A new season

The 2012 NFL season has become must-see TV.

Forget "Game of Thrones." Forget "Fringe." Forget "Mad Men." (OK, don't forget "Game of Thrones.") The 2012 NFL season is providing more drama, romance, and comedy than anything cable TV can come up with ... and they haven't even played a game yet.

You want drama? How about Bounty-gate. The not-so-saintly New Orleans Saints' coaching staff being exposed as men who put a price (literally) on winning. A price that they are now paying for with their head coach's head. Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season. That's harsh. I thought four games. I guess he knew more about Bounty-gate than previously thought. Former D coach Greg Williams, the masterslime behind the whole mess, has been suspended indefinitely. There should be a job for him coaching Arena Football. The Saints -- just a few years removed from their Super Bowl title -- are in shambles. No coach. Franchise QB Drew Brees is unhappy with his non-contract. They are getting hit much harder than the Pats did for Spygate.

You want romance? How about Peyton Manning and John Elway walking hand-in-hand in the Rockies as they listen to John Denver on their matching orange iPods. They are the new Tom and Gisele. Will their romance result in a pair of sparkly new rings? That all depends on how the rings in Manning's spine hold up.

You want comedy? How about Tim "Jesus" Tebow going to Gotham City to play for Eatipus Rex. How is the son of God going to feel when Ryan tells him to "go get me an effin' snack"? Maybe Rex and the rest of the Jets can teach young Tebow all about teamwork, sportsmanship, and class. Oh that's right, they reportedly brought in Tebow to help fix the team's toxic chemistry. I guess cornerback Antonio Cromartie didn't get the memo when he Tweeted "We don't need Tebow."

The Jets trading for Tebow is just too good to be true ... if you are a Patriots fan. The team just gave their fragile franchise QB Mark Sanchez a nice contract extension to let him know that he is their man. Then less than a week later they trade for his replacement, uh, I mean his backup. I look forward to flipping on the NFL RedZone (I miss you Scott Hanson) and watching a Jets home game against ... let's say the much-improved Bills. The new Bills D line is knocking the heck out of Sanchez. The shaken QB tosses a few costly picks. The Jets fall behind early. A sound rises from the crowd as Fireman Ed sits with his hands on his helmet. What's that the crowd is chanting? It's kind of catchy... "Teee-bow... Tee-bow ... Tee-bow." Louder and louder. Mt. Ryan is faced with a decision bigger than his green gut. Stick with his guy Sanchez ... the real NFL quarterback ... or cave to the wishes of the crowd and put in Tebow?

Can you say quarterback controversy? If you don't think the chances of this happening aren't 100 percent then you don't watch much football. This will be the mother of all quarterback controversies.

Oh, and one more thing about Tebow. The Pats played him twice last year. Once in the playoffs. Combined score 88-33. Pats. Yes, Rex. Please get him on the field as often as possible.

The NFL ... It's a hit!

Bounty-gate. Sounds so much cooler than Spygate. Doesn't it?

I won't get into which is the bigger evil (because I would have to say "cheating" is always worse), but the debate during the last few days about the New Orleans Saints taking out bounties on opposing players has been very interesting indeed. Especially when the debate is among former NFL players.

Mike Golic of ESPN, one of the more likable ex-players turned talking head, has been the most outspoken that bounty-gate is much ado about nothing. Golic was as tough as they come on the field. He played defensive line for Notre Dame and then in the NFL in the late '80s and early '90s. As he says ... "I was going to hit you as hard as I could whether there was an extra five grand on the line or not." I believe him. But that's Golic. He was tough, but not insane. Not a borderline criminal. You can't say that about all of today's players. Or yesterday's.

How do you think ex-Pat Brandon Meriweather would react if told he could make an extra $5,000 if he made sure the opposing quarterback was carried off the field and didn't come back. They haven't created knee pads strong enough to stop him. And that's what this is all about. Greg Williams, one of the slimier coaches to walk the NFL sideline during the past few decades, allegedly told his players to "get as close to the line" of decent behavior as they could and he would tell them when they went over the line. That's different from telling a player to hit hard, intimidate, play all-out all the time. It just is.

It's a mindset. Of course NFL players -- mostly on defense -- are going to try to hit opponents as hard as they can. That's the nature of the game. That's why the equipment continues to get bigger and bigger. But if before the coin is tossed, before the first ball is snapped, an entire team's mentality is not just to hit hard but hit with intent to injure then that does change the way players approach the game. Football and violence are synonymous. Football and assault should not be. There are clean, hard hits. And there are dirty, hard hits. Greg Williams was urging his players to be dirty. And he was seeing that they were financially rewarded for it. That should bring nothing less than a lifetime suspension.

I'm not an NFL peacenik. I still miss the bench-clearing hockey brawls. Rodney Harrison is one of my all-time favorites. I wanted Favre hit hard and hit often in 2010 along with everyone else in the football loving world (except ESPN employees of course). As Golic says, this stuff has been going on since the game began. But times are changing. The lines are being redrawn. And coaches advocating injuring players is way across that line.

The NFL has been putting out "The NFL's Hardest Hits!" videos since the moment the VCR was invented. It's part of the game. One of the best parts. And the league has been selling it for years. But there really is a difference between hitting someone as hard as you can and hitting them so that the doctors have to pick their parts up off the turf. The league has been trying to control the violence in the game. Especially the violence that leads to serious injuries like concussions. It's an uphill battle but one worth climbing. That's why the response should be harsh. You can line a player up for a hard hit, but if there's an extra $5k on the table you might just line him up a little lower. Say, at the knees. The message the bounties were sending was that it's not just good enough to hit hard, you have to hit hard enough to injure.

Mike Golic might not think there is a difference. But a guy like Brandon Meriweather would.