Reverend Conehead
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There are some things that I miss about earlier decades of the NFL, then there are other things that I'm glad are gone. Post the "good riddance" things of the NFL, stuff you're glad are gone for good. I'll start.
1. Astroturf. Thank God this awful playing surface that caused injuries is gone. The league found a better artificial playing surface that is much more like natural grass, thank goodness. That's what the Cowboys have adopted, and, of course, some teams still have natural grass. But that astroturf was this hard carpet that was very unforgiving and caused all kinds of ankle and knee injuries, among others. I don't think any thing could top astroturf for good riddance, save for something really old like leather helmets.
2. The single-bar facemask. The single-bar didn't do jack for protecting a player. A lot of kickers, and even some quarterbacks had one. Don Meredith and Billy Kilmer both used the single-bar. It was garbage. Good riddance to it.
3. Strike-shortened seasons. Okay, this one isn't necessarily gone for good. A strike could happen again, but at least it's been a long time since one of these happened. It really sucked when you got all pumped for a new NFL season only to have several weeks of no play, and then a weird playoff selection process when less than 16 games per team had been played. This happened in '82 and '87. In '87 the league even made the bizarre decision to use replacement players. They brought in some scrubs to play football, and the result was some very poor quality play that was not up to NFL standards. It is still possible for a strike to happen, so this one is not necessarily history, as much as I would like it to be.
Your turn. What is something the league has gotten rid of that you're glad is gone, hopefully for good.
1. Astroturf. Thank God this awful playing surface that caused injuries is gone. The league found a better artificial playing surface that is much more like natural grass, thank goodness. That's what the Cowboys have adopted, and, of course, some teams still have natural grass. But that astroturf was this hard carpet that was very unforgiving and caused all kinds of ankle and knee injuries, among others. I don't think any thing could top astroturf for good riddance, save for something really old like leather helmets.
2. The single-bar facemask. The single-bar didn't do jack for protecting a player. A lot of kickers, and even some quarterbacks had one. Don Meredith and Billy Kilmer both used the single-bar. It was garbage. Good riddance to it.
3. Strike-shortened seasons. Okay, this one isn't necessarily gone for good. A strike could happen again, but at least it's been a long time since one of these happened. It really sucked when you got all pumped for a new NFL season only to have several weeks of no play, and then a weird playoff selection process when less than 16 games per team had been played. This happened in '82 and '87. In '87 the league even made the bizarre decision to use replacement players. They brought in some scrubs to play football, and the result was some very poor quality play that was not up to NFL standards. It is still possible for a strike to happen, so this one is not necessarily history, as much as I would like it to be.
Your turn. What is something the league has gotten rid of that you're glad is gone, hopefully for good.
