A recent review of this year's AFC conference looked more like a lineup of women vs. midgets than the respective records of 16 proud franchises. More than three-fourths of the teams (12) were either 5-4 or 4-5. You must be asking yourself: How can this be? Since when did the NFL achieve such overwhelming parity that no one team is consistently a winner from week-to-week, let alone year-to-year. The St. Louis Rams were supposed to be the team to beat for years to come. They have made it to two of the last three Super Bowls and have stars on both offense and defense. Unfortunately, someone forgot to remind Coach Mike Martz that games need to be played on the field, not just on the roster. They started the season 0-4 and seemingly without hope. But, this isn't your father's NFL. The Rams have rolled off four wins in five weeks, heading into last night's game against the Chicago Bears. How does a team go from pre-season Super Bowl favorite to a Jay Leno joke to a playoff contender in less time than it takes WBRS to move into its new studio? Only in America!

Truthfully, you really don't have to look any farther than scenic Foxboro, Mass. for the Webster's definition of parity. Your New England Patriots are the quintessential example of all that is wrong - or right, depending on how you look at it - with the NFL. Not one so-called expert in New England, or around the country, picked the Patriots to go the Super Bowl last year after they finished their 2000 campaign 5-11. But, an easy schedule, timely injuries and poor refereeing opened the floodgates to Patriotic glory last season.

This August, the Patriots remained the darling of the NFL and were expected to march down to City Hall Plaza with two Lombardi trophies in hand. What happened? A hot start turned into an embarrassing October and no one had a clue what to expect anymore. The same could be said for the Oakland Raiders, Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, who all started off the season with a string of victories.

Who is to blame for this consistent inconsistency? Possibly Commissioner Paul Taglibue, though he is widely considered to be on par with the NBA's David Stern as top head-honcho in professional sports. Tagliabue has pledged to achieve equality in a league in which the teams from the smallest markets can field the most expensive rosters and sign free agents to the greatest bonuses (see the Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Don't get me wrong, he is also no dummy. Baseball has slowly lost its market dominance with a tradition of uninteresting games and occasional work stoppages. If you want to check for yourself, watch the other cars on the Mass. Pike. Compare the number of Red Sox bumper stickers to those Patriots 'white-trash' car flags.

The other big difference between the NFL and MLB is the salary cap. In essence, this creates a barrier to control team spending. Without it, there are only the same handfuls of teams, as in baseball, who can afford to keep the Brett Favres - or Derek Jeters - of the league. Teams can't get by with talent alone. In essence, Tagliabue has placed a great importance on the front offices and a great deal on luck.

How does parity hurt all of us? Well, it curtails betting on sports - both legally and illegally. How can anyone, with good conscience, bet on any game with confidence? Take the Jacksonville Jaguars for example: They have beaten my Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, convincingly. They have also inconceivably split with the Houston Texans. Too many teams have too many versions of themselves. Which team will show up from week-to-week?

So, a betting man would hope to jump scoring trends. Sorry, that's not a real good option either. The Kansas City Chiefs seemed like this year's version of the St. Louis Rams early on. Coach Dick Vermeil had gotten his offense going, averaging nearly 30 points a game through the first seven weeks. Even better, their defense was giving up nearly the same.

Ah, ha! You must be running to those online betting sites as you finish reading this sentence. Remember, though, this article is about parity and resulting unpredictability. The last three weeks, the Chiefs have scored just 17 points per game. Their defense suddenly began to resemble the '85 Bears by allowing less than two touchdowns per game. What does this mean to you, the better? Stay away. Find another addicting habit that won't put you in debt. Try the stock market perhaps. I hear it's coming back.

Personally, I am old school when it comes to my football. I love the red Pats jerseys with a man squatting with a Humantaschen on his head and a football between his legs.

I look fondly back on the '90s when the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills all made their annual deep runs into the playoffs. Every year, you could count on a top tier of teams just like you can count on not seeing President Reinharz on campus.

Seriously, though, it is time for the NFL to stop expanding and start realizing that if they continue to preach equality they might just be ruining a good thing while they're at it.