If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

If this is the case, why is Roger Goodell continuing his one-man obsession to expand the NFL season to 18 games?

By and large, Goodell has been a very good commissioner. His No. 1 priority is to not screw anything up, which he has admirably done. The game has grown steadily under his watch and things are good. And although it turned bitter at times, his leadership helped avoid any games being lost due to last year's work stoppage.

However, perhaps out of fear of a lack of tangible legacy, Goodell has only been able to tinker here and there, but not really make any signature moves like Pete Rozelle with revenue sharing and Monday Night Football; or even Paul Tagliabue and his brilliant move to create an event out of the season opening game on the Thursday night before the league's first full weekend of play.

As for Goodell, all he is best known for is fining players for aggressive play. And while his legacy is obviously respected by the owners, many players have nothing but contempt for the current commissioner.

"How in the hell can u (sic) pay a man this much money that cant (sic) run tackle or catch," Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White tweeted when it was learned that Goodell's salary doubled to $20 million per year recently.

"Up until last year, there was no word of me being dirty -- till Roger Goodell, who's a crook and a puppet, said I was the dirtiest player in the league," Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison said during an interview last year in Men's Journal. "If that man was on fire and I had to piss to put him out, I wouldn't do it. I hate him and will never respect him."

If Goodell was openly despised by some players last season when the crackdown on contact really began, the NFL lockout all but cemented his place as the most hated executive among the rank-and-file of just about any corporation in America.

"Goodell's full of it," San Diego Chargers linebacker Kevin Burnett said last summer during a radio interview while the lockout was ongoing. "He's a liar. You're a blatant liar. 'It's our league, it's we, we love the players, we want the league,' but what have you done for the players? What have you done, in all honesty, to improve the game, besides fine guys, besides take money away from guys, besides change a game that you've never played? ... He's done nothing to improve the game."

Even the subject of HGH testing has gotten the commissioner in the crosshairs of his players. As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, the players caved on the issue, but not without some fierce resistance, which even continues to this day.

"He needs to stop crying about blood tests and HGH," former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason told WJZ-FM last year. "To me, he's a joke, because every time I look, he's talking about performance enhancements instead of talking about trying to figure out a way to make sure football is played in August."

But would some of those games Mason is talking about in August ever count in the standings? Goodell for several years has floated the idea of expanding the season to 18 games, while dropping two preseason contests.

And while everyone that does not have a financial stake in the laughingly-bad brand of football we are forced to endure for four consecutive Godforsaken weeks wants fewer practice games, not many outside of Goodell are still clamoring for the expansion of the regular season.

"People want more football," Goodell said last week. "I think they want less preseason and more regular season and that's the concept we are talking about here."

That all sounds good in theory. Except that his theory is not rooted in fact.

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