the hold or the block in the back didn’t affect the return, keep the flag in your pocket.

n If Major League Baseball really wanted to cutback on PED use, it would make the first failed test cost a player 162 games. One full season. Second offense – lifetime ban. Otherwise, shut up.

n Jonathan Dwyer still looks like a better runner to me than Isaac Redman.

n Alan Pinkett was suspended from his job as color analyst on the Notre Dame radio network for saying that the football team would be better if it had a few more criminals.

It was an unbelievably stupid thing for someone in his position to say, but the scary thing is that he’s probably right. And the fact that he would think it speaks volumes about the state of major college football.