Henri Rousseau, “The Football Player”
Sports Saturday
Football has become such a quarterback-driven game that few teams without an elite signal caller have any chance of lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy. It also appears that the best quarterbacks of the future will resemble the ones of the past. They will be pocket passers like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
These two legends are noteworthy for their their ability to read the field and get rid of the ball in under three seconds. This explains why, even though they are relatively immobile, they seldom get sacked.
Here’s a poem about a quarterback who holds on to the ball too long. In his defense, he is not presented with an ideal situation, something comparable (so the poet tells us) to corn syrup when what he wants is genuine maple syrup. Then again, the truly great quarterbacks can make something happen even under the more challenging of conditions.
Should this quarterback have pulled the trigger? You decide.
Football
By Louis Jenkins
I take the snap from the center, fake to the right, fade back…
I’ve got protection. I’ve got a receiver open downfield…
What the hell is this? This isn’t a football, it’s a shoe, a man’s
brown leather oxford. A cousin to a football maybe, the same
skin, but not the same, a thing made for the earth, not the air.
I realize that this is a world where anything is possible and I
understand, also, that one often has to make do with what one
has. I have eaten pancakes, for instance, with that clear corn
syrup on them because there was no maple syrup and they
weren’t very good. Well, anyway, this is different. (My man
downfield is waving his arms.) One has certain responsibilities,
one has to make choices. This isn’t right and I’m not going
to throw it.
