Who was expecting Durant softball to do what it did last weekend?
The third-seeded team in the Class 7A-District 7 tournament played like a top seed all week, trampling both Strawberry Crest and Plant City in the process. The Lady Cougars and Lady Raiders were previously the only two teams in the district that had Durant’s number all season long.
But, if you’re going to prevent the season sweep, why not do it at the time when it matters most?
I figured the 10-6 win over Crest would have played out in a completely different way — maybe with Crest winning by that score — but was proven wrong by the hungrier Cougars. And, that championship game? I wasn’t going to count Durant out after watching Plant City eke past East Bay, 5-4, but I would have laughed at you if you had told me Durant would win in five innings.
Durant’s performance throughout the tournament also made me think about my own personal favorite stories.
FGCU MEN’S BASKETBALL, 2013. I may not have ranked these moments, but I’d be remiss if I mentioned anything else first. March Madness 2013 coincided with my senior year at Florida Gulf Coast, and those first few rounds were unquestionably the best two or three weeks ever. I picked the 15th-seeded Eagles to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in my office pool, because I wanted to do something to make my bracket stand out, and my gamble paid off: They did exactly that.
I watched the Georgetown game at my favorite bar, which almost exploded when the clock hit 0.0 and FGCU had won, 78-68. I watched the San Diego State game in my dorm with friends and, after FGCU won, 81-71, looked outside to see people everywhere. I’m pretty sure somebody’s car was flipped over by the end of the night.
U.S. MEN’S OLYMPIC HOCKEY, 1980. You had always heard of this team if you grew up in a hockey-crazy part of the country, as I did in Buffalo, N.Y.
They were just a bunch of guys who, in many cases, peaked at the right time.
Russia’s team, on the other hand, was excellent across the board. Nobody thought they would leave Lake Placid with anything less than a gold medal. They advanced to the medal round as expected, but there was America — the team that they beat 10-3 in a friendly exhibition.
The game didn’t go as well as the Russians had hoped it would, thanks to a strong team effort by the Americans and the performance of goalie Jim Craig’s life. The 4-3 victory has been immortalized as the “Miracle on Ice.”
Also of note: Everyone seems to think the U.S. won the gold medal after this match. That’s not true — America did win the gold, but only because it beat Finland, 4-2, in the next round.
BUFFALO BILLS, 1993. The Houston Oilers had beaten Buffalo, 27-3, to end the regular season. During that game, Hall-of-Fame quarterback Jim Kelly went down with a knee injury, putting backup Frank Reich in the driver’s seat. Although Buffalo won the first two playoff games with Reich, Houston boasted an awesome vertical attack and stingy defense.
Going into the fourth, the Oilers had a commanding 35-3 lead. So, how in the world did Buffalo win? Plenty of good fortune, forced fumbles, recovered onside kicks, and a 15-yard face-mask penalty that went against Houston in overtime. A 32-yard field goal sealed the deal, giving the Bills a 41-38 win.