Chaos Theory, the Seahawks, and the FA Market
When you least expect it … expect it

Mild social commentary follows.  - Jeff

....

Jeff Goldblum, in Jurassic Park, warned Laura Dern about chaos theory.  He poured a few drops of water over her hand and pointed out that the imperfections in her hand (WHAAAT?) made it impossible to predict the movement of water.  "Something is going to go wrong with this dinosaur park," he told her in essence.  "Just because I don't know what it is, won't prevent it from happening."

That's a big part of my philosophy of life, derived also from the Sermon on the Mount which sets high priorities even within NT context.  "Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Sufficient unto (today) are the (troubles) thereof."

That doesn't mean, of course, to ignore the future.  It means to put more priority on today than we usually tend to do.  It means to live in the moment.

....

After the season opener against Green Bay, it looked like the Seahawks absolutely owned football.  The radio jocks were excusing Green Bay:  "30 other teams go into that building and get the same result, or worse."

Chaos theory intervened.  Personally, I suspect that the Seahawks have looked "a little bit off" precisely because of a pending locker room "mutiny" against Russell Wilson and therefore against Pete Carroll.  You might be skeptical this could happen.  Tell you exactly why this factor is underestimated.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the party life in the NFL can be depraved.  Not edgy.  Depraved.  You probably wouldn't want to even see it, if you had any kind of adult sensibilities.  There are always a good number of people in that kind of locker room who resent Boy Scouts.  A mutiny against Russell Wilson's rah-rah style -- especially because he is an actual Boy Scout -- is by no means unlikely.

Chaos theory.

As always, SSI reminds you of the glass half full.  Boy Scouts can be great leaders in the NFL, under some circumstances.  Roger Staubach is an enduring example.  I don't know exactly where Peyton Manning's head is at, but he looks like a family guy, at least an all-football guy, rather than a party animal.  Other guys.  They exist.

How Russell Wilson finds the sweet spot, the spot that doesn't cause too much resentment among his teammates who are incorrigibly self-centered, I dunno.  Would like to hear from others who know more about 2014 football than I do.

....

Schneider remarked, "Thanks there Percy, for contributing to our Super Bowl win."  HEH!  First point is, thanks for last year.  This year, thanks for nothin'.

The more insidious point:  the M's lost the Harvin BATTLE, wasting big money and big draft picks.  But who is winning the WAR with that take-no-prisoners corporate attitude?

....

Here's a smaller-scale application.  Truth is truth, whether it's used on the macro scale or micro scale.

In my own writing and speaking career, I had an early dilemma.  This was 25 years ago, but I remember the problem like it was yesterday.  I was writing a speech, and there was a surplus of ideas, and ...   "Here are six great ideas.  Should I save three for my next assignment?"

I decided, let's try using all six ideas today.  Empty the ammo belt and, today, produce the best you're capable of, today.  Whatever that is.  Hopefully more ideas will come along later.

And in using all six ideas up immediately, my garden of ideas germinated.  I'm glad I didn't take the miser's approach.  Each SSI article, for example, the problem comes up again.  Should Dr. D go no-holds-barred?  Or should he parcel out his efforts, give a 70% shot at it with the idea of reserving 30% for the future?

....

This Grand Life Theme, "Put everything you possibly got into today," that applies (at a tangent) to the free agent market in MLB.  

Nobody is saying, try to be the Yankees; give every FA whatever he wants.  The question is, should some teams put more priority on 2015 than they currently do.

For the last 10 years, the Mariners have operated under the idea, "Protect the future.  Keep your powder dry for next year, or the year after.  Wait for the moment to be right, and then try harder."  And their garden did not blossom, germinate, and become vital.  Success now breeds resources for tomorrow.

Was the Wil Myers / James Shields decision not an example of this attitude germinating success?

The last year or so, the Mariners seem to be getting a little better about attacking the current season.  And look where it's getting them.

BABVA,

Dr D

 

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Comments

1
bsr's picture

I take the fence to be our O-Line and the T Rex to be any opposing team's pass rush...Dr. Wilson scrambling for his life with a flare in hand hoping to cause a crucial split second of distraction to slip out of danger somehow. Is it Chaos Theory when the same thing happens every time? :)
I think it's interesting that of all the angles to this story you zeroed on the Harvin challenging Wilson's leadership one...which does seem to likely be the flashing red alert signal that got Schneider urgently working the phones the past few weeks. Considering we've heard he already got into it with a couple other WR's on the team and nothing was done about those incidents.
I believe there is a X's and O's side to this angle as well. Harvin is really a slot receiver whose strength is using his power and rapid acceleration to get open quickly on short crossing routes and break some tackles for larger gains. Problem is, Wilson is too short to throw middle on a lot of plays (check a heat map of his pass attempts, eg here: http://www.fieldgulls.com/2014/10/18/6996659/percy-harvin-seahawks-russe...). So that aspect of Harvin's game really doesn't fit with our franchise QB. Not to mention we already had a pretty good slot receiver in Angry Doug Baldwin, who was being pushed to a position he's not suited for.
So I assume all these factors are related and just created a perfect storm against the Percy Harvin Experience in Seattle (or ominous clouds presaging such on the horizon). Too bad, he was a thrill to watch.

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