Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ties, football, and mission

On Sunday afternoon, after the Buc's game finished early, FOX switched to some bonus coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengal's game. That coverage was short lived because the game soon went into Overtime and some sort of broadcasting rules don't allow "bonus coverage" to continue past 4:15 pm.

In overtime, the game see-sawed back and forth, and then time ran out. It was a tie. One of the things that I hate about hockey and soccer CAN, on occasion, happen in the NFL (not NCAA football though). Well Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, in a true expression of honesty, actually admitted he didn't know that the game could end in a tie. I guess he thought there would be just another OT quarter.

How this dude didn't know that is beyond me. This tie is the 3rd tie in the past 11 years. I can-I don't know what this says about me, maybe I shouldn't 'open my mouth' like McNabb and admit this-tell you the other teams which share this dubious distinction (Giants/Cowboys; Steelers/Falcons).

How can someone not know the simple rules of OT, especially since McNabb has been in 8 OT games in his career? The meaningless debate (all sports debate really is meaningless, but still fun) is whether or not his knowledge, or lack thereof, affected his play. Could have made him less aggressive, thinking that he could always play for the next quarter?

I'd have to look at his record in OT games to draw any conclusions, and I've already probably spent more time thinking about this then necessary, so I'll not look that up. But in our Christian walks, it DOES matter that we know the "OT" rules.

We are and have been in what the bible calls the "last days" since Jesus' resurrection. There is a set amount of time left. Could be a lot, could be a little. But what we do know is that there will be no ties. The forces of Satan and God are not equal. There will be no ties, as Jesus will move His church forward, and bring about His Kingdom in fullness one day.

Knowing that there are no ties in OT does make a difference in life. It should move us as individuals forward in mission. Unlike Hockey, Soccer, and yes, sadly the NFL, we needn't worry about "ties.' Fortunately. Present frustration, sure. But ultimately no "ties!"

3 comments:

Gail and Keith said...

Maybe I misunderstand you. Were you saying when there is a tie in hockey it is the same as football? In ice hockey, if there is a tie at the end of the game, they go into a 5 min. sudden death overtime. If neither team scores in that 5 minutes they go to a shootout, one on one with the goalie. Each team gets 3 chances to score. If there is a tie score at the end of the 3 rounds of the shootout, then the shootout becomes a sudden death with each team getting one shot in each round until someone wins a round. We recently saw a sudden death shootout go 8 rounds.

Unknown said...

Nope you didn't misunderstand me. I think I misunderstood the rules. I thought there were ties in hockey. I know its not the same as in football. Maybe there aren't ties in hockey. I thought there were, but feel free to correct me!

Geoff

Geoffsnook said...

I have been corrected. There used to be ties in hockey. But that is not the case anymore. The NHL changed the rules. Just FYI.