Falling Short

By Tyler Roth

2012 was supposed to be a good year for the Green Bay Packers -- expectations were high. As the defending Super Bowl champions, players, coaches and fans alike pushed for a rerun of last year’s success…a feat accomplished only six times in the NFL’s forty-two year history. Personal expectations eventually led to national expectations. Green Bay was unanimously ranked #1 from the regular season kickoff on September 8th to its playoff matchup against the Giants over the weekend. Led by this year's MVP favorite, the Packers went over an entire year without losing a game on their home field. Fans obsessed with the numbers knew they were witnessing a regular season that was not only unprecedented, but special. 

It was the best of times.

But those numbers approaching perfection come with equally daunting realities as the stands are now void and lockers are emptied. The Packers fifteen regular season wins are the most ever for a divisional-round loser. Many of the fans hope that they’ll be able to look back on the 2011 season with some sense of accomplishment, but that time is certainly not in the foreseeable future. “No doubt about it,” cornerback Tramon Williams said, “We’ve been winning for so long now, it’s a sense of loss that it’s over just like that.  I don’t think words can explain the way we feel right now.”

It was the worst of times.

As the legendary Coach Lombardi taught us, “winning is not a sometimes thing. It’s an all-the-time thing.” In pursuit of that shared goal, professional football produces an odd sort-of family. When you're up, the die hards co-mingle with the bandwagon hoppers and the conservatives find common ground with the liberals. The less informed start checking the box scores and the know-it-alls are left little to dissect. Thus is the nature of success. But there are few catalysts like losing. It does strange and ugly things to people sprouting ailments of infighting, doubt, heartbreak, and general negativity. Sometimes these responses are rational while other times, they are senseless. 

Talking with fellow fans throughout the week and browsing the updated Facebook statuses of Packer Nation, I, like Tramon Williams and so many others, found it difficult to find the right words – embarrassment, anger, bitterness, astonishment, emptiness or an unhealthy cocktail of all the above.  But wherever your sentiments veer, you hold on to that feeling and the ideal that the victories will again taste that much sweeter. And for many of us that’s what makes these traditions so exciting and for some, so addicting. We tip-toe the fine line of sorrow and bliss, always finding our way back to our seats for opening kickoff. 

Go Pack Go.

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones...

By Tyler Roth

Every year around election time, there are drawn out debates on cable talk shows and in op-eds about “going negative,” and the repercussions of modern political combat. Campaigns, like the playing field, can be low and dirty. In a war to win, opponents tirelessly work to destroy each other with no pretense of civility or truth. Tactics such as defamation and cheap shots are weapons used to put opposition on the defensive and success can take the form of embarrassment, exposure, or flat out slander. Commercials from athletic companies such as Nike and Adidas often glorify smack talk, suggesting that bad manners are an ingredient of victory. The same can be said for politics and mudslinging – we envision the two walking intimately down the road hand-in-hand. 

Trash talk can give you the extra edge in a close race, vilifying your opponent or allow you to get in the head of your rival, disrupting any rhythm or composure. Some of the most successful athletes certainly didn't include compassion or restraint among their repertoire of strengths. Michael Jordan, Deion Sanders, Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, Larry Bird and Muhammed Ali were all iconic showmen who never shied away from verbal assault. If you showed any sign of character weakness, these guys recognized it and they exploited it.

While you may read about the declining moral fabric of our politicians or the lack of sportsmanship from our athletes, mudslinging and trash talk are, in fact, as old as time and thus, embedded into our history. George Washington, the Father of our Republic, was referred to as a gambler, swearer, horse beater and blasphemer by his anti-federalist enemies. Jefferson was attacked for his alleged affair with an African-American mistress. Abraham Lincoln, his physical appearance. Grover Cleveland, fathering an illegitimate child. Often considered one of the more infamous attack ads in the last century was that of incumbent President Lyndon Johnson towards his Republican opponent, Senator Barry Goldwater. Familiarly known as the “Daisy Ad”, Johnson's campaign strategists attempted to depict Goldwater as an overly aggressive politician intent on war. They did so by illustrating a little girl counting daisy petals in a meadow only to have her innocent moment disrupted by an ominous countdown and nuclear explosion. While the fear-mongering and controversy were glaringly obvious, President Johnson went on to win the 1964 election by a landslide and many attributed the ad (which only aired once) with playing a significant role in his success (ironically, President Johnson would go on to increase American intervention in Vietnam throughout his second term, inciting critics to rally “Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?”).

