In the NFL, quarterbacks (rightfully and wrongly) receive disproportional credit and blame for their team's successes and failures, wins and losses. Never do the lights shine as brightly as at the Super Bowl, where a win vaults the QB into hallowed company and a loss adds tarnish to what is often a stellar career.
Here's the question I've been pondering this week:
How often does a Super Bowl pit two QBs on the verge of legend-dom against each other, so that (barring an injury that would take one of them out of the game and assuming they play well enough to deserve most of the credit they will get if they win) if either team wins we'll be talking about a new member of the "greatest NFL QBs ever" conversation come Monday?
As it stands, Roethlisberger is a wunderkind, having gone a ridiculous 51-20 during the regular season and 7-2 in the postseason in his 4 season in the league. Add to that the record-breaking start to his career and that Super Bowl victory in his 2nd season and to win a 2nd title - in a measly 4 years in the league! - will elevate him into the upper echelon of QBs, even if he doesn't yet possess the game-changing ability of a (P.) Manning or Brady.
Warner has taken a different path, but one no less amazing. The former Arena League standout and grocery guy has out-of-this-world passing yards and would, with a win on Sunday, provide an exclamatory bookend to his career, placing the 2008 Cardinals next to the 1999 Rams. Winning two titles 9 years apart, with two different teams, both massive underdogs during most of the season? That guy would be a legend as well.
For the purpose of this argument, I will exclude QBs who are looking for their first Super Bowl win (like Elway in '97) even if that win would somehow validate their career.
The parallels:
Super Bowl X - Terry Bradshaw (who had won IX the year before) facing off against Roger Staubach (who had won VI)
Super Bowl XIII - Bradshaw vs. Staubach deux
Super Bowl XVIII - Jim Plunkett (who won XV) vs. Joe Theismann (who won XVII)
That's it.
To that we might add the following other close parallels (ignoring the criterion of having already won one):
XXIV - Montana (with 3 wins in his pocket) vs. Elway (appearing in his 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years)
XXVIII - Aikman (gunning for the repeat) vs. Kelly (appearing in his 4th straight Super Bowl)
XXXII - Elway (4th Super Bowl appearance) vs. Favre (gunning for the repeat)
Come Sunday night, we'll see who's left standing, and - if the Steelers win - if Roethlisberger puts together a game to elevate him into Bradshaw/Montana/Brady conversation or "merely does enough to win," as if he were a doubly-miraculous version of Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson.
But for the first time in 25 years we'll be guaranteed to welcome a new member into the elite club who have won more than one Super Bowl.
Egocentrism
- egocentric
- Brookline, MA, United States
- I'll post rants here, and musings; articles and thoughts about articles. I'll keep it quite complex and yet astoundingly simple: whatever it is I am interested in at any given moment.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A Prank of Which Michael Strahan Would be Proud
My trip to the US was more exhausting than I thought, and I have a long backlog of posts to begin working on as I simultaneously try to dig out from the piles of work that have amassed.
Still, sometimes you just have to wonder about things like this.
It is a shame, of course, that jokes about horns, winds, brass, or other appropriate jokes are not part of CNN's reporting. At least, that's a shame for me.
Still, sometimes you just have to wonder about things like this.
It is a shame, of course, that jokes about horns, winds, brass, or other appropriate jokes are not part of CNN's reporting. At least, that's a shame for me.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Translating Public Speech and Private Speech
An observation being back in the US:
In Israel, most of my private conversations are in English.
But public discourse - in class, supermarkets, cabs/busses, et c. - takes place in Hebrew.
In spite of the significant amount of Hebrew exposure I'm getting in Israel, coming back to the US was not jarring for me in terms of private conversations. Rather, it was the public spaces where I felt most ill-at-east - needing to remind myself, again and again, in a supermarket to ask for the aluminum tins and not the חד-פעמי stuff, et c.
This begins, I think, to outline the substantive differences between life in Israel and life back home.
In Israel, most of my private conversations are in English.
But public discourse - in class, supermarkets, cabs/busses, et c. - takes place in Hebrew.
In spite of the significant amount of Hebrew exposure I'm getting in Israel, coming back to the US was not jarring for me in terms of private conversations. Rather, it was the public spaces where I felt most ill-at-east - needing to remind myself, again and again, in a supermarket to ask for the aluminum tins and not the חד-פעמי stuff, et c.
This begins, I think, to outline the substantive differences between life in Israel and life back home.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Old Reflection on Today
Today was an exciting day - watching the Inauguration with my Wexner colleagues and the hotel wait staff was quite powerful - and I hope to be able to reflect more later on its import.
For the time being, I direct people back to the post that began this blog, written a few hours after Obama gave his victory speech on Wednesday morning (in Jerusalem), November 5.
For the time being, I direct people back to the post that began this blog, written a few hours after Obama gave his victory speech on Wednesday morning (in Jerusalem), November 5.
Great Trivia; Yankee Stadium ז"ל
As I catch up on issues of Sports Illustrated during my airplane flights, I read this beautiful article by Tom Verducci about Yankee Stadium's history.
In the article, Verducci includes this wonderful tidbit:
Who are the three former Cardinals that have plaques in Monument Park?
Hint: Trick question? It is and it isn't.
Answer is here.
In the article, Verducci includes this wonderful tidbit:
Who are the three former Cardinals that have plaques in Monument Park?
Hint: Trick question? It is and it isn't.
Answer is here.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Go West Young Man: Musings on an International Journey
I don't do much chronicling of my day-to-day experiences on the blog - it's just not what interests me the most on most given days. On Thursday, it was.
