The 10 Most Ridiculous Decisions of the NFL (No Fun League)

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The NFL is the best professional sport going.  They do so many things right, and the number of people watching the games each weekend proves that.

They do, however, make some decisions that boggle the mind.

Here are a few of the decisions that have been made by the NFL that earned the league the No Fun League nickname.

Penalizing Props in Touchdown Celebrations

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Touchdown celebrations have always been one of the best parts of the game.  You never knew what guys like Terrell Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Joe Horn were going to do.

A couple of years ago they decided that using a prop of any kind would result in a 15-yard penalty.  That took a lot of fun out of the game.

Not Handing out Fines Based on Income

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The NFL fines players the same regardless of how much money they make.  That is ridiculous, and frankly defeats the purpose of the fine in a lot of instances.

Take this example: The NFL fined Jaguars rookie Mike Lockley and Ndamukong Suh the same amount for hits in the preseason.  Lockley was making the league minimum.  Suh's deal pays him more than $50 million over five years.

Penalizing Team Celebrations

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There have been a lot of good team celebrations through the years, so naturally the NFL decided to penalize those as well.  Any celebration where more than one person is involved results in a 15-yard penalty.

You would think they would want teams to celebrate since they are doing their best to take individualism out of the game.

Moving the Kickoff Up Five Yards

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They did it in the name of player safety, which is important, but I am not sure how much safer this makes the players.  A lot of the collisions happen before the returner decides if he is going to return the kick or not.

So all it has done is take one of the more exciting plays out of the game.

Charging Full Price for Preseason Games

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Preseason football games are really boring.  The most you ever get to see of the starters is a half.  In three out of the four games the starters only play a series or two.

Yet every NFL team charges full ticket price for people to get in to see these games.  That is ridiculous with as much money as the league is making these days.  Every team could afford to discount these games.

Suggesting an 18-Game Schedule

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Roger Goodell thought he was going to get a lot of public support when he proposed the 18-game schedule.  Turns out he was wrong.

The first people to speak out against it were the players.  They went on record early and often talking about how it was a bad idea.

The more surprising thing was that the fans did not want it either.  The schedule is just so perfect the way it is now.  There is no need to mess with perfection.

Telling the Referees To Look for Concussions

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This does not have anything to do with taking fun out of the league, but it is stupid that they are now asking officials to look for signs of concussions from players during games.

I guess the officials do not already have enough going on.  It seems to me like they have enough things to think about during the game without adding something else to their plates.

Reviewing Every Scoring Play

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NFL does instant replay right.  The coaches get challenges; they get rewarded for winning and penalized for losing.

Yet for some reason, they decided this season that every scoring play needed to be reviewed.  This takes some of the strategy out of the game because the coach can sit back and wait for the referee to get buzzed.

It also slows down the game because some plays are reviewed that are obvious.

Putting the Pro Bowl Between Conference Championships and the Super Bowl

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To their credit, the NFL realized how bad of a decision it was to take the Pro Bowl out of Hawaii and put it between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, but that does not take away from how terrible the decision was.

The league has enough trouble getting people to play in the game as it is, but half the reason anyone wants to play in the game is for the trip to Hawaii.

Penalizing Celebrations That Go to the Ground

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Who does not love a snow angel after a scoring play?

Roger Goodell, that is who.  Just like every other celebration, Goodell has done his best to take anything where a player leaves his feet after a touchdown away.  Why allow a guy to celebrate when he has scored?