MURDER BY NUMBERS

The UCLA Bruins squeaked by the Texas A&M Aggies 45-44 Sunday night, on this the first weekend of the college football season. Anyone who did not see the game could safely assume that this was a game that came down to the wire based upon the score alone. In a contest which was decided by a point, one could also imagine that the game itself may probably have been a back and forth affair, by either two potent offenses, or two teams that had no interest in playing defense. These are all possibilities.

However, a lifetime of watching football has taught us that the score, important as it may be to deciding the final outcome, does not always reveal to us exactly how a game transpired. Such is the case with Sunday night's affair between the Bruins and Aggies. Playing in front of a home crowd, the Bruins found themselves in a hole, of the 34-point deficit variety, late in the 3rd quarter. They would rally to win, scoring the game's next five touchdowns for the score that flashed across your screen, as you dozed soundly, already put to bed by the score of 44-10 late in the 3rd quarter.

There have been games in which teams despite winning the turnover or possession battle (you know those little nuances of the game which generally ensure success) still ended up losing to the team that turned the ball over more than they or did more productive things with their time of possession than the team that actually possessed the ball longer. Although infrequent, it seems to happen all the time. This is why I am never blown away when I see a comeback in football. Football seems to mirror life in a multitude of ways almost too numerous to enumerate here.

One particular way in which it does seem to parallel the real world is with regards to late starts and procrastination. People delay and procrastinate all the time. Some, it would seem, thrive on it. It's not a formula one would suggest as the way to success, but it does let you allow the notion that when the task at hand is put off, whether directly or indirectly, there may or may not be the chance that the job can still get done. Dependent now upon how compliant the ancillary components of whatever it is that is trying to be achieved is willing. There still is a chance, and a chance is all you need.

Now back to the Bruins-Aggies game of Sunday night vintage. This particular contest featured another way that a close score, or any score for that matter, could be interpreted. The comeback. A team gets down by a considerable margin to another team only to mount a comeback of extreme proportions often resulting in an epic win soon to become an "instant classic". The term "unanswered points" usually gets bandied about during the broadcast of said event. Enlightening the viewer or tuner of how quickly the tide can turn into an avalanche.

Earlier this year, fans of the NFL were treated to another "epic" comeback, this time on the greatest of stages, the Super Bowl. You would have to be living under a rock to have no idea about what transpired in that particular contest. Down in similar fashion, with regards to time and score, the New England Patriots overcame a 25-point deficit at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons, ultimately emerging victorious and hoisting yet another Lombardi trophy.

So, it happens. Teams race out to big leads based upon what seems like their opponent's taking to heart the notion of "Murphy's Law". Anything that can and will go wrong does, resulting in huge deficits. However sometimes the football gods are in the business of leveling the playing field and "Murphy's Law", momentum, the tide, or whatever you want to call it decides to change dancing partners. It is then that the outcome which was played out in Super Bowl LI, and most recently this past Sunday night in California, becomes a reality. No one questions how scoring happens when one team gets down and another goes up, but yet questions abound when the team that was down gets up and the team that was up gets down as far as the score is concerned. Life has taught us at times that "things were all good just a week ago." Things change and life changes with it. Same as in sports, same as in football. Professional or collegiate. No one ever says: "Things were all good just a half ago. Just a quarter ago. Heck, just five minutes ago." But they should.

"This is why you play the game...", or something close to that is what the great broadcaster Chris Berman trained us on when any two opponents collide on any given Sunday, or any given Saturday for that matter. With apologies to Mr. Berman, "...and this is why you play the game until it's over..." should be the other part of that great saying. Expecting a certain outcome before a game commences is one thing. After all, expectation is the mother of disappointment. Is it not? Expecting a certain outcome once a football game starts and begins to develop? Well now, that's just sheer torture. The type of torture that both Bruins and Aggies fans were feeling on Sunday night.

From Worst to First

The worst kind of writer that you can be is the type of writer that I have been: one who does not write. So then, how could I call myself a writer?

In elementary school a teacher once shared with the class the notion that "what you are to be, you are now becoming." I did not totally grasp the severity of the situation at that time, but as with most things in life you begin to understand the deeper meaning of words and events through time and experience, and this particular scenario is no different. What I am to be I have now become, a writer who has not written.

Well not a writer who has not written entirely, but rather a writer which has not wrote enough. Not nearly enough. And for this I apologize. Not to you who reads this, and certainly not to I who writes this, but to the stories, the articles, and the essays themselves. For not applying the due diligence to research. For not displaying the ability to focus. But most of all, for not taking the time to just write.

So once again I sincerely apologize. Not that you were waiting. My stories were.

I will not make them wait any longer.

[*Editor's Note: "There will be appearing from the date of this entry archived pieces which were intended for release and consumption earlier."]

FINAL FOUR SCORE

You could make an argument for each team in the FINAL FOUR, but here's my take: Wisconsin, Florida, and Kentucky all had tough leagues to play in. Not to say UConn didn't, but out of all the four teams left, no one expected them to be there. Florida went undefeated in the SEC during the regular season. I say they finally lose to an SEC team when the play Kentucky for the NCAA Championship. Kentucky will win it all and John Calipari will move to the front of the line of championship-winning college coaches who use gel to slick their hair like Billy Donovan and Rick Pitino.

Here We Go

So here we go... Not sure where to start, but I do know where I want to finish. Fall is fast approaching and with it all the events that mark the season are preparing themselves to make their autumn debut. NCAA Football starts next weekend. The NFL debuts shortly thereafter. About a month from then NCAA Basketball and the NBA get their time to shine. And even though it started in spring and is the game of summer,America's favorite past-time enters it's homerun stretch as well, as the Fall Classic takes center-stage. And not to mention, it's back-to-school time. Even though I matriculated through the educational system years ago, I always feel this sort of nostalgia when this time of year arrives. To me this is the real beginning of the new year; forget about New Year's Eve!

I start to get visions of bucolic college campuses, packed stadiums (on said college campuses), fight songs, and intense rivalries and tradition. I am romantic about this time of year. Can you tell? So without further ado get ready for the fall. Get ready for 68º weather. Get ready for hoodies, cardigans and pullover sweaters. Get ready for..."the most wonderful time of the year!"