Why is so much now spoken as absolutes?
Folks such as Michael Kay, Tim McCarver, Moose Johnston, Brent Musburger, Dan Dierdorf and Mike Mayock don’t call games, they proclaim them. They don’t speak, they declare. They don’t suggest, they assert.
In Thursday’s NFL opener, the Ravens had run just six plays from scrimmage — two runs and four quick, short passes — when Joe Flacco completed a 29-yarder. NBC showed tape of Flacco being pressured.
“That,” said Cris Collinsworth, “is as close as they’ve gotten to Flacco all night.”
All night? Five minutes and seven plays in?
In NBC’s pregame, Tony Dungy supported Flacco as a legit star. Why?
“He’s in the league five years,” Dungy said, “he won a playoff game every year.”
That’s right, football is baseball. Flacco was the starting pitcher. That 22 men operate at once on every play doesn’t matter. Flacco won the games.
Did it matter that Flacco was 14-for-27 in a 20-13 playoff win against Houston in which the Texans threw three interceptions, lost a fumble and were forced to start third-string rookie QB T.J. Yates? Heck, no. Flacco won the game!