I first developed my fear of flying in high school, I think while thinking too much during many flights by myself to USY events and to see camp friends. It got worse during college, highlighted by two sketchy-as-hell flights. Then came 9/11, and the crash of Flight 587 over Queens. I stopped flying for four-and-a-half years, and began again, reluctantly, over Presidents' Day Weekend in February of '06. I've been coping with it ever since. Thursday was a pretty good day; the week before less so. But the story here is about the flight experience.
At Ben-Gurion, pre-flight, two interesting notes:
On the plane I was treated to the sickest on-demand entertainment opportunities I've ever seen, including the normal variety of games and the following sick movies (a selection of the 300+):
____________________________________________________________________
From the first flight I took after my four-and-a-half year break, in '06, I've been awed by the stunning beauty of the views from above.
On the flight from Tel Aviv to New York, I was treated to a lot of clouds, but also glimpses of breathtaking geography: the rocky crags of Southeast Europe; industrial zones of Germany; agricultural fields and massive wind turbines of the Netherlands; rolling grass-covered hills of northern England or Scotland; Quebec's glaciers and ice-covered mountains; shelves of ice hanging on the Atlantic Coast. Add to that the magnificent clouds, occasionally truffula grass rolling like cotton candy, or gossamer strands of loose fibers, or appearing as elevated versions of the ocean itself, waves of white interrupting flat, calm sheets. As we were landing, the setting sun projected a faint rainbow in the translucent clouds. Stunningly beautiful.
Upon our final descent, seconds before we touched down, I was reintroduced to the America I know so well: IKEA, Babies 'R' Us, and Toys 'R' Us across from the airport. What a classic first glimpse of America to our visitors from abroad. During the two hours I spent in the SuperShuttle winding my way, painfully slowly, towards Annie and Emily's apartment next to JTS, the sheer weight of our consumer economy rose up around me, from the redesigned Duane Reade facades to the familiar Hot & Crusty, Dunkin' Donuts, and more.
If I could only figure out why cell phones are banned between passport control and customs in Newark (a process that could easily take 30 minutes as you wait for your luggage), I'd feel pretty good about the whole process.
In the US through January 25th, will try to keep up the recent rhythm of posting.
I first developed my fear of flying in high school, I think while thinking too much during many flights by myself to USY events and to see camp friends. It got worse during college, highlighted by two sketchy-as-hell flights. Then came 9/11, and the crash of Flight 587 over Queens. I stopped flying for four-and-a-half years, and began again, reluctantly, over Presidents' Day Weekend in February of '06. I've been coping with it ever since. Thursday was a pretty good day; the week before less so. But the story here is about the flight experience.
At Ben-Gurion, pre-flight, two interesting notes:
- I had neglected to renew my 3-month tourist visa when it expired in early December, and was prepared for pretty much anything (which I imagined might consist of some haggling and/or a fine) as I approached passport control. The woman who was processing my passport began the expected haggling, then called over a supervisor. The supervisor asks me what I'm doing in Israel, and about 2 seconds into my response (in Hebrew), she turns to the processor and says "אנחנו לא מעכבים יהודיים. תשחררי אותו." - We don't stop Jews; let him go. And there I went, feeling a tad awkward about benefiting from racism but not complaining. (Not sure if this is, as it were, written policy that others [or me] could use in the future לכתחילה, but it was sure nice.)
- Less than three minutes after I pass through security, I get a text message on my Israeli cell-phone, from סלקום, advertising cheap rates to call Israel from חו"ל - big brother knew I was leaving the country. Eerie.
On the plane I was treated to the sickest on-demand entertainment opportunities I've ever seen, including the normal variety of games and the following sick movies (a selection of the 300+):
- Matrix trilogy
- X-Men trilogy
- Godfather trilogy
- Lord of the Rings trilogy
- Back to the Future
- Fight Club
- Spider Man 1 and 2
- Sopranos
- The Wire
- Six Feet Under
- Big Bang Theory
- Grey's Anatomy
____________________________________________________________________
From the first flight I took after my four-and-a-half year break, in '06, I've been awed by the stunning beauty of the views from above.
On the flight from Tel Aviv to New York, I was treated to a lot of clouds, but also glimpses of breathtaking geography: the rocky crags of Southeast Europe; industrial zones of Germany; agricultural fields and massive wind turbines of the Netherlands; rolling grass-covered hills of northern England or Scotland; Quebec's glaciers and ice-covered mountains; shelves of ice hanging on the Atlantic Coast. Add to that the magnificent clouds, occasionally truffula grass rolling like cotton candy, or gossamer strands of loose fibers, or appearing as elevated versions of the ocean itself, waves of white interrupting flat, calm sheets. As we were landing, the setting sun projected a faint rainbow in the translucent clouds. Stunningly beautiful.
Upon our final descent, seconds before we touched down, I was reintroduced to the America I know so well: IKEA, Babies 'R' Us, and Toys 'R' Us across from the airport. What a classic first glimpse of America to our visitors from abroad. During the two hours I spent in the SuperShuttle winding my way, painfully slowly, towards Annie and Emily's apartment next to JTS, the sheer weight of our consumer economy rose up around me, from the redesigned Duane Reade facades to the familiar Hot & Crusty, Dunkin' Donuts, and more.
If I could only figure out why cell phones are banned between passport control and customs in Newark (a process that could easily take 30 minutes as you wait for your luggage), I'd feel pretty good about the whole process.
In the US through January 25th, will try to keep up the recent rhythm of posting.
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