A BRONCS TALE
“The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.”—Lorenzo Anello (Robert DeNiro) in 1993’s classic mobster flick, A Bronx Tale
I'm going to be honest with you and honest with myself for a second. The tagline for this blog reads, "Sports and life, in that order," but after this New Year's weekend, sports hardly seem like life and death. Then again, every now and then, a situation arises where sports and life intersect, sometimes almost too closely, and the result is numbing.
It was a huge holiday weekend—in two very different ways—for two sets of Broncos. Late Sunday afternoon, the Denver Broncos and their 24-year-old cornerback Darrent Williams were locked up at INVESCO Field at Mile High with the improving, but still less-than-stellar San Francisco 49ers in town. A win would have put Denver into the NFL’s AFC Wild Card playoff next weekend. But by the wee hours of Monday morning—following a devastating overtime loss—real tragedy struck for the team and for football fans everywhere. Williams, who had attended a New Year’s bash at a downtown Denver club to celebrate the birthday of Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin, was dead—the victim of a senseless drive-by shooting.
Williams was starting to stand out within the Broncos' defensive scheme.
As news of Williams’ death spread across every outlet from Sportscenter to the local news, the Boise State University Broncos, an undefeated mid-major college squad—led by heralded running back Ian Johnson—took the field last night against college football powerhouse The University of Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl at Glendale, AZ's University of Phoenix Stadium. And while they did it the hard way, the underdog took advantage of their shot at national glory—and played in one of the best college football games I’ve ever seen. Up 18 points in the third quarter, the Broncs squandered the lead with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter and let the Sooners knot the game at 28-28. On the next play from scrimmage, Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky was intercepted for a touchdown. With seven seconds left in regulation, the Broncos converted a desperation hook-and-ladder play on fourth down and 18 to tie the game up again. And after Oklahoma opened overtime up with a one-play, 25-yard TD run by future NFL star Adrian Peterson, Boise rebounded with another fourth down touchdown and struck on a gimmicky 2-point conversion to seal the improbable win--the kind of win ESPN Classic eats off of on the regular. And after all that? “I think we deserve a shot at Ohio State and the national title,” a resilient Zabransky said. A shot that, due to the current bowl system, won’t come. Not this year, at least.
Johnson led the Broncos with 101 yards rushing on 23 carries.
Still, it’s the funny thing about sports. Two teams, coincidentally sharing a mascot and nickname, both starting off the new year together—one under some of the worst conditions imaginable and the other making an argument for the little guy, winning in improbable fashion, but still left wondering what might have been. And while it would be foolish to compare the two incidents, they've set the tone for the year. In the coming weeks, there will be controversies stemming from both. Talking heads will undoubtedly question why Williams was out partying in a reportedly "seedy" area of Denver after a loss (and, for the record, his shooting is already being accompanied by stories about the 2006 shooting of Denver Nuggets’ guard Julius Hodge and the 2003 shooting of Pittsburgh Steelers’ linebacker Joe Porter in Colorado). We’ll all wonder what could have been with Williams, a young man who was looking to change the lives of teenagers back in his hometown of Fort Worth, TX. As far as Boise, they’ll enjoy the victory, but analysts will wonder over and over why college football still doesn’t have a playoff, why an undefeated team doesn’t deserve a shot at a national championship. Sports and life may not be interchangeable, but for one span of 36 hours, a bunch of Broncos made sure we all know that they affect one another more than we might like to think. It's just a shame we're still going to be left with so many questions and so few answers.
- - - - - - -
Extra Points:
Why isn’t anyone talking about the Florida Gators when they mention college football’s “national champions”?
The Philadelphia Eagles are not going to the Super Bowl.
Everybody glad to see the old ball back in the NBA again? (KG sure was!)
If you haven’t watched Greg Oden play ball in college yet, make some time.
de.licio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Comments
There are no comments on this entry. Be the first!