A PLAN FOR PARITY; THE ONLY WAY FOR A TRUE CHAMPIONSHIP IS TO DISSOLVE CONFERENCES FOR PLAYOFFS.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI The most frequently asked questions about the NFC's 13 consecutive Super Bowl victories are: ``Why is it happening?'' and ``How do you (fill in player's name) feel about it?'' Who said there are no stupid questions? Players don't feel anything about it. Players don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. about things like this. A few Denver Broncos might feel motivated to win the Super Bowl on Sunday for John Elway John Albert Elway, Jr. (born June 28, 1960) played American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Denver Broncos from 1983 through 1998. Elway holds many college and professional records and was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is the only , but nobody is hoping to win it for the good ol' AFC (1) (Application Foundation Classes) A class library from Microsoft that provides an application framework and graphics, graphical user interface (GUI) and multimedia routines for Java programmers. . ``It is a big enough load as it is,'' Broncos safety Steve Atwater Stephen Dennis Atwater (born October 28, 1966 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former American football player who spent most of his career playing free safety for the Denver Broncos of the NFL. Early life He attended Lutheran High School North in St. Louis, Missouri. said this week. Seeking explanations for the bizarre streak only leads us in circles. For example, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan points to the NFC's 44-10 edge in turnovers during this stretch, but he offers no clue what caused that edge. The NFC NFC abbr. National Football Conference holds no long-term edge in regular-season, interconference play, so obviously it's not the AFC is inferior overall. It's just the best of the NFC - usually the San Francisco 49ers Remember that the AFC had won 12 of 16 Super Bowls - the Pittsburgh Steelers, Miami Dolphins and Raiders accounting for eight of the 12 - before this streak began in 1985. So, until somebody comes up with a more substantial explanation, why don't we just assume these things go in cycles? Better questions are: ``Why does the streak matter?'' and ``What should be done about it?'' It matters because as long as the elite of one conference dominates, and as long as the Super Bowl requires one representative from each conference, the game rarely will feature the two best teams in pro football. That's why the past 13 Super Bowls have generally been one-sided. The solution: The NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga should be the first major league to eliminate the conferences as we know them and design its playoffs for the purpose of getting the two best teams to the Super Bowl each year. Step one is to realign re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. the divisions in an NBA- and NHL-style geographical format. Here's a suggestion that would include new teams in Los Angeles and Cleveland and promote local rivalries and regional identity as college football enjoys: The NFL Western Conference: Pacific Division: Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Heartland Division: Arizona, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City and St. Louis. Great Lakes Division: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota. The NFL Eastern Conference: Northern Division: Buffalo, Cincinnati, New England, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Atlantic Division: Baltimore, Carolina, New York Giants
OK, the division names could use a little work, but that's a small stumbling block. You might ask why geographical realignment re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. would be bad for baseball but good for football. In baseball, National and American League identities have been built over generations, the leagues have slightly different rules and styles, and interleague play remains limited. In football, the AFC's historical connection to the old AFL AFL: see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. was spoiled when Pittsburgh, Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns of the old NFL switched conferences in the 1970 merger. The two conferences share the same rules, and interconference play is frequent. In baseball, geographical realignment would cost two-team regions like Los Angeles-Anaheim the chance to watch both leagues. In football, that chance is already too limited to worry about. Teams from the same conference go years without playing. The Bills and San Diego Chargers
Step two in our plan to make the Bowl truly Super would render the new conferences almost meaningless except when it came time to choose sides for the Pro Bowl. In the playoffs, teams from the Western Conference could meet teams from the Eastern Conference before the Super Bowl. Early-round matchups would be set according to seedings based on regular-season won-lost records just as they are now. All the usual tiebreakers would apply. This season, under this plan, the playoffs might have opened with the Broncos beating the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled until (UTC) due to vandalism. beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Super Bowl would match Green Bay and San Francisco, even though both would be from the Western Conference. Remember, when Green Bay and San Francisco met in the NFC championship game Jan. 11, people called it the ``real Super Bowl.'' The Packers would be expected to win that Super Bowl, but the point spread wouldn't be 12 points. Another thing: If, under this format, one conference dominated, regional pride would make the streak something people really would care about. Even the players. AS STREAKS GO, IT'S AN ALL-TIMER NFC teams have won 13 Super Bowls in a row. Here's a look at the corresponding streaks by one league or conference in major-league baseball, basketball and hockey championship play: NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= Longest: 12 titles in a row by the Eastern Conference (10 by the Boston Celtics), 1959-70. Current: 2 by the Eastern Conference (Chicago Bulls). BASEBALL Longest: 7 World Series victories in a row by the American League (6 by the New York Yankees Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ), 1947-53.
Current: 1 by the National League (Florida Marlins). NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there Longest: Comparisons are pointless; the league consisted of one division for most of its history. Current: 2 by the Western Conference. Source: Daily News research DOMINANCE ILLUSTRATED As expected, many of the records for prolific performance in a Super Bowl are held by the NFC. Here's a look at several of the most-telling categories. MOST POINTS 55 - San Francisco vs. Denver, 1990 52 - Dallas vs. Buffalo, 1993 49 - San Francisco vs. San Diego, 1995 46 - Chicago vs. New England, 1986 42 - Washington vs. Denver, 1988 39 - N.Y. Giants vs. Denver, 1987 MOST YARDS GAINED 602 - Washington vs. Denver, 1988 537 - San Francisco vs. Miami, 1985 461 - San Francisco vs. Denver, 1990 455 - San Francisco vs. San Diego, 1995 451 - San Francisco vs. Cincinnati, 1989 429 - Oakland vs. Minnesota, 1977 MOST YARDS RUSHING 280 - Washington vs. Denver, 1988 276 - Washington vs. Miami, 1983 266 - Oakland vs. Minnesota, 1977 252 - Dallas vs. Miami, 1972 249 - Pittsburgh vs. Minnesota, 1975 MOST YARDS PASSING 339 - San Francisco vs. Cincinnati, 1989 326 - San Francisco vs. Miami, 1985 322 - Washington vs. Denver, 1988 320 - Denver vs. N.Y. Giants, 1987 317 - San Francisco vs. Denver, 1990 MOST FIRST DOWNS 31 - San Francisco vs. Miami, 1985 28 - San Francisco vs. Denver, 1990 28 - San Francisco vs. San Diego, 1995 25 - Washington vs. Denver, 1988 25 - Buffalo vs. Washington, 1992 25 - Pittsburgh vs. Dallas, 1996 CAPTION(S): Box BOX: AS STREAKS GO, IT`S AN ALL-TIMER (see text) |
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