The NFL has the longest preseason of any major sport. How dumb is that?

Ryan Mallett, pictured in last year's preseason opener,
will start for the Patriots this evening.  Get pumped.

The Patriots kick off their NFL preseason schedule tonight in Washington, the first of four exhibition games the team will play.  Every year it seems the constant fear of injuries makes the NFL preseason more and more of a joke.  Yet for some absurd reason it lasts the longest of any of the four major American sports.

The NFL's 4-game exhibition schedule is 25% as long as its 16-game regular season.

In spring training the Red Sox played 32 games this year (although it was really only 29 if you don't count split-squad days twice), which is 19.8% (or 17.9%) of the length of MLB's 162-game schedule.

The Celtics recently announced their upcoming 2014 preseason slate (and not just on Ticketmaster), which will include a total of 8 contests (two vs each division rival), only 9.8% of the 82-game NBA regular season.

And finally the Bruins have the shortest exhibition season of all, 7 games in 2014-15, which is just 8.5% as long as the NHL's regular schedule (also 82 games).

People absolutely love all things NFL, but in this case the league is clearly getting it wrong.

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