Today, I overheard a conversation on an elevator. I wasn't eavesdropping, and it wasn't exactly a conversation, per se. The main speaker, who was happy to crow to anyone, was loud, and he was proud. He was talking to the person who got on the elevator with him, and to all of us.
Apparently, the Dolphins played last night. Apparently, they won. Perhaps, the team they played didn't play well, or was not a good team this year. No matter.
"I don't care if we play a girls' school," announced the fan. "I just want to win."
I can guess what you're thinking. Why would he be just as happy to have the Dolphins play a girls' school? Why would that not diminish the victory? Does he think the Dolphins are such a bad team that even that W would mean something? Hasn't he lost complete appreciation for the game, if all he wants is to win, no matter what? Is it really only about winning, and the whole enterprise is devoid of content and meaning? Is this the kind of regression that happens as part of an "us vs them" conceptualization?
Teams have advantages. Some teams live and work where it's hot and humid, so they're more used to it, others where it's frigid and icy, so they're more used to that, one where life is a "Mile High." Great endurance for them. And every team gets to play half its games at home. These advantages are part of the game. But are there unfair advantages? The Boston Celtics (I know, different sport) cherish their parquet floor. They memorize it and know it intimately. They brought it from the old Boston Garden to the Fleet Center, or TD BankNorth Center, or whatever is the name of that arena now. And they didn't bring it with them because they love the look of parquet. It's because it has dead spots, where a basketball won't bounce normally. Celtics players know where those dead spots are. Visitors don't.
Why am I going on about sports? Because we have an election coming up next month. There's a special issue on the ballot, just for us in BP. It's the last item on the ballot. It's about when we want to vote. Specifically, do we want to keep voting in odd Decembers, or do we want to move to even Novembers. The difference is not as caricaturish as the Dolphins' playing a girls' school. It's much more subtle. It's closer to the Celtics' knowing the dead spots on their floor. It creates a little, but distinct, advantage for them. Like the advantage created by having elections at a time that fewer BP residents will vote. We all could vote in odd Decembers, but the record over a long period of time shows we just won't. Only about half of those who will vote in even Novembers will vote in odd Decembers. That is a reality. And it's possible to exploit that predictable reality.
But we can change that. We can move our election to occur when we're all going to vote anyway, instead of holding it at a time when so many of us simply would not do that little errand, because it's too out of the way, or we're too busy with too many other things. We can move our election to a time when we resolve to suspend those errands, or to go out of our way that day.
In a democracy, voting is our big victory. We don't have to make a mockery out of it, sliding by on technicalities, or beating up on girls.
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