[net.sport.football] "Re: hello out there...

jwr@ihlpf.UUCP (06/21/84)

#R:ccieng5:-49100:ihlpf:8800001:000:3092
ihlpf!ctb    Jun 15 15:38:00 1984

good point.  i had forgot that i even subscribed to this notes group.
you're right.  we(well, i) don't give a *&$@! about the USFL.

i think in the long run it's not the best thing for pro football.
it dilutes the quality of play.  in pro football you have X players.
you have G good players (above average) and S superstars (very few,
one or two per team perhaps).  then there are the masses, M.  these
are the average, sub-average players.  VERY ROGHLY

	M = 80% of X

	G = 10-15% of X

	S = 5-10% of X
	

these are rough numbers, and not too important to the point i'm trying to
make.  

the number of superstars is more or less a constant.  a certain number of
superstars join the ranks of pro football every year.  (it varies, but 
remember, we're looking at the BIG picture).  the number of good players
is also something of a constant.  the number of the rest (the masses, M)
is a variable, depending on the number of slots left in pro football
after the G's and S's have found their spot.  it should be obvious that
if an S or G comes along he WILL make it on an existing pro team, simply
because he's in the top 20% or so of his peers.

if you accept my premise that S and G are roughly constants and the M's
fill the rest of the holes, the rest is easy...

when you add a new league a couple of things happen:

	a) you create more slots.  this does NOT increase the number of
		G's or S's.  remember, they would have made it in the original
		league simply by the fact they are G's or S's.  so we have
		increased (in the case of the USFL, greatly increased) the
		the number of M's playing ball.  more people who would have
		originally been 'cut' are on the team.

	b) (this follows from a)  the QUALITY of players on a team
		(quality = percentage of S's and G's of the entire teams
		lineup) goes down.  team=S + G + M, and M just went
		WAY up.

and BOOM, (b) is my reason for not liking the USFL. i think the overall
quality of football goes DOWN when the talent is spread so thin.
i don't think there is enough talent to support both leagues.
not that new teams shouldn't be considered/added, but to add a whole
new league in one shot with the NFL big as it is.....

all that comes from the football purist in me.  on the other side of the
fence, the USFL just represents another reason NFL players can hold out
for more money(even though they never intend to go to the USFL).  it
makes contract negotiations nasty, saleries higher, and holdouts more abundant.
i think all that crap get's in the way of FOOTBALL.



ok, there's my reply.  tear it up, guys(gals, whatever!).
replies to:   ...!ihdev!rjv


	can you tell i went to a football school??
	boomer sooner,
		ron
	


ps  this has NOTHING to do with college football.  i don't want to hear the
ol' "there's HUNDREDS" of college football teams.  different story.  they have
different divisions, they don't play at a PRO level, they have...TCU! (sorry 
mom, sorry dad) when you walk into a college game, you expect a lot of no-names.

pps  besides all that, i hate watching a game where there are more players
than fans.