Journal #1: Personal Response to Maraniss

Maraniss Response

Packer vs. Seattle Game Call  Courtesy: Youtube

            After reading the article David Maraniss wrote about the Packer versus Seahawks game I now feel if I’m not alone. I feel the same way about the brutal game as he says he does. I think that it is cool how he starts the article saying how it is strange to hear Sheldon Adelson quoting Vince Lombardi as his philosophical inspiration. Adelson announced that winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. This is contradictory to what old coach Lombardi taught and more importantly believed. I thought this was a very good introduction especially after seeing everybody Monday morning, and how everybody has in a mad and bummed mood.

            I think it was clever of Maraniss to what he asked next. Maraniss himself stated that after twelve hours he calmed down and remembered that it was only a football game. But more importantly, it brought a question to his mind. So was winning the only thing? I think this a really good question we should ask ourselves after any game. It is only human nature to see what we want to see in life. That is why it is hard to take a loss. We have a natural instinct in us that wants us to always win and succeed.  This is why we tend to argue in favor of our side no matter what. In terms of Monday night, argue and complain about the replacement referees.

            I like what Maraniss says next the most out of the article. He says he visceral dislikes scabs, and considers the replacement refs just that. Then he says he enjoys rooting for the Packers, who are owned by citizens, the only publicly owned institution in American professional sports. How cannot you be proud to consider yourself part of that? What really got him and I strongly agree with this myself was how the refs, Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson acted after the mind-boggling call we all seen. None of these people questioned the call their peers just made because it was in their favor. Everyone seen the same play and was dumb founded by it didn’t speak up unless it was against their team. This is when he tells how Wilson called the ending a tough call in an interview after the game. Wilson called the ending a “a tough call” but in reality there was nothing tough about it at all. In reality, to say that was a touchdown and not an interception is like saying black is white.

            I really like how Maraniss sums up his article the most. He says I never believed that winning is the only thing and either did Vince Lombardi. He then made it clear that Lombardi was harder on his team when they played poorly but won than if they played well but lost.  That is why I found what he said last the most true, even if he was Carroll or Wilson on Monday night, he would have felt compelled to see the truth and talk about it.  He then says I would have had a harder time sleeping with that sham on my conscience than with the anger of the call going the other way.  In conclusion, the score will forever stand and cannot be changed. But more importantly, we can remember that winning isn’t everything, and learn to watch our actions before they are made into history.