One For The Ages
I’m a happily married, heterosexual guy, but I fear that my heart may soon be broken by another man. It wouldn’t be the first time.
A couple hours before midnight last evening, the Washington Capitals managed to edge out the Pittsburgh Peng
uins in game 6 of what has been one of the greatest playoff series in sports history. Over twenty years from now, when Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin are in the Hall of Fame, fans and scribes will recall the 2nd round Stanley Cup playoff series of 2009.
I’ll let Hooks Orpik over at Pensburgh fill you in on what’s happened so far. I’ve got too much on my mind, childhood trauma threatening to bring back that same recurring nightmare. This nightmare is as real as a bird eating tarantula in Australia. Fragmented visions replay over in my mind. The face of the villain changes from one heartbreak to the next, and I fear this time the new face of devastation will be grinning and scruffy and Russian.
Alexander Ovechkin, the most skilled goon in hockey history, has the most wicked wrist shot you’ve ever seen. No matter how well the Pens shut him down, he’s always there, lurking, waiting to Capitalize on that one chance.
He’s only the most recent villain in my string of menacing faces. Every sports fan remembers those moments that your team didn’t win, the good guys didn’t pull it off. Here are just four men who have broken my heart and made me wish I just didn’t care.
***
1. Tom Brady–The Steelers are on top these days, but twice Brady sent them packing one game short of the Super Bowl. Apparently I’m not alone. There’s an entire website devoted to hatred of the future hall of famer. You know you’re really good when millions of people can’t stand you. Either that or you’re Nancy Pelosi.
2. Francisco Cabrera–Who? Yo
u aren’t asking that question if you cheered for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1990s when they were so good they almost went to the World Series three years in a row. In 1992, game 7 against the Atlanta Braves came down to the 9th inning. The Buccos had a 2-1 lead until pinch hitter and adolescent dream taker Francisco Cabrera singled in the tying and winning runs. 
3. Larry Brown–Neil O’Donnell remains one of the best quarterbacks all-time at not throwing interception, but in Super Bowl XXX the Steelers QB tossed two into the arms of Larry Brown, that lousy, no good…
4. David Volek–After winning two Stanley Cups in a row under the leadership of Mario Lemieux, the greatest athlete of all-time who won a scoring title despite missing 24 games to injury and cancer for crying out loud, the 1992-93 season went sour. Lemieux returned and the team set the all-time record for most consecutive wins in a season (17) before the New York Islanders took the second round playoff series to a 7th game. That’s where Dave Volek, a smelly jerk who probably beats kittens, comes in. He scored in overtime to prevent the Pens ThreePeat. Jaromir Jagr cried on the bench. I didn’t blame him.
***
Sometimes the heroes are legends. Sometimes obscure players make legendary plays. This year, the Pens are hoping they have the hero. The Capitals are threatening to stop them. What a series.
As you age, losses stop mattering so much, but for younger people, especially kids, they last a lifetime. If the Pens fall tomorrow in our nation’s capital, I will salute a valiant effort and fine season. Then I’ll go to bed. Some kids from Pittsburgh and around the world will cry if their team skates off in defeat. Some of those kids play for the Penguins, superstars already grizzled veterans before their 22nd birthday. The heartbreak will be undeniable for them.
But if they win, those kids will be euphoric. That’s how sport gets you, those moments when you’re young and the impossible unfolds just for you. Those times are special. They’re why we are fans.
If you miss game 7 tomorrow night, then shame on you for six weeks. If the Pens pull off a series clinching victory, the grin will not be on Ovechkin’s face cause I’ll be smiling like a butcher’s dog.
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Life. Culture. Education.
Life as Pop Culture Professor Clay Morgan
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about finding meaning amidst the absurd. It’s about humor and truth.
I’m a writer / speaker who teaches history and political courses at a couple of local colleges. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
On topics ranging from pop culture to the meaning of life, my brain’s always poppin’. Take the red pill and unplug.
I know it’s a little hackish to link to your own blog on someone else’s but here are my “broken heart games”
http://seasonsofdiscontent.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/my-top-5-stomach-punch-games-of-all-time-that-i-could-find-on-youtube/
Unfortunately a moment that you likely enjoyed greatly is one that broke my poor little heart (Big Ben and Holmes…sigh).
I’ve enjoyed your blog a few times. Link away. Sorry to hear you were rooting for the Cardinals. I hadn’t thought about it yet, but that would’ve been one of the worst games to watch from the wrong side of the score. Condolences…
Last night’s game was yet another epic battle – watching the two of them, Ovechkin and Crosby battle it out is reminiscent of watching the gretzky/ lemieux match up.
Nifer
http://hesaidandshesaid.wordpress.com/
Being from New England, recently we’ve been on the better side of those types of exchanges, but going back to 2003, I’ll never forget the 7 game series between the Red Sox and the Yankees in the ALCS. One pitch, and Aaron Boone, he of the white-men-can-jump-but-they’ll-tear-their-acl-coming-down fame, crushed the hopes of hundreds of thousands of people.
It seemed like our year, but I’ll never forget the feeling of absolute dispair watching that ball sail over the monster.
But that’s what makes these sports so great. Sometimes you lose in dramatic fashion, but winning a big game? Ask a patriots fan and they’ll tell you what it feels like
I remember the Boone home run. I think Tim Wakefield was pitching. Wake used to be a Pirate, you know, fifteen years ago when they didn’t suck.
As a Sens fan, you’d think the most heartbreaking loss was when we missed the Stanley Cup in Game 5 against Anaheim. But most Sens fans can agree with this: it was when Jason Pominville scored in OT against Ray Emery in Game 6 at Scotiabank Place and defeated us in the second round. Why? Cause that was our year from Goaltending to Scoring: Hasek, Chara, Redden, Spezza, Heatley, Alfredsson. We had everything that year. While we made an awesome run out of the next year, 2006 should have been our year.
I remember that Sens team. The CASH line came up empty against Buffalo. That was also the year a Mr. Sidney Crosby emerged onto the NHL scene.
WoooHoooo! What a game. The Pens rocked the Caps on the road. Bill Guerin got the game winner. Sidney Crosby declares for good he is the greatest in the world.