Today in addition and subtraction

 So I see various news gerbils are saying an 18-game NFL schedule is as done a deal as sunrise, and I think, well, here comes the Super Bowl bumping heads with March Madness. That's assuming there'll be enough players left with all four limbs attached to play the thing.

Wouldn't take any bets on that if I were you.

No, an 18-game schedule just means there'll be more players being held together with Scotch tape and bondo by the end of it, not that anyone seems to care. The owners certainly don't; neither, apparently, do the players, who'd likely approve a 20- or 25-game sked if the league would throw in two or three more bye weeks per team.

Greed makes you do funny things. Among others, it makes you vote against your own interests, and makes the obscenely rich lust after even more obscene riches no matter the consequences.

Which it says here eventually will be an implosion. 

This is because market over-saturation is a thing, and even if the NASH-unal FOOT-ball League seems impervious to it right now, eventually no one is. And so just wait until the NFL gets to Week 18 and half the stars in the league are either on the PUP list or sitting out, and teams are trotting out Buddy Bill Walk-On at quarterback, Jimmy Jack Taxi Squad at wide receiver and Joe Bob Backup Long Snapper at running back.

Which kinda-sorta brings me to this: If 18 games are going to happen, and if the players aren't blinded by the prospect of additional riches ("Who cares if my arm falls off? That extra game check'll buy a lot of Superglue"), they should demand the league get rid of the preseason altogether.

There are a couple good reasons to do this.

One, season-ticketholders are already yea miffed they have to pay full price to watch Buddy Billy and Jimmy Jack wallow around in preseason games. Get rid of those games, and you cultivate goodwill with a crucial part of your revenue stream. How's that a bad thing?

Two, the preseason is pretty much unnecessary these days. Enhanced, stem-to-stern 21st-century scouting and analysis have diminished the necessity for preseason snaps to determine if Buddy Bill can play or not. And the controlled scrimmages teams  increasingly conduct against one another these days adequately fill that need anyway.

So: Add that 18th game. But subtract the preseason in return.

Math, baby. It's just what we do here.