Victories inspired by emotion are a staple of sports lore.
The Win One For The Gipper speech by Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne in 1928, burned into the historic record by numerous written and movie recountings, likely is the most well-known example. The underdog Irish, inspired by the tale of Gipp on his death bed in 1920 wishing for an against-the-odds win in his name, rallied in the second half after Rockne’s talk to beat favored Army.
Yes, back in 1928 Army was a national power in college football.
But football doesn’t have a monopoly on such things. Recall stories of Herb Brooks and his motivational speech to his underdog U.S. hockey team in the 1980 Olympics (also recounted on film), or Willis Reed hobbling onto the court for Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 1970 despite a leg injury and inspiring his New York Knicks to a championship win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
I recall the time another sportswriter and I decided to take a betting stab at the USC-Cal game in 1977. Back then USC was college football royalty and Cal just tried to be competitive.
We went with USC and gave the points, only to be stunned when Cal beat the No. 10 Trojans. It turns out this was the Joe Roth Memorial Game, a tribute to the former Cal quarterback who had died with cancer in February 1977 after having played the previous season knowing he had terminal melanoma.
Score one for emotion.
But, for all those memorable times when emotion fueled teams and individuals to heights thought unlikely if not impossible, there are many more times when it all failed to produce the Hollywood ending.
I thought of this today as the Buffalo Bills lost badly to the Cincinnati Bengals in a snowy NFL playoff game played in Buffalo. It was these very same two teams who were playing a regular-season game a few weeks back when Bills player Damar Hamlin nearly died due to a cardiac event following a big hit. The game never finished.
Hamlin survived and likely will make a full recovery. His story has captivated the sporting world and how many times since the incident we have heard the Bills were going to win for Hamlin.
Hamlin was in a luxury suite at the stadium Sunday, and his presence was featured on the broadcast. Reportedly there was a pregame visit by Hamlin to the Bills locker room.
And yet the Bills lost in rather one-sided fashion. Inspiration was not evident.
The 1978 World Series comes to mind as another prominent example of emotion coming up short. Long-time Los Angeles Dodgers player and assistant coach Jim “Junior” Gilliam had died just before the World Series due to a brain hemorrhage.
Patches bearing Gilliam’s number 19 were on the Dodgers uniforms and after wins in the first two games, the dedication of the Series victory to Gilliam was being spoken of prominently.
The New York Yankees then won the next four games in succession and the Gilliam angle couldn’t change that.
Emotion and momentum are important to sports. But so is talent.
This recalls the corruption of a Bible verse, the spin on this having been attributed to various sources, including famous sportswriter Damon Runyon: “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but that is the way to bet.”
Sam Ross Jr's site 