This is Water

I'd like to dedicate today's whiny, griping post to David Foster Wallace, a favorite writer of mine, who hanged himself yesterday, and whose Kenyon College Commencement speech is the inspiration for this post's title and can be read here.

Let me begin by saying (just as Barack Obama and Joe Biden for some reason seem to feel the need to begin each speech by praising McCain's service) that yes, I feel compassion for the people of Houston. I realize on a larger scale there are always far more important things than a football game. Yes, even a playoff game.

With that said, let me point out that there is very little that the NFL can do in the way of the larger, more humanitarian issues here. They ultimately are tasked with resolving the situation of where, when, and how to best resolve the scheduling issues caused by Hurricane Ike. Call me a cynic, but I don't believe that up in their Manhattan board room Roger Goodell and the rest of the NFL's brain trust made any comments with regard to the well being of the people of Houston that wasn't secondary, incidental, or in passing. You can be assured that whatever decisions were made were made from a distinctly business perspective.

The error in their ways came when they tried to play the situation by ear. They made the decision on Thursday to postpone the game to Monday, leaving it in Houston, hoping that there would be changes in the forecast and that all would be fine come Monday. This decision was obviously naive. However, it was also strategically flawed. Suppose it was going to be possible to physically play the game in Houston on Monday. When were the Ravens to fly in? How were the Texans to prepare for the game? They would most likely be bunkered down or preparing to evacuate their families. They were going to be TRAPPED in Houston for the weekend.

I'll forgive the NFL for attempting to keep the game in Houston. That should be the first goal. However, it was obvious to most people come Friday morning that Ike was a 500 - 900 mile across storm aimed DIRECTLY at the city of Houston. The game was not going to be played in Houston. Not on September 14th, at least.

So what are the remaining options? Move the game or postpone it and switch bye weeks around. The objection to moving the game? The Texans lose a home game. If it is moved to Baltimore, the rest of the AFC North can complain about fairness just as others complained when the Giants got 9 Home games after Katrina. I get that. That is a valid opinion. But there is recent precedent to move the game to a neutral sight. A few years back the Chargers played a "home" game in Arizona due to wild fires. It is just hard for me to understand how the NFL can argue against recent (very recent!) precedent.

And if the argument is fairness, what is fair about the results of this. We can all agree that now the Ravens and the Texans are going to go through an entire NFL season without a bye week. There are three benefits to a bye week. Physical rest, mental rest, and the ability to take time to extra plan for your next opponent. The Ravens and Texans receive none of these benefits from our week two "Bye". Maybe physical, but they spent the week practicing as normal, so I fail to see any rest being significant. Not only do they have to play 15 straight games now, they have to play 5 of 6 on the road in October/November. This sets both teams back and gives other teams an advantage over us. So the decision is clearly not made with fairness in mind.

My problem is that if this is made to keep the Texans schedule as close to its original form as possible, then it is a fruitless attempt. Guess what. This is going to be a bad season for them now. They are going to struggle all year due to this storm and it's effects. Their stadium may not be available for a month, their coaches and players will be displaced, the city will struggle for some time... So what the NFL did is screw over the Ravens and Bengals (and give everyone else an advantage over Houston and Baltimore) in order to futilely attempt to save the Texans' season.

So why was this decision really made? It clearly wasn't about fairness. It clearly wasn't about empathy for the city. It was made by default. It was made because Roger Goodell has bought into his own hype. He believes he is the ultimate commissioner, that whatever decision he makes is golden. So he thought he could put the game off, save Houston their home date and he would look brilliant and better than Tagliabue. But in the end, he caused a bad situation to turn worse. He delayed and failed to be decisive. In the end, he failed. And failed big.

I submit to you non-Ravens fans who think I'm just whining and it isn't that big of a deal our schedule. When reading below, bear in mind that we now have 15 games in a row. Nate will point out that that used to be common. Fine, I say. But it's not fair that only two teams have to do so. So look at this middle chunk of our schedule:

10/12: AT Indy
10/19: AT Miami
10/26: Home against Oakland
11/02: AT Cleveland
11/09: this was supposed to be a bye but is now AT Houston
11/16: AT New York Giants

That's 3 straight road games and 5 of 6 on the road!

Tell me how you'd feel if the Skins were put in this situation, Nate?
I'll just say it one last time - I get it. This was an unwinable situation. An act of God that changed everything. I get that, but I think the NFL should have minimized its effect. Instead they maximized it. They should have bit the bullet now. Moved the game - accepted that inevitablity - and then this week would be the only one affected. It was obvious that no matter what they did, the Texans would be significantly disadvantaged this season. So what did they do? Caused a ripple effect that increased the disadvantage to both teams and (and this is the big point) failed to fix anything. There was no real benefit to this result.

Goodell's failure was thinking he could find a fix all. In actuality, he needed to realize there wasn't going to be a perfect situation. He needed to wake up, look around and realize, "This is water!" and then deal with it and minimize its effects, not perpetuate them.
Oy vey. I'm done, sorry for bitching.