Commish For a Day

When you’re watching a Ravens game, or talking some pigskin by the water cooler on Monday, do you ever complain about something in the NFL, or any league?  You think, “if I were commissioner, I would change this, I would change that.”  Sports fans always think it about their favorite league, or think about being the GM of their favorite team, or saying how they could be a much better owner than Peter Angelos.  

Roger Goodell is in my opinion, the best commish in sports right now.  David Stern of the NBA seems like he has a bendable spine, Gary Bettman of the NHL and Bud Selig of the MLB, well…let’s just say Goodell is the best.  What would I change about the NFL if I had the power of Roger Goodell, just for one day?  Well, here you go:

• Bring back force-outs.  Last year was the first season where defensive backs could push receivers out of bounds before they have the shot to get their feet down.  For whatever reason, I just don’t think that’s fair.  When they catch the ball they should have an opportunity to get both their 18-sized feet down.
• Let the players celebrate….kind of.  I would let the players celebrate all they want, it was incredibly fun that year when Chad Johnson Ochocinco came up with touchdown dance after dance every time he scored.  With that, though, players should have to be finished their celebration in under 15 seconds or until the field goal unit comes on the field, whichever comes first.  No penalties for the celebrations would mean chaos.
• Actually make real fines.  When players do celebrations that the league fines for, they get maybe a $75,000 fine at the very most, and when they say things that are completely inappropriate after games, they get a nominal fine of $20,000. Like I said, if there are no big consequences, players won’t stop doing things.  The fines are so small, and barely put a little dent in players’ salaries.
• Expand NFL Network’s success.  Yes, it is incredibly good right now, and maybe some people like it this way, but I think there is too much game replay and highlights, and not enough analysis/interviews/etc.  Yes, you’ve got ESPN and your local channels like MASN here in Baltimore, NESN in Boston, Comcast Sportsnet in Philly, so on and so forth, but the NFL Network should be able to get the best analysts and the easiest access to teams and players.
• Have a slotting system.  These rookies are getting paid too much, when they’ve done nothing yet as a pro.  Not one snap, and they’re making more than guys who have been in the league, starting, even, for 7-10 years.  If I were the head honcho of the NFL, I would establish a logical system with the players’ union that gives pick #1 $XXX, pick #2 $XXX, and just keep it going like that for all 7 rounds.  Yes, they will still have high salaries, but you won’t think “holy crap” every time you see a rookie just signed with an NFL team.  
• No future draft picks could be traded.  I wouldn’t let teams mortgage their future by trading away draft picks from next season in the current draft.  Sure, many big names wouldn’t be moved, but wait until one month after the draft.  That way, teams don’t make impulsive deals that their fans will eventually hate if they don’t work out.
• Mandate guidelines for press credentials.  This is more of a thing that I like because I’m a blogger, but I would make guidelines that every team has to strictly follow that would only let certain people get media credentials.  I would say that they have to be either local writers, team-specific bloggers, people from the wire service or well-established national writers.  So no more reporters from the Nashua Telegraph (New Hampshire) at a Ravens game, if that’s ever happened before.  

So, what would you change, sound off any way you want, comments, email, Twitter, do whatever you knuckleheads like to network yourself with.  Now, without further ado, my spankin’ new sign-off on every post.

The Ebony Bird is proud to be FanSided.com’s Baltimore Ravens blog, and is all over those social networking things.  Follow on Twitter, subscribe to the RSS feed, email Joe here, and hype up the EB’s articles on BallHype.  Only if you want to.  Check out FanSided’s main site here, and the Orioles blog I contribute to here. And no, the network did not force me to make this. Seriously.