Are you ready for some football?

August is one of my favorite months of the year for one reason - the NFL Preseason. But instead of unfolding my admiration for football's exhibition games, which I've already done, I want to address the proposed changes to the NFL that are currently being discussed in order to reach a new labor deal between the owners and the player unions, as well as some other changes that have been or need to be made...

As much as I love the preseason, I must admit that three games might make more sense than four. However, I think extending the regular season beyond sixteen games is a disastrous mistake just waiting to happen. The NFL season is about as close to perfect as it can be as it is. I'm in favor of adding an additional bye week for teams, thus lengthening the duration of the regular season to eighteen weeks, but if teams start playing more games the sense of urgency and excitement that exists for each game will be diminished.

We live in a less is more world, and far too few realize it.

Charging season ticket holders full price for preseason games is indeed a shady business practice, but more concerning is that NFL teams are dissuading their fans from attending games in person due to their high ticket prices. Going to an NFL game is exciting, but watching at home is far more comfortable and, most importantly, affordable. The NFL as a league is not in danger of losing any fans, but I believe individual teams will experience more frequent blackouts of games, leaving fans in local markets without means to follow their favorite teams.

I agree that contracts need to be guaranteed, more or less, and that the NFL needs to do more to assist its retired players. In turn, the players have no argument against testing for PEDs, must understand that guaranteed contracts may have lower sticker values and the value of rookie contracts needs to be regulated.

The movement of the umpire from behind the linebackers to behind the offensive backfield is a move I can support given the motivation to protect the officials, but as was evident in the Colts-Packers preseason game, it does cause some problems. Aside from the umpire getting in the way of teams trying to run a no-huddle offense, he is also at a disadvantageous position for accurately flagging offensive holding penalties. I don't think the appropriate answer to looking out for the well-being of the umpire was to move him. Instead, I think protective equipment such as pads and a helmet may have been more effective - and maybe more agile umpires.

There's also a lot of buzz for the NFL's new overtime rules for the postseason. Personally, I think the league failed to follow the less is more mantra here again. The rules not bad, but it's far more complicated than it needs to be. The best and simplest answer is to just play an extra period of eight or ten minutes, especially in the postseason. I do see the merit of maintaining sudden-death in the regular season, so why not just eliminate the placekicker and have the first team to score a touchdown win? Better yet, in the postseason let's play until a team scores eight, meaning that the winning team must score a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to win.

And lastly, the NFL still needs to do something about its instant replay system. Far too often the referee goes under the hood of the sideline replay camera and marches back onto the field to make an incorrect ruling. Also, the coach's challenge system with the red flags is just ridiculous. Let's just have a replay official (or three) in a booth upstairs to monitor every play and communicate errors to the crew on the field. If the NCAA almost gets it right, surely the NFL can find a way.