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December 27, 2003

Go Pats!

Getting ready for the Pats game in a few mins. A win today gets us home field for the whole playoffs. That would be good.

Although I still say that the playoffs are a crapshoot. On any given day, even the best team can get beaten. So let's not count our chickens...

Speaking of counting chickens... I know this may be perverse, but I really wish the Pats had lost one of their last few games. If we win today, then to win the superbowl we will have to have won something like 16 in a row. It's not hard enough to get into, and win, the superbowl, but we have to put together an other-worldly winning streak like that too?!

Posted by jghiii at December 27, 2003 12:55 PM
Comments
Posted by: Steve Garfield on December 27, 2003 02:00 PM

Jack,
Let's take one game at a time.
--Steve

Posted by: Steve Garfield on December 27, 2003 02:01 PM

What I meant to say is, I'm glad they didn't lose "one of their last few games."
--Steve

Posted by: sherman on December 27, 2003 02:40 PM

EGO ALERT: Major name-dropping ahead.


I've met Tom Brady. His sister was a Social Welfare major, so I was her advisor. At the beginning of the season I could claim to having met two starting NFL qb's because another SW major was Trevor Hutchinson, brother of Chad from the Dallas Cowboys. Both of the qb's came to their sibling's graduation ceremonies that I coordinated.

Now about this perverse thing about wishing they had lost. I got tracers of this when you blogged about the Red Sox. You have a lot of trouble hoping for a win, don't you? It seems like you'd rather take the loss to end the suspense. Yesterday, I watched the Insight Bowl (god -- did you see the dorky CEO trying to act cool when talking to the on-field commentators...you just know he was shoved out of the boys' locker room naked by football players when he was in high school) and Cal, after being two touchdowns down, came back to dominate Virginia Tech in the 3rd quarter and went up two touchdowns on their own, only to have VT come back to tie the game at the very end. And it was Cal at the end, with two seconds left to go, with an inconsistent kicker on the line for a 35 yard field goal and the win. I know the kicker -- Tyler has done volunteer work with a homeless dinner that the SW department adopted. He's a great young man, and it's been a tough season for him. He's had some amazing game winning kicks, but he's also crashed and burned a few times, and going into this kick he had missed four field goal attempts in a row. It was so hard watching him, especially when the VT coach very smartly but also very cruelly, kept using up his remaining time outs just as Tyler would get ready to kick to mess with his head -- knowing that Tyler's head is fragile after four failed attempts in a row. But bless his soul, Tyler made an easy kick thru the goalposts once the timeouts were exhausted and Cal (GO BEARS!!!) won the game.

It was so sweet seeing him persevere and overcome the head games. It was so sweet seeing the guys on the team lift Tyler onto their shoulders.

And the intensity of that sweetness came from the fact that it could have gone bad. He could have missed and VT could have won in overtime. Great success, like love, only comes with risk. You have to risk to win big, Jack. And it hurts when you lose in love or in a game but it is always so much better to win when you aren't sure are going to.

Embrace it, Jack. Don't run away from it.

Posted by: Steve Garfield on December 27, 2003 03:13 PM

I AGREE with Sherman!

"Embrace it, Jack. Don't run away from it."

Wow!

It bears repeating:

"Embrace it, Jack. Don't run away from it."

Posted by: Steve Garfield on December 27, 2003 05:18 PM

Jack,
Now it a new season.

A whole new ballgame.

What they did in the regular season, while very inpressive (woo hoo!), means nothing now.

What would you have prefered, that we lose the last game and not see Larry Izzo make hits and an interception on the last play capping a shutout win in Foxboro?

Go Pats!

Hi Sherm.

Posted by: sherman on December 27, 2003 10:36 PM

It's the Red Sox that did this to you. Year after year of emotional abuse. Is there a better MOM ALERT cocktease than the boys at Yawkey Way? They dance with you, show you a little flesh, get you thinking you have a shot, get the blood redistributed and as soon as wood is achieved, they zip up, button up, and shut down. And then sometimes, they do this early: set you and then let you down early in the season all so they can do it again to you one more time before October ends. They should be called the Boston Blue Balls.

That's what has made you afraid to embrace the not knowing -- the tension and the fear. It's understandable, Jack -- but knowing is the first step towards resolving.


Mr. G: So what year were you at Amherst? Most of the guys I know are '80s. My own WAMH show was in '84 and/or '85.

Posted by: sherman on December 28, 2003 12:03 AM

One last post-script to the football game -- the Cal game, not the Patriots.

Kicker Tyler shared glory with Cal's sophomore qb in most of the news stories today. Pictures of him being carried off the field by his teammates were in the Oakland Trib and SF Chron.

So when asked how it felt to win the game, Tyler's response was "I didn't win it. I ended it."

Aw, isn't that great? I told you he was a good guy.

Posted by: Steve Garfield on December 28, 2003 03:17 AM

I ended it in 80.

Posted by: sherman on December 28, 2003 02:59 PM

Steve -- (this is gonna be real boring to anyone but Steve, now -- not that my usual comments are exciting or anything...) where did you live. I spent your frosh year hanging around Pratt and the dorm across the circle that had the Iso Ward. Then spent your soph & junior year hanging around Chi Phi (and often sleeping in the study rooms in the attic) and spent your senior year hanging around the suites. I went to your graduation.

I hung with Phil Edmundson and that crew: Hargreaves, Martin, CP, Web Sant, Torpey, Bushman, Ollie, and Dr. Dan.

Posted by: Steve Garfield on December 28, 2003 04:51 PM

Sherm,
1976-78 - Gorman
1978-80 - Nutting Ave, WAMH, Photo Coop, Newspaper, Yearbook, The Drake, The Pub (5 cent drafts)!

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