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A decade ago in 1996, 45 percent of NFL games were decided by a touchdown or less, while 20 percent were decided by a field goal or less. "In an era of parity in the NFL, it seems that more and more games are being decided by field goals," the New York Times decried this Sunday, quoting Dick Vermeil saying "with parity the win margins are closer than ever before." In 2006, 45 percent of NFL games were decided by a touchdown or less, while 23 percent were decided by a field goal or less. First, supposedly parity is proven by an outbreak of close games. Let's take the parity complaints in turn. If most NFL teams are of roughly similar quality, we'd expect many close, exciting games - which seems more interesting, and a better value for the spectator's dollar, than lots of boring blowouts that are over at halftime.Īnyway, parity is a myth. If everything really has changed for the worst, why are the NFL's ratings and attendance numbers at record levels? And supposing there is a shocking outbreak of parity, why would this be bad? Sports yakkers extol the old days of dynasties, but for every good team there must be a bad team. It isn't just the sports radio universe that claims this - recently the New York Times, which styles itself the Paper of Record, has run two prominent articles complaining that NFL parity has changed everything for the worse. Scratch a sports nut and he or she will complain that parity plagues the post-salary-cap NFL.