Ego Writing Checks Your Body Can't Cash, dept.
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This is one of the greatest things I've ever heard in sports. Courtesy of Field Gulls, natch.
You remember in the 49'er game, that the Seahawks were behind 17-13 early in the 4th quarter. It was 4th and 7 from the enemy 35-yard line.
Initially, they decided on a field goal; they called a time out, changed their minds, and tried for the first down. (If you don't watch much football, the problem with a punt is that any punt from just outside the 20, into the end zone, --- > puts the ball back on the 20, and so much of the time you've got the equivalent of a badly-shanked punt.)
Steven Hauschka went to Carroll and said, please don't make me kick, please ... well, no. But here's what he said:
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"I didn't really want to kick it, to tell you the truth," Hauschka told Newsday after the game. "It was into the wind . . . I didn't think it was the right decision and I let coach Carroll know that."
"We had decided on a certain range," he said, "and depending on the conditions of the game we were going to stretch it past the 30-yard-line. At that moment, I didn't feel like it was the right time to stretch it."
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1. This is one whale of a great way to get yourself labeled a p .... er, wussy.
2. So why did Hauschka do it?
3. Turns out that Steven Hauschka is --- > A GOLFER. Three handicap. Which means he is a golf "master" or "virtuoso," in the absolute sense.
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Golfers, as you know, are interested in making the right decisions on the fairway. Very, VERY often the right decision is to choose the "wussy" shot. They are born-and-bred to lay up in front of that little creek in front of the green, if ... if what?
If, playing the course 100 times, their average score will be better after 100 lay-ups than it would be after 100 glory shots. Any golfer who fails to gain control of his ego will quickly fall to Darwin's law.
There's a moral here. Or two. Or five. But my favorite one comes from chess (and golf): if you had this position every day the rest of your life, would you play it this way every time?
Hauschka -- if you're scanning too quickly to take the point -- lined up the field goal like he would line up a 220-yard shot into a protected green. And he realized that the right shot was not to go for it. He advised Carroll of this, risking his own street cred, and because of that we're all getting ready for the Super Bowl.
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This might be one reason we all prefer baseball. Compared to the NBA and the NFL, our game has a lot more "golf" in it. Wouldn't you say? So we, as fans, find it easy to think along with the golfers ... er, pitchers. And batters. And especially managers.
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Football is high-testosterone and very emotional. It does not lend itself to laying up in front of the green. NFL teams should have a golf pro in the booth, to assist with these decisions.
In life, who is your golf pro?
BABVA,
Dr D