LISTMAKER: MONEYBALL

"The only football players in my time were fellows who really loved to play football. They were not in it for the money. There wasn't much money there. They would have played football for nothing.." 
- RED GRANGE


That can't be said of today's game, as the $9.5 billion a year behemoth that is the NFL dwarfs the next largest American sports league (MLB) by 25% and pays its quarterbacks an average $3,840,017, and even its kickers average $1,662,786 (the most under-appreciated position appears to be tight end, with an average salary of $1,420,890).

Some teams spend a lot more than others. Not surprisingly, the Cowboy's billionaire owner Jerry Jones has the 1st and 5th highest paid linebackers (Ware, Spencer), the highest paid tight end (Witten), and the overall fifth highest paid player in the NFL (Romo). The Broncos have three of the top 25 salaries in the NFL (Bailey, Manning, Dumervil). Player pay, however makes up less than 48% of total revenue. How does the rest of the spending affect on-the-field performance? Some teams have been very successful financially without being competitive.

For this week's big list, I decided to look at how NFL teams are using their revenue, based on how much each team is spending (these numbers fluctuate constantly, so my calculations are based on what they were on the day I pulled the data) compared to how much each team is winning. I compared the most recent spending data to the number of wins each team had in 2012.   I have ranked the five WORST managers of money in the NFL and the five BEST, based on how much overall cash spending each team incurs annually divided by the number of games that said teams won last year ($PW).

TICKER: Hernandez Officially Released

Aaron Hernandez has been officially released from the New England Patriots after his arrest this morning.

Respect for the team in making this tough decision - will their TE pass-heavy offense take a hit this fall?

LISTMAKER: CHAMPION CITY

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." 
- VINCE LOMBARDI

For this week's big list, I looked at NFL championships, from 1920 to the present, starting with AFPA/NFL championships, followed by Super Bowl championships beginning in 1967. Because franchises move and change names, I have credited championships to the city that the team resided in (with the exception of the ever in flux Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders... close enough), rather than to a specific franchise name. The top eleven cities are listed below. In cases where a city had the same number of championships, the year of their most recent championship decided the tie-breaker.

FRIEND PICK: CHICAGO BEARS

Elizabeth Singer gets the honor of being the first friend to write a guest editorial for this blog. Her comments on my Team Ticker article were a passionate, reasoned appeal for Chicago Bears Fandom. I have re-posted here with added illustrations and links.

LISTMAKER: LARGEST VENUES

Perhaps one of the most important things to consider when choosing an NFL team is ticket availability. If I'm going to be travelling out of state to go see my team, I would want to make sure there were seats available for my, my family, and crew! That's why I'm making a list of the top ten NFL stadiums by capacity for football seating*. Additionally, I took a look at the stadiums with a bird's eye view, courtesy of Google Maps.

*some stadiums have differing seating for concert venues, or multi-sport arrangements. For the purposes of this list, only seating for football games is considered

Information on stadium football capacity from wikipedia.org
Stadium photos from Google Maps

Team Ticker: JAX, NYG, and WAS drop

The Jacksonville Jaguars (JAX) trended down on news that video may exist of Maurice Jones-Drew punching a security guard in the head.

The New York Giants (NYG) dropped slightly with Hakeem Nick's second straight skipped voluntary Organized Team Activities.

Washington's (WAS) stock dropped dramatically after ESPN's scathing opinion piece calling for an end to the organization's continued use of a racist name and logo, and owner Daniel Snyder's refusal to even consider a name change.

Team Ticker: CHI Down, OAK Up

Brian Urlacher retiring, Bears (CHI) stock dips slightly.

Raiders (OAK) stock up slightly after signing Charles Woodson.

FIRST CONTACT

THE EXPERIMENT: SOLICITING A RESPONSE

Yesterday I searched the "Contact Us" sections of several NFL team websites, and wrote inquiries to a few of the teams that are near me, telling whomever reads the comments they receive that I am searching for a team to support, and asking them if they knew of a reason why I should support their team. If a team even responds, that could really add some points in the PROS column.

LISTMAKER: Fattest NFL Cities

What does the weight of the population say about the team? Does the girth of the citizenry indicate the deliciousness of the stadium food, or the awesomeness of the tailgating? This list breaks down the ten NFL team cities that have the highest rates of obesity. See if you can guess the number one, and feel free to comment.

Information on metropolitan obesity from www.governing.com.
Original art by Russell Carey

Team Ticker: JAX up, SF down

TEAM TICKER:

The Jaguars (JAX) trended up yesterday after Chuck Norris advised their GM.

The 49ers (SF) trended down as details of Crabtree's injury were released.

The Redskins (WAS) stayed even as Robert Griffin III said it's his goal to play Week 1, but stipulated "I'm not going to risk my career to play in one game".

First list coming soon...

The first list in my quest to pick an NFL team will be...

"Top 10 Fattest NFL Cities"

Does it mean I'll be squished in a stadium seat between two large, shirtless, painted guys?

Does it mean the food in and around the stadium is irresistibly good?

Will there be excessively long lines for beer?

Tune in soon for the results...

#Decision2013

The Decision 2013

I grew up and currently live in Arkansas, a state without an NFL team. Come football season I usually devote my weekend sports time to SEC football. I've never been in an NFL stadium. I've never had my heart broken by an NFL team. I've never cried when my team won the Super Bowl. I've decided that it's time to decide where my NFL loyalties will lie.

My dad's a Patriots fan, my best friends are split between the Cowboys and Saints. The Rams, Titans, and Chiefs are all within a 6 hour drive. The Ravens just won a Super Bowl. The Vikings have three former Razorbacks.

Every team in the NFL (except the Jets) has the possibility of being my future team. I'm a pros-and-cons, list-making, spreadsheet-comparison kind of guy, so I've decided to use this blog to compile information about the teams of the NFL as I make my final choice.

THE DECISION 2013 will take place on the draft day (TBD) of my fantasy football league.

Until then, feel free to critique my lists, add your comments, share your opinions, and attempt to influence my final decision.

I can use all the help I can get. This choice affects not only me, but my future children, their children, and their children's children. We're talking dozens of future _______ fans here!

Let the decisioning begin...