David Bell
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So, I had to borrow a title, or a line, from a Frank Sinatra song. So sue me! However… it really was a quarter to three as I began this article. So… the song is one of my favorites from Sinatra, and as he closes the song, he sings:
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And Joe I know you’re getting anxious to close,
And thanks for the cheer,
I hope you didn’t mind my bending your ear.
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Bending Your Ear
That’s how I feel, I am bending your ear, and I have fun doing it. Yesterday, I tuned in to RGR for the Ryan Tracy/Daniel Harms session with Q&A’s. Interesting. I glean from them and others — such as Seth Keysor — that the Chiefs will have a tough day against a tough team on Sunday, but have a good shot at winning the game, despite what Mahomes HAS or HASN’T. I’d go along with that view. It will be a one-score game.
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Set’em up, Joe
Damar’s Injury Effect: Short lived for Some Buffalo Fans
I read that the Cincinnati Bengals are super confident and that Buffalo Bills fans are cheering that Mahomes was injured. In the first case, I understand the bravado arising out of Cincy. On the other hand, I think it is classless to cheer due to a player’s injury. Suddenly, the Bills fans lost sight of the rest of the NFL cheering for Damar Hamlin’s recovery.
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That horrible injury brought out the best from fans around the NFL and the world, and the players too. Numerous plays knelt and prayed on the field. The mood was solemn, and the outpouring from players on both teams was worthy of comment and not to be forgotten. Hamlin himself was at the stadium for the Bills and Bengals game. I am sure he came away saddened by the loss to the Bengals. In Jacksonville, the players of both teams prayed together on the field for Hamlin’s recovery. The number three (#3) was displayed on the big Scoreboard and uniforms alike.
While I acknowledge that most Bills fans would not cheer at PMII’s injury, some fans did. I think that attitude and view are tasteless and crass.
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There were comments about NFL Football being only a game. It is more than that — it is a Sport and a major form of Entertainment. In 2016, Sam Apple published an article that captures the difference. Read the article at the ‘New Republic’ here. Sam Apple also says in his piece:
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“That football is just a game is factually true, of course, as it is for any other team sport. But what we mean when we say “just a game”—that football isn’t important in life, that it’s ridiculous to get worked up over an athletic competition among millionaires—is less obviously true. And yet, this mantra is repeated every Sunday in bars and living rooms across America, even among diehard fans, sometimes even among the coaches and athletes themselves.”
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It is not “just a game” either, and it’s more than just a “Sport” simultaneously. It is social cohesiveness that bonds together people from many different walks of life. That is a tough-to-write-about view of NFL Football. It is a mystical creation where boundaries are shifted weekly, but all the participants and viewers have the same bond-even if it is their team vs. our team. We all understand it.
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Gaming’s Negative Impact
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In the past few seasons, I have grown more distrustful of the influence of “Gaming” on NFL Football. 2022 brought an expansion of Vegas into all sorts of venues, for example, the various sites that provide football analysis. Money makes the world go around.
Greed Arises in the Hearts of Men
Thus it becomes a temptress, and the temptress will, if it hasn’t already, influenced a game’s outcome. Sooner or later, someone succumbs to the temptress. It’s human nature at its worst.
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From Officiating… to players… to coaches, it can affect the results on the field of play. I am going to offer my pronouncement:
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Gaming has already affected the outcome of a particular game. It is going to occur more easily and frequently from now on.
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I am very uncomfortable with this influence. I know there is no way to win against the parimutuel truths. I cannot “invest” at the track and come out ahead. That doesn’t mean that the track is completely honest and above board. It is not. The influence of Vegas on the way has expanded to the grass of NFL stadiums.
I am sure some sportswriters are entertaining writing articles about the recent expansion of Gaming into Sports, and we will be reading more and more about it. So maybe that is something I should focus an article on in this off-season. We’ll see.
The Need for an Arch-Nemesis
So far along, and the Chiefs have come a long way. No other team in the AFC West has been able to arise and become a viable combatant. Every team needs a nemesis. The Dastardly Raiders are not that foe now. Nor are the Broncos. Popeye had to have Brutus as an arch rival to fight to win Olive Oyl’s hand.
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Maybe, just maybe, the new Brutus has arisen in Cincinnati. They can substitute in the interim as the city of the evil empire: the Cincinnati Bengals. To defeat the evil ones, the Chiefs must rise to the occasion and fight as if there were no tomorrow if they should lose. If the Chiefs lose, there is no tomorrow!
Yeah. That’s the ticket! Defeat the evil empire.
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David Bell — ArrowheadOne
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