Ethan's gone crazy
My friend Ethan Zuckerman has excellent judgement in many things, and I defer to him on many tech or blogopsphere issues. But I'm sad to report that today he has gone officially, publicly, batshit crazy.
PACKERS WIN! PACKERS WIN!
I got news this morning that my team already won. Brett Favre will quarterback the Green Bay Packers in 2007....I accept that at some point in the future, I’ll turn on the TV on a snowy Sunday to watch the Packers and someone else will be leading the offense. I accept that he’s more or less guaranteed not to be as good as Brett Favre. I understand that it will be the end of an era.
I’m just really glad I can hide from that harsh reality for at least one more year.
This is like "more insurgent violence shows we're winning" crazy. Like Ethan, I've been a Packer fan for many, many years - I grew up in Milwaukee, after all. I probably helped land my job at Williams by getting in a very heated argument with the San Francisco 49 -obsessed department chair in the parking lot outside the interview dinner restaurant over the relative merits of Joe Montana vs Brett Favre. But let's face it... Brett is 37. He isn't what he used to be, and he isn't going to get any better. This year, he did exactly what I most feared he would do: give the team enough extra wins to screw up their draft position without really getting the team anywhere close to contending status. Meanwhile, hotshot quarterback-in-waiting Aaron Rodgers languishes on the bench for another year, gaining no NFL experience and no doubt counting the minutes until he can jump to another team (from what I hear, Brett ain't big on the whole "mentoring" thing...). Bleah. Ethan, get help...
DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Posted by: voof | February 04, 2007 at 09:55 AM
Excellent advice! When I go for my campus visits I'll be sure to get into sports arguments with various search committee members.
Posted by: Brian Ulrich | February 05, 2007 at 12:05 PM
it's a high risk strategy, I must warn you....
Posted by: aardvark | February 05, 2007 at 12:36 PM
http://arabic-media.com/newspapers/egypt/elfagr.htm
URL above is another example of the mysterious strories that have been appearing in Arab media. this time it is the Egyptian tabloid Al Fagr about a Shiite of Pakistani origing buying land in Egypt for what might turn up to be a sinister plot to establish "shiite settlements in Egypt" . As you pointed out earlier, what is the truth behind such stories ? are they genuine or planted ? As you can the see the "journalist/writer" starts off with the theme of "the government squandering the country's natural resources ( a common and legitimate theme in Egyptian politics )but the stroy takes a sudden turn towards the sectarian swamp !
Posted by: magdi abdelhadi | February 05, 2007 at 05:39 PM
What a sadly limited - nay, one-dimensional - understanding of football! One would think, reading your observations, that the point of a football team is to win games. While that's certainly true, the true purpose is so much more - it's to create lasting memories of greatness. Letting Brett continue his streak and break his records will almost certainly not win the Packers the Superbowl. But if it provides a dozen more stories, a handful more memories, one perfect Donald Driver catch in the middle of the field through double coverage, it's worth it to me. It's not about logic, Marc, it's about poetry. Let the man finish his epic. :-)
Posted by: EthanZ | February 05, 2007 at 07:08 PM