Football PlayerGlory

Like the fame, the level of glory is almost unimaginable for a select few—the record-setters, the Super Bowl winners, the players who made highlight-reel tackles that wound up in the opening montage of “SportsCenter,” and David Tyree. An even selecter few experience the exact opposite, which I will now dub “anti-glory.” They are the players who miss a tackle that lets the other team score the winning touchdown, the kick returners who stop to celebrate on the five-yard line, get tackled, and fumble the ball away, the football equivalents of Bill Buckner. Most players never hit either that height of glory or that depth of anti-glory, and anyone who experienced both would probably spontaneously combust, leaving behind nothing but a wisp of green smoke and an empty jersey.

Once again, that applies only to the NFL players. Both the heights and depths are more moderate in any other league, roughly in proportion to how moderate the paychecks are.