Sports has always been called a game of inches. A basketball that lands on the front iron instead of in the net, a hockey puck hitting the crossbar, the baseball striking the wrong side of the foul line.
"Right size, wrong shape" says Ken Harrelson, when a White Sox player hits a foul ball with home-run distance. When a Sox hitter knocked a fly ball just short of the fence, John Rooney used to say, "Another strip of bacon on his breakfast plate and that one's outta here." "Juuuuuuuust a bit outside," for Bob Uecker. "Threeeeeeeeee--nope" for Neil Funk.
A game of inches, they've said. For the New England Patriots, the game came down to six inches last night. It was not the six inches of indoor grass between the ball and Rob Gronkowski's fingertips, however.
No, six inches separated the Pats from their fourth Super Bowl victory. The six inches of white tape on Rob Gronkowski's left ankle.
A wounded giant...excuse me, Patriot
Allow me to channel Alfred Hitchcock for a moment.
Imagine, if you will, a healthy Rob Gronkowski. A beast of a man, quick, speedy, agile and able to catch about anything he can reach. A devastating tandem along with fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski frustrated linebackers and defensive backs all season...until he suffered a serious ankle injury in the AFC Championship game.
Suddenly, Gronk was slowed, chained, restrained. The high-ankle sprain limited his astounding mobility, turned him into a lumbering player. Gronkowski and the Patriots said all week that he would play in the Super Bowl, and when the time came, he came onto the field. But it was clear he wasn't the same. Gronkowski caught only two passes, and missed a chance to haul in the greatest of his career.
So close...
As Tom Brady looked to duplicate Eli Manning's desperation fling from four years earlier, the Patriot receivers hustled to the end zone. Aaron Hernandez arrived first and was the only man in the area who had a chance.
Rob Gronkowski, a hobbled Rob Gronkowski, was still about three yards away from the spot.
Hernandez and the Giants D-backs tip the ball in the air. Gronkowski runs and dives, but ends up short. About six inches short.
Football nation watched this year as Gronkowski made play after play this season, with his hands and his legs. He set records as a tight end for receiving yards and touchdowns. He was a leader in that vaunted Madden stat of "yards after catch".
Yet there he was, in the last moment of the first Super Bowl of his young career, coming up short.
Six inches of grass. Six inches of tape.
Does a healthy Rob Gronkowski, running full speed with maximum force on that ankle make that play?
Maybe he doesn't. Maybe he overruns the ball and is out of position. Maybe gets blocked out. Maybe he just misses it.
Or maybe he doesn't. Maybe a healthy Rob Gronkowski has more than two catches in the game. Maybe a healthy Rob Gronkowski makes Tom Brady even better and the Giants have to do more than score an easy touchdown with one minute to go.
Maybe a healthy Rob Gronkowski cradles that ball in his hands, and Tom Terrific doesn't turn into Tom Thumb on the bus ride back to the hotel.
Four years ago, the inches of David Tyree's fingertips gave the Giants all they needed. This time, the Giants got the break again.
It shouldn't be, I get that. It's the epic rematch of the Super Bowl four years prior, where the little blue engine that couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't...did.
David defeated Goliath, and in doing so, beat his older and better brother to the mountaintop.
Evil finally succumbed to its own gigantic id (remember Belichick going for it on fourth-and-five from the Giants 32, instead of kicking a field goal?), and paid the price.
For once, the majority of America cheered for New York, for they had taken down the cheaters of the league.
This year, the quarterbacks are the same. The coaches are the same. The stakes are the same.
Eli vs. Tom! Tom vs. Bill! New England vs. New York for a place in history! The most famous trophy in America!
Yawn.
Last time was different
There's a reason the pundits always take the Patriots in the big-game situations now, except for the year Matt Cassel was guiding the team. A few reasons, actually.
It was 2007, and the Patriots were a few years removed from their dynastic run of NFL championships. Tedy Bruschi had retired. So had Mike Vrabel and Willie McGinest. Adam Vinatieri, Pats hero of Super Bowls past, had just won a ring with the hated Colts (I say "hated" since they did beat my beloved Bears the year before).
