The Fan's Corner

with Greg Duff: 11/23/00

Don't misuse sports analogies

During this particular meal, I decided to interject some of these expressions, interrupting the adult conversation. Because I was clueless of their meaning, I had no idea if the phrases I was using were relative to the conversation. I can somewhat recall receiving dirty looks from my mother after the third or fourth one of these had nothing to do with the conversation at hand. It was with my next comment, though, that I hit paydirt. Somehow my interjection of the phrase "six of one, half a dozen of the other" was perfect for the topic at hand. The adults at the table, with the exception of my parents, who knew I'd just gotten lucky, thought I was brilliant.

I wondered as I watched last week's episode of the "West Wing" if the show's writers were hoping they'd get lucky with their sports interjection in this episode. The program centered around President Bartlett's nighttime trip to Portland for a speech. One of the primary storylines centered around the press secretary's slight of the president's alma mater, Notre Dame, before the important game with Michigan.

All in all, a good topic for the show as it proved an excellent way to illustrate the commander and chief's ultimate authority. But I couldn't help but notice a problem. Any sports fan can tell you that the Michigan-Notre Dame game is played in September as the Wolverines do not play non-conference games during the Big Ten season. "West Wing" viewers were led to believe the time frame of this episode was after the mid-term elections, sometime in November when the staff is wearing heavy coats against the wintery Washington weather.

Don't get me wrong. I think the "West Wing" is the best show on television, and had I the opportunity to vote for Jedediah Bartlett instead of the other guys, I would have been much happier on Nov. 7. I realize the strength of the show is clearly the writers' grasp of politics, but how hard would it have been for one of them to look at Notre Dame's schedule and pick one of the Irish's opponents from November?

When it comes to the language of sports, art has forever imitated life. In fact, it's common place in the English vernacular to use a sports analogy to describe life's more interesting situations. People have been "scoring" in bars for generations; the "home run" is held in high esteem by both deal makers and adolescents alike; and, doesn't everybody feel "down for the count" some Friday evenings.

The first couple of days of the Florida vote controversy invited those in the media to employ a new sports analogy, though to my knowledge it has yet to be used.

Those of us who watch the NFL recognized immediately the similarities between the presidential camps and teams on the field. After having just participated in a controversial play, the side that clearly benefited from the play wants to get to the line of scrimmage and get the next play off before a challenge can be made. The other team, who feel they were victimized by a bad call, take their time and hope the officials will be convinced of the injustice.

Unfortunately, the replay in the executive playoff has thus far been inconclusive. Eventually, one team will be victorious, leaving us all with a first down and four years to go.

Back to Sports: 11/23/00.