Robservations: Titan loss may keep us all safe
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Because your friendly neighborhood sports editor has come up with a cure for those NFL blues.
That’s right. I’ve taken it upon myself to give solace to Tennessee Titans fans, who have been living with the heartbreak of coming oh-so-close to the Super Bowl.
And, thanks to some of our neighbors from the Great White North, I think I’ve done exactly that.
Sure, come Sunday you may not get the chance to watch McNair, George, Wycheck and company go up against the Buccaneers.
But at the same time, think of the insurance premiums you’ll be saving.
According to a recent study from the University of Toronto, researchers working with data over the last 27 years have determined that automobile crashes climb more than 40 percent in the hours after the NFL’s championship game.
And, the study concluded, that increase was highest in the losing team’s territory, theorizing that fans disappointed by their squad’s loss in the big game were not concentrating on their driving.
According to a story from the Associated Press on the study, researchers link several factors to the increase in fender-benders.
“We think that it may be alcohol and fatigue and inattention, and in particular the sort of what-if conjectures and Monday morning quarterbacking that occurs” after the loss, said Dr. Donald A. Redelmeier, a professor of medicine who also works at Canada’s largest trauma center.
The good doctor began theorizing about the link between the Super Bowl and car crashes while training for his medical career in the 1980s, where he noticed accident victims on Super Bowl Sunday seemed to make things increasingly “hectic” around the emergency room.
In time, Dr. Redelmeier and his assistants went over reams and reams of traffic data from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for Super Bowl Sundays, as opposed to the Sunday before and after the big game.
With similar weather conditions, they found there was an over 40 percent increase in fatal wrecks and an almost 50 percent increase in non-fatal crashes.
That’s more than on New Year’s Eve, for goodness’ sake. And we all know how risky traveling on the highways and byways are after they drop the ball — and call last call.
So, keep this in mind, Titans fans.
No, you don’t get to watch your favorite team go for the NFL’s biggest prize this Sunday. Jeff Fisher and the rest of his crew will be watching the game just like we are, from off the field. And yes, it’s OK if that hurts your feelings. It’s perfectly acceptable to view Sunday’s game from under a dark cloud of resentment because the Oakland Raiders are there instead of the Titans.
But there’s a silver lining in this dark cloud.
Because you know, one of those two teams is going to lose Sunday night, and the fans of that squad’s fair city will be crashing all over the place.
At least you won’t be on the roads, brooding over a potential Titans loss, and end up wrapped around a telephone poll.
So don’t curse the Titans for falling apart against Oakland last week, and spoiling your Super Bowl Sunday. Instead, thank them. They might just have saved your life.