Another year of playoffs in the NFL, another round of calls for a change in the overtime rules. Seriously, it’s all over the place. The argument for changing the rules can be presented a dozen different ways, but it boils down to this: Whoever wins the coin toss, and thus gets the ball first, can score and the other team never gets their offense on the field. Clearly that’s unfair, right?
What bothers me about this, and what should bother at least 40% of every professional football team, is that the clear implication of this is that the defense is not an equal representative of the team. If the Seahawks’ offense scores a touchdown, the Seahawks get six points, right? If the Seahawks’ defense gives up a field goal, the Seahawks are now down thee, right? I realize there can be more subtlety to the statistical considerations, but in the end I am completely unmoved by the argument that when team A wins the coin flip there’s a possibility that team B will “never get a chance of their own.” They’ve got 11 men on the field, same as the other guys. How is this grossly unfair? And if it’s a little teeny bit unfair, well, the great 9th century philosopher Dennisus Learyus summed it up when he said “life sucks, get a f#*@in’ helmet!” Man up, D, and get a stop.
Note that, as a nascent Seahawks fan, I know what I’m talking about when I say a team can win the coin-flip and lose the game. Right, Matt?





I realize that posting on the Cardinals - Eagles game isn’t super timely, but I’m not out to recap the action; the Cardinals won, 32-25, and they’re moving on to the Super Bowl. In the aftermath of the game, I heard a lot of commentators (

