Let me first say that this column will not be about the World Series, since it involves some of the best pitching in baseball (the Detroit Tigers: Rogers, Verlander and Bonderman) against some of the worst pitching in baseball (the St. Louis Cardinals: Weaver, Suppan and Reyes).
With that kind of matchup, the Tigers should clearly win. But since it is baseball, we will have to wait and see if we crown one of the most undeserving teams in the history of Major League Baseball.
It was the combination of the idea of a terrible baseball team being crowned champion coupled with another heartbreaking Eagles loss that led me to my current topic: the mediocrity of the NFL.
The National Football League is far and away the best success story of the four major sports in terms of creating an effective system of a salary cap and revenue sharing. As a result, no football team in the past ten years has been consistently bad (except for the Texans, but more on them later).
The question for fans is whether this revenue sharing has made the NFL more exciting or more mediocre.
I don't care how you try to sell it, but this more competitive NFL sucks. With the loss of truly dominant teams, the NFL has lost some of its marketability, since true "winners" are hard to come by.
Last season started the trend, and it's becoming ever clearer this season: There is no team in football that is clearly the class of the NFL. On any given Sunday, any team can earn a victory, and contrary to conventional wisdom, that stinks.
In 2004, the Patriots, Steelers and Eagles jumped out to gaudy records to begin the season, and all three teams (along with the Colts) were very impressive. These four teams were the only ones capable of competing against each other, with the Steelers beating both the Patriots and Eagles during the regular season, and the Patriots beating all three teams on its course to the Super Bowl championship that year.
But since that victory, there has been a dearth of great teams.
Last season's Super Bowl between Seattle and Pittsburgh showcased two very mediocre teams. The Steelers narrowly earned a playoff spot by winning their final four games after dropping to 7-5.
In the playoffs, the Steelers benefited by taking out Carson Palmer to beat Cincinnati (who had to throw Jon Kitna into the mix), avoiding elimination thanks to some help from Mike Vanderjagt in the second round and rattling Jake Plummer in the AFC championship game as the Steelers reached the Super Bowl with three straight road wins.
In the Super Bowl, they found themselves up against the best team in the NFC, but not exactly the most impressive team in football. The Seahawks had a strong defense anchored by Lofa Tatupu and a strong running game thanks to Shaun Alexander and offensive linemen Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson. But the teams that the Seahawks disposed of - the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Redskins - were nothing to write home about.
The Super Bowl matchup, one of the worst in recent memory, was highlighted by an incredibly boring first half of defense. Somebody had to win, and the Steelers, having forced turnovers and broken a long run for Willie Parker, were crowned Super Bowl Champions.
I challenge you to name a Super Bowl team in the last ten years that would have lost their Super Bowl title to the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers.
The most alarming part of that realization is that the NFL is headed in the same direction this year. We could easily see another mediocre Super Bowl champion, since every team in the league has had games this season in which they underperformed.
The two undefeated teams - the Colts and the Bears - both could easily lose their first playoff games (assuming both teams continue their winning ways). Watching Rex Grossman crumble on the road in Arizona reminded Chicago fans of their perennial quarterback woes, while the Colts have yet to find a run-stopper and have faced close calls from Jacksonville and Tennessee - both of which came at home.
The Patriots, Broncos, Chargers and Bengals have all lost this season in games they clearly had no business losing, while Jacksonville managed to trump them all and do the unthinkable: losing in Houston to an inferior Texans team.
Besides the Bears, NFC contenders like the Saints and Panthers have not been dominating. The Eagles have slipped to 4-3, the result of numerous turnovers and fourth-quarter woes, while the Giants, Seahawks, Rams and Falcons are winning and losing with incredible unpredictability.
Football fans everywhere appreciate a dominant team, regardless of whether they cheer for that team. Fans like to see a team execute. But the current crop of mediocre teams has yet to showcase a champion, although one team will inevitability claim that distinction. We will have to wait until February to see if that team really earns its title.
