Parity or Mediocrity?

cubfanindy · Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:50 pm Post subject: Parity or Mediocrity?

I heard an interesting discussion on talk radio this morning. More often than not, people seem to like the parity in the NFL. In Major League Baseball you might have a couple of nice surprises, but for the most part, you know what teams will be contenders – the White Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, Red Sox, etc. Whoever is willing to spend the money can contend. In the NFL, with all of its parity, you never know from one season to the next who is going to be good.

I’m going to take the side of the caller. I’m not a big fan of the parity. The caller had a couple of great lines that I’d like to give him credit for, but unfortunately, I didn’t catch the name, and I’m not 100% sure which sports talk show I was listening to this morning.
1. “We confuse parity with mediocrity.”
2. “Just because a game is close, doesn’t mean it’s good.
He’s right. We’ve just had a lot of bad football in the NFL lately. Personally, I like to see the dynasties, as they give the game more drama. You can’t have a feel-good David and Goliath story if Goliath is 10-6 after a .500 season the year before. I like to have an idea who is going to contend for the Super Bowl. This year many of the experts were picking Carolina. It seemed reasonable at the time.

The problem is that there is no rhyme or reason to who is going to be good and who isn’t. It seems that every year a major contender just falls off of the map, seemingly without cause. Pittsburgh Steelers, take a bow.

I understand the other side of the issue. Everyone wants to feel that their team has a chance, and honestly, with the NFL the way it is today, practically everyone does. Overall, I am in favor of salary caps. Realistically, the problem is probably not the parity, it’s the lack of talent in the NFL. Just at the QB position and all of the starters who lost their jobs to rookies this season.
I agree with the caller – we often confuse parity with mediocrity.