I may not be the first one, but the other day I notices something as I was trying to look for a worthy addition to my otherwise abysmal fantasy football team. With the exception of one team, all the NFL team logos face or point to the right - excluding, of course, the "stationary" ones - letters and symmetrical symbols. Here's a list of the ones "charging", if you will, to the right:
- Ravens' raven
- Browns' helmet
- Texans' bull
- Jaguars' jaguar
- Titans' fireball
- Bills' buffalo
- Free Willy on Dolphins'
- Patriots' minuteman
- Broncos' bronco
- Chiefs' arrow
- Lions' lion
- Vikings' James Hetfield
- Falcons' falcon
- Panthers' panther
- Buccaeneers' flag
- Redskins' Native American
- Cardinals' cardinal
- Seahawks' ... seahawk
- And, last but not least (pun totally intended), Rams' ram
Only Eagles' eagle is facing left.
I don't know if it was a deliberate attempt by Philly to come up with a logo that defies the "Western logic" or the rest of the NFL. What I mean by "Western logic" is that languages written with a Latin-based alphabet are written from left to right (duh...), so it is natural for children growing up learning these languages as mother tongue to "think" from left to right too (Lacan's language-based psychoanalysis). Let's give a cinematic example: in Kubrick's film The Killing (1955), all the characters enter the scene from left to right. Kubrick later said that it was deliberate. I might be completely off the mark here, but I remember reading a quote by David Lean along the same lines.
Anyway, back to football. What is strange about the NFL logos isn't the fact that they face right, but that one team - by pure coincidence or pure rebellion - has a logo facing the other way.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
Peace.
Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sports. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
No More Perfection!!!
Great. You wait for six months to prove everyone that Patriots may not have been the perfect team, but the best team in the country and what happens? Tom Brady - they should have cast him instead of Brandon Routh in Superman Returns (2006) - gets injured within the first five minutes after tossing a awesome pass. He's out for the season and a return to glory for the Pats looks a lot harder now. The pass was intercepted, by the way.
Losing Brady should not be wholly detrimental to Patriots, because (read the first paragraph again) they want to prove themselves to be the best team. Unfortunately, Brady's input is so huge that his loss undermines any title hope the team, the pundits, the fans, and the players had. They are now a strong contender for a play-off spot - quite probably seeded - but I can't see them progressing any further. Matt Cassell should be an able replacement, but he won't reach the numbers Brady put on board last season. I hope he does and I end up eating my words. But, he won't. Brady's loss also means lesser numbers from Moss and Welker (and there goes my fantasy team). All in all, Patriots will finish the season with a handful of less games won than last year.
On the bright side, it was a stellar first week: Favre vs. Pennington (I wish they had mics inside the helmets of both); Panthers' last second touchdown (thank you San Diego defence); Falcons finally winning a game. And tonight we'll see if Rodgers can shut the Packers' fans boos as he sizes up Petersen and the Vikings. It's going to be good...
Peace.
Losing Brady should not be wholly detrimental to Patriots, because (read the first paragraph again) they want to prove themselves to be the best team. Unfortunately, Brady's input is so huge that his loss undermines any title hope the team, the pundits, the fans, and the players had. They are now a strong contender for a play-off spot - quite probably seeded - but I can't see them progressing any further. Matt Cassell should be an able replacement, but he won't reach the numbers Brady put on board last season. I hope he does and I end up eating my words. But, he won't. Brady's loss also means lesser numbers from Moss and Welker (and there goes my fantasy team). All in all, Patriots will finish the season with a handful of less games won than last year.
On the bright side, it was a stellar first week: Favre vs. Pennington (I wish they had mics inside the helmets of both); Panthers' last second touchdown (thank you San Diego defence); Falcons finally winning a game. And tonight we'll see if Rodgers can shut the Packers' fans boos as he sizes up Petersen and the Vikings. It's going to be good...
Peace.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Once again...
