I have been the author of some spectacular mistakes in my time — I’ll spare you the details because, well, I don’t have time to go into them all — but one thing I really haven’t ever done is, as a participant in sports, committed some kind of critical, game-costing blunder.
(I don’t count the time in city league basketball when I picked up a season-ending technical foul for our team. What happened was, in the final game of a dismal season, two other guys had already been T’d up, and I had the misfortune of having one of the refs hear me tell an obnoxious opponent to “flake off,” or something like that. Under the rules of the league, three T’s resulted in forfeit, hence the season-ending nature of my transgression.)
Anyway, aside from being unable to hold my tongue on that occasion, I’ve never been fitted for goat horns in any of the literally hundreds of organized baseball games, and dozens of basketball games, I’ve played in. Sure, I’ve committed errors, struck out, missed shots, had turnovers, etc., but I have never, at the moment of truth, really fouled something up, and for that I am eternally grateful.
I was reminded of the that Thursday night when I watched St. Louis’ Matt Holliday drop what would’ve been a victory-clinching flyball against Los Angeles. Given new life, the Dodgers rallied to win, leaving Holliday, I am quite sure, to stew on his mistake for the rest of his days. I certainly would if it were me, even though I play in the Men’s Senior Baseball League and not the majors.
The deal is, and not everyone understands this, so you likely won’t: My ballgames are every bit as important to me as the big-leaguers’ games are to them. I was born to compete, I love to win, and I hate to lose — in fact, I hate to lose more than I love to win, which is something of a sickness, but I have to be honest with myself; that’s how I am.
So, that’s one reason why I’m grateful I’ve never made what could be considered a game-costing blunder; these contests matter enough to me that it would be hard to live with … though I’m not naive enough to think it won’t happen someday.
3 comments
Laure_A says:
Oct 11, 2009
I do understand. My girls' softball games are equally important to me.
craigthomas says:
Oct 12, 2009
A games outcome is determined by everything that did or didn't happen during the course of the game. While Matt Holliday would likely say it was a catch he should have made, it looked to me like a hard hit, slicing line drive that wasn't a can of corn by any means. I'm sure St. Louis is still very happy Matt Holliday is a Cardinal, and if they are not, I hope they trade him to Seattle.
stevelundeberg says:
Oct 12, 2009
Craig, you are right in that a game is a sum of all its parts, rather than merely what happens late. But that ball Holliday dropped to prolong the game is a play that simply has to be made at the major league level. It wasn't a can of corn, but a big-leaguer simply has to reel that one in. That said, nobody's perfect, of course.