On Being the Runner Up By Michele Laughing-Reeves
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here’s nothing like the excitement of a championship, it doesn’t matter if it’s the little league or the big league. Everyone remembers the winners, but there are always runners-up who are noteworthy for being the great competition, and not necessarily for losing. Currently, sports, like everything else, took a hiatus while everyone did their part to flatten the curve. During this time athletes trained at home and alone, while fans watched reruns and Michael Jordan’s “The Last Dance.” Four months into our CDC-guided new lifestyle, professional athletes are returning to their teams and to the playing fields, and for the Las Vegas Raiders that means moving into a brand- spanking-new stadium off I-15. It is a matter of time, societal behavior, and government leadership before sports fans can return to the stadiums; meanwhile, let’s recall some notable, or perhaps obscure, runners-up to
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famous champions. One of the most famous and memorable NBA games is not a championship game but a playoff game. Being a runner-up to the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era should not be discouraging; seriously, the guy could fly. Many fans would agree that the most notable runnerup during the 1988-89 Eastern Conference playoffs was the Cleveland Cavaliers. Fans know that game simply as “The Shot.” With 3 seconds on the clock, behind by one point, and an arena filled with Cav’s fans chanting “defense, defense…,” Jordan gets the inbound pass, takes one dribble to the free throw line, and the rest is history. No one puts a home-court crowd into stunned silence like MJ. This game ended the first-round conference series, 3-2, for the Bulls, and they would eventually lose to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference championship. But the game against the Pistons will forever be overshadowed by the Bulls’ lastsecond victory over the Cavaliers. By the end of
the season, no one seems to remember that the Bulls did not win the Championship, only that the Cavaliers took them to game five—the one that ended with “the shot.” Thirty years later, we still watch that play inawe. Twenty years ago, Tiger Woods was 25 years old, ranked number one, and winning PGA tournaments like there’s no tomorrow. However, to everyone’s surprise, perhaps even Tiger himself, Bob May would prove to be his biggest challenge. May, ranked 48th, entered the final round on Sunday paired with Tiger, and with him he brought his A-game. Him? Who May or Woods?Both. For the next 18 holes they went “birdie-forbirdie, par-for-par, bogey-for-bogey” (golfing lingo). May had a one-shot lead up to the 17th hole. Bob May wasn’t going away, and neither was the crowd, who cheered like it was match up between Alabama and Auburn. Tiger then joined May on the leader board as they approached the 18th hole and the roar of the crowd. Just off the green, May made the putt for birdie, leaving all the pressure on Tiger. If Tiger makes the putt, then there will be a 3-hole playoff; if he misses, he loses. Of course, he also birdied, and the championship round continued back at the 16th. It was on the 16th hole where Tiger famously points the ball into the hole for a birdie—and the lead. The last two holes were sloppy, but still
