Two Best Words in Sports!! (Most of the Time)
Picture this. It is October 25, 1986 and a young 8 year old boy is in bed but the next day he hears the improbable call of: “Little roller up along first. Behind the bag. It gets through Buckner!! Here comes Knight and the Mets win it.” This was my first experience in what it felt to have your team or any team push a series to a game seven.
Two days later, the Mets would win that game seven which nobody thought they would get to during the previously aforementioned game 6 and that 8-year-old boy, again sleeping found out the next morning his New York Mets had won the World Series.
Two years later, that now 10 year old boy felt the heartbreak involved in losing a game seven when the Mets would lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in game seven of the 1988 NLCS. From that point on I have seen many different games sevens in many different sports and most of the time they do not disappoint. There are those times when a game seven does not turn out how you would like and not only does your team lose but they lose in agonizing fashion by laying an egg, for example the Rangers losing to the Devils last week in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after jumping out to a 2-0 series lead.
When you utter the words Game Seven to a sports fan, most if not all will smile, frown, shake their head or just have a look of reminiscing. You see, these words are the definition of do or die in sports. You win and continue on/win a championship OR you go home with nothing to show for a good season. There is no ambiguity. It is very direct. As fans when we see our teams or any game seven for that matter and it just conjures up memories of good times and bad.
As a fan of the Mets, Knicks and Rangers (Giants are unfortunately out of this discussion for obvious reasons since football is a one and done playoff system), I have witnessed many a game seven. Like I mentioned earlier with one good and one bad, I have seen plenty more good and bad. The Rangers beating the Devils in 1994 and hearing the beautiful voice of Howie Rose screaming , “….Matteau, Matteau, Matteau!! Stephane Matteau…, moving on to the Stanley Cup Finals and then beating the Vancouver Canucks in a seventh game or the Knicks losing in 1994 to the Houston Rockets in game seven of the NBA Finals.
We see these events take place, the good and the bad and it draws us in even further. We celebrate the wins and we sit dejected with the losses. This is what makes sports so great and why we love it so much. The possibilities of what can happen during that game seven draws you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It gives you hope that your team will continue on.
So just remember the next time you hear those two fabulous words or watch a series get pushed to the breaking point and what you think and feel. It is the best feeling; well until your team loses that next game.