I really wanted to write about the latest breaking news in Kansas City Chiefs football this week. There’s just one problem. There isn’t any. I turn on ESPN and the only football news I get is more Saints bountygate, blah, blah, blah. At this point I’m ready to put a bounty on anybody that tries to talk about bountygate one more time. We thought we had escaped the collective bargaining agreement once the lockout ended last summer, but now not even one year later we’ve got the players association crying that Roger Goodell has too much power when it comes to discipline issues.

I’M SORRY, WHO GAVE HIM THAT POWER?!?!?!?

I was under the impression that the players association actually had representatives that helped negotiate the deal and that the players as a group signed off on it. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it because then I’d have to put a bounty out on myself. However, it did get me thinking.

What would I do if I had almighty power over the NFL?

Now that’s a game I can play to pass some time during the offseason. To me there are some simple changes that need to be made and I think I may just be the man for the job. So this week I’ll hit you up with my campaign platform for NFL Comissioner/Almighty King of the NFL Universe (this last part should be said by cupping your hands around your mouth, using the loudest/lowest voice possible, and then echoing “Universe” 2-3 times).

1. Let the players have some fun.

Here’s the thing, I think Goodell has it right when it comes to cleaning up the game. I’m fine with getting rid of the helmet to helmet hits and handing out harsh suspensions for players who break the rules. That’s all well and good, but you can only get away with that if the players are behind you. That will never happen if you don’t let the players have some fun. So the first part of my “fun campaign” is putting TD celebrations back in. You can choreograph whatever you want, use teammates, even use “props.” There would only be one game per week where the players wouldn’t be allowed to do TD celebrations and that’s Monday Night Football. Why you ask? Well for MNF I would hire both Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, who both will be happy for a paycheck (Ocho’s done; he won’t make Miami’s final cut). Each one would be assigned one of the teams from the game that night and when their team scored, they would do a celebration right in front of Roger Goodell, who I would keep on the NFL payroll just so I could force him to sit on the sidelines for MNF games and have those two take turns doing ridiculous TD celebrations in front of him. Fans would then go online and vote on which of the two former diva WRs had the best celebrations that night and in the postgame they would announce the winner. Goodell would have to shake the winner’s hand and present him with a golden sharpie.

That should get the players on my side.

Just in case that’s not enough, I would also allow each team to pick two players each week that could tweet from the sideline. One from the offense and one from the defense. The team would pick the players so that way if they didn’t trust someone to control themselves, they could refuse to pick that guy. Also, players could only tweet when their side of the ball was off the field. Social media isn’t going away so you might as well embrace it and control its use.

2. Stop ripping fans off with the preseason games.

Roger Goodell has constantly tried to champion the NFL going to an 18 game regular season. He claims that its for the fans. Fans love regular season football. Fans don’t like paying regular season prices for preseason games. So naturally the only solution is to take away 2 preseason games and replace them with 2 regular season ones. WRONG!!!!! With players suing the NFL every other day for their health problems related to playing in the NFL and the league claiming they want to make the league safer, adding two more regular season games isn’t an option. The real solution is simple but Goodell will never stand up to the greedy owners to back it. CHARGE LESS FOR PRESEASON GAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s my plan:

The first two preseason games would be played at or near the team’s training camp facility. So the Chiefs would play one game in St. Joseph and one game at the training camp location of one of their preseason opponents. These games could still be televised, but admission would be open to the public at $5 per ticket. It would help the local economies of the training camp cities and allow fans from different areas to see NFL football at a price anyone can afford. The fans would be excited to be there and you could probably bring some new fans in since many training camps are held in areas that don’t have their own NFL team.

The second part of this plan is that the final two preseason games will be played in the regular NFL stadiums like they currently are. The difference is that NFL owners will be forced to charge half price for the tickets to these games. If a seat costs $100 in the regular season it costs $50 in the preseason. The owners could still charge full price for parking and concessions, but tickets must be half price.

The owners would throw a fit that I’m taking money out of their pockets, but if they don’t like it they can sell the team to someone else. After all, I’m the Almighty King of the NFL Universe (again, hands cupped, echo, etc.).

3. The Pro Bowl must be completely revamped.

Okay, the Pro Bowl is a joke. The fans know it. The players know it. Roger Goodell knows it. Fans tune in because they just love anything that has to do with NFL football. Here’s what I’m going to do. The game is gone. There is no football game. We’ll still call it the Pro Bowl for tradition’s sake, but it will actually be a position by position skills competition. It will be moved back to the weekend after the Super Bowl so that players from the Super Bowl teams could compete. What would happen is that each position would do a series of combine-esque drills. There would be a scoring system for each drill and after all of that position’s drills the player with the highest score would be named that year’s Pro Bowl Champion at their position. This would come with a hefty cash award so the players would be motivated both by the money and for bragging rights. Tell me you wouldn’t rather watch Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Eli Manning battle it out in a series of passing contests more than that sorry game of touch football that the Pro Bowl has become.

So there you go, Addicts, that’s my platform for being Almighty King of the NFL Universe (you know the drill by now). Do I have your vote? Who’s with me? Do you have your own platform? Are you interested in running against me? I’d love to hear your thoughts. So hit me up in the comments section with your ideas.

