Pioneer Woman Pregame Prep

When the Chicago Bears had the week off, the Fox Network showed a long primetime interview between former Cowboys receiver George Morgan and Steelers wide receiver Priest Holmes.

Part two was a late segment on top-40 radio show WWMY Best of 2000.

The full interview with Holmes will air on the same day as the last day of a three-team NFL record-setting 50th celebration.

Also, another example of how Fox covers its bottom line while letting commercials do its job. Last year's Super Bowl commercials averaged less than 2 minutes of content, then after two seconds one of the Patriots plays the Seahawks on Fox.

And now the NFL's 50th Anniversary celebrations begin Monday night.

By the start, there's already no question that the NFL will be underweighted, even if it's only by the number of fans who support each of the franchises.

This weekend, I'll repeat what I wrote in March that "we should eliminate the notion that the NFL is 'only for Americans'" and instead focus on whether "these teams are really about sports."

One interesting twist is that the NFL is getting some positive press from a lot of people outside the traditional media. The Washington Post columnist Michelle Bittner has produced a piece on one of the most hated teams of all time.

Another piece to note is that people who have never been an NFL fan can, at least for a night, see the games they've long been unable to. The Mariners are playing the Los Angeles Dodgers, a game the Mariners swept in Kansas City last year. The high-bidding contest for Game 2 starts at 7 p.m. on NBC.

One veteran writer suggested that the audience should see a classic game and have the idea of a rivalry brought back with the opening series between the Texas and Kansas City Wild.

And the Oakland Athletics are in Philadelphia, playing the Phillies, the only non-MLS team in the Western Conference. They beat the Philadelphia Phillies in 1968 (1937 if you count 1920), but that was the old National League.

Time to rethink the franchise and start looking at the marketing strategy.