Today, I spent most of my afternoon watching one of my most guilty pleasures: the NFL playoffs. I am a geek, but something about football really fascinates me. Every game is like a battle in the long war with the eventual goal of winning the Super Bowl. There is good versus evil, complex story lines and plot twists and an intrepid, adventurous leader captaining his rag tag diverse ship of teammates. His name is Brett Favre and his shipmates call themselves Vikings rather than space explorers but he, like Captain Kirk, is also trying to boldly go where no man has gone before: to raise a championship trophy as a forty year old quarterback.
On the other sideline, there was the Dallas Cowboys--a franchise that earned the title of "America's Team" many decades ago but had since fallen into mediocrity after going thirteen years without winning a playoff game. Before last week, their last playoff victory came at a time when they were perennial contenders led by three stars who were nicknamed after another group of legendary figures: "The Holy Trinity."
Could Brett Favre and his crew ward off the Klingons long enough to see another week of TV? Or would they have to retreat back to base, lick their wounds, and regroup for the next season? Would it be the last season for their captain before Picard takes over the "next generation" of football? In the words of the great gridiron philosopher Chris Berman, "That's why they play the game."
The game plays out, Brett Tiberius Kirk is fired up and uses his emotional intensity to motivate his teammates in the early going. Vikings head coach Brad Childress is the stoic advisor to the captain on the field. He reminds Brett that throwing an interception would be illogical. In the end, the defensive engines powered by Jared "Scotty" Allen turn out have too much power for the Klingons to take. Swashbuckling recievers like Sidney "Sulu" Rice continue to snipe into the end zone.
In the end, the battle is clearly won by Team Kirk. Good luck next year, Klingons. But unlike the real Captain Kirk, Brett Favre does not spare the Gorn in the end of the Arena battle. He lets his emotions get to him and adds another touchdown in the end to disprove all the naysayers who thought he was too old to run a football team. Some call it running up the score, or adding insult to injury, but some just call it life. If you can't stand getting beat up when you're down, don't fall in the first place. Brett's ship lives to fight another day, but will his next mission be his last? That's why they play the game.
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