All The Field's A Stage

Randolph-Macon College yearbook 1980 A game-changing play shifts the trajectory and mood, but then the happy beneficiary has to figure out how to hang on against an increasingly desperate underdog. The team in the lead tries to slow down the pace and let the clock run out. The other team pulls out all stops to get back in the game. This push-me pull-you dynamic is tension heightening for players on both sides of the ball. My college football coach was particularly adept at holding onto a lead. On third down he sometimes inserted a running back who'd been a punter in high school to deliver a quick kick that assured poor field position for the other team. Then he'd put in the "prevent" defense with more backs than linemen who would keep the other team from making any long plays. He'd eat up the clock by only calling running plays in the center of the field, keeping an out-of-bounds play from stopping the clock. These stall tactics were frustrating for both teams and...

A game often proceeds with small victories and, for the other side, defeats until a single thrilling play shifts momentum. From the sidelines it might appear to be an amazing athletic feat by an outstanding player, and sometimes it is: A stolen pass and full court layup; An upper deck home run by a big hitter off an unstoppable pitcher; A field length sprint and goal while dribbling through half the other team; A leaping interception returned all the way for a touchdown. More often the decisive play has been painstakingly set up by a conniving coach. My college baseball manager at Louisville had us practice an unusual pick-off play in which the pitcher fakes a throw to the shortstop covering second base, only to then make the throw to the second baseman sneaking in behind a distracted runner. We simulated this fielding situation every day despite it being a rare one. Then, when a game against rival Kentucky was in the balance in the late innings, the coach gave the sign and we pulled o...

Randolph-Macon College Yearbook 1980 The only problem with using the ball as a mantra is that all players on both teams have that same focus. In team sports there are occasionally blowouts in which one side dominates completely from start to finish. I've been on both sides of such lopsided games, winning decisively from the first inning on in high school baseball and losing big after fumbling the ball on the first play of a college football game. The sheer joy of a romp is in equal and opposite measure to the absolute dejection of being stomped, and that feeling of letting down coaches and teammates lasts exactly until the chance for redemption in the next game. Most matches proceed with a mundane back and forth on the field or court. The crowd in the stands fills in the lulls by cheering or booing plays, making noise to muffle play calling, screaming at bad calls, or moaning about coaching choices. Players hear none of this and instead endure the uncertainty by creating small vict...