Please, Don't Be Stupid
It’s classic lifestyle of human beings, making decisions that should have been thought about twice. Napoleon and Hitler’s attacking Russia, the first “Bennifer’s” making Gigli, and dancing to the Macarena back in the mid 1990’s. Of course, athletes are no exceptions. Being stupid not only makes the person look bad but it causes long term problems and not being stupid has been the key to most winning teams.
The past year’s San Diego Chargers was the regular season’s best record wise and should have gone much further in the play-offs. You can blame their loss on Troy Brown’s great strip after a Brady interception or the whole “Marty can’t win the big one” or a number of different things. But what all those have in common is that either someone just made a bad play or call or other human error. The one mistake that could have and should have been avoided was the one that maybe cost San Diego the game. Late in the third quarter, the Patriots had just come up short on third down and would have punted until Drayton Florence, a cornerback for San Diego, decided to show how much of a man he was. He pushed a New England player in the face, got a personal foul penalty and gave New England a fresh set of downs. Stephen Gostkowski then went on to kick a field goal and bring the Patriots within one point and the rest is history with New England coming out on top. Did that penalty cost San Diego the game? No will ever know, but in such a crucial part in the game, it could have made all the difference. So maybe before they got rid of Schottenheimer, they take a closer look at the moments were stupidity cost them.
Keeping with the NFL, in the 2005, the Bengals were the league’s best up and coming team. Big time quarterback throwing to speedy wide receivers and athletes aplenty over the rest of the field. But then they decided to have a little too much fun. Everything from drugs, alcohol, relationships with minors to just anything was added to their rap sheet in a period of about nine months. Some people might like to think that off field issues don’t affect play on the field, but no way was that team was able to concentrate with everything they were dealing with. The 2006 season should have been so much better for a talented Cincinnati.
Denver’s Darrent Williams was the latest case of NFL stupidity and tragically his troubles end in death. The cornerback was at a nightclub the night the Broncos lost their last regular season game that cost them a playoff spot. First of all, what kind of competitor has the guile to party after a season ending loss but that’s beside the point. The man lost his life that night because of someone else’s shooting so people will say he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s not true at all, he should have never been there in the first place, being at a nightclub at three in the morning is just asking for trouble. Other NFL stupidity traits range from celebrations and late hits that cause personal fouls. It’s amazing the things that guys do in a game that comes to down to inches. Those mess ups might not seem big at the moment but they often come to haunt teams at the end.
Of course other leagues deal with their stupidity as well. The NBA has had two brawls in the past three years that have cost those teams dearly. The Malice at the Palace ended the Pacers’ season in November when they should have been competing the Eastern Conference Finals like the year before. But multiple people had to act “hard” and Indiana has never truly recovered. Similarly, the brawl between Denver and New York seriously damaged the Nuggets season and will probably cost them a couple spots in the playoff rankings. Strip club brawls have also been a common theme in the NBA. Guys are getting into arguments over the dumbest things and getting themselves in trouble with the law. It seems pretty difficult to be a good teammate when you’re doing jail time, performing community service and attending rehab meetings. Just being at those places is asking for trouble, especially for professional athletes. The NBA also always thrived being a hip-hop league, but when that culture causes people to be thugs, then the culture needs to change.
The Duke lacrosse team were wrongly accused of many things and those prosecutors should be throw in prison themselves, but those young athletes brought those problems on themselves. Combining strippers and alcohol is a dangerous mix and what happened that night is not all that surprising considering what was going on. So many times, people bring on their own trouble because they just are making stupid decisions.
So it shouldn’t seem like any great surprise that the teams that have won championships over the past few years are those ones with the smartest players. The New England Patriots prided themselves on doing the right thing. The Chicago Bulls had all that talent in the 1990’s but didn’t bring problems on themselves. For teams that want to win championships, one of the biggest keys seems to be just staying out of trouble. So please, don’t be stupid.
The past year’s San Diego Chargers was the regular season’s best record wise and should have gone much further in the play-offs. You can blame their loss on Troy Brown’s great strip after a Brady interception or the whole “Marty can’t win the big one” or a number of different things. But what all those have in common is that either someone just made a bad play or call or other human error. The one mistake that could have and should have been avoided was the one that maybe cost San Diego the game. Late in the third quarter, the Patriots had just come up short on third down and would have punted until Drayton Florence, a cornerback for San Diego, decided to show how much of a man he was. He pushed a New England player in the face, got a personal foul penalty and gave New England a fresh set of downs. Stephen Gostkowski then went on to kick a field goal and bring the Patriots within one point and the rest is history with New England coming out on top. Did that penalty cost San Diego the game? No will ever know, but in such a crucial part in the game, it could have made all the difference. So maybe before they got rid of Schottenheimer, they take a closer look at the moments were stupidity cost them.
Keeping with the NFL, in the 2005, the Bengals were the league’s best up and coming team. Big time quarterback throwing to speedy wide receivers and athletes aplenty over the rest of the field. But then they decided to have a little too much fun. Everything from drugs, alcohol, relationships with minors to just anything was added to their rap sheet in a period of about nine months. Some people might like to think that off field issues don’t affect play on the field, but no way was that team was able to concentrate with everything they were dealing with. The 2006 season should have been so much better for a talented Cincinnati.
Denver’s Darrent Williams was the latest case of NFL stupidity and tragically his troubles end in death. The cornerback was at a nightclub the night the Broncos lost their last regular season game that cost them a playoff spot. First of all, what kind of competitor has the guile to party after a season ending loss but that’s beside the point. The man lost his life that night because of someone else’s shooting so people will say he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s not true at all, he should have never been there in the first place, being at a nightclub at three in the morning is just asking for trouble. Other NFL stupidity traits range from celebrations and late hits that cause personal fouls. It’s amazing the things that guys do in a game that comes to down to inches. Those mess ups might not seem big at the moment but they often come to haunt teams at the end.
Of course other leagues deal with their stupidity as well. The NBA has had two brawls in the past three years that have cost those teams dearly. The Malice at the Palace ended the Pacers’ season in November when they should have been competing the Eastern Conference Finals like the year before. But multiple people had to act “hard” and Indiana has never truly recovered. Similarly, the brawl between Denver and New York seriously damaged the Nuggets season and will probably cost them a couple spots in the playoff rankings. Strip club brawls have also been a common theme in the NBA. Guys are getting into arguments over the dumbest things and getting themselves in trouble with the law. It seems pretty difficult to be a good teammate when you’re doing jail time, performing community service and attending rehab meetings. Just being at those places is asking for trouble, especially for professional athletes. The NBA also always thrived being a hip-hop league, but when that culture causes people to be thugs, then the culture needs to change.
The Duke lacrosse team were wrongly accused of many things and those prosecutors should be throw in prison themselves, but those young athletes brought those problems on themselves. Combining strippers and alcohol is a dangerous mix and what happened that night is not all that surprising considering what was going on. So many times, people bring on their own trouble because they just are making stupid decisions.
So it shouldn’t seem like any great surprise that the teams that have won championships over the past few years are those ones with the smartest players. The New England Patriots prided themselves on doing the right thing. The Chicago Bulls had all that talent in the 1990’s but didn’t bring problems on themselves. For teams that want to win championships, one of the biggest keys seems to be just staying out of trouble. So please, don’t be stupid.
posted by William Allison @ 6:57 PM
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