For Every 'Shining Moment', There Is The Other Side
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
You might even have a memory of a single game, a single moment in time that still has an impact on you years later.
For me, there was “1:58 to go.”
In 1985, my Argos High School soccer team was up 2-1 on our bitter rival Culver Academy with time running out and a trip to the state finals on the line. CMA scored with 1:58 left to tie it, and then scored again early in overtime to win the regional and a trip to Indy.
Every October, and sometimes in between them, I think about 1:58. We were THAT close to putting our names into Argos Soccer immortality.
But it didn’t happen, and it haunts me almost 30 years later.
So when we get to the end of a sports season like we are now, we have those kinds of moments where a hero rises up and makes a shot, gets a hit, catches a pass that wins a game or a championship that everyone will remember forever.
Everyone.
I would like for you to consider that for every winning shot made is a defender who couldn’t stop him. For every walk-off home run there is a pitcher who served it up.
For example, when Kentucky beat Notre Dame Saturday night it was because Andrew Harrison made two free throws with six seconds left to put the Wildcats up by two.
But Demetrius Jackson will live the rest of his life knowing that had he got there a step sooner it would have been a charge instead.
Michigan State is making an improbable run to the Final Four in Indianapolis this weekend and Spartan fans are absolutely thrilled.
But Mangok Mathiang missed a free throw with just ticks left that would have put Louisville up by one and may have won them the game and a trip to Indy.
In the Class 4A boys state championship game, Homestead rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to send their game with Evansville Reitz to overtime, and then the Spartans won it 91-90. A key moment was when Reitz threw an inbound pass that was deflected and stolen for a layup in the final minute of regulation to make it a two-point game. It completely change the momentum of the game.
Alex Stein has to live with the fact that HE threw that pass. Stein had a great season and his team lost twice all season. But that moment will be seared into him forever.
And we could go on and on.
For Kirk Gibson, there was Dennis Eckersley. For Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run, Mitch Williams threw the pitch.
For Michael Jordan in 1982, there was Freddie Brown’s pass to the wrong team.
North Carolina won the 1993 men’s basketball title because Chris Webber called a time out his team didn’t have.
“The Catch”…well there were two Cowboys defenders who were left only to watch Dwight Clark haul in the touchdown pass from Joe Montana that sent the Niners on to the Super Bowl for the first time.
I am NOT asking you to feel sorry for these people. Not at all. When you play sports you are not only exposing yourself to failure, you are openly embracing the eventuality that you WILL fail at some point. That, in itself, makes athletes crazy. Think about it – failure in life is inevitable, but athletes choose to participate in an activity where someone will fail every time they try.
But THAT is what makes sports so much fun! I cannot imagine watching reality TV shows because I am in the field of sports, and sports IS reality.
There are winners and losers, people lose their jobs over winning and losing and lives are changed by winning and losing. What is more real than that?
So when you watch the Final Fours, the men and the women’s, this weekend, or the start of baseball season Sunday night, just think about how every moment in every game has a ripple effect on everything that happens from that moment on, and that for every hero there is another side.
While you are doing that, understand that I am forever anchored to the vision of standing with the fourth official waiting to check back into the 1985 regional finals, and then at 1:58...[[In-content Ad]]
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You might even have a memory of a single game, a single moment in time that still has an impact on you years later.
For me, there was “1:58 to go.”
In 1985, my Argos High School soccer team was up 2-1 on our bitter rival Culver Academy with time running out and a trip to the state finals on the line. CMA scored with 1:58 left to tie it, and then scored again early in overtime to win the regional and a trip to Indy.
Every October, and sometimes in between them, I think about 1:58. We were THAT close to putting our names into Argos Soccer immortality.
But it didn’t happen, and it haunts me almost 30 years later.
So when we get to the end of a sports season like we are now, we have those kinds of moments where a hero rises up and makes a shot, gets a hit, catches a pass that wins a game or a championship that everyone will remember forever.
Everyone.
I would like for you to consider that for every winning shot made is a defender who couldn’t stop him. For every walk-off home run there is a pitcher who served it up.
For example, when Kentucky beat Notre Dame Saturday night it was because Andrew Harrison made two free throws with six seconds left to put the Wildcats up by two.
But Demetrius Jackson will live the rest of his life knowing that had he got there a step sooner it would have been a charge instead.
Michigan State is making an improbable run to the Final Four in Indianapolis this weekend and Spartan fans are absolutely thrilled.
But Mangok Mathiang missed a free throw with just ticks left that would have put Louisville up by one and may have won them the game and a trip to Indy.
In the Class 4A boys state championship game, Homestead rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to send their game with Evansville Reitz to overtime, and then the Spartans won it 91-90. A key moment was when Reitz threw an inbound pass that was deflected and stolen for a layup in the final minute of regulation to make it a two-point game. It completely change the momentum of the game.
Alex Stein has to live with the fact that HE threw that pass. Stein had a great season and his team lost twice all season. But that moment will be seared into him forever.
And we could go on and on.
For Kirk Gibson, there was Dennis Eckersley. For Joe Carter’s World Series-winning home run, Mitch Williams threw the pitch.
For Michael Jordan in 1982, there was Freddie Brown’s pass to the wrong team.
North Carolina won the 1993 men’s basketball title because Chris Webber called a time out his team didn’t have.
“The Catch”…well there were two Cowboys defenders who were left only to watch Dwight Clark haul in the touchdown pass from Joe Montana that sent the Niners on to the Super Bowl for the first time.
I am NOT asking you to feel sorry for these people. Not at all. When you play sports you are not only exposing yourself to failure, you are openly embracing the eventuality that you WILL fail at some point. That, in itself, makes athletes crazy. Think about it – failure in life is inevitable, but athletes choose to participate in an activity where someone will fail every time they try.
But THAT is what makes sports so much fun! I cannot imagine watching reality TV shows because I am in the field of sports, and sports IS reality.
There are winners and losers, people lose their jobs over winning and losing and lives are changed by winning and losing. What is more real than that?
So when you watch the Final Fours, the men and the women’s, this weekend, or the start of baseball season Sunday night, just think about how every moment in every game has a ripple effect on everything that happens from that moment on, and that for every hero there is another side.
While you are doing that, understand that I am forever anchored to the vision of standing with the fourth official waiting to check back into the 1985 regional finals, and then at 1:58...[[In-content Ad]]
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