Choking in Sports
I was sitting in my chair in my room watching a college football game on ESPN2, and I was looking for a topic for my report. I knew it would have to do with sports in some way. As I was watching the game, I realized that this game was getting interesting. A unranked, unknown team was beating a ranked team with a whole lot of talent. The game was getting close and before I knew it there was only 7 second left in the game. The unranked team had the ball at their opponents 25 yard line and were inning up for a field goal. There kicker was going to be a pro soon and was automatic. He made three field goals already that game. He was inning for what seemed like an easy field goal. This field goal meant a huge upset. There was no wind. It was a shoe in, but the kick went wide. He shanked the kick and team lost. Why would he do that? He had the leg? Why did he shank it? That is what I am going to write about. I wanted to know why player choke and what does it do to their careers. I will dissect what happened to Mitch Williams and Scott Norwood. Two players who choked in big games and lost their careers because of it. They played in two different sports, but have similar positions. I will go through each position and what the NFL and MLB e
Now there could be other reason for the decrease in productivity and the releasing of the kicker. Free agency had been introduced and they had signed a better kicker, Steve Christie, but you can defiantly attribute this downfall to his career to the missed kick that he will forever be known for. He had gone through allot in the past year. I have already told you about the kicker position and what a kicker had to go through, but there is the media and the fans. I think this article is suffice in proving my point as this was written in the end of Scott Norwood's last season as a kicker. He went from 43 saves to six with Houston to none with California, to a struggling half-season in the minors that ended last August when the Phillies decided he'd never get himself together to be of value to them again. "The home run didn't change me," he said. "What bothered me was everybody saying my fastball was going away." (Steve Jacobson,1995) He understands the mentality. "For some people I was the villain, no question," Williams said. "I know whatever I do, I'll be remembered for that. I don't want my career to end with the last two seasons the way they were." The kind of guy he is, if his career had been ended by a runaway beer truck in '93, he would have called it "great." It was the best year he ever had. He wasn't a tidy closer. He pitched at the brink of disaster all the time. Jim Fregosi cringed, didn't especially like him, but he knew Wild Thing accepted the call. He pitched in 65 games, struck out 60 in 62 innings and had 43 saves.(Steve Jacobson,1995) Eggs and stones were thrown at his house. "I could take it," he said. "But my wife and kid were in the house." Threats on his life were phoned to the ball club. Cops were stationed near his home. "They didn't tell me until I saw cops at the park the next day," he said.(Steve Jacobson,1995) "Scott Norwood, who etched his name in Giants lore by missing a potential game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XXV, was placed on waivers yesterday by the Bills. The move wasn't a surprise. The 31-year-old place-kicker, who was the club's all-time leading scorer with 670 points, became expendable in February when Buffalo signed former Buccaneers kicker Steve Christie. (Rich Cimini, 1991) He's now retired and lives in Virginia. According to a Buffalo team spokesman, "He doesn't stay in touch with us anymore." The Pack and Pats were where they were two years ago, in large part, because their kickers didn't choke. Jacke, a noted long-range kicker, made 77.8 percent of his field-goal attempts (21 of 27) that season, although he was seldom tested in pressure situations. Vinatieri was under more pressure -- and stayed busier -- making 27 of 35 FG attempts. "This is a different kind of pressure," said Vinatieri. "In training camp, there was pressure going against a veteran like Matt Bahr. Then once I made the team, there was pressure not only to kick well but I had to kick well because Matt Bahr no longer was here." Jacke came out of Texas-El Paso. On the surface, he is more laid-back than Vinatieri. Inside, they are both the same -- nervous. "It'll be just another kick as long as it doesn't end my career," said Jacke. "Would I welcome the chance? No. Would I go out there? "I'd have to."" (Ray Buck, 1992) Scott Norwood was one of the best kickers in the league until the kick. Now think to yourself "What if he would have made it?" The answer would be that I wouldn't have much a paper to write. I believe that due to the stress of missing that kick, he was no longer able to be a the kicker he once was. Now god knows that some players can bounce back from something like this, but in the most case stuff like this can be as traumatic as getting in a car accident and then developing a fear for driving. The mind develops a kind of safety guard that helps protect us from that kind of extreme stress again and it can dramatically affect the
Some common words found in the essay are:
Scott Norwood, , World Series, Rich Cimini, Jacobson1995 Eggs, Houston December, Pack Pats, Ray Buck, Padres NL, Super Bowl, scott norwood, field goal, home run, super bowl, rich cimini 1991, rich cimini, mitch williams, cimini 1991, world series, field goals, nfl kicker, home run didn't, kicker steve christie, 1991 scott norwood, mitch williams scott,
Approximate Word count = 2768
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