It should not be understated, however, that many candidates and athletes have gone on to win without the help of demeaning their adversaries. Some politicians ask their opponents to sign “clean campaign” pledges, which as the name would indicate, challenges them to abstain from smear tactics and strictly adhere to policy debate. Similarly, many athletes choose to let actions speak louder than words and would argue that parrying their rivals banter only distracts them from a performance necessary to win. Because in the end, that's all that matters – winning. Childish platitudes that teach otherwise simply don’t apply in the cutthroat real world that is politics and competitive sports. While chapters are written about Goldwater, volumes are written about Johnson. That's not to say that we should abandon all decency in the pursuit of victory but rather that we should be accepting of the rules we agree to play by. And with elections on the horizon, we should all get ready to play ball.

Joe Pa's Legacy Deferred

By Tyler Roth

In what will certainly be one of the headline sports stories of our time and a highly polarizing topic, nonetheless, I wanted to offer my two cents on the fallout at Penn State, and specifically the termination of Coach Paterno. I had a different and certainly more light-hearted topic lined up before all this, yet the recent developments might have cast such commentary in an inappropriate light. With that said, on to the issue at hand. 

Joe Paterno occupied a high place in the pantheon of athletic idols. He was the paternal figure of a major  football program and a coach who had the reputation of doing things the right way. He had the undying loyalty of former players and coaches – the type of man who could teach your son not only the great American game but the harder-learned facts of life. The Ivy-League educated coach was known for often reciting the quotes of William Shakespeare to his players in the locker room before the big games. Ironically, like the fall of Henry V or King Lear, Coach Paterno would become a fatality in his own tragedy. A tragedy that is as much about political authority as it is about family dynamics. 

Having given over forty years of his life to Penn State University, Joe Pa was distinguished as royalty and certainly enjoyed his role as such. Fulfilling a king’s obligations, however, necessitates governing for the good of one’s subjects. That not only includes the few hundred men in jerseys who marched into Happy Valley on game day over the years, but the thousands of youths who adored his dynasty and the aspiration of being a part of that Nittany Lion family. When he washed his hands of any responsibility with his failure to follow up with the authorities, he delivered not only himself and his family
but all of State College into chaos.

Unwilling to face the erosion of his career, Joe Pa seems to have exhibited a form of temporary amnesia with regards to the details brought to his attention nearly ten years ago. Whether or not he was simply blind to the truth, we may never know; however, accusations of such magnitude should never be swept under the rug, regardless of potential hearsay. As Coach Paterno came to this realization and was compelled to re-prioritize his values, the humility and compassion displayed themselves in the form of a public apology and resignation. “This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.” 

I am hesitant in all of this to use the word ‘victim’ when referring to Coach Paterno even as he undergoes the current universal condemnation. To do so would detract from the true casualties of this whole disaster. The notion that Paterno must leave in order to create some ideal of justice misses the point. There is no justice here. Innocence has been irrevocably lost. Coach Paterno is not the first idol to fall from grace and he will certainly not be the last. It’s easy to forget that the men we worship are still only men, capable of reaching great heights and extraordinary lows. As is all too often the case when these matters get highly publicized, the real lesson gets drowned out with the true victims. If we're to take away anything from this mess, it’s not to sit idly on the sideline while the devil checks in. Our moral obligation to one another as humans is stronger than any legacy that can be molded out of bronze or chiseled in to stone.

The Fall Classic

How can you not be romantic about baseball?

Last night was one of those rare instances in sports that you simply could not avoid getting caught up in. When the thrill of the game drowns out all the rest of the world's woes. I don't care what your feelings are about baseball, last night's performance was inspirational. Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'til it's over". With only 1 game left in the regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals were still fighting for their playoff lives. Tonight, that 162 game marathon again comes down to a 9 inning sprint. Except this time, it's for the World Series Pennant. So while you may not have a dog left in the fight, that doesn't mean you should stop watching. Enjoy the art and drama, because the beauty of baseball is on full display.

