Heads or Tails
Illustration
Stories
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire” (vv. 5-6)
A professional football game in the United States includes many rituals. Fans who arrive early watch the players take the field in more casual athletic gear, so they can stretch, jog, throw and catch pass, and otherwise perform their various rituals.
Some players from opposing teams will greet each other in a friendly fashion, exchange pleasantries, and in other ways act entirely differently from gladiators about to engage in combat. Others may circle warily, not making eye contact exactly, but making it clear just what they think of each other. Some will give interviews to television and print reporters. Others block on the world playing music on their headphones.
Eventually they leave the field. Then the road team will re-enter, often to a chorus of boos. After that, with great fanfare, explosions, and smoke, the home team will run on the field and great cheering.
Then comes a big moment – the coin toss. The head of the officiating crew invites the captains of the opposing teams to shake hands – and they usually do, exchanging good wishes as well – shows both sides what coin is about to be flipped, identifying which side is the heads and which side is the tails, invites the visitors to make the call, flips the coin, allowing it to land on the ground. He then identifies whether it is heads or tails, then invites the winner of the toss to choose whether they wish to receive the first half kickoff or defer and receive the second half kickoff.
There’s some strategy involved. Some teams want the ball right away. Others take the chance of giving their opponents the ball first, believing their defense will make the stop, allowing themselves an advantage coming back from halftime. Now it used to be pretty much everyone wanted to receive the initial kickoff. Give me the ball. Maybe we’ll score. Maybe we’ll at least make a few first downs and pin our opponents deep in their own territory. But that’s changing. According to some analytics, deferring the kickoff often leads to the kicking team gaining an extra possession because they’ll end up closing out the first half with a possession, then start the second half with the ball. That can mean an extra three plays in both halves and around two extra points a game.
Make sense? I’m not sure it makes sense to me. But someone’s always trying to figure out an edge. Did you know, for instance, that a study of 350, 757 coin flips involving 48 people who flipped coins from 46 different countries showed that if you call it heads or tails depending upon whether that side is facing up when the coin is flipped you will be right 50.8 percent of the time. See if that helps you win the Super Bowl.
Pro football is an industry that creates billions of dollars, so every tiny edge matters. That’s why coaches think hard about the coin flip, and then give their captains specific instructions what to say if they win the toss. The exact wording matters.
That’s why during the 2023 the Green Bay Packers suspended one of their players, Jaire Alexander, for gate crashing the coin toss during a crucial game late in the season. While some teams feature the same captain or captains every week of the season, the Packers pick different captains for each game, and three players had already been picked for that ceremonial role in a crucial road game against the Carolina Panthers. The Coach, Matt LaFleur, had already instructed the captains what to say should they win the coin flip, and he had also consulted with the referees before the game how the team would respond in that circumstance.
Alexander, a linebacker who was a two-time Pro Bowl selection, is from Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Panthers play, and decided on his own he needed to be one of the captains. He called out “tails!” when the coin was flipped and with that word the Packers won the right to make the decision. But he ignored the referee’s question if he wanted to receive or defer and said instead, “I want our defense to be out there.” Had the referee accepted what Alexander said, it would have meant that the Packers would have not have received the ball at the beginning of either half. They would have kicked off both times, and statistically they would have lost out on a number of plays.
However the referee, named Alex Kemp, persisted. “You mean defer?” Alexander responded, “Yeah, I guess.”
As it turned out, the Packers eked out a bare 33-30 victory. At that stage of the season, the Packers needed every victory to eventually clinch a playoff spot on the last day of the season. Alexander was suspended for one game for his actions, as a reminder of how important it is to control our impulses, and especially, our tongue.
In this letter from James, the brother of the Lord, a great deal is made of the potential for disaster that can occur because of the tongue, how it needs controlling, and what a difference a mistake can make.
A professional football game in the United States includes many rituals. Fans who arrive early watch the players take the field in more casual athletic gear, so they can stretch, jog, throw and catch pass, and otherwise perform their various rituals.
Some players from opposing teams will greet each other in a friendly fashion, exchange pleasantries, and in other ways act entirely differently from gladiators about to engage in combat. Others may circle warily, not making eye contact exactly, but making it clear just what they think of each other. Some will give interviews to television and print reporters. Others block on the world playing music on their headphones.
Eventually they leave the field. Then the road team will re-enter, often to a chorus of boos. After that, with great fanfare, explosions, and smoke, the home team will run on the field and great cheering.
Then comes a big moment – the coin toss. The head of the officiating crew invites the captains of the opposing teams to shake hands – and they usually do, exchanging good wishes as well – shows both sides what coin is about to be flipped, identifying which side is the heads and which side is the tails, invites the visitors to make the call, flips the coin, allowing it to land on the ground. He then identifies whether it is heads or tails, then invites the winner of the toss to choose whether they wish to receive the first half kickoff or defer and receive the second half kickoff.
There’s some strategy involved. Some teams want the ball right away. Others take the chance of giving their opponents the ball first, believing their defense will make the stop, allowing themselves an advantage coming back from halftime. Now it used to be pretty much everyone wanted to receive the initial kickoff. Give me the ball. Maybe we’ll score. Maybe we’ll at least make a few first downs and pin our opponents deep in their own territory. But that’s changing. According to some analytics, deferring the kickoff often leads to the kicking team gaining an extra possession because they’ll end up closing out the first half with a possession, then start the second half with the ball. That can mean an extra three plays in both halves and around two extra points a game.
Make sense? I’m not sure it makes sense to me. But someone’s always trying to figure out an edge. Did you know, for instance, that a study of 350, 757 coin flips involving 48 people who flipped coins from 46 different countries showed that if you call it heads or tails depending upon whether that side is facing up when the coin is flipped you will be right 50.8 percent of the time. See if that helps you win the Super Bowl.
Pro football is an industry that creates billions of dollars, so every tiny edge matters. That’s why coaches think hard about the coin flip, and then give their captains specific instructions what to say if they win the toss. The exact wording matters.
That’s why during the 2023 the Green Bay Packers suspended one of their players, Jaire Alexander, for gate crashing the coin toss during a crucial game late in the season. While some teams feature the same captain or captains every week of the season, the Packers pick different captains for each game, and three players had already been picked for that ceremonial role in a crucial road game against the Carolina Panthers. The Coach, Matt LaFleur, had already instructed the captains what to say should they win the coin flip, and he had also consulted with the referees before the game how the team would respond in that circumstance.
Alexander, a linebacker who was a two-time Pro Bowl selection, is from Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Panthers play, and decided on his own he needed to be one of the captains. He called out “tails!” when the coin was flipped and with that word the Packers won the right to make the decision. But he ignored the referee’s question if he wanted to receive or defer and said instead, “I want our defense to be out there.” Had the referee accepted what Alexander said, it would have meant that the Packers would have not have received the ball at the beginning of either half. They would have kicked off both times, and statistically they would have lost out on a number of plays.
However the referee, named Alex Kemp, persisted. “You mean defer?” Alexander responded, “Yeah, I guess.”
As it turned out, the Packers eked out a bare 33-30 victory. At that stage of the season, the Packers needed every victory to eventually clinch a playoff spot on the last day of the season. Alexander was suspended for one game for his actions, as a reminder of how important it is to control our impulses, and especially, our tongue.
In this letter from James, the brother of the Lord, a great deal is made of the potential for disaster that can occur because of the tongue, how it needs controlling, and what a difference a mistake can make.
