The SAU Buzz

Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: MCT Favre's comeback with the Vikings looked destined for greatness until his final play of the game.

It was all in his hands. He could make his controversial comeback oh-so-much sweeter. Time, possession and field position were all in his favor. He trusted his kicker. He knew the field goal would be good. All he had to do was make one more play.
History then repeated itself as Brett Favre, hailed for his accuracy and skill even at the age of 40, threw yet another dream crushing interception. Brett Favre, everyone said, choked. Again.
Professional athletes carry not only the weight of their own aspirations and expectations, but those of their teammates, coaches, family, friends and fans. When they mess up, thousands cringe. We praise them for getting to the big game, then destroy them when they don't come through. They get paid millions of dollars to play this game, we say. How hard can it be to do the same thing you do in practice every single day?
That's the thing about sports. It's not always about who is the most talented or the most trained. Instead, it's about the person who can lay it all on the line when the lights come on and the pressure falls to their shoulders. Someone will win. Someone will lose. And the loser - especially if it's a talented loser - gets stuck with the blame. He's the choker.
Athletes "earn" such titles in every sport. Phil Mickelson, golf. Andy Roddick, tennis. The 2004 Yankees, baseball. But I sometimes wonder if fans are too hasty in discounting entire careers for mistakes in the heat of the moment.
John Elway was called a choker once. All the game-changing plays he made, all the brilliance he put on display, was hidden away behind his Super Bowl blunders.
Karl Malone twice had his chance to take down basketball's greatest ever. Neither time could Michael Jordan and the Bulls be brought down.
Olympic athletes compete on perhaps the biggest sports stage there is. Not only are they representing themselves, sometimes a team, but they are representing their entire country as they take center stage.
Figure skating has Michelle Kwan. Five times she was world champion, nine times national champion. But when the lights shined brightest, someone else jumped a little higher or spun a little faster.
Snowboarding had Lindsey Jacobellis in Torino four years ago. The gold medal was all but a formality as she tore past her competitors. Then the final jump happened. Jacobellis got fancy in the air and crashed. She settled for silver.

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