What I've been thinking about most of today is sports letdowns. I watched the Liberty Bowl earlier between East Carolina and Arkansas, cheering of course for the ECU Pirates since I considered attending that school. And so I guess you could say, being a fan, I got ahead of myself. Figured they'd win when they were only winning 10-3 in the first half. Too much time left to start putting a W down in the books. And so the game went into the 4th quarter tied 17-17, and ECU had their chances, but the cold temperatures wreaked havoc on their kicker. He had a chance to put them ahead 20-17. The Arkansas coach called a timeout right before the snap to "ice the kicker, pun intended" as the commentator said. He missed, the ball hitting the left upright. He then was given another opportunity, this time with only three seconds remaining on the clock. He pushed it wide right.
Overtime comes, ECU gets the ball first, they move it eight yards, come to a 4th & 2, set up for a field goal. And wouldn't you know it, he missed again. Arkansas took control, ran three plays, set up for a field goal and as fate would have it, the kicker from Arkansas put it straight through the center of the uprights. And ECU had lost. And the win I had set in my mind went by the boards, and I was let down. And as we all know, this happens to all of us. We think it's over, but it's not over 'til the clock strikes double zero and the two teams are heading back to their respective locker rooms and the fans are exiting towards the parking lots.
Sometimes we put all of the blame upon one player or only the coach for a loss. But it's never one thing that leads to a losing effort. Many mistakes adding together may bring a team to lose, but never is it one single play, player, or coach who should be fully blamed. And as most players say, "there are more than just one guy out there on the (court, field, ice), it's on all of us, not one of us. we play as a team. we win as a team. we lose as a team." and that's the attitude everyone should live by. No one person is to blame for losing.
And who's to say we shouldn't blame the sporting gods. I'm sure they have a hand in the downfall of our favorite team. Maybe they're fans of our opponent, maybe they think we win too much. Whatever the cause, we will be let down sometimes. But it's never the end of the world. As has been said by too many people over time, "there's always next year" and though the sting of losing a championship may stay with us for awhile, it disappears as soon as the hopes for a championship come around at the start of that next season.
This evening I watched an ESPN special recounting the greatest sports moments of the last decade. So many championships won, heartbreaking losses, post-game outbursts, injuries, tearful retirement speeches, lives lost within the sporting community, scandals, and in all of that, fans sticking to their guns, cheering for their teams. Through thick and thin, true sports fans stay with their team for it all. Through eighty-six years without a championship, through one-hundred years plus of continuing suffering, through losing star players to free agency, and through the emergence of a surprise rookie, who soon enough becomes a team leader. Sports are here to stay, to entertain, and to send our emotions on the roller-coaster they've been riding on since the first time we heard about touchdowns, home runs, goals, everything, on the radio and on television. We've been hooked. And the new decade is sure to be chock-full of thrills, spills, and chills running down our spines as our team tries to march downfield for a game-winning score. And we'll watch the outcome, tear our hair out with each loss and gloat with each win, but no matter the result, we'll be sports fans through and through.
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