Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/6065
LOST IN THE I've been treating the sports page like one of those laundry detergent commercials lately: "Compare Tide with other name brands to see what gets your clothes brighter!" Fair enough. Let's take Indianapolis, New Orleans and Minnesota: the brights. They're so crisp, refreshing, exciting; I want more. I can't wait to watch Peyton Manning and Drew Brees pick apart their next opponents, to watch the Minnesota defense put the fear of god into opposing quarterbacks, ultimately, to relish watching the next haymaker find its mark on one of the other NFL teams offered up for abuse. Those other teams, the grey soupy wash, the sopping, slouchy wad of colorless clothing that is the rest of the League. Hold the other 29 teams up and you'll see the Minnesota/Indy/New Orleans difference, and you'll never go back to your previous detergent of Arizona v. San Francisco or Miami v. Jacksonville again. Or your money back. It's been a rough year for the NFL, to say the least. An abysmal Thursday night schedule (Carolina, Houston, Buffalo, Cleveland… fun!), ho-hum games in Toronto and London, an awful Thanksgiving lineup, a series of NFL gambles that have flopped. I'm just thankful I canceled my DirecTV football package when I did. I couldn't take another week of sifting through blowout after blowout, hoping to find that one Vince Young comeback or Brett Favre Hail Mary to salvage an otherwise crummy day of football. Now, watching just the highlights and the nationally televised games and reading the sports page, I feel liberated. I don't toil through my Sundays anymore, and I've actually gained an appreciation for what's happening to the NFL this year. Basically, it's become a passer's league. It started with Kurt Warner and the Rams in 1999 and was reinforced when Belichick took over the Patriots and led them to three Superbowls. Now, not only are the NFL WASH Writer>>TyLer anDrews 26 LIVEMAGS.NET JANUARY>>10