When you think about it, the NFL isn't that different from Game of Thrones. You've got a bunch of houses, represented by strange mascots, all vying for power; nobody really likes the blond guy with an authoritarian streak who's running the place; there's the rampant nepotism and messed-up gender politics; and the whole thing is basically predicated on a bloodsport.You certainly don't need to explain all of that to George R.R. Martin, the author of the series. The man takes breaks from finally finishing the Game of Thrones books (but not before the show beats him to it) to watch football—carefully, calculatingly. Occasionally, he writes about it, too.After taking in the epic battle between the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants on Sunday, Martin took to the blog-o-sphere and dropped some scandalous opinions about a certain series of scraps between Odell Beckham Jr. and Josh Norman, blaring—in all caps—that, "JOSH NORMAN STARTED IT."His reasoning?
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Martin then goes into the particulars of the chronology: Beckham's dropped near-touch down pass, Norman body slamming Beckham to the ground on the very next play, the slapping, the pushing, the spearing, the blah blah blah blah blah.Sure, it sounds like any Joe Sunday's opinion on the game, but this is George R. Fucking Other R. Martin we're talking about. Power dynamics are his thing. Who could be a better explain the situation between warring factions, and the complex human motivations governing them, than the man who has created a rich imaginary world based on exactly that?Martin's play-by-play is nothing short of a psychoanalytic view into the minds of contending kings. Martin proposes that the much-talked-about matchup set the stage for an epic battle, and that while Beckham's dropped pass did initiate a shift in egos—like the pundits had been saying—it was in fact Norman, not Beckham, whose ego was bruised by allowing Beckham that much space to run. Hence Norman throwing the first dirty move. Victims blurring into perpetrators, and vice versa. Classic Martin plot twist.Don't be surprised if the Mountain comes in with a late spear in the next book—and for you to suddenly start feeling sympathetic toward him. In any event, George R.R. should certainly replace Joe Buck as commentator. This is quality stuff.ODB let himself be provoked, and that's bad. But it was Norman who initiated the ugliness, and we should not lose sight of that. He is not the innocent victim here, and his postgame comments reek of hypocrisy. ODB went way too far, agreed, but the dirty stuff began with Norman.