SEATTLE — The feat of promotional sleight of hand performed by the NFL regarding its scheduling rollout Thursday once again leaves me in awe.
Somehow, they have managed to take a slate of 17 games for which the opponent and even the site was already known, and fostered a feverish anticipation for its revelation of the date. In other words, we had known for weeks the "who" and the "where," yet they created a daylong Event, capital E, out of the "when."
On a day in which the NBA and NHL featured crucial playoff games, and the MLB had nearly a full slate of action, the focus of most of the sports world was on learning the order of already-determined games. If you wonder why the NFL is the No. 1 American sport with a bullet, here is an essential illustration of their genius in meting out its news in such a fashion as to sustain interest in virtually every month of the year.
