Off The Beaten Record: The Shot Heard Round The World…While I Was Sleeping
By ROSS BISHOFF
I’ve become a grim, pathetic, broken shell of the sports beast god I once was.
As a sports fan turned sports writer turned sports editor turned sports columnist, I’ve always either been in the thick of the sports world or at least a hardcore spectator in some fashion.
But this year, no, I’ve barely been a civilian. See, this new full-time job I got in the fall is wonderful but it also comes with a 5 a.m. wakeup call and an early bedtime. As a sports journalist, I grew up working until the early morning hours, so this has been a complete lifestyle swap for me. And there have been growing pains, namely saying goodbye to a late-night habit of watching every single big sporting event under the sun.
That includes World Series games, college football playoff games, and … ah, possibly the greatest National Championship men’s basketball game in the history of mankind.
Monday I watched the first half of the North Carolina-Villanova game and part of the second until my eyes slowly started drifting closed. Once UNC got a five-point(ish) lead I figured, that’s the beginning of the end.
Surely, this thing was going to turn into a 15-point laugher, right? I mean, the Tar Heels are destined to pull away from here right? Right?
Tuesday morning I woke up and scrolled quickly through my Facebook newsfeed only to be greeted by a slew of posts that read like a roll call of over-the-top reviews for some must-see movie.
“Amazing finish!”
“Great game.”
“Best. Game. Ever.”
Each one, every comment, a virtual punch to the gut.
So I spent the next 30 minutes sipping coffee and shamefully watching Sportscenter highlights wrapped around different commentators losing their minds about how historic, epic, unreal a finish this game was.
This is what I missed.
Marcus Paige double-clutches and throws in a ridiculous 3 to tie the game. Missed it.
Kris Jenkins buries a trey to win the game. Missed it.
Roy Williams is broken and crying. Nope, didn’t see it.
Charles Barkley is jumping up and down and most of Philly has erupted and sports fans all over are having a moment, a beautiful, wonderful, perfectly unique moment.
And I was asleep.
No doubt, I’m snoring.
Asleep and dead to the world.
The next morning a “sports guy” is talking about how he hasn’t slept in 12 hours but his 11-year-old son called him after the game and they shared an amazing father-son moment. This is six or so hours later as my son and I stare with glazed eyes at what we missed.
I felt hollow and weak and dismal and no, no amount of coffee was going to cure this dismal hangover.
The whole drive to work was just a parade of sports talk about what an amazing game it was, the one I missed, and breakdowns and commentary and everything else under the sun.
Apparently I missed comebacks, coaching brilliance, fantastic feats of athleticism, unreal reactions, Michael Jordan and One Shining Moment – which is actually sort of a consolation because I hate that song.
Madness, all of this, absolute madness! And I was in bed. No, we don’t have a DVR anymore so don’t even go there, it’s a whole other big ball of wax we just … o.k. one issue at a time.
Maybe I’m getting old or even maturing, but I’m not comfortable with any of it. So just to be safe, just so this doesn’t happen again, make sure you – every single one of you – call me before an historic ending to an historic game goes down. Don’t email and don’t text, I’m gonna need a call and a wake up.
At this point, we just can’t be too careful.
Number of the Week: 4
— Villanova was the first national champion to beat four AP top 10 teams in a single NCAA tournament since the 1985 Villanova team did the exact same thing.
Quote of the Week: “It’s going to be surreal having my kids and grandkids watch it on One Shining Moment one day.”
— Ryan Arcidiacono, Villanova guard was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Players