Forth Quarter

Since the games are over, yet the winter is still here, I think about what those guys must do in the forth quarter.

If the game is in your favor, you hang on to try to end it with a win. If your team is behind, this is the last chance to make your move to change the outcome.

Teams shuffle players in and out and coaches call instructions and orders to the leadership. The others follow his continuing shouts and points and tweaks, calculating their particular reaction to each second.

Sometimes the voices describing the action describe plays, then remember replays, and add up all the statistics of the most productive.

What about the right tackle?

That big lumbering lineman who is in so many plays, giving his all, huffing and puffing between each down. Beat up and torn down, he wears the same uniform, follows the assignments, but when he goes to the sideline he blends into the crowd.

No close ups, no interviews, no product endorsements. A team player that is necessary to hold the line while the stars shine.

And at the end of the game, the whistle blows.