Living in the age of the asterisk

By Os Davis  |   Friday, November 09, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

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Forget the New England Patriots, instant hype and steroids: We are, each and every one of us, living in the age of the asterisk. When former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula dropped in his two cents about the illegitimacy of an undefeated season by the Pats - seven games (or 10) before it happens, mind you - he reaffirmed football and the sporting world's overwhelming obsession with America's favorite five-pointed character. (Sorry, Cowboys fans.)

Before continuing on with handing out of some necessary historical revisionism - I mean, asterisk application - to a handful of clearly undeserving NFL performers, recall momentarily the birth of the asterisk concept in today's sports world.

As captured in Billy Crystal's excellently-titled ESPN production 61*, controversy reigned in the baseball world as Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chased legendary Babe Ruth's single-season mark of 60 home runs. When it became obvious that Maris would stand alone in the pursuit (late-season injuries slowed Mantle's pace in August), the sport's fans - particularly those of New York - began to grumble, mutter, complain and generally display all those other traits we still love from proponents of the well-known "East Coast bias" in media reportage.

Why? Were baseball lovers outraged by Maris' use of steroids? His stealing of catchers' signals? His fixing the outcomes of games?

Nah. Yankee fans and other cantankerous types with an opinion to proclaim in 1961 just didn't like the sometimes gruff Maris as much as the lovable, crude, undereducated, hard-drinking, womanizing Ruth. Ford Frick, in one of the most spineless moves ever by a major sports executive, essentially invented the asterisk as a result. The commissioner decided that if Maris didn't break the record by Ruth's schedule of 154 games, Maris' total would forever carry the note that his remarkable feat (unbroken for 27 years, remember, until the Great Chase of 1998* featuring Mark McGwire* and Sammy Sosa*) had to be done in a 162-game schedule.

And that's why we throw around the asterisk today: Because a bunch of supporters of baseball's most reviled team to the present couldn't stomach Roger Maris almost a half-century ago.

Nevertheless - at least until the Worldwide Leader in [American] Sports and its ilk tire of the concept - the asterisk, like steroids and HGH, is here to stay.

A few more asterisks, then, please. Apply them to numbers like:

Detroit Lions, 6-2*. QB Jon Kitna told reporters that, after getting a concussion in the Minnesota Vikings game, he experienced a "miracle" in recovering and subsequently leading his Lions to a win. Acts of God are clearly against the fundamental rules of football, which state the game must be played by mortals. (Um, it doesn't? Well, it should.)

Adrian Peterson's single-game record of 296* yards. Again, acts of God.

Patriots 16-10 over* the Oakland Raiders, 2002 AFC divisional playoff game. Also known as The Tuck Rule Game, of course this one gets an asterisk. You mean New England got the benefit of a game-changing call based on the rulebook? Unbelievable. In light of the asterisk which allows the Raiders to be declared the winners of this classic game, allow us please to congratulate the silver and black for their hard-fought victory of five years ago!

Basically every player* currently in the NFL. Steroids, steroids, steroids ...

17-0*, Don Shula's 1972 Miami Dolphins. Undefeated, sure. But they did it in a 14-game schedule.

Enjoy this weekend's slate of games, and keep on the lookout for those asterisks ever vigilantly reminding us that though we may be witnessing greatness, it is in fact somehow tainted.

RealFootball365.com*, getting an asterisk because every fourth year, we're RealFootball366.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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