1. Game of the Year
This has probably escaped the notice of many of the loyal readers of On Fire, but this space is often used to call people out. Or, more accurately, to support people in a manner that is so sarcastic that (we hope) no one actually believes that we condone the behavior we see around us. We would like to think (and invite you, the loyal reader, to think as well) that On Fire is a beacon on moral light shining on both Emory’s campus and the wider world of sports.
But we also understand that this can be confusing at times and that, occasionally, On Fire sends a mixed message. So, this time, we would like to be perfectly clear and say without the slightest hint of irony that this weekend’s Alabama-LSU football game was one of the most incredible sporting events of the year (or, at any rate, at least the final four minutes that your On Fire correspondent caught while getting chicken nuggets at the Varsity).
On Fire is many things. Some may hold that it is little more than descriptions of your On Fire correspondent’s day and shout-outs to his (or her) friends. Others may say it is the only interesting thing in the Wheel. But however On Fire is perceived, we hold our mission above all others – to hold up all that is great and good in sports.
And this game was both great and good. It was the epitome of what SEC football can be. The defenses were immovable – or nearly so. At certain transcendent moments, the offenses rose up and proved unstoppable, moving the ball down the field with precision, speed and anger.
Take Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron. At these SEC schools, if your name is not Tim Tebow or Cam Newton, the quarterback is not typically the star. His job is to stand tall with his hair waving gloriously in the wind while being protected by country boys bred on farming and football until he can hand the ball off to a running back so fast you would swear he is on the run from the law, all the while getting the girls and not going to class.
And for three whole quarters and 12 minutes of another, this was the case for McCarron. But, fortunately for him, your On Fire correspondent was too busy at a concert to catch this portion of the game. But, right at midnight snack-time, McCarron stepped up in true all-American fashion.
He was 1-7 in the second half up to the final drive. But all of that is forgotten when you take your team 72 yards down the field in under two minutes. Never mind that you had to rely on the same wide receiver for three consecutive throws. Never mind that, on the game-winning touchdown, he only threw the ball a total of perhaps two yards before letting his running back do the rest of the work.
Never mind all of that. Because A.J. McCarron is the man of the moment in Tuscaloosa right now. From all of us here at On Fire, here is hoping he basks in it.
2. The Redskin Rule
The first presidential election year in which the Washington Redskins were playing in our nation’s capital was 1940. That year, in their final home game before the election, the Redskins defeated the Steelers 37-10, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt maintained his seat in the White House.
The Redskins won their final home game before the election in 1944 and 1948 as well, and the incumbent Democratic party held on to the presidency each year. The Redskins did not lose their final home game before the election until 1952, and when they did, the Democrats finally lost an election.
Ever since then, this pattern has held to be true – when the Redskins win their final home game before the presidential election, the incumbent party maintains power. When they lose it, the opposition takes control.
That is, the pattern has held true with a single exception. The Redskins lost to the Packers in 2004, yet George W. Bush still managed to hang on to the presidency.
Many theories have been put forth for this anomaly. Some think that Al Gore winning the popular vote but losing the election threw off the Redskin rule.
Others believe that George W. is such a transcendent figure (see above on A.J. McCarron – we do not use that word lightly) that he alone is capable of resisting the powers of the Redskins. Or maybe Cheney had something to do with it.
We will never know. All we know is that the rule reasserted its powers in 2008 with Obama’s victory. And it predicts Romney to win tomorrow.
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