Tim Thoughts

Is there currently a more annoying phrase in sports broadcasting than, “it’s a copycat league”? For the sake of this discussion, let’s set aside the ridiculous overuse of the word “swagger.” Even Lou Holtz is talking about “swagger” now. “It’s a copycat league.”

If you’ve heard this, and I bet you have, there’s a 95% chance you’ve heard it in reference to NFL teams turning to the wildcat formation on offense. You know the formation I’m talking about. The team’s usual QB either comes to the sidelines for a play or lines up at WR while a RB or WR steps in as the QB to receive a direct snap. I could probably right more than you’d ever want to read about the wildcat, but that’s not the point. The point is virtually every NFL broadcast this season has shared something like this: “You know, it’s really a copycat league. The Dolphins have had success with the wildcat and now half the other teams in the league are giving it a try.”

Play-by-play announcers and color commentators everywhere are acting as if the NFL is the only league where a success is attempted to be replicated. Newsflash! It’s a copycat world! Everywhere we turn, successful ventures are copied so that we may hope to achieve similar results.

Sure, the announcers will make the astute observations that copying the wildcat formation is due to coaches being terrified of losing their jobs if they don’t give it a try. But that’s the essence of copying in general. When failure is a possibility and people go in survival mode, people become copycats. Hunters have copied hunting techniques to find more food to survive. Students have learned to peek over at smart kids’ tests to copy and survive academically.

And even in non life or death scenarios like fashion, we see copycats. Why are certain accessories hot some seasons? Why do designers strive to have celebrities wearing their work? Because others will become copycats and want to wear the same things. Oh sure, people can put their own personal twist on fashion, but that’s true with anything. Arkansas didn’t run the wildcat. No, of course not. They ran the “wild hog.” You get the point.

We live in a copycat world and the fact that NFL teams try to run the same offensive formation that the Dolphins have found success with should be shocking to nobody. It does not make the NFL unique. It makes it a microcosm of society.