This year we were all gifted something we didn't know we needed: An expanded postseason across professional sports leagues.
Until the NFL wild-card round schedule was announced last week, it didn't really click the TV could be turned on at noon Saturday and today and 21 hours of football would be shown in less than a 35-hour span.
Even after 17 consecutive Sundays with a full NFL slate, two additional days filled with football still doesn't seem excessive.
If you televise it, people will watch.
Adding an additional wild-card team to each conference was a no-brainer for the league. We can't get enough football, which means TV networks can't either. And we know the NFL enjoys counting its dollars.
But we're not going to say nay to playoff football.
We're also not going to say no to more playoff baseball, basketball or hockey.
MLB had what seemed to be an unnecessary number of teams in the playoffs in 2020 with more than half of the 30-team league playing in the postseason.
However, the national audience got to watch teams it typically wouldn't and the fans of those teams were awarded the opportunity to cheer on their squad in the postseason.
It gave the MLB playoffs more of an NCAA basketball tournament feel with more upset possibilities. We love to root for an underdog and teams like the rebuilding Miami Marlins made the 2020 postseason more compelling to watch.
The NBA followed suit by adding two teams from each conference to the 2021 playoff field.
Seeds seven through 10 will be slotted into a play-in tournament, similar to how the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conducts its conference tournament.
When the NHL was somewhat forced to increase its playoff field to 24 last season because of the pandemic stoppage. This season, it will return to the traditional 16 teams.
The argument against having more teams qualify for the postseason is it dilutes the regular season.
In the case for these professional leagues, it enhances the regular season because more teams are in the playoff race and that means more meaningful games late in the season.
And once the postseason starts, there are still interesting matchups in the first round even with teams that wouldn't usually make the playoffs going against some of top teams in the league.
The NFL wild-card round began with the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts entertaining us in the first-ever 2-7 game.
While today's 2-7 matchup of the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears appears to be more lopsided, the wild-card round has proven conventional thinking doesn't always apply.
Prior to the Bills-Colts game, a Buffalo fan was shown holding a sign that read "Where else would you rather be."
There's nowhere else Buffalo fans would have wanted to be Saturday and there's nothing else we would rather watch on TV than a bonus playoff game.