TMQ: Football’s 24 Hour Rule & Today’s Election

Whoever wins, the Constitution will remain undefeated

Some maxims from athletics are beneficial in other situations.

There’s only one thing you can control – yourself.

It’s not how often you get knocked down, it’s how often you get up.

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.

Here’s a sports maxim particularly important today – the Twenty Four Hour Rule.

The rule comes from high school football. Many prep coaches cleave to it. The rule: we don’t talk about the game till 24 hours later.

Football is emotional, the high school version most so: players are immature, their parents and school friends and girlfriends are watching, they don’t yet have the life perspective to understand that even following a terrible defeat, the sun will rise the next morning.

To deal with this, many high school coaches tell players – and especially their parents, who are not engaged at the college and pro levels in the way they are at high school – that: We will wait 24 hours till everyone has calmed down, and then we will talk about the game.

American politics has become emotional – and immature. The entire United States could apply the Twenty Four Hour Rule to whatever happens at the polls today.

No matter what the outcome, many will be upset, frightened, feel cheated, want to lash out at enemies real or imagined. It’s going to take some time to gain perspective -- to realize the nation and its hallowed Constitution are going to be just fine.

Whatever happens today, apply the Twenty Four Hour Rule. Don’t jump to angry conclusions. Give it some thought first.