BB is Ender Wiggin

[Sicilian]

This may be a stretch, and I can only hope some of you have read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, but I'm bored and thought I'd throw it out there.

Bill Belichick is Ender Wiggin. Consider the following:

1) Both are geniuses.

2) Both came into losing situations. Ender to a military academy following the invasion of Earth by aliens, BB to a broken Pete Carroll Pats team.

3) Both were brought in as reluctant saviors. Ender just wanted to be a kid, BB just wanted to coach football.

4) And here's the kicker, both seem to be intentionally stretched to their mental limit, which only seems to make them stronger. For Ender, the rules of the war games kept changing to make things impossible for him, yet he was able to overcome with brilliant new strategies.

For BB, the Competition committee keeps "tweaking" the rules in the opposite direction of wherever the Pats are going. When the Pats were winning with a super physical defensive secondary, they placed a "re-emphasis" on pass interference rules. When they were beating up Peyton Manning, they expanded the roughing the passer penalties to lower the criteria. For years the offense had the helmet to helmet communication while the Pats defense was historic. Now that the Pats boast one of the best OFFENSES in the game, they add the defensive player headset, AND shrink the field by changing the push out rules.

Every rule change seems to force the Pats to rethink their strategy, yet we almost ran the table last year. I think, by trying to break BB, they're actually just awakening more of his hidden genius.

I need more sleep (and less time), clearly, but any thoughts?

 

[jays52]

Science Fiction! Wizzards! Magic!

 

[BrianPat]

This may be a stretch, and I can only hope some of you have read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, but I'm bored and thought I'd throw it out there.

Bill Belichick is Ender Wiggin. Consider the following:

1) Both are geniuses.

2) Both came into losing situations. Ender to a military academy following the invasion of Earth by aliens, BB to a broken Pete Carroll Pats team.

3) Both were brought in as reluctant saviors. Ender just wanted to be a kid, BB just wanted to coach football.

4) And here's the kicker, both seem to be intentionally stretched to their mental limit, which only seems to make them stronger. For Ender, the rules of the war games kept changing to make things impossible for him, yet he was able to overcome with brilliant new strategies.

For BB, the Competition committee keeps "tweaking" the rules in the opposite direction of wherever the Pats are going. When the Pats were winning with a super physical defensive secondary, they placed a "re-emphasis" on pass interference rules. When they were beating up Peyton Manning, they expanded the roughing the passer penalties to lower the criteria. For years the offense had the helmet to helmet communication while the Pats defense was historic. Now that the Pats boast one of the best OFFENSES in the game, they add the defensive player headset, AND shrink the field by changing the push out rules.

Every rule change seems to force the Pats to rethink their strategy, yet we almost ran the table last year. I think, by trying to break BB, they're actually just awakening more of his hidden genius.

I need more sleep (and less time), clearly, but any thoughts?

That was a great series of books ! If I remember correctly, he actually saves the queen of the race he destroys, I can't see Belichick doing that !

Also, Ender didn't realize he was in actual battles, directing actual space warships, he thought it was all a game until it was over.

 

[Grizzafted]

^^^^
or, more appropriately:

"Worst Analogy Ever."

Yes, Belichick is like an underage illegitimate child who is sent to an orbiting junior military high school and who destroys a planet full of aliens while thinking he's playing a video game. I see where you are coming from...

I guess everyone hated him because of how good he was so maybe.

 

[Sicilian]

^^^^
or, more appropriately:

"Worst Analogy Ever."

Yes, Belichick is like an underage illegitimate child who is sent to an orbiting junior military high school and who destroys a planet full of aliens while thinking he's playing a video game. I see where you are coming from...

I guess everyone hated him because of how good he was so maybe.

Hey, I said I was bored!

And an analogy doesn't have to be 100% 1 to 1 allegory, does it?

 

[Keegs]

magic cards?

 

[BRiZ]

ha i read that whole series of books, really good. I guess you can draw some comparisons Ender was the best, BB is the best. Both are brilliant.

 

[maverick4]

Bill Belichick is Howard Roark.

 

[maverick4]

Your analogy is problematic because Ender broke down after battle school, he just shut it down and it took Valentine to trick/save him to go back to officers school.

So... I hope that part of the analogy breaks down and Belichick doesn't burn out due to Spygate.

 

[Return of the Nizz]

Does this mean that next season trees are going to start giving birth to pigs? (Or whatever, it's been a while since I read those.)

 

[Gumby]

Well nice attempt to intro a classic sci-fi piece into the literary puzzle here; (certainly better than the cinematic analogy [darth vader] that ESPN would like to pass off); but I think your analogy fails at the first word.

"ENDER" got his name because when someone picked a fight he didn't just win; he totally and utterly vanquished the enemy such that they could never fight again.

somehow 3 pt wins in 3 SBs, a loss in AFCC and a loss in SB don't inspire a total destruction, scorched earth NFL landscape.

But who knows. maybe we can put up 50 this year on every team in the leauge.

 

[ALP]

wait a second...theres more then one book?

more then just Ender's game? no way

i have to read those

 

[BRiZ]

wait a second...theres more then one book?

more then just Ender's game? no way

i have to read those

theres like 8 or something in the series. I havent read the last one that recently came out though, the Giant Bean one.

Enders game is a classic but some of the other ones were great too. Enders Shadow was awesome cause it was a parallel novel to the original Enders game book but told from the perspective of Bean, who kicked ***. And of course you cant forget the piggies one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game_series

 

[fnordcircle]

So Belichick is a poorly-written fictional character created by a lunatic mormon?

OK.

 

[patchick]

BB as a speaker for the dead? Can't see it.

 

[Grizzafted]

wait a second...theres more then one book?

more then just Ender's game? no way

i have to read those

No, you really don't. They're terrible.

Enders Shadow is the only one worth half an hour of your time and even then it's a stretch.

 

[SpiderFox53]

Well nice attempt to intro a classic sci-fi piece into the literary puzzle here; (certainly better than the cinematic analogy [darth vader] that ESPN would like to pass off); but I think your analogy fails at the first word.

"ENDER" got his name because when someone picked a fight he didn't just win; he totally and utterly vanquished the enemy such that they could never fight again.

Actually, the name Ender came from his sister who couldn't pronounce his real name correctly when they were little. She would attempt to say Andrew and it would come out Ender.

Return of the Nizz
Does this mean that next season trees are going to start giving birth to pigs? (Or whatever, it's been a while since I read those.)

Other way around, the trees sprouted from the 'piggies' dead bodies. The the trees (adult males) would impregnate the females.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Actually, the name Ender came from his sister who couldn't pronounce his real name correctly when they were little. She would attempt to say Andrew and it would come out Ender.



Other way around, the trees sprouted from the 'piggies' dead bodies. The the trees (adult males) would impregnate the females.

And for some unknown reason everybody speaks Portuguese? I have this vague memory of this one too...

Just don't put this theory out there. Every comic book guy Jets fan out there will say Mangini is Bean or something equally lame...

 

[rabthepat]

Bill Belichick is Richard Nixon.

 

[Fencer]

Ender hated what he did; BB loves what he does.
Ender pulled off a 180 degree career change; BB does one thing.
Ender didn't realize the importance of what he was doing; BB tends to exaggerate the importance of what he's doing.
Ender's brother was his greatest enemy, and Ender's parents weren't in the picture; BB followed in his father's footsteps.

Yeah, they both had to cope with targeted rule changes, and they both have severe popularity issues. But I still don't see the comparison as being particularly close ...