Victory From Half Way Around the World
When Endy made the catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS we all knew it had to be.
The Mets would go to the World Series and win it all. It was fate. It was magic. It was destiny.
And then, every bit as quickly as it was fate and magic and destiny, it was heartbreak.
When Eli Manning avoided a sure sack, planted his feet chucked the ball some 30 yards down the field on the final drive of the Super Bowl, it happened again. David Tyree reincarnated Endy Chavez.
It was "the catch" that Giants fans will remember for the rest of their lives. They will know where they were when they saw it and forever know of its significance. They will remember the exact feeling they had when David Tyree leaped up and made what is the biggest play in the history of the New York Giants.
Sip was at Cheers, in Sydney, Australia. It was 1:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon. The day couldn't have been more surreal. After all, I was watching the Super Bowl on Super Bowl...Monday?
I got about 3 hours of sleep the night before, anxious, nervous, but mostly just over-caffeinated. I got off a bus into town early because I was convinced there was a bomb on it (you can take the Sip out of New York but you can't take the New York out of the Sip).
But finally I made it to Cheers, the bar where nobody knew my name -- my last name that is -- to watch the greatest game of my lifetime in a room full of strangers. That's not completely true. I was with 5 Americans who I had met in the previous days.
But this wasn't New York and this wasn't my living room. I wasn't sure if this was how I wanted it to be. But then the game came on and I was home again. All season this team had been written off. Their journey to the Super Bowl almost didn't make sense. And against the Roman Empire that was the New England Patriots, the Giants didn't stand a chance.
As the game went on I waited for the Giants to implode. Down 7-3 at halftime in a game that the Giants had thoroughly dominated, I called some friends back home seeking wisdom.
We all saw the same thing. The offense moving the ball, the defense putting the clamps on Brady and Co. One pass interference is all it took to put the Giants down at half.
We needed to stop the Patriots on their opening drive of the 2nd half. We couldn't go down 14-3. Not to the Patriots. Yet the Giants did everything they could to allow the Patriots to get in the end zone. The 12 men on the field penalty almost gave me a heart attack. The 3rd and 13rd conversion they allowed on that little dump off to Kevin Faulk almost broke me.
But the Giants persevered. There the Pats were, 3rd and 7 from the Giants' 25 yard line. Tom Brady stepped back in the pocket but there wasn't enough time. Michael Strahan, our captain and leader, got to Brady for a 6-yard sack and perhaps the game's biggest defensive play of the day.
The Pats were forced to kick and the Giants remained in the game. Still, it couldn't be. I remember thinking throughout the game of all the reasons why the Giants would lose. Which play would it be that would allow the Patriots to become the Patriots? But it never happened.
The Giants took the lead midway through the 4th quarter and all of a sudden there was real reason for hope. Could the Giants actually win this game? I didn't think so, I remembered.
When Randy Moss caught that touchdown my stomach dropped. We allowed the Patriots to stay in the game too long. A game that the Giants dominated on both sides of the ball for 58 minutes would be a game where we all saw the Patriots complete their run at history.
But then it happened.
David Tyree became Endy Chavez. The entire bar stood in complete shock. I placed my hands gently on my on my head like Eli had done so many times before. I could not believe what I just saw. The Giants would go on to take the lead when Eli connected with Plax in the left corner of the end zone.
Still I couldn't accept victory. I had seen Yadier Molina before. I remember Carlos Beltran's bat on his shoulders. There was time on the clock and this was Tom Brady, the man who does no wrong. But it never happened. The disappointment never came. Maybe it was that I was in the opposite hemisphere or maybe it's just that everything in Australia seems to be backwards.
Whatever it is, it didn't matter. A team that I root for came out on top. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
The Patriots fans quickly cleared out of the bar and the next six hours became the massive celebration that I had basically waited my entire life for. I took quick breaks to call people back home and revel in the history that we had all just witnessed.
But then I would return to the bar where another Giants fan from another part of the world that I had never seen until three hours before would greet me with a different spirit.
This was the beauty of sports on overdrive. Complete strangers becoming best friends because of a team they loved. We took pictures, shots and deep breaths to soak in the Giants' victory.
We're talking maybe 50 people on the other side of the world in a city where no one else cared. But we were having the time of our lives.
By day's end I was completely wiped. Still, I wasn't about to let the moment go. Me and some fellow Americans decided that it'd be a good idea to take a victory dip in the Pacific Ocean in the midst of a giant rain storm.
It wasn't the Upper West Side but I wasn't exactly complaining.
Time was I wouldn't allow myself to go to Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006, convinced that I was bad luck. The next time the Mets make it to the World Series, I will not allow myself to remain in the Northern hemisphere.
Vaya Con Dios,
Sip
The Mets would go to the World Series and win it all. It was fate. It was magic. It was destiny.