As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

US PRESSWIRE

Tonight Kansas City Chiefs linebackers Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson will represent their team in the annual NFL Pro Bowl.

The Pro Bowl is a nice honor for the players but as an actual football game/all-star game, it sucks. This is a shame and very unlike the NFL. The league does such a great job of hyping up and promoting their various events and in most cases, those events deliver. If they didn’t, professional football wouldn’t be the most popular sport in America.

Yet the Pro Bowl is a joke among NFL fans. To avoid injuries, defense is pretty much outlawed. There is no press coverage and no blitzing. The defenders don’t really want to nail the QBs, so don’t expect a lot of sacks. Should Tamba Hali get anywhere near the QB, we’re likely to hear whistles blowing the play dead from every angle.

I’ve never understood why the NFL doesn’t alter the contest to make it more enjoyable for the players and fans. Why not mic up all the players so the fans can listen in and get to know what it is like in an NFL huddle? Why not treat it like a back yard football game of two hand touch? The players would have an incredibly decreased risk of injury and would likely have a lot more fun with the game. The coaches could dial up trick plays, lineman could play QB, anything could happen.

As the game stands now, we likely won’t have a very good time watching Tamba and DJ because they won’t really be able to do what they do best; play full tilt defense.

Still, as boring as the Pro Bowl can be, I’ll be watching tonight to support DJ and Tamba. It’s the last time we’ll get to see Chiefs football until August and even if it is a little boring, it sure beats the alternative.

We’ll have an open thread so be sure to stop by. We can talk about the draft and turn the Pro Bowl into a drinking game or something.

Take if from me, branding is important.  Instantaneous recognition and association by your target demographic/audience with your brand enhances not only your business, but enhances your product or service for the people looking for it.  With that said, this week at AA we officially launched our branded articles with user submitted artwork.  I personally love my “Nick’s Blitz” logo, and would like to thank Tyler for taking the time to design it for me since I barely know how to use the internets, let alone photoshop.  Thank you to everyone who took time to help make this site even better, we are all very thrilled with the submissions and are in your debt.

This week Big Matt turned his grading powers to the Chiefs coaching staff, while Victor came down with a case of Pro Bowl fever after more and more Chiefs were named to the roster.  I posted that I think the Chiefs have an “identity crisis,” and Merlin compared KC fans to, yes, Yankee fans wondering who we would be willing to live with in absence of an all Pro Bowl team.  Finally Jeremy brought up the horror of the Chiefs 41 year Super Bowl drought and voiced his frustration with fair weather fans of Super Bowl teams.  Jeremy, if you want to watch a Chiefs Super Bowl in a room alone, then I’d like to be in the room with you.  Just kidding, that would be a little weird.

So Addicts, what do you want to talk about?  I know a lot of you are fresh off of spitting venom at Double D for his article saying the Chiefs need to hire Jeff Fisher, and it’s cool, he can take it.  Just a couple of thoughts before I’m out.  Which Chiefs are you most looking forward to see play during the Pro Bowl?  Do you like the idea of having the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl, seeing now that it has helped a couple of our guys out?  That’s all I got, have a good night!

Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, site of the 2011 Pro Bowl: "Aloha" has many meanings, including "Hello," "Goodbye," "I Love You," and "What the $%&, Ref?? You Call THAT Pass Interference?!?"

It’s the end of January and the Kansas City Chiefs—six five of them!—are still playing. That is something to celebrate, and more importantly, something to watch. It will be great to see Jamaal Charles et. al. back in uniform on my TV, and not just on the faces of random strangers.

Now, as I may have hinted at last week, I’m not normally a fan of the Pro Bowl, if you define “fan” as “someone who is aware that the game is on while the game is actually still on.” I mean, it’s hard to accept the claim that the Pro Bowl only features the best of the best of the best of the NFL, when exceptions are made for those players who are:

a) Even the slightest bit injured.
b) Faking injury.
c) Skipping the game because they would rather stay home and pout, without even bothering to fake injury.
d) Actually playing for either of the two best teams in the NFL.

And, as you all probably also know, there are special regulations for the Pro Bowl:

(more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs have a game this weekend.

Sort of.

With last night’s news that Tamba Hali and Eric Berry (or Hali Berry as they are being referred to in the interwebs) have been added to the Pro Bowl roster for the AFC, the Chiefs now have 6 players on the team. 4 on offense and 2 on defense.

On offense, it is possible that the QB, RB, WR and G on the field at one time could all be Chiefs. That is a lot of Arrowheads for an 11-man offense.

(more…)

After Matt Cassel, Jamaal Charles, Brian Waters and Dwayne Bowe got nominated to this year’s NFL Pro Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs defense finally got their due when OLB Tamba Hali and S Eric Berry were named as replacements for Troy Polamalu and James Harrison.

With the Pro Bowl now being played the week before the Super Bowl instead of after, qualifying players on the championship teams have to bow out in order to play in the big game. Thus when the Steelers won the AFC Championship last night, two Kansas City Chiefs were next in line.

For Hali, he gets the Pro Bowl birth many thought he deserved the first time around. Tamba was second in the NFL in sacks this season with 14.5 sacks. He also added 52 tackles and 4 forced fumbles for his best season as a pro.

(more…)