ometimes I feel ridiculous
for spending so much of my time watching sports, keeping track of the multi-millionaires
who play kids’ games and (more often than not) act like idiots on our TV
screens.
But then I see a game like yesterday’s Steelers game, and I remember
how many times sports can be a metaphor of life.
There was no way the Steelers were supposed to win that game.
They were the definite underdogs – their record going into the game was
6-6. Their opponents, the Raiders, were 10-2.
The Steelers started off well. Their quarterback, Kordell Stewart,
threw a pass for a touchdown to take the early lead. But then he
injured his knee, and wasn’t expected to go back into the game.
I have to give you a little bit of background information on Kordell
Stewart. He’s the guy who came into the league with the nickname
“Slash”, basically describing his function – sometimes he was the quarterback,
sometimes the wide receiver, sometimes he ran with the ball – heck, once
he even punted. He was considered one of the best athletes the Steelers
had had on the team in recent years. But for some reason, when he
was given a chance to shine as starting quarterback, he couldn’t seem to
get it all together. The fans in Pittsburgh, who are very loyal but
also very harsh, started booing him – which only seemed to make him fall
apart even more.
In the last few games, he had finally started to pull everything together.
Here he was, getting in the first blows against a very worthy opponent,
and, as luck would have it, he was out of the game.
His successor, Kent Graham, was horrible. The first pass he threw
was intercepted. He couldn’t seem to touch the ball without getting
thrown onto the ground for a 10 yard loss. We had given up watching
around halftime and my wife was playing on the WebTV when I said, “Let’s
see what’s going on in the game.” I tuned to ABC – “Hey – Kordell’s
back in!”
I don’t know if it was a shot of Cortisone, or the most amazing pep
talk he’s ever heard, but Stewart came back out – gimpy knee and all –
and played an unbelievable second half, throwing great passes and even
running for a touchdown (breaking about four tackles on the way).
The Steelers won, 21-20. But maybe the best thing was the way the
fans went wild when Stewart came back out onto the field.
kind of know how Kordell
feels, to be an underdog who comes back to become a hero. Not that
I’ve ever been on the football field or anything – no, I was too much of
an underdog for that (unless you count being in the marching band, which
technically is being on the football field…)
I always thought I’d be stuck alone in life, but here I am, with a beautiful
wife (and, if that wasn’t enough, a beautiful son, too!). I thought
I’d be stuck in a dead-end job for the rest of my career, and here I am
doing interesting (although sometimes hair-wrenching, but that’s OK) work.
I thought I’d spend the rest of my life apologizing to my mother-in-law
(and my own parents, for that matter) for stealing her daughter and heading
to San Diego – and now we’re only an hour away.
I feel so good right now, I think I’m going to pour some Gatorade over
my head.
