Respecting the Red Flag

The GSF | January 26, 2010 | 1 comment

Life’s full of challenges. Sometimes, it’s small stuff, like how to quietly fart during a meeting in the conference room. Other times, the challenges are more trying, such as how to tell your wife that you slept with Rachel Uchitel.

In the NFL, the “challenge” takes on a completely different meaning and is perhaps the single most important weapon in a coach’s arsenal. It’s his only chance to prove the zebra’s wrong, and what coach doesn’t want to do that?

But recently the challenge has been degraded. With today’s coaches confidently strutting the sidelines ready to toss the flag at a moment’s notice, many appear to be giving as little thought to their challenge calls as Al Davis puts into his draft choices. During this past weekend alone, there were 7 challenge calls in 72 minutes of football played. With the average NFL game now regularly running over 4 hours, thanks to plenty of TV breaks and ad sponsored programming, throwing the red flag only means more waiting.

But all hope is not lost. Our own Dr. Gerard Leavenworth still respects the challenge, and he only throws the red flag when it is truly necessary. And as a leading QB-GYN for over 27 years, his experience and prudence could teach the brash new breed of coaches a thing or two.