Nikki Brydson
Observer Softball Report: What If 9-0 Never Happened?
If journalistic activities were sporting events, then surely counterfactual storytelling would be tee-ball: a simulation of the real thing with all the difficulty taken out of it, suitable for hapless children. And counterfactual storytelling about sporting events, of course, only threatens to compound the embarrassment. It leads the way to lame esoterica best suited for lonesome late-night sports radio. (If the "tuck rule" play had been upheld as a fumble, would the Raiders have been a football dynasty? If Jeffrey Maier had had his hands chewed off by ants in his crib, would Mike Mussina have ever gone to the Yankees?) The results are hackwork, space filler, a way of hiding from the realities of the here and now. read more »
It is hard to say which is worse: to dwell on one's own athletic conquests, basking in the wan glory of an inherently ephemeral success, or to dwell on having been conquered, brooding over events that can never be reversed. Yet we also see the appeal of an approach that combines honest self-criticism with taking the judicious measure of one's foe.
