Time only counts if you’re in jail, so the saying goes. But Sports Illustrated contributor Frank Deford begs to differ.

“I hate it when somebody says that some football coach exhibits good ‘clock management,'” said Deford, in his March 4 commentary on National Public Radio. “Basically that means he just knows how to waste time.”

Cutting horse competitors understand the judiciousness of this tactic. But they also dread a sluggish clock, when pressed by an ornery cow.

The phrase “saved by the buzzer” can be as fitting in the cutting arena as in the boxing arena.

On the other side of the time warp are 2 1/2-minute cutting performances that drag out, you could swear, to five minutes, with Benjamin Button minding the clock. This is only slightly preferable to the “now you see it, now you don’t” cut, where the first cow exceeds the speed of light and time and the horse stand still.

While Deford doesn’t talk about cutting, he does ring the buzzer on the time clock. Click here to read or listen to Watching the Clock.