Cundiff's Folly: On a Blame-Free Society

Life is complex.  In 99.9 percent of cases, no one event or phenomenon is responsible for the totality of the outcome.

Congratulations, Bill Barnwell.  You have a layman's understanding of chaos theory.  You are level-headed unbiased high priest of sports statistical orthodoxy.  You understand that it would be, like, so last century to blame one person for the outcome of a football game, and all of the other high priests would laugh at you.

Also, you're full of sh!t.

There are many reasons the Ravens and Niners aren't going to the Super Bowl, but most of them involve men trying to narrow down countless options into the one right decision (hi, Cam Cameron) or perform incredibly difficult tasks.

On the latter point, shout out to Alex Smith, who might have been throwing to the worst collection of wide receivers I've ever seen this season and still rescued his career.

Each game had a singular exception to the "trained professionals struggling with extremely difficult tasks in the most tense possible environment."  They were asked to perform the most simple tasks associated with their jobs that required a level of skill that every college player in the country possesses, and they failed miserably.

Billy Cundiff and Kyle Williams lost the game for their teams yesterday.  It doesn't make us less objective or rational to say so.  They failed at basic fundamental tasks.  NFL kickers need to make 32 yard field goals one thousand out of one thousand times.  Williams was worse, because all he had to do was stay away from a rolling punt, and the Niners win that game in overtime.  Like, don't touch it.  I could have done that.

Hell, I did do that.  If Kyle Williams had been sitting next to me yesterday, he would have performed his job adequately, and I wouldn't have to listen to two weeks worth of stories asking if Eli F@#$@#$ Manning is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

However, "Cundiff's Folly" has a better ring to it, so I'm going with that.  Anytime someone makes an issue more complicated than it needs to be, and snottily asserts that the world is complicated and if you were smarter you'd understand, look at them with supreme condescension and explain to them, in the voice that you'd use with a kindergardner who can't figure out how to tie his shoes, that they're committing Cundiff's Folly.

Also, I really hate Eli Manning.