Football, Warfare, and Public Policy

Special to Free Republic ^ | 12/31/05 | John Armor (Congressman Billybob)

[hershey]

Excellent column.

[El Gato]

But it is not the objective of any competent President to maintain high poll numbers. It is to accomplish his set purposes.

Most especially a second term President. What does he care about poll numbers. He cares about long term results.

[El Gato]

If ya can't beat 'em, Tzu 'em

More like:

If wish to beat 'em, Tzu 'em.

The old boy knew what he was talking about.

[El Gato]

Bill Belichick beat you to it.

From the link:

“Like, the general is so strategic that the other guy just falls down from sheer lack of strategic advantage.” To him, this never happens.

I give you Ronald "Maximus" Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, along with a procession of over-the-hill before-they-started Soviet "leaders".

[El Gato]

the Big 12 sucked this year

Tell it to Michigan and Oregon.

[El Gato]

Oops, my #44 should have been a reply to perfect stranger's post 15.

[perfect stranger]

huh?

[mrmargaritaville]

Tell me again about the LSU\Miami game

[Albion Wilde]

For a time, President Bush “looked” weak. Now the Democrats are hoist by their own petard. What does Sun Tzu say about that? “Pretend to be weak in order to make the enemy arrogant or haughty.” On this issue, as on many before, the Democrats have worked themselves into a losing position, by underestimating Bush. He has used their tendency to attack, all times and all fronts, against them

I remember one of Muhammed Ali's final championship fights. He was old, he looked slow, and he stood there while his arrogant opponent danced around and punched him over and over, and took a terrible pounding for many agonizing minutes. Then out of the blue, BAM!!! He landed a knockout blow and won the fight.

[Albion Wilde]

Any mention of Monica and I feel the need to pass out cigars.

Mention Monica, and I'd rather pass gas.

[xzins]

LSU will lose to Miami.

It's always good to know early that your predictions aren't coming to pass. :>)

[Ranald S. MacKenzie]

Texas Tech won the Oklahoma game on a technicality...

Looks like a touchdown to me.

Tech physically outplayed OU most of the game.

Also note the strength of schedule ratings: Tech #14, Bama #54.

As far as the Big 12 sucking: they've been doing pretty darn good in the bowl games so far.

[DugwayDuke]

"Opportunities for deception in football are limited."

Just as in warfare, some coaches and teams rely more on speed or power than upon deception. Some teams try to combine these factors. Think about a good wishbone quarterback coming down the line working the triple option. I think Sun would approve.

"There is a second, overwhelming difference between football and warfare. In football, every play is designed to defeat the plans of the opponent."

I wouldn't go to far with this analogy without first defining 'defeat the plans of the enemy'. Not every play in football is designed to produce a touchdown or to win the game.

[metesky]

Nice analogy...

And if it's any consolation it sounds like you did your job. IIRC, the defensive end and the linebacker have the pitchman so they at least share the blame responsibility.

[Congressman Billybob]

Every offensive play is drawn up on the chalk board to gain at least five yeards. (I know about modest goals -- played for a single-wing team whose motto was "five yards and a cloud of dust.") Every defensive set is drawn up on the chalk board to stop the opponent at the line of scrimmage, if not throw them for a loss.

My point is that warfare is far less structured, and, of course, more important and more harmful. When you play for keeps, the rules go out the window.

John / Billybob

[Ohioan from Florida]

Thanks, CBB! Loved your perspective!

[Mamzelle]

There has never been a man who could turn the awkward phrase to more enormous advantage than Bush has been able to...I still come across snobs who are so taken with their own sublime articulations that they cannot see how ultimately sterile these articulations are.

The golden-tongued keep on losing, but they are so intellectual. And so perplexed--aren't they smarter than Bush, who expresses himself so poorly in words? Aren't words everything? And if the intelligentsia are masters of words, why are they not masters of the world?

Vanity, vanity. Of any man in office I've ever seen, Bush is the most lacking in that most common of human frailties. He doesn't at all mind playing the buffoon, if the buffoon always wins.

[OKSooner]

Makes one think he's the product of his upbringing.

[Iris7]

Thanks for your essay.

I have spent decades studying the Viet Nam war (now so long ago). Went from Plato to Thucydides, Machiavelli to Delbrük. Von Künellt-Leddihn opened the blinders a bit. What really hit like a ton of bricks was Sam Griffith's translation of Sun Tsu's Art of War. Understanding came in wave upon wave.

Acting as if war is like playing football is folly. I enjoyed playing football immensely in my day, don't get me wrong, but football is all out in the open and not at all serious.

[RoadTest]

"set one party against another within the enemy if they are united"

Has someone(s) done this in the U.S.A.?