three more on the schedule for today. the nfl isn't actually going to kick off until this coming weekend. actually, thursday night on nbc, a little plug there for the company, when baltimore visits denver. soon enough, thousands of high school teams all across the country are going to be duking it out for local bragging rights under those famous friday night lights. supposedly baseball is our national past time, but that is not what people say these days. a poll from earlier this year shows that more than twice as many americans prefer pro football to major league baseball. when you then add in college football, it's a complete landslide. when it comes to sports in america, football is king. the question, though, is whether its reign is in jeopardy. there are a lot of reasons that baseball isn't as popular today as it used to be. i have my own explanation. people finally realized how boring it is. there was also the player strike in the mid-'90s. that probably had something to do with it. it took mlb years to recover from that.