In Confessions of a Winning Poker Player, Jack King said, "Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career." Seems true to me. 'Cause walking in here, I can hardly remember how I built my bankroll, but I can't stop thinking of how I lost it.
Mike McDermott in Rounders
Mike (played by Matt Damon) was referring to poker beats, but I think the concept is also applicable to crushing defeats suffered by sports team for which you emotionally pull. I am not talking about “garden variety” losses in big games, but rather those last-minute snatches of defeat from the jaws of victory that just sting so deeply.
Just since January 2009 when the Steelers last won the Super Bowl, it seems that my teams have been on a roll when it comes to these soul destroyers. For me, they all go by the names of the antagonist that ripped my heart out.
Add the name of Josh Snead to that list. At the Belk Bowl last December, Duke had a First and Goal at the Cincinnati 8 with the score tied with 1:35 to play and lost – by two touchdowns. Damnest thing I have ever seen and I have watched a lot of football games over my lifetime. Now that there is some distance from this, I look back at the game log from that last minute in utter amazement and almost laugh at the absurdity of it all.
I suppose this stuff evens out over long intervals of fandom and that everybody that passionately follows their teams would have a similar list of bad beats. But if you see me wondering aimlessly on the streets and staring up at the skies mumbling something like “Was it something I said?”, you’ll know where I am coming from.
Here is a Flickr slideshow of some photographs Chris and I captured at the 2012 Belk Bowl, played December 27, 2012 at Bank of America Stadium in uptown Charlotte, NC.
