One-hit wonders: the Assyrians, Napoleon, Leon ... and the Bucs
By HOWARD TROXLER
Published November 19, 2003
For those whose passions are otherwise directed, here is an update related to this area's professional football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs have won four of the contests played in this season to date, while losing six.
For the non-fan it should be explained that the winning of four games as compared to the losing of six is not generally considered the most desirable of outcomes. Just the opposite.
In the playing of professional football, one generally seeks to win more games than one loses, with an desirable ratio being, say, three out of four, or in a pinch, five out of eight.
The Bucs' relative struggles are even more distressing given that last year, the team won enough games to win the championship of the entire National Football League, in a game called the Super Bowl.
This year's fans are wracked with suffering, made worse Tuesday by the dismissal of an erstwhile star player. Among the explanations for the Bucs' problems are their gentlemanly refusal to tackle opposing players on the initial play known as the "kickoff," and a controversial Bucs strategy known as "getting a lot of penalties." It also is commonly agreed that winning is related to attempting to score more points than the other team. However, such technical matters are beyond the scope of today's discussion.
There is a saying for occasions such as these. It goes like this: Sic transit gloria mundi. It is Latin for the fact that fame is fleeting, or, more literally: "Quickly pass the glories of this world." In the case of the Bucs, the saying might well be edited to sic transit gloria Sunday, except of course for those weeks in which the contest is played on a Monday night.
Sic transit gloria!
Herman Melville's next novel after Moby Dick was named Pierre. It didn't make quite the same splash. One could say the same of the entire supporting cast of Seinfeld, or for the musical group Dexy's Midnight Runners (Come On Eileen, 1983).
You know who had a really, really good team but didn't repeat? The Assyrians, that's who. The Assyrians won the Super Bowl of their day, meaning, they killed everybody else's army. But their triumph was followed by sudden collapse in 609 B.C. and their empire disappeared almost overnight.
There's also Goliath. He got to be champion of all the Philistines and it went to his head. He kept trash-talking to the Israelites and look what happened to him.
Alexander might have been "the Great," but his actual empire lasted for, like, the length of a coffee break. Of those stage shows that managed the glory of opening on Broadway since the 1923-1924 season, something like 110 have closed after a single performance.
Napoleon tried to repeat his glory, just like the Bucs. But he quickly met his . . . met his . . . well, there's a saying for what happened to him, but I forget it right now.
Leon Spinks' reign as heavyweight boxing champion of the world lasted for one fight in 1978. And of the 129 horses that have placed first at the Kentucky Derby, only 19 won the Preakness.
There were 42 presidents of the United States before our current one. Of these, 27 were not elected to a second term. A few died and a few chose not to run, but for the most part they just didn't repeat their success. (A special mention should be made of William Henry Harrison, whose inaugural address in 1841 in bad weather was so long that he got sick and died soon thereafter.)
Of the first 75 recipients of the Best Actor statue at the Academy Awards, 62 have won only once. The planets also lined up to allow Kevin Costner to win an Oscar for best director for Dances with Wolves, but somehow it gave him the notion to try Waterworld.
In conclusion, one can see that as hard as it is to become the best in the world, it is an even harder thing to repeat the feat. Perhaps all those who have tried and failed throughout history were looking in the wrong place, believing that they were trying to do the same thing twice, when in reality they were trying to do a brand-new thing altogether. The coach of the Tampa Bay team, a dedicated and impressive Mr. Gruden, is said to arise in the middle of the night to begin his work, and has vowed now to work his team even harder. Instead, maybe he and his players should take an extra day off, go have a few beers and raise a toast to gloria, wherever she may be.
