I remember...

Dear Joel,

I'm all too happy to talk about sports!

Sports cover the entire spectrum in their contribution to society. At their worst, sports can bring out the terrible side of humans. Sporting events cause husbands and fathers to neglect family in order to watch the big game. They persuede people to purchase huge tvs and expensive cable packages. They cause outbursts and anger when the wrong team wins or when officials miss a call. It's no better among participants. The importance placed on sports, and the corresponding money tied to it, resulted in the White Sox throwing a World Series almost a hundred years ago. Baseball players take performance enhancing drugs so they can hit more home runs. A particular NFL team has cheated by illegally spying on other teams, and that team is under investigation once again for intentionally deflating footballs to gain an advantage in the second biggest game of the year. I get to witness these negative effects first-hand too. I play rec-league softball, flag football, and basketball each season in my community, and the tantrums that grown men throw on the athletic field is incredibly embarrassing. My own co-workers and friends with whom I get along wonderfully off the court sometimes turn into completely different people when the basketball is put in play. 

So when you say, "What role do sports play in society?" one of the answers is, unfortunately, one that can have terrible effects on relationships. Given the sinful nature of mankind, we shouldn't expect any different.

On the other hand, the rush that comes from being a sports fan can be incredible. Feats of strength, skill, and pure athleticism that you and I could never perform are amazing to watch. If I were to go into the positive effects that sports have had in my life, this would be far too long of a post. From the health benefits to the camaraderie experienced from being a part of a team, I could write for a while (and perhaps I will at some point). I think there's something in all of us that wants to achieve excellence. Sports is one of the primary things that inspires us to that end. Most of us don't ever get to the big leagues, but those who do are the ones we point to as examples of the physical qualities we all had.

Here are a few of my favorite sports memories (I had a huge list here, but decided I needed to pair it down a bit).

In 1993 I remember sitting on Frosty Edkin's couch with his son, Grant, and watching John Paxson bury a 3-pointer to give the Chicago Bulls a 1-point victory over the Suns in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

A few years later the world watched an 18-year old American gymnast named Kerri Strug, who needed a strong showing in her final vault performance at the Atlanta Olympics to secure a gold medal for the U.S. women's team. The only problem was that she had an injured ankle. How do you stick a landing when you can only land on one foot? Like this:

Fast forward a bit to 2006, when my team didn't come out on top. After taking over as the starting QB mid-season, Tony Romo (whom no one had ever heard of a couple of months prior) had performed remarkably well, and helped put the Cowboys in the playoffs. All they needed in order to defeat the Seahawks in the initial playoff game was a simple, routine, chip-shot field goal. But it didn't turn out so well.

The next year the New England Patriots won every game they played all year and were 18-0, headed to the Super Bowl as huge favorites to destroy the New York Giants. With 1:15 to play, the Giants were only down 4 points, but were facing a 3rd and 5, and Giants quarterback Eli Manning had Patriots converging all around him for what would have most likely been a game-winning sack. But then Manning squirmed loose and Giants receiver David Tyree did something incredible:

If I were building up to the most epic, this one would be saved for last, but since I'm going chronologically, here it is. At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the main story was that U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps was attempting to do something no one else had ever done: Win 8 gold medals in a single Games. One of those medals, however, would need to come from the Men's 4X100m Freestyle event, which meant that he and his three teammates would have to pull an upset victory over the French team. Prior to the Olympics, the French team's captain had made some trash-talk remarks about how badly he planned to crush the Americans. And as that captain dove into the pool as the anchor leg for the French, he held what in swimming would be considered a very significant lead over the American anchor, Jason Lezak. But a miracle was about to happen. (This is the longest video, but whether you remember this moment or not, it's worth watching for sure. I still tear up every time.)

I don't have videos for this one. It's really a collection of memories. The last month of the 2011 baseball season was a blast to follow, as two teams (one in each league) held significant leads, but collapsed down the stretch, while two other teams came all the way back. The final day of the season saw two teams in each league tied for the final respective Wild Card slots. Those games held so much intrigue that I can't describe it. In the end, the Cardinals had squeaked into the post season as a Wild Card team. Then, the NLDS came down to a decisive Game 5, and two of the best pitchers in the league faced off for the chance to live another day. And of course, we all remember Game 6 of the World Series that year, when the Cardinals were down to their last strike -- twice -- and managed to pull off one of the greatest post season comebacks baseball has ever seen. That game is the reason you've heard of David Freese.

I have a lot more I could say about sports, but I'll have to wait to see if that's the direction our conversation goes. What about you? What are some of the "Do you remember where you were when....?" moments from sports that jump to mind? Do sports turn you into a mad man?