Humble Suggestions

Beer Update: Before moving on to the main post, here is an update on the home brew. After a couple of days in the fridge, we opened the second of the one-liter bottles. The general assessment is that it's an improvement over the first bottle. Another week in the bottle helped bump up the carbonation. The taste is still a little on the sweet side, which probably means that I need to work on my sugar measuring skills or perhaps I should investigate priming tabs.

Moving on, this post is not a continuation of my NFL proposal, but a response to this proposal for realigning the NFL based on geography. Of course, there is zero chance the NFL would actually consider realignment based solely on geography. However, I think the proposal is interesting, but could perhaps be improved if the eight four-team divisions were dropped in favor of six divisions having either five or six teams. The suggestion below is geographically correct with Detroit in the Eastern Conference.

Suggestion Number One

Western Conference
Pacific Division	Southwest Division	Midwest Division
Arizona Oakland San Diego San Francisco Seattle	Dallas Denver Houston New Orleans Tennessee	Chicago Green Bay Indianapolis Kansas City Minnesota St. Louis

Eastern Conference
North Central Division	Northeast Division	Southeast Division
Buffalo Cincinnati Cleveland Detroit Pittsburgh	Baltimore New England NY Giants NY Jets Philadelphia Washington	Atlanta Carolina Jacksonville Miami Tampa Bay

A possible improvement over the above solution would be to switch the Lions to the Western Conference and move Tennessee east. Some of the current divisional rivalries could then be maintained.

Suggestion Number Two

Detroit is added to the Midwest Division which becomes the current NFC North plus Indianapolis. The two Missouri teams drop down into the Southwest Division, and then Denver could be moved over to the Pacific.

Western Conference
Pacific Division	Southwest Division	Midwest Division
Arizona Denver Oakland San Diego San Francisco Seattle	Dallas Houston Kansas City New Orleans St. Louis	Chicago Detroit Green Bay Indianapolis Minnesota

In the Eastern Conference, the Titans go into the Southeastern Division. Baltimore moves over to the North Central Division which becomes the AFC North plus Buffalo.

Eastern Conference
North Central Division	Northeast Division	Southeast Division
Baltimore Buffalo Cincinnati Cleveland Pittsburgh	New England NY Giants NY Jets Philadelphia Washington	Atlanta Carolina Jacksonville Miami Tennessee Tampa Bay

As I have implied in my NFL proposal, the benefit of fewer divisions is better teams in the playoffs. In the suggestions above, the playoffs would most likely be improved because in each conference, the mediocre winner of a weak fourth division would be replaced by a probably stronger third wild card team.

Finally, what happens if a team (let's say the Jaguars) relocated (let's say to Los Angeles)?

Jags Relocation

The Jags move into the Pacific Division bumping the Cardinals and Broncos over to the Southwest and Chiefs and Rams the up to the Midwest.

Western Conference
Pacific Division	Southwest Division	Midwest Division
LA Jaguars Oakland San Diego San Francisco Seattle	Arizona Denver Dallas Houston New Orleans	Chicago Green Bay Indianapolis Kansas City Minnesota St. Louis

In the Eastern Conference, the Lions slide into the North Central Division with the Ravens moving to the Northeast.

Eastern Conference
North Central Division	Northeast Division	Southeast Division
Buffalo Cincinnati Cleveland Detroit Pittsburgh	Baltimore New England NY Giants NY Jets Philadelphia Washington	Atlanta Carolina Miami Tennessee Tampa Bay