With the Olympics looming, a quote attributed to the late renowned hockey coach Herb Brooks has been in my mind lately:
"Great moments are born from great opportunity".
If you study your craft, if you pay your dues in sweat and pain and humility, if you feed your soul on desire, if you stare down your fear, if you push your body to the edge of breaking day after day in after day out, you might just earn a great opportunity. You might get the chance to create a great moment for yourself and for all those watching...a moment that puts a chill in the bones and a sparkle in the eye of everyone who partook of it, literally or vicariously. Moments like that are unforgettable. They are history bordering on mythology. They become stories around the dinner table decades from now, when they have the same vibrant glory as when they happened. The 1980 U.S. hockey team did it when they beat Russia. Kerry Strug did it in 1996 in Atlanta, when she threw a near-perfect vault from an injured leg and nailed the landing. The Olympics abounds with those moments, those brilliant performances. Sports of all varieties offer the potential for great opportunities, and with them great moments; maybe that's why we love them, live them, breathe them. And sports entertainment, with its synthesis of athleticism and drama, is not exempt from its share.
Like the Olympics, Wrestlemania is the height of the great opportunities; a championship match there is the Everest of possibility. This year, Edge and The Undertaker had a great opportunity. Taker, with his experience and poise, was polished as always. But I thought Edge was a bit lackluster. I'm not saying he wasn't good; he was - very good. But it seemed to me he fell just a bit short of making the moment, just a touch shy of delivering all he is capable of. Now, he has one more opportunity. At SummerSlam, he will face his own demons, as well as The Undertaker, in a Hell in A Cell match. This is Taker's forte - a mirror image of the TLC match Edge won at One Night Stand. The Undertaker's legend is rife with memorable HIAC moments; the cornerstone of his glittering career is great performances in this setting. Edge has the opportunity to be part of this: to create a great moment.
Am I saying I want him to win? I wouldn't go that far ;-). But to leave nothing on the table and lose is not the worst of scenarios. Respect is due for that. Admiration is due for that. Remembrance is due for that. Who can forget Alydar pounding down the stretch in challenge to Affirmed in every one of the Triple Crown races of 1978? Any other year he would have been the champion. Three decades later, his name is still mentioned in the same breath with Affirmed. To be the one who pushed one of the best there ever was to his very limits holds no shame. That is a brilliant performance, a great moment ...born from great opportunity.
(c) BE 2008