Runners, on your mark...

By Tyler Roth

As we saw this last weekend in the Detroit vs. San Francisco handshake debacle, the intense competitiveness that accompanies the desire to win does not always bring out our most courteous tendencies. It’s a dog-eat-dog world and as Darwin taught us, only the fittest survive. Coming at the end of an exhausting series of five debates in six weeks, two of the Republican presidential front-runners appeared eager to give more than just their respective post-game pleasantries and open to engaging in an old school knockdown-drag out of their own. In the spirit of that competitive drive, we're examining each GOP candidate and a potentially fitting running mate.

Mitt Romney (Tom Brady) – the former Governor of Massachusetts is certainly the favorite to get a spot on the general ticket but seems to have a problem courting true conservatives. Nonetheless, his confident attitude mirrors his awareness that he has already been vetted in the eyes of the GOP establishment. In what has become a somewhat Machiavellian strategy, many Republicans assume that Mitt is the only candidate who can unseat the President, and therefore even his moderately tarnished record is worth swallowing (e.g. Romneycare). Like Romney, Brady is wildly popular in the Bay State. You’d be hard-pressed to find any football fan who won’t admit that Brady is one of, if not, the front-runner in the game – the same may be                                                         true for Romney considering his surrounding GOP field.

Rick Perry (Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) – the Governor of Texas is considered to be Romney’s most formidable opponent. Interruptive and abrasive, he likes taking cheap shots when available in a sort-of ‘gotcha’ offensive. You will often hear him talking about illegal immigrants and Romney’s preferential treatment of them. In all honesty, I don’t follow NASCAR and know very little about Dale Earnhardt, Jr. other than that he embodies the sport. I am confident, however, that if Perry were to win the nomination and team up with Sarah Palin instead, a “Shake and Bake” slogan would make them virtually unstoppable.

Herman Cain (Tim Tebow) – Evangelical Christians and blue-collar Republicans resistant to Romney seem to be leaning towards Herman Cain. There is reason to question whether Cain can sustain his current support through the end of the year. Many have referred to Mr. Cain as the “Flavor of the Week”. With regards to Tebow, there has been a lot of talk over recent weeks of giving the Florida Gator prodigy turned altar boy a shot at starting in Denver. Every sports commentator on God’s green earth has given their two cents on the issue. Majority opinion: despite his immaculate tenure at the University of Florida, the requirements of an NFL quarterback are an entirely different list of credentials than Tebow’s resume has to offer. Similarly, convincing the American people that running a pizza chain is comparable to the role as Commander-and-Chief should prove to be an . . . interesting undertaking. My gut tells me it’s not as simple as a 9-9-9 deal. 

Michelle Bachmann (Brian Wilson) – If you’ve read or seen anything about the Minnesota Congresswoman or the Pennant-winning Giants relief pitcher, one word comes to mind – bizarre. Timing is everything in these primaries and peaking at the right moment is essential. Like Herman Cain, Congresswoman Bachmann suffers from Icarus syndrome having flown too close to the sun and is now crashing and burning. She may have to settle for her role as Queen of the Tea Party and if so inclined, show up for a House vote every now and then (I don’t know, just a thought).

Newt Gingrich (John Madden) – Newt has found a niche as the conscious of the party, constantly justifying his presence even if it makes him no more electable than before. While I respect the substance he brings to the field, I think he may be the last to have read the memo that his sunniest days are in the past. Both Madden and Gingrich used to be some of the most revered men in their respective arenas -- Capitol Hill and the NFL. Lately, however, you tend to wait with bated breath as they seem to have lost a lot of admiration amongst their former audiences and there's an awkward silence for a few seconds after they've spoken. 

Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman (the WNBA) – Clawing for respect since day 1. 

While I make light of the GOP presidential field, one of the previously mentioned politicians will make a very serious run to contest the President and be the 45^th Leader of the Free World and should they win, swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect the citizens of this great country. Such a challenge is certainly no laughing matter and I look forward to the debate.