The sport of politics. The politics of sport.

I noted back in December, the last regular season game between the Pats and the Giants was a “good loss” for New York. On ESPN today, Skip Bayless was grilled by his co-hosts for declaring at the time that Tom Coughlin had made a critical mistake by allowing his starters to play all 60 minutes of that game.

This is why I don’t have much use for  professional pundits — whether in sports or in politics: they are often more off-base than us regular old viewers (or voters). Anyone who truly understands how important it is for a team to establish confidence knew that Coughlin’s decision — inspired by his players — was a VERY WISE decision. Why? Because it infused the team with the most crucial element in winning: heart.

Starters are great; but if you subscribe to the idea that the outcome of big games always depends on having starters in the lineup, you don’t really know football.

Here’s why Bayless’ wayward logic about Coughlin’s decision to play his starters was so off base: when a team is playing to win (as opposed to playing to “not lose”), everyone on the team understands that guys have to be ready to step in if and when a starter goes down — and every one of those guys is expected to play his guts out.

Getting that chance, as Tom Brady did six seasons ago, is often more than enough to motivate that second- or third-stringer to lead his team to victory. Todd Collins, the backup QB for the Washington Redskins, was just one of this season’s examples of the competitive advantage non-starters can offer a team at critical moments in a game, or in a season.

Giants defensive star Michael Strahan and his teammates reportedly pleaded with Coughlin to let them start and play for as much of the game as they wanted to. The coach’s decision to respect his players’ passion was not only a good decision — it was a brilliant one with implications for the remainder of the Giants’ season.

Both the Giants and the Patriots played their starters in that Week 17 game — a game that, on paper, was “meaningless” for both of them. But the Giants were playing for respectability and the Patriots were playing for a shot at making history. So what was meaningless on paper was truly meaningful to both teams in the greater scheme of things.

Contrast that Giants-Pats regular-season finish — in my view, the best game of the season — with the decision of the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts to pull their starters early in their final regular-season games. Look who went to the Super Bowl. Then tell me what NOT playing your starters in ‘meaningless’ games does for a team’s confidence going into the playoffs.

Yours Truly, A. F. Cook