So every Thursday over the last month and change I’ve been getting together with the same handsome, 6 foot 4 inch, former college teammate at his place in the “hippy capital of the world” Portland, Maine. The evenings usually go down like this: unusually flirtatious text messages about being excited for tonight’s events, purchasing of 38 Pabst Blue Ribbons, pizza/chili/burgers, few episodes of Arrested Development, Brand New/Red Hot Chili Peppers, few games of Madden online, a shot of Maker’s Mark, shotgun a beer, and once we’re nice and sloppy we place money on NFL games. Besides succumbing to our vices, destroying our livers, raising our cholesterol, and tainting our heterosexual reputation I have also come to learn a lot about perspective and just how important it is in our world.
An influential leader once said: “The aim for which we were fighting the war was the loftiest, the most overpowering that man can conceive: it was the freedom and independence of our nation”
The foundation of every successful team, army, or even argument is a basic trust in the underlying goals of which the whole is fighting for. You’re only as strong as the belief you have in the bare principles of what you stand for. Albeit we are not conquering nations, said gambling partner and myself present different arguments for different teams in what we think is the best interest of increasing our profit. Yet even at our drunkest we blindly trust one another to stick to the game plan and analyze every angle and different perspective in each matchup.
Example: Two weeks ago we bet on the Colts at home versus the Chiefs. The Colts were favored to win by 7 points. In other words, the Colts had to beat the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL by more than 7 points or we lost.
Chiefs perspective: the Chiefs are the only undefeated team in the NFL. They have 2 running backs with over 200 yards rushing (Jones, Charles) and are playing one of the weaker run defenses in the league (something like 28th in the league last year). The Chiefs have 2/3 of the coaching staff of the greatest dynasty in the last 15 years (Crennel, Weiss) and a litter of former Patriot greats (Vrabel, Cassell…). Also, they are coming off their bye week so they’ve had 2 weeks to rest up and prepare for Peyton Manning and his aerial attack. Dallas Clark is white. Not to mention they can lose by a full touchdown and still cover the spread.
Colts perspective: the Colts are coming off a bad loss to Jacksonville. They are 2-2 and are badly in need of a win to keep pace in their division. Peyton Manning is insanely good. The Chiefs are undefeated but they have beaten San Deigo (who always sucks in September), the Browns (I could play quarterback for them at this point), and the 49ers (don’t get me started). The Colts are at home.
A fair argument either way, one may contend. So how did we end up choosing the Colts? Well we could feel it in our plums that the Colts were going to win. The Chiefs aren’t for real. The Colts are a playoff team. The Colts are going to stomp on the Chiefs just like they did the Giants Week 1 (which we also picked). Maybe it was the booze, maybe we thought our analysis was justified, but either way we shared a common instinctive agreement with complete faith in one another’s perspective of the situation.
Flash back to the present. The Colts covered the spread (barely) and we won us some cash money. Our (drunken) perspective was right. Our perspective has yet to not be right (slant brag). Our earnings are 600% in 6 weeks.
So how do we keep doing it? What is our secret? What is our motto? We just follow in the teachingss of great American president and the man responsible for the emancipation of slavery, Abraham Lincoln: “I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black race.” It’s that simple. Pick the team with a white quarterback and offensive linemen with black receivers and tattooed linebackers.
Just to keep things in perspective, we are not racist. And neither was Abraham Lincoln…I think. But rather the point is that under different contextual circumstances people may perceive things (quotes, teams ability to cover the spread) completely differently.
“The aim for which we were fighting the war was the loftiest, the most overpowering that man can conceive: it was the freedom and independence of our nation”
~Adolf Hitler. Mein Kampf. Volume 1. Chapter VI.
Changes your perspective a little, doesn’t it (except for Neal Russell I’m sure).
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