My Two-Cents: Emergency Goalies and Plan B
I recently watched the Nebraska Bowl game with my brothers — an important day for any long-suffering Husker football fan. While watching the game, I wondered about potential strategy: why don’t football teams purposely hold receivers and take the 15-yard penalty instead of the longer yardage gained by a downfield catch? Instead of providing the logical answer to this question, my facetious 14-year-old brother replied – “Yes Kate, because that’s such a good idea. Each team actually has an emergency sniper that they can use to take out the unguarded receiver of the opposing team.” My ball knowledge in football is spotty at best (which is fine, because I could take any average Joe in basketball IQ), but I could sense the sarcasm in my sharp-tongued bastard of a brother’s mouth. And though he thought he was quite funny, I couldn’t help but think maybe he was onto something. Imagine the increase in viewership and anticipation that would coincide with adding emergency snipers. They could get drafted and paid among the best. They would be shown at the beginning of each game, before the coin toss, wearing their black ski masks and heading to their respective perches. They would get one non-lethal bullet to take out the player of choice when needed. In addition to offensive and defensive coordinators, we could add sniper coordinators. Or (and this is what I support) we could give the snipers free reign.
This might sound like a funky idea – and I assure you, it’s because it is. But emergency positions are no stranger to the national sports leagues. Take emergency goalies for an example – NHL teams only carry a starter and backup goalie. So in case of emergency, they have non-rostered, emergency goalies that go through a tryout process and can step in if dire circumstances transpire. This actually happened a couple of years ago with the Carolina Hurricanes. (Video linked below!)
The potential of an emergency sniper and the reality of the emergency goalie remind us of the important yet forgotten: backup plans. We always have plans A. Plan A's are fun because they’re what you make assuming everything goes right. Plan Bs are not as fun, because they assume something goes awry. Like if your cornerback screwed up and let a receiver open downfield. Or if your first goalie is out with the flu, and your second goalie strained a hamstring in warmups. They’re often dreaded, but that should change. Realistically, Plan A rarely comes to fruition. Emergency snipers, goalies, and plan B need not be dreaded – they are a necessary evil. And sometimes they make the story more entertaining! That’s why one of my New Year's resolutions this year is to stop looking at backup plans as failures, and instead appreciate them as an opportunity for unexpected outcomes, success, and humor.
