The Wheelhouse Returns! Ringing in the New Year...

To say it's been a while would be a severe understatement. It's been approximately six months since my last post (whoa!), but maybe this can be the start of a new rule at The Wheelhouse...when a MLB pitcher throws a perfect game, we shut down the site for the rest of the year in honor of it. OK, maybe not.

Let me start by wishing everyone a happy New Year and decade! I have an internal debate going on with some friends over the nickname of this decade, whether it's the "Tens" or the "Teens." I think it's the "Tens," but that's just my opinion and maybe this will lead to a longer discussion in a separate post further down the road.

I usually don't make new year resolutions, but I'm making an exception this year for this blog. My resolution is to take the time to write and update The Wheelhouse significantly more than was done in 2009. I have already made the effort to jot down a couple topics to discuss throughout the year on top of the usual posts, so rest easy.

Moving on from the housekeeping and new year talk, tomorrow is the final week of the regular season in the NFL. As usual we have plenty of meaningless games as teams that have already clinched divisions and playoff berths and will promptly lay down while resting their starters for the postseason. Post-Gazette Steelers beat writer Ed Bouchette brings up a great point in his Sunday column when he asked what's the difference between laying down and throwing games?

I don't see any difference between the two. Just because one team clinches doesn't mean another team fighting for a playoff berth should get an easy game and not have to fully earn their way into the playoffs. There has to be some degree of integrity that remains in these games even if the Colts are 14-0 and decided they don't want to try for history and just lay down to the Jets instead. And what happened to the old theory of competition where players just wanted to beat the other team on the field to prove they were the better team?

Another point that needs to be addressed since it appears the NFL is on the path to add two additional regular season games, how many meaningless games will fans have to watch at the end of the season with teams clinching divisions and first-round byes with four and five games left instead of one or two? If the NFL is serious about going to an 18-game schedule, this resting starters and meaningless games business has to be addressed. The entire playoff picture in the final weeks of the season could be thrown out of whack if the top teams are basically throwing in the towel.

UPDATE (January 3): During today's Steelers-Dolphins game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the issue in my post yesterday regarding teams laying down and producing meaningless games. Here's the link to the article. Goodell said it's something that will be looked at in the offseason while mentioning that incentives (possibly extra draft picks) could be added for teams to play out their entire season. Time will tell if it's just talk or the NFL will make a move to eliminate these uncompetitive games.