From: drxmann@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Dustin R. Christmann)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Re: NFL Realignment
Date: 4 Sep 92 07:01:49 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1992Sep4.002043.13924@asuvax.eas.asu.edu> kennedy@asuvax.eas.asu.edu (Ralph Kennedy) writes:
>     Oh please.  First of all, just because you're
>a student posting from an .edu site, don't assume
>everyone else doing so is in an equally primitive
>stage of development.  And secondly, saying "screw
>you" like I did isn't whining.  You're crying about
>it is.

No, I'm just proposing how it could be better.  And for the vast majority of
teams, it would be better.

>     I don't see a need to redo the entire NFL.  Minor
>patches like switching Phoenix and Atlanta where both
>teams are amenable to the change would be more than
>adequate.  Assuming any changes are needed at all.

Changes ARE needed because the structure of the league is throwback to the AFL-
NFL days.  That was more than 20 years ago.  Now AFC and NFC are meaningless
and frankly, unnecessary.  Pro football is much different than it was back in
1970.  Two expansion teams joined the league in 1976, the Super Bowl is now a
global event and not just a national one, teams have changed hands numerous
times, and so on.

The NFL is now ONE league and not just a union of two different ones.  It's
high time the league's structure reflected it.

Oh and if you don't like the Cardinals traveling all the way to Missouri under
my proposal, let us consider how the NFC would if just a few changes were made
here and there.

NFC East: Atlanta, NY Giants, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington

So far, so good.

NFC Central: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota, New Orleans

Still looking OK...

NFC West: Dallas, Phoenix, LA Rams, San Francisco

Well, excuse me, but the Cards would STILL have to go to Dallas.  Oh, and I
forgot about expansion.  Well let's suppose St. Louis (one of my original
guesses) ends up in the NFC:

East: Atlanta, NY Giants, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Washington

Now comes the fun part.  Where does St. Louis go?  If they go to the Central,
one of the teams has to move into the West.  And all are farther away than
St. Louis (or Kansas City, for that matter).  And if St. Louis goes into the
West, you get the double-whammy of still having to Missouri (but this time,
the eastern side) and the Cards traveling to St, Louis once every year.  A lot
of fans are still there, but so are a lot of bitter people.

So let's look at the tradeoffs:

Instead of traveling to Houston, you go to LA.  That's an advantage, I suppose.
However, there not much difference between the distances to Denver and SF. So,
for all practical purposes, no gain.  Also, instead of going to KC you'd be
looking at (at best) St. Louis, which is a 100-200 miles farther, so a slight
loss.  Overall, it's not much better than my plan.

And that is the best possible scenario if you keep the AFC-NFC crap.  Why?
St. Louis is now the most western city being considered for expansion, since
the NFL eliminated Oakland, Sacramento, and San Antonio over the spring.

Anyway you slice it, Phoenix is still going to have to do a bit more traveling
by virtue of its location.  The difference with my plan is that everyone else
won't.  Sure, you could stick the Cards in a division with all the CA teams,
but that would leave Seattle as the odd man out, and Seattle having to travel
to KC, Dallas, and Houston (and vice versa) makes even less sense than for
Phoenix to do so.

So until Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, and Boise get expansion teams and allow
formation of a Rocky Mountain Division of sorts, Phoenix will always have the
predicament as where they belong.

>     Sorry, I hate artificial turf and I hate
>domes.  They're somewhat understandable in a place
>like Minnesota, but there's no excuse for them
>in Texas and Louisiana.

Spoken like someone who has never lived in Houston in August (100 degrees, 90%
humidity) or in New Orleans (similar).  And BTW, the Astrodome was originally
built for the (surprise!) Astros, who, when they were the Colt 45's, were con-
stantly being rained out in the spring, and subjecting players to heat stroke
in summer.  If any place doesn't need a dome, it's Minnesota and Detroit.
-- 
Thanx,			|   Team OS/2	| Internet: drxmann@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Dustin R. Christmann	| (I was there) | Bitnet: DRXMANN@UTXVM
  Editor-in-chief of the ARAPOUT: All the news that is fit to print...NOT!
	Alpha Rho Chapter - Alpha Phi Omega - The University of Texas
"My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60.  She's 93 to-
day -- and we don't know where the hell she is."	-- Ellen DeGeneres
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro