Everything I know.. I learned From Football

There is nothing like football. And, that is said by a Red Sox Freak but... still football is football and one of the greatest metaphors for life there is out there. Baseball is wonderful but in real life you don't get another chance tomorrow night and winning 2 out of 3 isn't really enough to win the game.

Football is intense, in your face and immediate. You only have so many chances to win and if you lose... you end up at the bottom of the pile with all you can hope for is a good draft pick.

Got my heart broken today and it hurt like hell. I feel sort of catatonic ... I stare a lot and keep thinking..."how did this happen?" "why?" "WHY????" "Why didn't I KNOW this was going to happen????" I mean I knew deep down.. oh don't get me wrong. I knew. I wasn't born yesterday and have always remembered the lesson of DALLAS when wishing wouldn't make it so and Dallas stunk worse than something wrotten in Denmark. Just the name of that city makes me want to sit up and go "huh" and not talking about JFK or the anniversary of his death but the anniversary of the Dolphins losing to Dallas in the superbowl. There I was this young girl and I do mean YOUNG and I believed with all my heart that the Fins could win the big one. There we were...in the Superbowl.... How could we lose with such a team?

We lost.
http://www.superbowl.com/history/recaps/game/sbvi
Read it and weep unless you are one of those type of people like Burns and Yaffah who do Dallas on occaision for business and even then... I can't see you betting against Miami but well who knows what you were doing in 1972. Sure as heck not frustrating my life. That job was for other people. Like Roger Staubach. Boy did I dislike him... about as much as that coach whose name I won't even type. Years later... JJ got me past disliking Dallas. But, still to this day when I hear the name of that city... I sit up and think "huh?" and I am not stupid.

I learned back then that wishing doesn't make it so.

Of course a year later... we were sitting pretty with a very perfect season.

Football teaches us the following...all lessons to be learned and remembered in life which is it seems a game of win and lose. Today I lost.

A good defense is the best offense. My father taught me that..he was a big believer in defense wins games. A smart man... smart sports fan.

It's a TEAM effort and the whole team has to work together to win. It can't spend it's time fighting itself and being unsure of itself .. it's ability to get it into the endzone. You can't just show up... you have to play your hardest to win... and a team is only as good as it's weakest player.

Any given Sunday.... any team can win.. and any team can lose. As my father would say about Jai Alai... someone has a fight with his wife, ate some bad shellfish or got into a fender bender and his game is off. Even a good team can lose to a bad team on any given Sunday..

It's about making 1st Downs... Not winning in the final two minutes ala Dan Marino magic but the game is usually won on the line... by inches and feet.... by picking up first down yardage and letting you stay in the game a little longer... each first down is a lease on life.

The Game is Won on the Line... See above comment on defense but it is true..for all of the razzle and dazzle of Dan Fouts... the team lost often... its not about a Hail Mary pass.. though sometimes that wins a game... but usually you have to win the nitty gritty line game... Stop the Other team from getting 1st Downs.

You cannot keep giving away the ball and win the game. Take Aways will kill you as much as anything. I can see Don Shula giving post game interviews on that one. If you give the ball away to your opponent.. you can't blame them for scoring.

Control the Ball... Whoever controls the ball.. has the ability to win and grinds down the energy of the defense who has to stay on the field during long drives... Wear down your enemy and keep control of the ball... make first downs... long drives win the game and keep the other opponent from winning. If you are not on the field..controlling the ball.. you may as well be in Oskotch because the other team will score... It's all about controlling the ball...

You GOT to HAVE a Good QB... Nothing less will do. As good as a defense is you cannot rely on it to win... at some point you have to put points on the board. You can't give away the ball with interceptions ... As important as it is to have a good game plan, a good coach and a good team all show up at the same time on Sunday ... you have to have a quarterback who can execute those balls.. believe in himself and his team mates and work as one with his receivers... A heavy job to have on one players shoulders but..... that is why people remember the quarterbacks and why no one except football freaks remember who plays Center or Defensive Line... or Guard... people remember the QB... because in the end they can blow a game all by their lonesome. Week after week this year.. the Fins QB keeps giving away the ball and has this look of "get me out of here, please..........." on his face.

When given a sure thing... 3 points... you got to get the ball between the middle of the uprights! Nuff said there................

The game is won in 3s... My father taught me a good running back always needs to be able to pick up 3 yards... In four chances at a first down if you have one good running back (Czonka) who can get you 3 yards.. you almost always can get a first down..And, I will add to that... you have to be able to get an easy field goal... 3 points ...

I love football. I love the Dolphins. I even like Saban... though I don't understand why he is kept with Guy... I imagine he feels he doesn't have any one else better to play so... who knows. I love watching coaches... maybe I'll understand him better... maybe he knows something about Guy I don't..

And...lastly ... I learned from Joe Namath that a quarterback can throw a game in the simplest of ways when he is on the take..a fake... He doesn't have to throw 5 interceptions.. all he has to do mess up a handoff... a blown signal... One game, a long time ago... Namath threw 5 interceptions. The man as handsome as he was looked like shit ... sweaty, frustrated, on the edge of crying and in a press conference he was accused of throwing the game. All those mob rumors I suppose... Namath stopped...stared and laughed a bit and shook his head at the stupidity of the reporter and explained how in intricate detail a QB can throw a game for a pay off... without looking so stupid as purposely throwing FIVE interceptions. Was a lesson for me.. and one I always remember.

People don't throw a game in big ways... and usually they don't screw up in big ways. They give themselves away quietly, in bits and pieces..in innuendo and in energy and in intensity or lack of intensity.

You can't really watch a football game online and appreciate it the way I can watch a Redsox game on Yahoo Live... there is an intensity on the field that you can see.. perceive... you can turn on a game and let it roll a few minutes and you will KNOW who is winning and who is losing because you can see it in their body language... in their eyes.... on the face of their coach.

All good players have a coach...they don't make this stuff up you know..

Today... I lost. The fans lost. Honesty and hope lost... the other team won.

There is always next Sunday... but it's not something I am looking forward to..

In hurricane preparation a good defense is a good offense. If you live in Hurricane Country... and can afford to.. buy hurricane shutters. They will protect your house... and stop the hurricane from gaining control of your playing field... hold onto the house, the roof...the stucture and you will win the game. Remember that... if you let the air into your house... the hurricane will run with the ball straight to the endzone.

Football... a lesson for life in so many ways...

Yup... Dallas ... no words. No, it does not help that the following year we won and we won the following year... Don't get me wrong..I was one happy camper... one happy teen.. But, just because I danced at the Prom and had a good time and was part of the Perfect Year does not diminish my sadness over the team of 1971 losing the Superbowl in Dallas in January of 1972.

Yes..we kicked ass in 72..and yes we may kick ass again but it does not make me any more of a happy camper today because today... was a loss. Not a win. And, all I can keep hearing is the word Dallas again and again in my mind.

John was right... PJ lol .....oh gosh..that is scarey lol... but John is right. Important to protect your heart when it comes to sports... and life.

Bobbi, sadder but wiser ... and hoping things change for the better real soon.
and one tin soldier rides away