Super Bowl V.
The first Super Bowl in the merged NFL, and the first one in which
the awarded trophy bore the name of Vince Lombardi.
Tied at 13, 1:51 left in regulation.
Dallas Cowboys’ ball, all three timeouts, 1st and
10 at the Baltimore Colts’ 48 after a punt.
How do you blow that?
A run for -1 yard, a 24-yard holding penalty [15 yards from
the spot of the foul back then], and a too-high pass from Craig Morton to Dan
Reeves deflected off Reeves’ hands into the arms of Colts’ LB Mike Curtis. The stage was set for Jim O’Brien’s FG that
won the game for Baltimore.
On the eve of the first Presidential debate, the drama of
what was termed the “Blunder Bowl” bears mentioning. Note that the winning Colts turned the ball over
seven times during the course of the game, but won largely because of a
[disputed] fumble on their 1-yard line early in the 3rd quarter, and
Morton’s three 4th quarter
interceptions. It wasn’t so much the
number of or even the enormity of the mistakes; it was the timing.
One might say that something similar will happen in this
election. It won’t be won by either deeply
flawed mainstream candidate, but will be lost by whomever makes the most
crucial mistake at the most inopportune time, most likely as close to Election
Day as possible.
It’s hard to say which candidate parallels which team right
now; there’s no real accurate way to quantify the number of gaffes, or even the
enormity of the ones everyone seems to admit are actual gaffes. At the moment, it does seem as if Donald
Trump is doing a better job of controlling himself, while Hillary Clinton is desperately
grabbing onto some semblance of a favorable narrative as events both
directly [emails, health] and indirectly [the terrorism in NY and MN, riots in
NC] related give the impression that she isn’t in control of it anymore, or that she ever
was.
If, however, Hillary Clinton does lose this election, no one
is going to be comparing her to the Cowboys of Super Bowl V.
She will, instead, become the political parallel of another Baltimore
Colts team.
The one that was heavily favored in Super Bowl III and couldn’t
lose.
And then did.
To…the Jets.
No comments:
Post a Comment