NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the fans “have spoken very loudly” in favor of an 18-game schedule and therefore “it is the right thing to do.”

If it were up to the fans, there would be a 26-game schedule, a week off for the draft and then a 14-game spring season.

This is about lots and lots of money. the good of the game? Yeah, right.

The owners would make more money. the players would get more money to soothe more broken bones. and season-ticket holders who whine about having to pay for two home preseason games would only have to whine about paying for one.

The average price of an NFL ticket is about 75 bucks. So congratulations on the extra value for that one contest.

On the flip side, an 18-game schedule would strengthen injured reserve, weaken the playoffs, shorten careers and give good teams even more weekends to not play their starters in January. Hooray!

I’d also mention the NFL’s march toward overkill. it reminds me of how I really loved chocolate until one Easter in about 1974 when I ate so much of it I puked bunnies for a week.

Goodell has done a fantastic job spinning the 18-game schedule as a great idea for the league and its fans. But is anyone listening to the players? anyone?

“We’re not machines, we’re humans,” Ravens future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis has said. “After the first three, four months, your body feels a certain way. You’ve got to ask yourself how many people are truly healthy after 18 games. … I don’t think it’s knowledgeable to make us play 18 games.”

Goodell said the players’ workload in the offseason and training camp would be reduced to compensate for the extra regular season games. I don’t get the connection. How does eliminating underwear walk-throughs in may equate to an additional 140 kill-the-man-with-the-ball snaps in January?