New England was fairly mortal. They had won their first game against the New York Jets, but the season was wide open for just about anyone in the NFL.
Suddenly, the accusations came flying: the Patriots were cheaters!
The Pats had been accused of sending a member of the staff to tape the Jets' practice prior to their Week 1 matchup. The fallout was monumental. The topic was debated on every single sports show, in bars, at water coolers—if someone knew about football, they were talking about the Patriots' supposed wrongdoing.
The Patriots were incensed. Bill Belichick denied it. Tom Brady denied it. Everyone in the Northeast was angry that any such accusations would be leveled at them. So the Pats decided to make a statement.
By beating everyone else on their schedule.
New England went 16-0 in the regular season. They lost by less than a touchdown only four times, never lost by less than three, and they ended the year by beating the Giants 38-35 at the Meadowlands.
The Patriots were untouchable, a juggernaut, a lock to win the Super Bowl. Worst of all, everyone "knew" they had cheated. Their NFC counterpart, the Giants, had only made it to the playoffs via the Wild Card, and had taken a 22-10 loss against the hapless Washington Redskins. The same Redskins the Patriots embarrassed 52-7 early in the year.
There was no chance for the Giants. It was Patriots and the points at every bookie in the country.
Needless to say, there were a lot of stunned bettors that night in 2008, as Plaxico Burress and little Eli Manning celebrated the most improbable postseason victory in NFL history. Oh, and David Tyree made some kind of catch as well.
Thanks, Joe Buck, for all your enthusiasm. Just imagine if Gus Johnson had this call.
But this year...
The Patriots are a good football team. They're the favorites on the line once again, but that's debatable this time around. They had a close shave against a determined Ravens team and only got away when Billy Cundiff pulled (shanked?) a Steve Norwood-level kick at the final gun.
Meanwhile, the Giants aren't the underdogs they were four years ago. Eli has the experience, has the ring, has the big-time receivers in Hakeem Nicks and the young, exciting, salsa-dancing Victor Cruz. He also has a great defense to put pressure on Tom Brady, but New York had that four years ago as well.
Honestly, it will be a great game. It will. It just won't have that same magical quality as it did in 2008.
All the little guys got the chance to beat on their chest back then, as the Evil Empire finally fell on its face.
This time, someone just gets a ring. But at the very least, it won't be this guy.
I've talked about how I realize that sports is a business many times in the space, and I've talked about how I hate that fact. I wish sports was completely pure and free of external complications of contracts, agents and dollars. But spectator sports are what they are because of spectators, and we spectators don't come to watch a game. We come to watch drama play out. We pack buildings and stadiums to watch an age-old drama unfold: the idea of "our good versus their evil."
Nowhere is this more present than in rivalry games. Sometimes they are defined by physical proximity. Sometimes they are defined by one side having what the other side wants. Sometimes, they're sparked in one fiery instant of passion.
No matter the case, rivalries take sports to another level. It takes athletes from a "both teams played hard"-mentality to the level of "we didn't want to just beat them, we wanted to humiliate them"-mindset. The fans get into it, the players get into it, the announcers get into it. That's when sports become more than sports.
So who claims the greatest rivalry right now? It's tough, since in the age of ESPN almost everyone who plays each other can claim to be a rival, but some bragging rights games just have more significance than others. These are my best current rivalries in U.S. sports.
This wouldn't have made the list if it wasn't for Dwayne Johnson. Anyone who's ever watched professional wrestling knows The Rock's skill on the microphone. He's a legend among fans for his charisma, wrestling ability and knack for dissing other wrestlers before (and during) matches.
This rivalry was built back in 2006, when John Cena had an interview to promote his movie "12 Rounds". In the interview, Cena dissed The Rock for saying he was never going to leave the WWE and then going "Hollywood". In the years following, Cena has become a polarizing figure for wrestling fans in the so-called "PG era": newer, younger fans rally around his image and merchandise, while older wrestling fans (veterans of the "Attitude" era") decry him for his limited moveset and constant holding of one of the major WWE championships.
