To celebrate the annual Salt Bowl edition of Saline County Lifestyles, the timing seemed appropriate to look back on another major event in football history centered around the number 17. Of course, I speak of the historic 17-0 season completed by the Miami Dolphins with their win over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII on a balmy Los Angeles evening in January of 1973.
The final score of that final game, Super Bowl VII, should have added to the fairytale nature of the Dolphins unprecedented and never-since-repeated storybook run. The Dolphins should have won that game 17-0 to cap off their 17-0 season. But that’s not how it turned out because the most memorable play from that Super Bowl was a blooper committed by the Dolphin’s kicker with two minutes left on the clock. I’ll have more on that later.
That blooper, though, wasn’t the most memorable play of the game because of a lack of other great story lines. Another big focus of Super Bowl VII was the return of Dolphins quarterback Bob Griese to the starting role after being injured since week five of the regular season. That’s right – the Dolphins completed the NFL’s only undefeated season with their backup quarterback, Earl Morrall, calling the shots for most of their games. But Griese returned to the field with Miami trailing in the AFC title game to lead the team to a comeback victory, earning him a controversial return to the starting spot in the Super Bowl.
But to follow up on that blooper – the Dolphins were ahead of the Redskins 14-0 with about two minutes left in the game when they sent their usually dependable kicker, Garo Yepremian, on to the field to attempt a manageable field goal and put the game away. His kick was blocked, which should have simply meant the game would end at 14-0 instead of 17-0. But instead of falling on the ball to end the play and allow his defense to take over to close out the game, Yepremian picked up the ball and attempted to throw a pass. The ball slipped out of his hands during the attempt, so he tried to bat it out of bounds. Instead, he batted it right into the hands of defender, Mike Bass, who proceeded to take the ball back for a 49-yard touchdown.
Yepremian’s decision did not turn into the disaster it could have been. The Dolphins went ahead to win the game 14-7 and complete their historic 17-0 season. But for years to come the Dolphins’ kicker was haunted by what happened when he reacted unwisely in the heat of the moment to a difficult situation.
There is a lesson in that story for those dealing with challenging elder law issues in their later years. As an elder law attorney, I meet with people every day who are facing some of the biggest challenges of their lives. Most of those families wish they had done something more, planned further ahead, when those challenges arise. While we cannot go back in time to rectify a lack of planning in the past, my job in those situations is to help families avoid making matters worse by reacting unwisely in the heat of the moment the way that Yepremian did.
For example, I have worked with families who find themselves in need of long-term care Medicaid benefits for an aging parent who have heard horror stories about losing the house to the State when dealing with DHS. Sometimes the gut reaction is to try to deed the house to a child at the last minute, thinking that will protect it. In reality, that just makes matters worse. If they would have taken the time to visit with an elder law attorney like me before trying to protect the home like that, I would have been able to slow them down long enough to talk through the pros and cons of using a beneficiary deed instead to protect the house instead.
When facing challenges tied to the need for long-term care, don’t react in the heat of the moment without slowing down to ask for help. Look where that got Yepremian. Those situations can be tough, but with proper guidance from a knowledgeable professional, you can get through them.