Two quick thoughts…as the week rolls along, we need to spend more time taking care of our bodies to be ready for the next one, and that leaves me significantly less time to write.

My first thought is that I have come to understand that I, personally, am something of a zealot when it comes to my understanding of spirit. I think I have been in a couple of discussions lately where I hold a certain truth to be self-evident, and I don’t listen to arguments well on that point. This is an inflexibility in my thinking. I think it is a correct inflexibility, but I don’t like having blocks like that regardless.

My belief: You should make calls during the games consistently, correctly, and fairly, and I think this means calling the first point exactly the same as the last point. If it is 16-16, I want to make the exact same calls that I would make at 16-0 or 0-16, or 1-1 for that matter. I want to call what I see and nothing more.

My problem: I get called out for being a jerk for making calls when I am on a team that is lucky enough to be ahead by a bunch. I don’t believe I should change how I call the game even though I am winning, the same as I wouldn’t make more calls if we suddenly go behind. If I see a travel, I call it. End of story. But I’d be willing to listen to arguments. I know this isn’t a forum for discussion, but it came up today and I think it is an important point.

Second, Australia did something I’ve never seen today; they went into a 1-3-2-1 zone after playing man-to-man D for the rest of the point, and they did it at the goalline. I have never seen that; most North American teams transfer out of zone near the endzone, and we talk about the man-to-zone as kind of a farce (ok, my Potlatch team ran the ‘moan’ but it wasn’t serious). I’ve never seen it run, never that well, and it is something I am going to explore more. Cool.