One of the compensations to being a baseball fan is you don’t have to worry about the football obsession with being undefeated. In 162 chances, you’re guaranteed to blow a couple. Tommy LaSorda is credited with a line to the effect that no matter what you do, you’re going to lose 1/3 of your games. No matter what you do, you’re going to win 1/3 of your games. The season is defined by how you do in the other 1/3.
Right now I’ve been enjoying listening to pundits and fans going crazy over whether New Orleans and Indianapolis can go undefeated in the NFL. Well, New Orleans we now know isn’t. As for Indianapolis they still have a ways to go. Frankly I find this all kind of funny. Vince Lombardi never went undefeated, neither did Curley Lambeau or George Halas, but you know what, they have more rings than any other coach. Bet they might have liked to say they were undefeated, but I’ll bet they were more pleased with holding up their rings (did they have rings as far back as Lambeau?).
Let me ask a simple question. If Indianapolis goes undefeated until the Super Bowl and hashes it (ala the Patriots a couple of years back) will the team think it had a successful season? Or will it be more successful if Indianapolis wins the Super Bowl but blows both of their remaining regular season games? I’ll bet we all know the answer.
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