It happened again. Another campaign for European glory ended in a defeat. And this time with a heavy one. It is law now that when Galatasaray are to lose in Europe, they lose heavily...against teams that they should beat. It's also interesting how we manage to lose all the important games with seemingly crushing defeats. How we'll come back up from this is beyond me - it was an abysmal performance. I think we cemented the notion, which we vehemently denied over the last five years or so, that we are no longer a potent team...we have become what we feared most: we are what Fenerbahce used to be all these years. Shame...
Peace
Peace
Monday, February 4, 2008
Imperfection
It finally came to be true and the invincible, perfect, awesome, amazing, incredible Patriots were brought down to their knees in a performance that was so mediocre, one wonders how this team managed to come all this way without losing a single game.
This is not a damning indictment on how bad the Patriots were, nor is it a counter-argument to the Perfection epithet. I believe that Patriots deserved all the accolades awarded to them for the whole season. They were (are) the perfect team and they have only played one bad game - and it happens to be the one that counts.
I personally dislike the play-off system that is employed in American sports. True, in world football there is also a play-off system, but that is due to time restrictions. Play-offs are good for the media - it generates more buzz and, in most cases, it is quite good fun. However, the 'fun' part isn't on the field. More often than not, every play-off situation benefits from the pre-game and post-game analysis. This is because the teams participating in the post-season are very similar in terms of quality, so you are more likely to get a 'dull' game. What is interesting is the drama surrounding the situation.
Now, can anybody say that Patriots were the second best team of the season? Or that the Colts just made it to Top 8? No. The league system rewards the better teams, play-offs reward the teams that play better on that very particular day. I don't want to take anything away from the Giants - they were the superior team last night and they have been on a very good run over the last few weeks. Kudos to them that they beat the best team in the country.
I think play-offs are a farce and unfair. Sports is played on the field and Patriots were outplayed by Giants, but the best team of the 2007-08 season were the Patriots. Unfortunately, the record-books won't ever show that.
As for the Patriots players, good job, lads. You played better than anybody and you deserved to win the championship, but your one mediocre game happened to be on the Super Bowl day...
This is not a damning indictment on how bad the Patriots were, nor is it a counter-argument to the Perfection epithet. I believe that Patriots deserved all the accolades awarded to them for the whole season. They were (are) the perfect team and they have only played one bad game - and it happens to be the one that counts.
I personally dislike the play-off system that is employed in American sports. True, in world football there is also a play-off system, but that is due to time restrictions. Play-offs are good for the media - it generates more buzz and, in most cases, it is quite good fun. However, the 'fun' part isn't on the field. More often than not, every play-off situation benefits from the pre-game and post-game analysis. This is because the teams participating in the post-season are very similar in terms of quality, so you are more likely to get a 'dull' game. What is interesting is the drama surrounding the situation.
Now, can anybody say that Patriots were the second best team of the season? Or that the Colts just made it to Top 8? No. The league system rewards the better teams, play-offs reward the teams that play better on that very particular day. I don't want to take anything away from the Giants - they were the superior team last night and they have been on a very good run over the last few weeks. Kudos to them that they beat the best team in the country.
I think play-offs are a farce and unfair. Sports is played on the field and Patriots were outplayed by Giants, but the best team of the 2007-08 season were the Patriots. Unfortunately, the record-books won't ever show that.
As for the Patriots players, good job, lads. You played better than anybody and you deserved to win the championship, but your one mediocre game happened to be on the Super Bowl day...
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
England Crashing Out
What a way to end a dismal qualifying campaign. Today, England crashed out of contention from the upcoming Euro 2008 afer losing 3-2 against a Croatia side that has already qualified.
Before the FIFA World Cup 2006, I predicted - with a hint of subjectivity - that England would come out as victors. My justification: they had the best midfield combination that our age has ever seen. I mean, with David Beckham, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, what you have is a team that scores, passes the ball well, and holds possession. How wrong was I - and countless other commentators - when England put on a desperate show of redemption. And the broken foot of David Beckham should not be an excuse.
Flash forward to the present, the same midfield is still here. And the result is exactly the same.
Unfortunately, England looks like a lost cause. In world football you have the heavy weights: Brazil, Italy, Germany; you have the also-rans: Spain, Czech Republic, Uruguay, Netherlands. I'm afraid England remains with the second group after struggling in the group of bubbling teams-in-betweens, namely France and Argentina. Shame...
