A few weeks ago while a bunch of us were sitting around having lunch, one older fellow asked if anyone knew how National Football League games are settled if the score is tied after 60 minutes. A rather large fellow sitting across from me started talking about how each team gets its turn with the ball and if it's tied after each team gets its turn, then it continues. If the score is still tied after the 15 minute over time, then the game ends in a tie. If it's an elimination game, then there's another 15 minute period. I stated that this sounded like a college football overtime to me and that I thought NFL overtime was sudden death. The large fellow responded that the rules were changed about 2 years ago to more closely emulate college football overtime.
Well, this particular fellow seemed surprisingly knowledgeable in a lot of rather obscure things and I thought that perhaps this was one of those things. I certainly have not stayed on top of obscure NFL rule changes over the recent years. In fact, it still makes no sense to me that the Denver Broncos made the playoffs instead of the San Diego Chargers. Furthermore, since he was a fairly large man, there was a chance that he used to play american football and would thus be more inclined to follow these things than I would. He very well could know something I don't.
Thus, I did not wish to be antagonistic. So I simply asked if these rule changes were made shortly after the NFC Championship game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints (January 2010). This game happened to be a particularly memorable affair in which Brett Favre threw a late interception that prevented Minnesota from winning it in regulation. New Orleans got the ball first in overtime and kicked a field goal to punch their tickets to the Super Bowl. Minnesota did not get "their turn" after that score - the game was over. Well, the large fellow responded to my question with a deer-in-the-headlights look in his face. He did not know. Because I did not wish to be antagonistic, rather than shoot down his explanation, I just asked to confirm that he indeed was not sure - "You don't know?" I was hoping to get to the bottom of this disconnect regarding NFL overtime rules in the next minute or two with further discussion.
But just then, the older fellow who somehow did not know a thing about NFL rules pointed out to me that the other guy shrugged (something I noticed before the older guy noticed). Then he felt the need to explain to me that the other guy's shrug meant that he did not know (something I was aware of before the older guy was aware of it). Then he proceeded to tell me that I need to learn to read social cues (look who's talking). This older fellow happens to be the most socially inept person I've ever met outside of academia. As a matter of fact, he even makes my strangest professors seem like normal guys. In other words, the way he was talking down to me was due entirely to the fact that he failed to see the situation for what it was. I did not have all the facts and I was trying to walk the fine line between being too deferential and being too confrontational. I was not oblivious to my surroundings; in fact, I had an unusually acute awareness of them.
Unfortunately, this interjection from the older fellow brought the discussion to a screeching halt so I never did get to the bottom of this. I was misread and misunderstood on not one, but two, occasions. Because the discussion did not continue I was made out to be a fool. Somehow during all this I never remembered the very recent playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos. The one where Denver got the ball first in overtime and Tim Tebow finished it with an 80-yard pass. Pittsburgh did not get "their turn" after that score - the game was over. If only I had remembered that, I could have been the hero and given the definitive answer that nobody else seemed able to give. So our "knowledgeable" friend was really just making stuff up.
Now I suppose one could have argued that there may be different rules in the regular season. Well, there are. There are only 15 minutes of overtime in the regular season. In the playoffs, they keep playing until there is a winner. But other than that, the rules are the same. I know because I just looked it up a few minutes ago. Regular season overtime was still sudden-death as of December 2011. There was a game between the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs that went into overtime. Oakland got the ball first and kicked a field goal at the end of that first drive. Kansas City did not get "their turn" after that score - the game was over. Basically, this sudden-death rule for both regular season and playoff overtimes in the NFL has been unchanged for more than 20 years! I really do not understand what possessed our "knowledgeable" friend to think a change was made.
As frustrated as I get about situations like these with people like these, I am not really in a position to complain too much. There have definitely been times when well after the fact I would suddenly come to this realization that the other person was right about something we discussed and I would be wishing there was a way I could go back to that person and let them know. In other words, I've been guilty too. We've all been guilty. The important thing is that we be reconciled. Even if we can't reconcile in person, at the very least we ought to be reconciled in our hearts.
Matthew 5: 20-26
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