NFL Conferences

I was going back through old blog entries today and I came across one where I expressed an opinion on the NFL division line-up. It was based on more realistic regions and somewhat losely on the geographic regions I posit for the U.S. Government.

Here is what I published back in February of 2005:

American North: Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh
American East: New England, Buffalo, New York, Baltimore
American South: Tennessee, Miami, Jacksonville, Houston
American West: Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Oakland
National North: Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota
National East: New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina
National South: Atlanta, New Orleans, Dallas, Tampa Bay
National West: Seattle, San Francisco, Arizona, St. Louis

Since then, I have changed the regions to account for the upcoming census, based on the most recent populations shifts. Of course, the change has been minimal. However, it got me thinking about how you could do an NFL organization if you did not worry about Conference membership. Here it is for your consideration. Think about the juicy regional rivalries:

I. Buffalo, New England, New York, New York
II. Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington
III. Atlanta, Carolina, Jacksonville, Tennessee
IV. Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Tampa Bay
V. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis
VI. Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota, St. Louis
VII. Arizona, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City
VIII. Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle

As I said four years ago, you can always schedule rivalry games, like an annual Dallas - Washington game. It would be more difinitive, since they would play only once, not twice.

I will provide the statistics later on the revised championship rankings.