The two minute drill

Poorly worded analogy

In football the value of a quarterback is often based upon how well he runs the two minute drill. How effectively can he put together a game-winning (or tying) drive when he's behind and he has his back against the wall. Sorry if I offend anyone by using "he" as my pronoun of choice to talk about quarterbacks, but that bitch from "Mad About You" not withstanding, the quarterback position is the domain of the penis owning gender.

Let's take a step back, shall we? Let's say your team is down 9+ points (2 possession game) with around five minutes left. What do I want to see? A sense of urgency. Hustling up to the line of scrimmage. Quick, smart plays that move you up the field in a hurry. Granted you don't want to cross the line over into panic town, but at least look like you want to win.

This is something I've thought about. Whenever I've played sports I've wanted to win. To try to be the best. When it becomes your career does that change how you feel about it? I'll play sports hurt, but am much less likely to come to work if I have a high fever. If I skip a game because I'm sick, I'm really sick. When sports are your job, does that lessen that competitive part of your brain, because it is for the paycheck?

You're probably wondered if you wandered into the wrong blog. Nearly five paragraphs in and not a single solitary mention of any reality TV show. Well here it goes:

Not knowing the financial backgrounds of participants it makes it a little hard to judge what their priorities are and if money is even an issue for them (Amazing Race wise). However, if you have a 1 in 7 chance to win a million dollars (per team), don't you think if you know that you're near the bottom you might want to RUN? Maybe jog, break a sweat, do something to increase your chances of continuing on?

Jeff and Jordan - Wow. Big Brother was much better suited for you. Even though an intelligence issue wasn't their undoing (however Joan did not gather the animals for the Ark), they had no drive. They were behind, should have been cut last week but got spared by luck, but they fumbled on. It didn't seem to really matter to them to try a little to make up some of the time that they were behind. I found them extremely entertaining and endearing, but it was insulting how little effort they seemed into actually trying to compete.

Map Girl and Toolboy - Another Noah/Joan set of geniuses. I think if you threw in the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" their heads would explode from confusion. They remind me of the friends whose wedding you go to knowing that it won't work. They genuinely don't seem to like each other that much. If he does quit next week as alluded to in the previews (he doesn't since I'm fairly certain they make the top three) I will make it my life's mission to find him and kick him in the balls.

La-la-la-lesbians - Half of you need to shut up. The constant bitching about having to do what you willingly signed up for is enough already. There is (at least) another lesbian couple sitting at home watching the show that is wishing nasty things upon you because you took "their slot." It is insulting to everyone who has tried to get on this show for you to piss and moan about the opportunity you have. And frankly it's disrespectful to the show.

In Defense of Reality TV (some of it)

Reality TV is the brunt of many critical remarks. Some of this is, quite frankly, valid. Shows like "More to Love" (not sure if that was the actual title, I called it "The Fat Bachelor and his un-thin girls", "Rock of Love", "Flavor of Love", etc. are not exactly high-brow material. They may be entertaining, but you're not going to learn much, and may actually catch something from watching them. There are other shows that are not only compelling, but do have some educational value, if just for the insight into the human condition.

"The Biggest Loser" - At first glance the most awful show in the world. Taking advantage of over-weight people and exploiting them. However I think this show is a big example of you get out of it what you put into it. The show really does try to change people's lives and outside of the obvious built-in commercials it does also show people watching how to change some of their bad habits. Unfortunately the eating problems lots of these candidates have has a recidivism rate similar to pedophiles.

"American Idol" - I think Idol is different just because it is a skill show. Whether you like his music or not I don't think you can argue that Clay Aiken can't sing. It's a skill, like juggling. There is some inherent nastiness (especially during the audition shows), but still most of the people on this show do something I cannot.

"Survivor" - This is a tad bit more difficult to defend, however I can. "Survivor", to me, is about how people deal with relationships on a games related level. How people learn to leverage their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses to further themselves in the game. Lots of criticism about the show comes from people lying and backstabbing, etc. Take a minute to compare it to your local poker game. More likely than not you are playing with people you are friends with. Whether the stakes are in the hundreds or the low thousands you still are trying to best people you've probably known for a long time. I have no issue bluffing my friends trying to take their money when we're sitting around a table. Raise these stakes by several orders of magnitude and have my play against strangers, I'll do whatever I can - within the rules.

"The Amazing Race" - Often referred to as the show that almost everyone would do, and one of the few shows that people would do again. It shows cultures that most Americans would never experience, and frankly most don't know enough to care about. It shows a nice juxtoposition of what happens when you put Americans in other people's back yards. It shows some much of the human condition, and how little our little corner of whereever is in the grand scheme of things.