Close but no cigar. In sports the idea is to climb to the top. Getting near is still considered failure. But sometimes we forget how good some of these "chokers" or "underachievers" really were or still are.
Take 53 year old Greg "the Shark" Norman. A PGA golfer from Australia. Any casual sports knows who he is. He has been a great golfer for many years. He has won 2 major championships in his career. Which by itself is a lot more than most pro golfers have done.
So while Greg Norman will never be compared with Tiger Woods he was a great golfer for much of his career. This weekend even at the age of 53 he entered the final day of the tournament as the leader. Here is where Greg Norman gets lost in history. 6 times in his career he has entered the final day as the leader after 54 holes and lost. The last time he lost leading by 6 strokes!
In 1986 in his prime he made it to the last day of each of the 4 majors winning and only won one of them. The British Open. So why that is a choke in the sports world it is also very impressive to be that good.
In a similiar way we should tip our hats to the Buffalo Bills of 1990-1994. Yes they "choked" in 4 straight Super Bowls but frankly we should not dismiss the difficulty of making it to the Super Bowl 4 consecutive years! And they were in the AFC Championship the year before the first of the four Super Bowls. So that makes 5 consecutive AFC Championship games. That is simply amazing.
The Atlanta Braves also have an interesting track record through the 1990's and into the new century. They won 14 straight Division Titles and made it to the World Series 5 times! But they only won once in 1995. So why they too earn the choke award it is quite an incredible run at greatness.
In a similar fashion the Portland Trial Blazers met their fate. Reaching the NBA playoffs from 1981 thru 2003 and the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992, they do not have a Championship to show for their efforts during that time. And yet the streak is still impressive.
The worst choke label goes to the 2007 New England Patriots. Entering the Super Bowl with an unprecedented 18-0 record. And despite being outplayed by the NY Giants the "dynasty to be"(Patriots) took the lead with barely anytime on the clock. And after 2 consecutive 3rd down miracle plays the Giants took perfection from their grasp. As a result we will forget how special the New England team of 2007 truly was.
Then there is Dan Jansen, a World Class Speed Skater who skated for the USA in the Olympics. Although leaving with no medals, he set the bar in the 1984 Winter Games of what was to come from this young phenom.
In the 1988 Winter Games he entered as the World Sprint Champion. Sadly he received news of the passing of his sister. Whether that had an effect or not he fell during his 2 races. One of which he was skating at World record speed.
In 1992 he brought the World Record time in one of his events with him. And yet again he came up small in his 2 events.
Thankfully for Jansen the Olympic Game rotation was changed. So a new Olympic Winter Games was slated for 1994. He once again came to the games as the World Champion. In fact he was the only man who ever broke the 36 second barrier in the 500 meter. He did it 4 times between the 1992 Games and the 1994 games. And somehow he finished 8th in the 1994 games. So he went into his last Olympic event ever thinking he was going to be a choker forever. But he won the 1000 meters in World Record time! Sad part is the average person doesn't know how dominant this guy was in his sport because the Olympics were a disaster for him.
So nice guys don't always finish last but they also don't always finish first either. But hopefull those of us who follow sports will remember some of the chokers in a proper perspective. Some those individuals and teams were pretty amazing in their own right.
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