Before the FIFA World Cup 2006, I predicted - with a hint of subjectivity - that England would come out as victors. My justification: they had the best midfield combination that our age has ever seen. I mean, with David Beckham, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, what you have is a team that scores, passes the ball well, and holds possession. How wrong was I - and countless other commentators - when England put on a desperate show of redemption. And the broken foot of David Beckham should not be an excuse.
Flash forward to the present, the same midfield is still here. And the result is exactly the same.
Unfortunately, England looks like a lost cause. In world football you have the heavy weights: Brazil, Italy, Germany; you have the also-rans: Spain, Czech Republic, Uruguay, Netherlands. I'm afraid England remains with the second group after struggling in the group of bubbling teams-in-betweens, namely France and Argentina. Shame...
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Patriots
My roommate recently sent me an article that appeared on FOXSports.com about a comparison between the respective head coaches of today's highly-anticipated game between the Patriots and the Colts. The analogy he makes about the game is that it is not just a game between the two best teams in the NFL, but an age-old battle between the Good and the Evil. He thinks Bill Belichik is evil, and Tony Dungy is good.
Now I don't know much about the histories of these said coaches, but the reasons he gives for the evil nature of Belichik are ridiculous. First of all, the white elephant in the room is the cheating scandal. Belichik is found guilty and charged for it. He paid for it. Done. Gone. Diego Maradona, considered by many as the greatest footballer of all time, is responsible for one of the cheekiest moments in football history with his (in)famous "hand-of-God" goal. He was also caught for using illegal substances in the 1994 World Cup. Yet, could anybody question his talents and what he gave to the world of football? No, absolutely not.
The second reason the article gives is Belichik decision to go for a fourth down when his team was already a thousand points up. Belichik is the coach of the most exciting team in the NFL now. He plays to win games. What did Redskins do last week? Nothing. Nada. They had a whole game to come up with something and they didn't. And Patriots took advantage of that. There's nothing wrong with that. So what if "one of the greatest coaches in the history of NFL" was embarrassed on national TV. He was embarrassed because his team couldn't deliver. Don't blame the team that showed up. Blame the underachievers.
Today's game, by the way, was quite boring by Patriots and Colts standards, yet it delivered the goods in the last quarter as Patriots came back from 10 points behind to win the game by 4. Great end to a game. Patriots are the best team in the NFL right now and any team that fails to come up with the goods against them will face the same fate as the Redskins. Colts showed up, played well...but lost.
I guess the evil prevailed and the spawns of Satan shall rule the world, huh?
Now I don't know much about the histories of these said coaches, but the reasons he gives for the evil nature of Belichik are ridiculous. First of all, the white elephant in the room is the cheating scandal. Belichik is found guilty and charged for it. He paid for it. Done. Gone. Diego Maradona, considered by many as the greatest footballer of all time, is responsible for one of the cheekiest moments in football history with his (in)famous "hand-of-God" goal. He was also caught for using illegal substances in the 1994 World Cup. Yet, could anybody question his talents and what he gave to the world of football? No, absolutely not.
The second reason the article gives is Belichik decision to go for a fourth down when his team was already a thousand points up. Belichik is the coach of the most exciting team in the NFL now. He plays to win games. What did Redskins do last week? Nothing. Nada. They had a whole game to come up with something and they didn't. And Patriots took advantage of that. There's nothing wrong with that. So what if "one of the greatest coaches in the history of NFL" was embarrassed on national TV. He was embarrassed because his team couldn't deliver. Don't blame the team that showed up. Blame the underachievers.
Today's game, by the way, was quite boring by Patriots and Colts standards, yet it delivered the goods in the last quarter as Patriots came back from 10 points behind to win the game by 4. Great end to a game. Patriots are the best team in the NFL right now and any team that fails to come up with the goods against them will face the same fate as the Redskins. Colts showed up, played well...but lost.
I guess the evil prevailed and the spawns of Satan shall rule the world, huh?
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