Favre and Unwritten Rules
Disclaimer: Football is my third sport, behind Baseball and Hockey. I’d classify myself as a Giants fan, and a bandwagon one at that. (I thought I was rooting for New England and perfection because I found the Dolphins attitude towards their perfect season pompous. When the Super Bowl started though, I found I was rooting for the Giants. So I wouldn’t say I jumped on the bandwagon so much as got dragged under by it, but it’s too late now. I’m a Giants fan, and I don’t switch allegiances easily.) I’ve written about this topic before, under the title of the Unwritten Rules of Sports.
One of the oft-repeated stories of this week is people’s reactions to Bret Favre and his scoring the extra touchdown at the end of the game against the Cowboys. This is one of the reasons I like baseball, there is never a point before the game is over that the game is over. In football you get situations like the Vikings game the other day where they are up by so much with so little that it’s impossible, barring something completely stupid on the Vikings part, for the game to be decided any other way.
Favre ran up the score, but I say, “So what?” It’s a football game, and that’s what you do when you’re a Quarterback on offense; you try to score. If the clock is still ticking, then the game is still live and I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t play with the same goal as the rest of the game. Why should teams turn it off just because the other team is playing badly? By standing on the field you are saying you are going to play football. As they say, “If you don’t like it, stop them.” Maybe they should just call the game when it gets obvious that it’s over. Why go through the motions if it’s a done deal? Maybe the defense shouldn’t take the field. Just declare it over and go into the clubhouse. These are all absurd options, which is exactly what being upset that the opposing team played football against you is.
This is similar to the debate in Baseball about styling after hitting a home run. If you’ve got a problem with how someone behaves after hitting a home run, don’t give one up! If you’re upset Joba Chamberlain is pumping his fist after he strikes you out, make contact next time! If you don’t want Brett Favre throwing a touchdown pass, block it! Complaining about the other team is just one way of complaining about losing.
In competitive sports, there is never a reason to get upset when your opponent is behaving competitively. Everyone goes into each game as equals, and if you have a problem with how the other team is behaving, you have every opportunity to shut them up and win the game yourself. As I see it a team can behave however they want, and score as much as they want. If it’s legal within the rules of the game, then it’s fine by me. Don’t worry about how the other team plays or acts, that should be reserved for yourself, or your own team.
Follow @CeetarTags: Brett Favre, football, rules, rules of the game, running up the score, sore loser, sports, unwritten rules, vikings
February 28th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I understand what you’re saying in this post, but some have said that the Mets’ sort of taunting nature has led teams like the Marlins to treat end-of-year games that perhaps are not important to them, but are very important to the Mets as though they are playoff games. The Marlins beat the Mets on the last day of the season a couple years in a row (except last season, but that doesn’t matter). Now, I’m not saying that the Marlins would otherwise not care, but at the same time you have to believe that they want payback in situations like that, when they can knock an NL East rival out of the playoffs. What do you think? Also, there’s something fundamentally different between running up the score and celebrating at the expense of the opposing players. You forget to mention that in the NFL you can’t really celebrate in taunting ways without being flagged. (By the way, I’m a Phillies fan and I think that I can attest to a feeling that the Mets celebrated with just a little too much sort of playground playfulness at times. Now, the Phillies have done that too and I can’t say that I care that much as a fan. But, it seems that the players on the field care about that perhaps a lot more than we do.)