When I was the Seahawks’ beat writer for this newspaper in 1996 — hello, Rick Mirer! — I remember being assigned a story on why there wasn’t more trading in the NFL, particularly at the trade deadline.
I dutifully sniffed around, talked to some general managers and analysts, and got consistent answers: Because that’s the way it has always been. Because draft choices are too valuable, players too unpredictable, and playbooks too complex to learn in the midst of a season. And because that’s the way it has always been.
That was one area, at least, where baseball had football stone-cold beat in owning the news cycle.