As a Packer Backer, and as a lover of a close game in sports, I relished the could-have-gone-either-way incompletion that clinched the victory in Sunday’s playoff game.
But at the same time, it was painful to see my team come so close to losing. Dallas and Green Bay were so evenly matched that that one play made all of the difference – had Dez Bryant actually caught the ball (or, rather, had the referee’s interpretation of NFL rules allowed what looked for all the world like a catch to actually count as a catch), Dallas would likely have been playing the Seahawks for the NFC championship this coming Sunday (denying me the satisfaction of a matchup between my two favorite teams).
Although I love a close game in football, there’s no room for close in farming (or in life, really). The further you get from crushing it, the more you leave up to chance. A bad call by the referee, a wet spring, a downturn in the economy – any of these can throw you completely off your game, and end your season, subsume your fields in weeds, or run your business into the ground.
You can’t change the referee’s bad call. You don’t get a do-over when your kicker misses a second quarter field goal. You can’t control the weather.
But if you find yourself behind 26 to 21 at 4th and 2 with 4:06 left in the game, you’ve let luck have entirely too much say.
But at the same time, it was painful to see my team come so close to losing. Dallas and Green Bay were so evenly matched that that one play made all of the difference – had Dez Bryant actually caught the ball (or, rather, had the referee’s interpretation of NFL rules allowed what looked for all the world like a catch to actually count as a catch), Dallas would likely have been playing the Seahawks for the NFC championship this coming Sunday (denying me the satisfaction of a matchup between my two favorite teams).
Although I love a close game in football, there’s no room for close in farming (or in life, really). The further you get from crushing it, the more you leave up to chance. A bad call by the referee, a wet spring, a downturn in the economy – any of these can throw you completely off your game, and end your season, subsume your fields in weeds, or run your business into the ground.
You can’t change the referee’s bad call. You don’t get a do-over when your kicker misses a second quarter field goal. You can’t control the weather.
But if you find yourself behind 26 to 21 at 4th and 2 with 4:06 left in the game, you’ve let luck have entirely too much say.
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