OK, for the football fans out there, let's see if I can give you an analogy....
It's the last weekend of the regular season (call it 2010, just so I can use the team names). All eight division leaders have records so close that not a single team knows who their opponent is going to be for the first round in the playoffs. We'll have to ignore all the nonsense in the rules about ties in the standings being decided by all manner of things like record vs. same teams... In Baseball, ties are resolved on the field of battle and not in some records office.
The Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots have the best records in their conferences. The Giants, who spent most of the season in first place but lost their last four games have wound up tied with the Packers for the last playoff spot in their conference. The Chargers have also stumbled of late, and are tied with the Jets for their conference's last playoff spot.
For the final day, the Scheduling Gods have set up these matches:
Atlanta @ Green Bay
New England @ San Diego
New York Giants @ Minnesota
New York Jets @ Houston
And all the games have 4:10 pm kickoffs.....
The only "rout" is the Jets game. They score early and often; the Texans never have a chance.
In Green Bay, the Falcons also jump out to an early lead. The Packers hang on, trying to stay alive. In San Diego and Minnesota, the games are much closer. Low scores and missed opportunites. As the clocks wind down...
With five minutes left to play in Green Bay, the Falcons are up by 20...
The Two Minute Warnings sound in Minnesota and San Diego, with the Giants up 21-16 and the Chargers on top 17-14...
The Packers push through for a TD, but miss the extra point. They go with an onside kick, and manage to recover it. A few plays later, they score again and are only a TD behind...
With less than a minute left in San Diego, the Patriots push in close enough to tie the game on a field goal. Desperation plays by the Chargers come up short, and the game goes into overtime...
With only a few seconds left in regulation, the Packers tie the game on an amazing "Hail Mary" TD pass. That game goes to overtime...
The Vikings narrow the margin with a field goal. But there's too much time on the clock for the Giants to just fall on the ball; they've got to play it out....
In Green Bay and San Diego, the first OT periods go by with no score. The teams play on...
The Vikings force the Giants to fumble, and run the ball in to the Giants 40...
Halfway into the second OT, the Patriots drive into field goal range... It's up; it's good!!! Watching in their locker room, the Jets go crazy, since that means they are now in the Playoffs.
And within literally seconds of each other, causing the TV people to have breakdowns...
On what would have been the last play of the game, a Giant penalty puts the ball for the Vikings on the New York 35...just close enough for a game-winning field goal. It's up; it's good!!! The Vikings celebrate on the field as if they were going to the Super Bowl...
In Green Bay, that final goes up on the scoreboard: Minnesota 22, New York 21. Now all the Packers need to do to get to the playoffs is score. Late in the second OT, a Packers receiver finds daylight on a screen pass, and runs the ball all the way to the end zone....
That's what it was like for baseball fans...