Are You Smarter Than an NFL Quarterback?

Most of you know that my Sundays are spent glued to my couch watching football (btw--I have no comment on the Bears/Packers game that wouldn't be an obscene string of swear words). Today, the Eagles/Bengals game resulted in a tie. Check out this post-game interview from Donvan McNabb.

Are you freakin' kidding me?!? AAARGH!! I almost fell off my couch when I first heard the interview. He didn't know that that it could result in the tie?! "I didn't even know that was in the rule book." That's ridiculous! You can't tell me that I know more about football than an NFL quarterback (with the exception of Brian Griese, of course)! It seems like that would be critical information, for a quarterback--ya know, strategy wise?

So, Donovan, here's how it works: If at the end of the game there's a tie between two teams, there is a 5th quarter that is sudden death over time. If at the end of that quarter, no team has scored, the result is a tie. The NFL standings have 3 columns; the first marked with a W (for wins), the second with a L (for losses) and the last with a 'T' for tie. It seems rather self-explanatory, and it's been that way since 1974. Since you missed it, a tie counts as 1/2 a win and 1/2 a loss.

Finally, Donovan, Amazon.com carries both Football for Dummies and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Football, both for under $20. You may want to add one of those to your reading list.