Aspire to the Halfback

Direction:  The line in which or the point toward which a moving person goes.
Outcome:   Result; consequence; aftermath.


How about an early morning football analogy?  Sorry, ladies and wimpy horseface types.


When a football team playing offense decides to run the ball the two most common choices are to give the ball to the halfback or tailback, which for some reason are two different names given to a player who does the same thing, or to the fullback, who only gets one name.  I have no idea how these names came about.  One of the guys who plays offense is called a tackle, which is what a defensive player tries to do with an offensive player who has the ball.  This would seem to be a better name for a defensive player or at least someone who plays defense.  Go figure.  


If I owned a football team, which I do not, I would get to work immediately on the names of each position player.  I think this is more important than whether you win or lose.  This attitude is one of the reasons why I shouldn't own a football team.   That and the money.


I digress.  The fullback is typically a big burly fellow who just charges into the defense and tries to run over people.  You could say he's the least subtle of the backs.  He doesn't try to avoid anyone.  He tries to knock them down.  He says: "Here I come -- try to stop me."  He usually doesn't get too far.  Fullbacks are big and slow and not too bright.  One would think a better approach would be to avoid the large, violent defensive players who are trying to knock you down.  The fullback sees where he wants to go and tries to go there.  He doesn't pay attention to obstacles like Jack Lambert.


That's me.  I'm a fullback.


Then you have the halfback.  He's the smaller, smarter back.  He tries to go where there are no obstacles.  He's learned the obstacles are usually bigger than he is and they mean to do him grievous bodily harm.  On some of the running plays where the halfback has the ball he gets behind his teammates from the offensive line and tries to let them deal with the huge violent defensive players; this is smart because a lot of his teammates are as big as the players on defense.  He figures: "What the hell.  Let those guys get knocked down instead of me."


The running plays involving the tailback often develop more slowly.  You can see the tailback looking for holes, which are areas with no obstacles.  Sometimes he can't find one and he gets knocked down but that's OK.  You can't always find a hole.  But sometimes if he's patient he lets the offensive linemen knock down enough defensive players so that a hole opens up. The hole isn't always there when he starts running and sometimes a hole disappears as quickly as it  appears but that's OK, too.  Holes come and holes go.  


The idea is that his patience is often rewarded.  The big offensive guys knock down enough of the defensive guys that he can run for a little while.  He almost always gets knocked down eventually but he's a little further down the road than when he started.


That's me, sometimes.  Not often, but sometimes.  I'm still not smart but I'm getting smarter.  That's all I can ask for.