THOUGHTS OF A SEPTUAGENARIAN. Going to concentrate on the NFL and give everyone an education on the preseason today. Going back to the 1960s, when I first started watching The Shield, it expanded from 12 to 14 regular season games in 1961. That led to the  cutting back of preseason tilts from 6 to 4 or the two teams that played in the Hall of Fame game had 5. Let’s move to the 1970s now. After the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the preseason went back to 6 games. That’s because owners could now charge full price for these exhibitions being the NFL was the only act in town. In 1978 when the regular season schedule was increased to 16 games the number of preseason contests was reduced to 4. Now with a 17 game regular season schedule that’s going to 18 soon the preseason will be pared back again from 3 to 2 games. Will the preseason ever disappear. Don’t think so because there will always be a need to see how backups perform when the lights go on even if it’s a preseason game. Meaningless for some but now for those struggling to make the 53 man roster. Book it Dano!