And then, every bit as quickly as it was fate and magic and destiny, it was heartbreak.
When Eli Manning avoided a sure sack, planted his feet chucked the ball some 30 yards down the field on the final drive of the Super Bowl, it happened again. David Tyree reincarnated Endy Chavez.
It was "the catch" that Giants fans will remember for the rest of their lives. They will know where they were when they saw it and forever know of its significance. They will remember the exact feeling they had when David Tyree leaped up and made what is the biggest play in the history of the New York Giants.
Sip was at Cheers, in Sydney, Australia. It was 1:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon. The day couldn't have been more surreal. After all, I was watching the Super Bowl on Super Bowl...Monday?
I got about 3 hours of sleep the night before, anxious, nervous, but mostly just over-caffeinated. I got off a bus into town early because I was convinced there was a bomb on it (you can take the Sip out of New York but you can't take the New York out of the Sip).
But finally I made it to Cheers, the bar where nobody knew my name -- my last name that is -- to watch the greatest game of my lifetime in a room full of strangers. That's not completely true. I was with 5 Americans who I had met in the previous days.
But this wasn't New York and this wasn't my living room. I wasn't sure if this was how I wanted it to be. But then the game came on and I was home again. All season this team had been written off. Their journey to the Super Bowl almost didn't make sense. And against the Roman Empire that was the New England Patriots, the Giants didn't stand a chance.
As the game went on I waited for the Giants to implode. Down 7-3 at halftime in a game that the Giants had thoroughly dominated, I called some friends back home seeking wisdom.
We all saw the same thing. The offense moving the ball, the defense putting the clamps on Brady and Co. One pass interference is all it took to put the Giants down at half.
We needed to stop the Patriots on their opening drive of the 2nd half. We couldn't go down 14-3. Not to the Patriots. Yet the Giants did everything they could to allow the Patriots to get in the end zone. The 12 men on the field penalty almost gave me a heart attack. The 3rd and 13rd conversion they allowed on that little dump off to Kevin Faulk almost broke me.
But the Giants persevered. There the Pats were, 3rd and 7 from the Giants' 25 yard line. Tom Brady stepped back in the pocket but there wasn't enough time. Michael Strahan, our captain and leader, got to Brady for a 6-yard sack and perhaps the game's biggest defensive play of the day.
The Pats were forced to kick and the Giants remained in the game. Still, it couldn't be. I remember thinking throughout the game of all the reasons why the Giants would lose. Which play would it be that would allow the Patriots to become the Patriots? But it never happened.
The Giants took the lead midway through the 4th quarter and all of a sudden there was real reason for hope. Could the Giants actually win this game? I didn't think so, I remembered.
When Randy Moss caught that touchdown my stomach dropped. We allowed the Patriots to stay in the game too long. A game that the Giants dominated on both sides of the ball for 58 minutes would be a game where we all saw the Patriots complete their run at history.
But then it happened.
David Tyree became Endy Chavez. The entire bar stood in complete shock. I placed my hands gently on my on my head like Eli had done so many times before. I could not believe what I just saw. The Giants would go on to take the lead when Eli connected with Plax in the left corner of the end zone.
Still I couldn't accept victory. I had seen Yadier Molina before. I remember Carlos Beltran's bat on his shoulders. There was time on the clock and this was Tom Brady, the man who does no wrong. But it never happened. The disappointment never came. Maybe it was that I was in the opposite hemisphere or maybe it's just that everything in Australia seems to be backwards.
Whatever it is, it didn't matter. A team that I root for came out on top. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl.
The Patriots fans quickly cleared out of the bar and the next six hours became the massive celebration that I had basically waited my entire life for. I took quick breaks to call people back home and revel in the history that we had all just witnessed.
But then I would return to the bar where another Giants fan from another part of the world that I had never seen until three hours before would greet me with a different spirit.
This was the beauty of sports on overdrive. Complete strangers becoming best friends because of a team they loved. We took pictures, shots and deep breaths to soak in the Giants' victory.
We're talking maybe 50 people on the other side of the world in a city where no one else cared. But we were having the time of our lives.
By day's end I was completely wiped. Still, I wasn't about to let the moment go. Me and some fellow Americans decided that it'd be a good idea to take a victory dip in the Pacific Ocean in the midst of a giant rain storm.
It wasn't the Upper West Side but I wasn't exactly complaining.
Time was I wouldn't allow myself to go to Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006, convinced that I was bad luck. The next time the Mets make it to the World Series, I will not allow myself to remain in the Northern hemisphere.
Vaya Con Dios,
Sip
posted by Sippy Momo at 9:04 AM
1 Comments:
I felt the exact same way. When Tyree made that catch the one thought that went through my head was "Fuck! That was the Endy Catch!" Thank god I was wrong.
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