Okay, that’s over. I’m off to read the Iliad.

First, I’m reminded of this:

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Three hours of football delivers 11 minutes of on-the-field action. This fact comes from the Wall Street Journal whose small study aligns with those of other researchers. The Journal points out that football “is the rare sport where it’s common for the clock to run for long periods of time while nothing is happening.”

Oddly, three hours of baseball delivers about the same amount of action. Baseball doesn’t have a clock.

And according to happiness researchers that is well and good:

Anticipation of the event can produce as much happiness as the event itself; in fact, the waiting can sometimes be the happiest part. People also appreciate the ability to extend their happy experiences, before and after the moment.

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Hooray for Bill Belichick. I’ll be interested to see Gregg Easterbrook’s reaction tomorrow, but I’ll back Belichick whatever the percentages. What a mensch.

Since we don’t know how well the Colts would have moved the ball had the Patriots punted, Belichick will forever take the blame for the loss, but with two minutes to go the Colts would have been  under no time pressure.

What killed the Patriots was the Colts’ penultimate touchdown drive:  79 yards in 1:49. If the Colts burn even 10 seconds more on that drive, the Patriots could have gotten the clock under the two minute warning on their succeeding series and forced the Colts to use up at least one timeout. That would have made the decision to punt a no brainer.

The other decisive factor? By the final quarter the Colts were dominating the line of scrimmage. The pressure the Patriots put on Manning in the first half simply evaporated. Belichick asked his offense to seal the win because his defense was spent.

Update: As I suspected, Belichick made the right call.

Update: Easterbrook confirms.

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When not playing, he’s just another aficionado, wowing over the pros’ shots and asking fellow players for tips. Try to talk to him about family or football during a match and he’ll invariably steer the conversation back to handball. “Can you believe this guy?” Plummer asks excitedly while watching a consolation match on the last day (surely a role reversal for 20-something Jeff Kastner to have an ex-NFL quarterback idolizing his game, especially when Jake is one of three spectators).

Nice article. But really I just posted it here to link to Joseph Epstein’s great collection of short stories, Fabulous Small Jews. There’s a handball story. Like the Jake Plummer article, it’s a small story of redemption.

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I spotted something in D.J. Gallo’s recent effort worthy of repetition:

As the Patriots pulled away from the Steelers in the second half, the cries of pass interference died down (mostly because Anthony Smith was so far away from Randy Moss as he streaked through the secondary that even the most biased fans couldn’t complain). It was then that a group of Patriots fans in my section took up a chant of: “Pitts-burgh Pi-rates!” Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap. “Pitts-burgh Pi-rates!” What was a cruel attempt to further humiliate Pittsburgh fans backfired, however. Many in Steelers garb appeared flattered that New Englanders even knew Pittsburgh had a baseball team.

Vilification always brings out the best in sports fans.

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Answer here, or below.

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Gregg Easterbrook made an observation in his November 6 column that got me thinking. Here’s Easterbrook:

The Colts ran early, hoping to wear New England down. On most passing plays, Peyton Manning was in the shotgun spread; on most rushing plays, under center. This cue seemed so obvious and basic that I assumed the Colts had in store lots of passing plays with Manning under center. Instead, through most of the contest, whether Manning was in the shotgun or under center told you what the action would be. Umm … don’t expect New England to miss this kind of thing.

I’ve played a lot of flag football in my time. Most flag football games redound with goofy plays. You’re in the huddle and someone says, I’ll be quarterback and I’ll roll right and throw a lateral back to Lyle on the left sideline and then Lyle looks for Slim deep on the stop and go.

But I’ve also played many games with quarterbacks (and they always have to be quarterback) who care only about execution. Every play is a square out or square in. Always 15 yards. The idea is, if the quarterback and receiver execute, the defense doesn’t matter.

I hate playing with those guys.

Now back to the NFL. Why was Indianapolis so unimaginative? Perhaps Dungy is an execution guy. He’s going up against the best team in football. So he tells himself that New England is too good to be fooled. Instead of adjustments he focuses his team on execution.

I don’t know about Dungy, but I’m convinced that many coaches fit this mold. Think Jim Mora. The more important the game, the more condensed the game plan. Keep it simple. Win with better execution. Then lose.

This is not the Bill Belichick way. He is Mr. Fun.

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