Unfortunate Circumstances or Choke Artists?

Some stories in sports are historic for the best reasons, winning championships or gold medals or trophies but for every winning story there is the 'choke artist'. It's almost disappointing to think that in some of the greatest victories more people talk about the team or players that choked rather than those who came out on top. For years people have argued what the biggest choke in sports really is, but like everything, it's a matter of opinion. Talk to a Red Sox fan they're likely to say that Bill Buckner's between the legs error in the 1986 World Series is it but go to Ann Arbor, MI and a Wolverine fan will tell you that Chris Webber's 'accidental' timeout in the 1993 NCAA championship stings more and more every year.

I've been an avid sports fan for better part of we'll say 12 years, my first real memory of watching a championship is Super Bowl XXXI when the Green Bay Packers defeated the New England Patriots for the their 3rd Lombardi Trophy. As a Packers fan, I'd say that's a pretty good first memory. Unfortunately the next year wasn't the same outcome. I wouldn't say they choked, the Broncos were the better team and they won. Not until 2007 did we really have hope for another Super Bowl title, at least we did until Favre threw that fateful interception to the NY Giants. Choke, misread or just bad luck? Like that fateful day at Lambeau Field, games have been won and lost because of certain players or teams not showing up to play. In today's world, what are we considering a choke and what is just an unfortunate circumstance? Or is it all just the same?

Let's take the recent Women's World Cup. This team put together for the United States was a heavy favorite to win along with the teams from Brazil and Germany. A drought of 12 years since the last USA title with Brandi Chastain winning in penalty kicks and infamously taking her jersey off in celebration. After that year the question was when would the US Women's team win again? Fast forward to 2011 and with what seemed to be a better team than the 1999 dream team, all games, interviews, practices and articles pointed to the Americans reclaiming the title. Arriving in Germany, they were still on track. With a phenomenal defeat over Brazil and with Germany knocked off, USA had nothing holding them from lifting up the cup. Holding the lead twice and blowing both of them, the Japanese forced USA into extra time and then further into PKs. The United States outplayed, outshot, out ran the Japanese but when they needed to hold them from scoring, they failed. Eventually it was over, losing 3-1 in penalty kicks, the United States lost their title to the Japanese.

Before someone could even mention the word 'choke artists' the women's team were praised for their level of play, how hard they worked, their sportsmanship, how far they came in the tournament, all positive congratulations for a runner-up finish. While the men's team wasn't the heavy favorites for the World Cup, the articles following their loss were less than positive. Why are the women getting off easy? They had the lead twice in regulation time and lost it. Hope Solo, one of the, if not the best, goalie in the world failed to read the PKs while her teammates failed to score more than 1 goal. Yes it's amazing what they did in the tournament, how far they got after so many years of falling short, but when it came down the to most important game, they choked. Women in sports often complain about not being treated equally to men. If equality is what they want then we need to treat them as though we would a men's team who failed to win a title as a favorite. It was a great tournament, many congratulations to the Japanese who as a nation probably needed the title more than anyone else, but the United States women gave up the title that was theirs to own. This, especially in women's sports, goes down as one of the biggest disappointments.

Now what do we say about Tiger Woods? He has choked for the last 2 years? Some might not consider a complete breakdown to be a choke, but it's been 2 years since the incident that started the steep spiral out of the spotlight and the golf would still hasn't seen the old Tiger back. We've seen a few glimpses here and there, but he has yet to win another major let alone another tournament. Woods' is among the greatest to play the game, but are we now in the stage where we use his name in the past tense? He's seemed to take all the steps to get back on the right track; surgery on his injured knee, firing and hiring new swing coaches, going into rehab, and surprisingly firing long time caddy Steve Williams. With all these adjustments, shouldn't we have seen some sort of change in his game? 2 years is a long time for any top athlete to be out of the spotlight, so is he continually choking or is just a series of unfortunate circumstances? Other players have stepped up to show that there is other talent outside of Tiger Woods, that they are not afraid of him anymore. Woods is going to have to find some way to get his roar back or these last few years will be known as the time he spent avoiding early retirement.

Greg Norman has been known as the greatest choke artist on the PGA, the Chicago Cubs 2003 NLCS loss shattered the hearts of die hard fans, Karl Malone in the 1998 finals gave Jordan another title, the 18-0 Patriots were defeated by the NY Giants. If you want to call it a series of unfortunate events you can, but ultimately all of these sports moments the favorites lost control, choked and now overshadow those who kept their head on straight and came out victorious. In every sport, there is a winner and a loser, in some cases those who lose make more of an impact than those who win.