Memorable Performance: Super-Hero Category

I was going through a bunch of pictures from the recently completed “It’s Game Time Somewhere” Tour when I came to a stunning realization – I’ve seen a lot of athletes in the course of visiting 100 uniquely different sporting events. Yes, implausible as this may seem, the entire year-long Tour was not entirely about moi. Crazy, I know.

The thing about athletes is that each time they take the field, court, track, pitch, diamond, etc. they all aspire to doing something memorable that day. It may not be something that carves their name into a record book or guarantees enshrinement in a Hall of Fame; but it will provoke a warm feeling of accomplishment when they look back on their athletic career at that particular performance. To shamelessly steal and subsequently misuse a Chris Berman line, “That’s why they play the games.”

It was my great pleasure to witness some of those performances…

(#10) Bobby Brown – Winter Dew Tour, Killington, VT:  It wasn’t just that Brown won the Men’s Ski Slopestyle event at the Dew Tour’s annual visit to New England – it was the way he did it. In a competition whose finals consist of just two runs, it helps to put a solid number on the board your first time down the course. Not helpful at all, from the standpoint of both score and bodily harm, is catching an edge on that first run and wiping out spectacularly.

After that very thing happened, the 19-year-old Brown was left to gather his equipment from the various places at which they came to rest, and stare up at the entire field from his last-place position. Many would follow that exercise by retreating into a mental fetal position.

Maybe it’s because he’s only 19. Maybe it’s because he has yet to develop a pulse. But when it came time for Brown’s second run, he out-and out attacked the very jump that had been his earlier demise. By the time he reached the bottom of the hill and victory was a foregone conclusion, I had the answer to that age-old question:  What is the sound of a thousand mittens clapping?

(#9) Janko Tipsarevic – ATP Farmers Insurance Classic, Westwood, CA:  It was an early round match at a fairly unheralded stop on the men’s pro tennis circuit, and I was luxuriating in my own private row of seats at UCLA’s Straus Stadium, anxious to get a look at Somdev Dewarman, one of the most decorated players to ever emerge from the collegiate ranks.

A two-time NCAA singles champion with a 125 mph serve, he was up against…well, a guy that looked a lot like the band U2’s front man – and who moved around a tennis court just about as quickly. Five games into the first set, it looked like a rout was on. But then, in a performance in which he used every hard-earned trick of the trade, Tipsarevic threw everything but the psychological kitchen sink at Dewarman. He ran him. He dinked him. He stalled. He called challenges on points that looked obvious. He just…plain…wore…the…kid…….down. It was a victory for grizzled vets everywhere.

It didn’t surprise me one bit when the next month at the U.S. Open, the most shocking upset of the fortnight was Andy Roddick’s early exit at the hands of a guy nobody had ever heard of. A guy by the name of Janko Tipsarevic. Or as I’ve taken to calling him, The Serbian Bono. So far, so good – I have yet to receive a cease and desist order on the nickname. 

(#8) Scott Norton – PBA World Series of Bowling, Las Vegas:  On the other hand, I have had a cease and desist order on sharing Scott Norton’s big day with the YouTube-ing public.

The lefty Norton is a PBA Tour rookie, who hadn’t exactly been setting the bowling world on fire coming into the World Series. But he, well there’s no other way to say this, he got on a roll in the Chameleon Championship and vaulted into the #1 seed going into the finals. This enabled him to kick back and watch the other competitors battle it out for the right to meet him in a one game, winner-take-all match.

That game was packed with tension throughout. Not about whether Norton would win, which he did handily – but whether he would roll a perfect game in doing so. After tossing strikes in the first eight frames, a 300 game was within sight. That drama ended with a spare in the ninth frame, but shortly thereafter Norton was celebrating his first professional win with his Mom, Women’s Hall of Fame bowler Virginia Norton.

I thought a nice little FlipVideo of that moment might be appreciated by the general public. The PBA…begged to differ. I received a terse email from those happy-go-lucky folks, who were apparently upset that I was helping to promote their sport. When I was a little tardy in ceasing and desisting, they somehow barged into my “private” YouTube site and vaporized the video from my post.

Come to think about it, that performance was almost as memorable as Norton’s. I’ll never think about bowling in quite the same way again.  

(#7) Brodi Henderson –U.S. Sumo Open, Anaheim, CA:  I had gone to the U.S. Sumo Open without a clue as to what I might witness. But even then, the sight of a 6’7”, 367-pound Canadian who was 15 years old pretty much set the outer limits on “unexpected”.

It would have been easy to dismiss Brodi Henderson’s inclusion in the field as a curiosity, and I’m embarrassed to admit that this is exactly what I did when he lost his first two matches convincingly. But lo and behold, he then won his first international match. And then another. And another.

I have t-shirts that are older than Brodi Henderson. But none of them have ever made it to the heavyweight division quarterfinals of a U.S. Open. Either I have underperforming t-shirts, or Henderson has a ton of talent and a very bright future. I am withholding final judgment on this however, until he conquers his biggest upcoming challenge – securing his driver’s license.

(#6) Joy Dalgren & Barbara Brown – U.S. Masters Synchronized Swimming Championships, La Mirada, CA:  Literally a lifetime removed from Brodi Henderson are two athletes that represent the Redwood Empire Synchro Club in San Rafael, CA. They didn’t call this event the Masters of synchronized swimming for nothing.

As I sat in the stands and watched with amazement, six teams competed in the Free Duets Championship in the 70-79 year old division. Little did I know that these were relative youngsters. You see, Joy and Barbara compete in the 80-89 year old division. And acquit themselves quite nicely, as I’m sure you’ll agree…

I don’t know about you, but that kills me every time.

To be concluded in next post…