Why love sports?

Travis Kriens

Travis KriensSports Genius

Why do we love sports?

What is it about people throwing, running or hitting a ball that can cause tens of thousands of people to have the same joyous emotion while also causing those same people to feel the exact opposite way a minute later?

You have your own reasons, but for me, sports are the ultimate comedy, drama, action packed roller coaster ride that has no equal. There is nothing out there that can compare to the range of emotions that a big-time game can give fans.

My love of sports started at a young age. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my career in the future than to be in sports. My question is for those out there that have never been to an SDSU sporting event, don’t even know when the games are played or don’t follow sports in general. Are you just too busy to take two hours of your time to come to Frost Arena or three hours on a Saturday afternoon three or four times a year to walk across campus and watch the football team play some pretty decent college teams? For whatever reason, maybe sports just don’t interest you and that’s fine. I doubt you are reading this column anyway because it is in the Sports section.

After watching the football games the day after Thanksgiving, I thought about what I had witnessed. A great comeback by Auburn at Alabama to keep their national championship hopes alive, Oregon playing some of the most exciting offensive football that anyone of any age has ever seen and Nevada coming from behind to dash the hopes of Boise State and anyone who wanted to see the little guy get a chance to win the big one vs. a powerhouse.

The Boise State-Nevada game was especially special and gave me the idea to write about this subject. In the span of about 10 minutes, the back and forth action of a few plays was something that you could spend a lifetime of watching sports and not see.

Boise State went from leading by 17 points to being tied in the matter of 10 minutes of game time. The Broncos responded with a 79-yard catch and run touchdown less then 30 seconds later and gave their fans the chance to breathe again.

The finish is a fairytale affair with Nevada scoring in the final seconds to send the game into overtime. Boise State has only nine seconds left and about 65 yards to go with one timeout for a touchdown. Most would have taken a knee and played for overtime, but a 54-yard pass down the middle of the field leaves them with a 26-yard field goal with two seconds left. I have watched hundreds of football games, if not thousands of so sporting events, and I have never seen anything like the finish to this game.

The kicker misses a kick that was a two on the difficulty scale of 10. He misses basically the exact same kick in overtime and Nevada wins the game 34-31.

For a team that has been fighting for the past two seasons to get a chance to play in the national title game and to watch their emotions go through the blender like that to the point where they feel numb is outstanding.

To think that they have the game in control, to being tied, to taking the lead, to being tied and resigning to the fact that overtime is right around the corner, to having a miracle play occur only to have the kicker miss not once, but twice in a five minute span is something that could only be viewed as life changing.

You may be thinking that is going too far to call a single game a life changing moment. Go Google Scott Norwood, Fred Brown Georgetown or Gary Anderson Vikings and see what pops up. All guys that have made major mistakes late in championship games. Among hundred of thousands of results to choose from, this is the first thing about their lives that pop up.

Now do the same thing for “Boise State kicker” or “Kyle Brotzman”. Same result. You have to go to the fourth page of results to get something that doesn’t mention his missed kicks.

On the other hand, if he makes those kicks, he will be remembered forever in Boise State history as the guy that kicked the Broncos to the Rose Bowl or the BCS National Championship game.

What other stage in your own life is comparable to that? To have a single moment like that in your life that can go to both extremes and you know that this moment will define whom or what you were to thousands of people you will never meet is extraordinary.

To be that kicker on the field the minute before the kick and to know that making it gets you carried off the field and to have people recognize you 30 years later as the guy that made that kick. Or you miss it.

I guess that is why I love sports.