I DON'T BELIEVE I AM ADEQUATELY PREPARED FOR SOME FOOTBALL . . .

I just wanted to mention how the NFL is repeatedly shooting itself in the foot. Not only has the officiating/video review aspect of the game become godawful, the wide receivers turned into loud mouth divas, and the two week hype-a-thon for the Super Bowl interminable, but they've decided to add more games on Thursday and Saturday nights next season.

NEW YORK - The NFL Network will broadcast eight prime-time games on Thursdays and Saturdays beginning next season.

The eight-game package, announced by commissioner Paul Tagliabue on Saturday, will begin with a game on Thanksgiving night. All of the games also will be shown on local stations in the teams' home markets. The package was created by taking Saturday and Sunday games that originally would have been shown by the league's broadcast partners.

The league runs the 2-year-old NFL Network, which is in about 40 million homes. The addition of games to its lineup almost assuredly will increase that number.

I don't currently get this channel, so this move doesn't directly affect me, but this move is perplexing. The NFL used to be a lot more special because it had its own day, Sunday, and the build-up and suspense gave the sport some juice, something to talk about during the week. With the explosion of televised sports in the 70s, the creation of "Monday Night Football" was invitable, but even this weekly one-game showcase has been in serious decline (and has been relegated to ESPN in 2006). But now (just like college football, which is on almost every day during the season), with games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday AND Monday nights, how is anyone going to know when anyone's playing? Besides, are people clamoring to watch late night football every day of the week? I don't know a single person who wishes there were more 9:00 PM Thursday games in December (especially tailgaters). Actually, the one thing I agree with is having a night game on Turkey Day, since the MST3K Marathon no longer exists (in anyone's house but mine, that is).

Since this makes no logical sense, this whole decision must be based on money. The marketing "geniuses" probably think this will make every game special, but it's going to do the opposite in my opinion. They're getting overly greedy by spreading it out, further diluting an already declining product. Oh, I know the advertising revenue is not declining; on the contrary, it keeps going up! But it seems that no one cares about the actual games, or the fans, any more. So since we're screwing around with the NFL and Sunday is no longer sacred, how about we have the Super Bowl on SATURDAY NIGHT?? Think of the possibilities--people would go out to bars, spend more on food, and drink MORE BEER.