As much as I hate to admit, the National Football League is king in the sports world right now.

You see, I’m a baseball fan first and always will be.

However, unlike Major League Baseball, the NFL has not had problems with its relationship to fans recently and continues to grow in popularity.

In the past ten years, MLB has been more irritating to fans than Anna Nicole Smith has been to anybody with half a brain.

The NFL, on the other hand, couldn’t turn fans away if it tried.

However, I think the NFL would benefit from some rule changes. So, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, take out your notepad and jot down these pearls of wisdom.

First and foremost, are quarterbacks football players or ballerinas performing Swan Lake?

When I first thought about it, I agreed that quarterbacks should slide during a forward run to avoid a hit. But the more I see of it, the more I realize that the quarterback is just another football player. He should act like a real football player. Take a hit.

Which brings me to the worst rule in the NFL: roughing the quarterback.

Now, I understand the idea of protecting quarterbacks, but this rule is as overboard as a bad Adam Sandler movie.

If a quarterback throws the ball and a defensive player, trying to stop his momentum, barely touches the quarterback’s helmet with his hands, then there should be no penalty.

But I see this penalty called almost every week.

Or, for another example, a quarterback throws the ball and then attempts to duck out of the way of a defender. If the defender plants his shoulder pads into the ducking quarterback’s helmet, then there should be no penalty for roughing the passer.

Please, Paul, bring me back to a time when men were men, and quarterbacks were men too.

I’d also like to make a few minor suggestions to make the game more interesting and exciting for its followers.

Much debate has raged over the sudden-death overtime format.

As it is now, a coin toss decides which team receives the ball first in overtime. Whichever team scores first in overtime is the winner. Thus, the coin toss has too much importance in deciding the winner.

Some say both teams should have a possession before sudden death occurs; others say leave it as it is.

I say that instead of a coin toss, let another factor, perhaps the team with the most yards gained during the game, determine who receives the ball.

Finally, the playoff format needs a slight tweak.

I don’t believe that it is fair that the second place team in each conference receives a first round bye. Easy solution: add a seventh playoff team to both conferences.

This adds two extra playoff games to the first weekend of playoffs. Result: more money for the NFL, more excitement for fans.

This would not result in bad playoff teams. A perfect example is last season, when four teams with winning records did not make the playoffs.

Even if Tagliabue and company heed these suggestions, I’ll still stay loyal to baseball.

But I would know that football is worth watching while I wait for the boys of summer to return.