The buzz has been going for years on a Rock-Cena match, and finally, Vince McMahon brought The Rock back and granted the fans' wish. Rock cost Cena the championship at Wrestlemania and the next night, the two men set a match for next year's Wrestlemania. In the meantime, the Rock delivered some epic promos, including this doozy below (NSFW):
Sports entertainment or not, this is going to be a great buildup to a hopefully great match. Tip for fans: order this year's Survivor Series for an appetizer.
4. Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao
I know I've already covered this in "The Fight That Never Comes". Still, it's worth mentioning because of the hype that has been built not by promoters or the fighters themselves, but by the people. Everyone who loves boxing wants this fight, and I don't think they care if they get it in 2012 or 2022. I'll say again: "Money" controlled his fight with Victor Ortiz before the controversial knockout and he's never been a patsy in the ring. Fight fans can say all they want about Manny cleaning him up, this will be a great fight—if it ever happens.
3. Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox
Oh no, you thought I was going to say Red Sox-Yankees, didn't you? Well, too bad. That rivalry's going on the next list (trust me, anyone who hates seeing Derek Jeter on Sunday Night Baseball all summer is going to love that list). This is a much fresher and much more interesting rivalry for baseball.
The (Devil) Rays were once a floundering team who looked as if they'd never move past "expansion" status. Then they changed their name, their uniforms, stopped picking up veterans at the end of their careers and acquired some talented draft picks. It was only a matter of time before they began barking with the big boys in the AL East, and the bully on the block happened to be the BoSox. It started with a James Shields haymaker that came sooooo close to knocking out CoCo Crisp in 2008 and most recently, the Rays landed the shot that knocked Boston out of the playoffs. If that weren't enough, the Rays came back from nine games back in the standings to push out the Carmines.
These teams are incredibly talented on both sides of the ball and are perennial favorites for the AL East crown and the American League Wild Card. I'm excited to watch these squads go at it. Unlike the perpetual Yankees-Red Sox yawners jammed down our throats.
2. New York Jets-New England Patriots
I didn't give New York vs. New England any play in Major League Baseball, but NYC and Boston will never been anything but adversaries. Since the colonial days when the nation's capital hopped between them, the two cities have never seen eye-to-eye. Now they have another great rivalry to clash over. Last year, the Patriots humiliated the Jets (along with nearly everyone else) on their march to the playoffs and it seemed natural they'd do it again in the divisional playoffs.
And then Mark Skywalker and Bart "Lando Calrissian" Scott defeated the Evil Empire in a shocking win. Wes Welker's "foot-in-mouth" pregame interview was trumped by Scott's "CAN'T WAIT!" spot. Never mind all the smack talk: this is a solid rivalry and one that should be that way for years to come.
All I can say about this one...
And now, the top rivalry in U.S. professional sports today....
1. Chicago Bulls-Miami Heat
Damn you, David Stern. Damn you, NBA owners. Damn you, NBA players' union. How can you let the NBA season slide away and take this budding donnybrook away from us? All the elements of a classic NBA rivalry are here in this one: high flyers against tough defenders; pedigreed champs versus up-and-comers; the glitz and glamor of South Beach versus the tough and gritty kids from Madison Street.
The Bulls were the surprise of the East last year and the Heat was everyone's favorite dartboard target, so it was natural that they should have some great games. I don't think anyone expected the three regular season classics that we were left with last year (three games decided by a total margin of eight points), not to mention the Heat's responding victory in the conference finals. The upstart Bulls were humbled by Miami in the Conference Finals, which still reminds me of the Detroit-Chicago tangles of the late-'80s. With Miami's loss to the Mavericks in the championship, both teams would have been hungry for redemption in the spring. Hopefully this lockout ends and we'll have a chance to see D-Rose and Co. lock horns with Wade, LBJ and that other dude.
Coming soon: The Five Worst Sports Rivalries.
Oh, yeah. Red Sox-Yankees is definitely making that list.
