Letters to the Editor
kevred
Published Letters: 92 Editor's Choice: 8
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What a weekend, huh?
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As a Cowboys fan, I'll start there. King described it as, "Sunday's festival of dropped passes, boneheaded penalties, missed tackles and wasted timeouts," and he couldn't have put it better. Not to take any credit away from the Giants--they played tight, virtually error-free ball and stepped up when the pressure was on. I'm just amazed at how the Cowboys wilted, and still don't quite understand it.
I was worried that they'd come out flat after their season-ending slump, but when they seemed solid in the first half, I relaxed. I never saw a worse, 3-point second half coming. They seemed completely flustered and at a loss. Kudos to the Giants for never letting up. Owens is right that they lost as a team--the offensive line stunk, every reciever besides Owens made critical mistakes, and all those penalties...ugh. Romo's had two incredibly painful season endings in a row--not just losses, but ugly, awkward endings. Next year's the test of whether he can drop the Romeo act and turn into a serious leader.
I was also pretty astonished at the Colts. Mostly their defense--it was shockingly terrible. Failing to stop a drive by the backup quarterback and running back is the glaring example, but they were off all game. And on offense, it seemed like the tougher things got, the more Manning tried to force a lot of really awkward and difficult throws. I couldn't help thinking of the Patriots' formula of hitting the safe, simple, over-5-yards short plays again and again, wearing the other team out, as I watched the Colts overreach again and again. Again, they seemed flustered--not changing to fit the circumstances.
The Pats were their usual machine-like selves. I think they've come closer than any team in NFL history to mechanical perfection. How much do we watch all our other fave teams and think, "if only they could have made those passes, or run a bit better, or protected the QB a bit better, how great would that be?" Well, the Pats are showing us, and it's amazing, but not really that satisfying to watch at the end of the day. I think the emerging lesson of the Pats' perfection is that it's the imperfection that gives people and games their character and drama. The less chance of failure, the less suspense, the less entertainment value. It's why first-round playoffs in any sport are less interesting, and less watched, than later rounds.
That said, kudos to the Pats for such high achievement--it's amazing. I only wish the Jags had been at full health defensively--it could have been a different game. But that's the Pats' luck--many times this year they've benefitted from other teams' injuries. It's a testament to their own conditioning, especially with so many veterans, that they haven't fallen into that trap.
And the best game of the weekend--the Snow Bowl! That was so fun to watch. Can't believe the Pack put up that many points, but I don't think there's anything more fun in football than a high-scoring blizzard game. The Packers supply all the personality and likability the Pats lack, so I'll hope they make it to the Super Bowl.
Overall, my dad put it best when he marveled at the Pats' offensive line. I think that's the story of the whole NFL--truly, that's where the tone of the game is set. The Pats can control their own destiny in games because the O line creates a predictable experience for them. They keep anarchy and unexpected variables from creeping in, which allows everything else to happen. It gives all of Brady's weapons an extra second or two to get open, which allows him to play like an MVP. This weekend, we saw the effect of disarray vs. predictability. The Cowboys and Colts have just as much talent as the Pats, but they let their games get thrown into complete disarray and unpredictability, and when that happens, all kinds of time and energy get wasted just trying to stabilize things. And each team just ran out of time.
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There's a name for indoors football:
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"arena football".
Maybe it is just a paroxyism of nostalgia, but I can't help but love football that's played in the elements of fall & winter--snow, ice and rain--especially on a real grass field. Whenever a game's played in a dome, it just doesn't feel right to me. It feels sterile, artificial, too tidy. That's probably a good way to describe pro sports in general these days.
The same goes for perfect, balmy-weather games. I get bored watching the likes of San Diego or Miami playing at home. And the Pro Bowl--zzzzz. It's like badminton with shoulder pads.
Domes, turf, and all the other technology is working against the human element of sports. It hasn't won yet, but it's doing all it can to control every variable. That just makes the results more predictable. Football is one of the last sports where teams can prepare for every minute detail of opponents, yet still have game-altering external forces swooping in and changing everything.
So here's to snow and rain and Mile High Stadium and all the other things that make football a different experience every week. The day every stadium has a roof is the day I stop watching football.
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Could the same few people who can't stop arguing with each other about the Patriots here...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...please exchange e-mail addresses, so the rest of us don't have to wade through pages of off-topic comments? I mean, I understand the conflict-averse, passive-aggressive tendencies that comments boards elicit in all of us, but that's no reason to make us all suffer--at least with certain posters' brief, sniping, substanceless comments which are purely personal back-and-forth and not discussion-oriented.
The Pats are a really good team with some unsavory practices who are simultaneously quite popular and quite loathed. Their historical record will be one of great success that's somewhat tainted. Everything else is beyond our knowledge and control, and no amount of arguing here will change that.