It Ain’t Over: Politics, Football, and the Enduring Temptation to Declare a Premature Victory

Three weekends ago, I was at work on a Saturday night. While I was bagging groceries, my son sent me an excited text:

Cal is winning 14-0!

That was the score at the end of the first quarter of my alma mater’s home football opener. Things soon changed, in typical Cal fashion. The Nevada Wolf Pack stormed back, and beat our beloved and eternally suffering…