Breaking the Rule

Last weekend, I witnessed a friend star in a play titled “Pride and Prejudice.”

You may have heard of it. But I’d never seen anything remotely related to the show, so when I entered the theater alongside 10 plus women who knew everything that was about to happen, I prepared for the worst. The only other guy in our party hadn’t seen the show either, so both of us were left guessing and praying we weren’t about to spend the next two and a half hours stuck in a hopeless display of romantic overtures.

Hello, I was with more than 10 women. That has to tell you the play was going to be the exact opposite of what I hoped for, right?

Dead wrong. In fact, I was so enthralled by the plot that at intermission, I was making predictions of what would happen to each character, and giving them nicknames to go with it. For those who’ve seen it, Mr. Darcy will always be ‘Colonel Mustard’ in my eyes.

So what’s the lesson? We can’t simply make assumptions based on a freaking title. What’s that cliche say? Don’t judge a book by its cover?

Now apply that to the next two months, sports fans. For instance, look at our Atlanta Braves; we aren’t sure what to expect with a new manager, new second baseman and a stupidly-stacked division rival’s pitching staff.

In fact, despite plenty of optimism in Braves’ Nation, the consensus says wild card.

But wait, think it out: If Chipper stays somewhat healthy and Freddie Freeman steps up to be a decent hitter in his rookie campaign and the pitching staff remains healthy? Get your hopes up for some rings on those fingers.

Georgia College basketball, anyone? A cursory glance at the teams’ records (women: 17-6, men: 15-8) don’t scream dominance.

But watch a game, and you know these are different teams than the ones we saw back in December; in fact, they appear ready to compete for NCAA Tournament berths.

The women are receiving votes in the national poll, and the men recently beat the No. 7 and 22 ranked teams in the nation.

See? We can’t simply sit back and form a well-thought opinion without experiencing what each team brings to the table.

Then there’s the Atlanta Hawks. Look, Carmelo to the Knicks changes things, and now we’re looking like the fifth-best team in the East on a good day. Miami, Boston, Orlando, and New York are all scarier, and one could argue for Chicago in that conversation as well.

But wait!…oh, never mind.

Sometimes an experience has to change our well-formed opinion too.

Posted by Caleb Rule on Feb 28 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.