Week 13 Player Spotlight (2024)

Jim woke up Monday in a much better mood than one would expect. Usually Mondays signaled the end of the fun times and the good vibes, a return to the monotony, the death of the weekend. But today was not just any Monday, today was the day Jim’s Bengals were playing on Monday Night Football. There was something special about Monday Night Football, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Moments before the game began, Jim was scrolling and saw an ad for Call It on his web browser. “Call the Game”. It claimed to allow him to predict the outcome of individual drives. Skeptical, he downloaded the app and found a detailed article that walked him through the set up. Tapping the Kick Off button as the kicker commenced the game, Jim was delighted to find extra points awarded for his efforts. The game had begun, and Jim was feeling lucky.

It was risky, but Jim felt that playing somewhat pessimistically would at least lessen the pain if his team allowed the Cowboys to score. He threw a whopping 20% of his points towards his prediction- that his team’s opponent would score. But Jim wasn’t going to leave his bleeding heart fandom behind completely, they would score, he thought, but only a field goal.

Jim watched as his team gave up 5 yards here, a first down there, moving the ball slowly but surely. It was hard to watch, but finally fourth down was reached- his team had prevented a costly early game Touch Down. As the field goal unit came onto the field, he said a prayer to the football gods that the long 54 yarder would miss.

No such luck.

As the football split the uprights like a thread through the eye of a needle, a wave of disappointment washed over him. It was, however, short lived; for in that moment he remembered that he had made that very prediction- he had called it! Jim grabbed his phone, opened the app and checked the scores. He had doubled his points and taken an early lead in the contest!

Although subsequent predictions wouldn’t result in as favorable outcomes for him, it didn’t matter. He had discovered a game that allowed him to win even if his team let him down. A way to boast to his fellow football fans and show them he knew how each drive was going to go down. And although Jim may not have won the contest, his team still carried the day, and that was good enough for him to go to bed that night with a smile on his face.