Watchdog

The more I think about it and (unfortunately) write about it, the more I think the NFL would have been better off if Thursday night's game had been a big one - say, Cowboys-Giants - rather than a ginormous one.

That way the NFL would have made its point about the value of the NFL Network without it generating the kind of anger and frustration that is being directed at the league this week.

Peter King had an interesting item in his SI.com column in which he hints at how the NFL's dispute with Big Cable eventually might be settled if it goes to arbitration, as the league hopes.

It could simply come down to finding a middle ground on price. Duh!

As the late, great George Young said in his finest contribution to sports quotations: "When they say it's not about the money, it's about the money."