Playoffs produce two-legged goat

The CIF baseball and softball playoffs are just around the corner,

easily the most exciting time of the spring for athletes and their

fans. Already the volleyball and tennis eliminations are under way.

It’s the chance for the brass ring, but in some cases, sadly the

discovery of the two-legged goat. And that’s what I’d like to talk

about today, the goat and how to make sure you’ve really recognized

it.

You can find them in theory in Little League or the big leagues,

but mostly on the prep level when there is no second chance in the

playoffs. One loss and it’s over, and often in games which are super

competitive, one run is all it takes and one late mistake seems to

last a lifetime.

Don’t be fooled.

It’s the 10th inning, our team has scored a run in the top of the

inning and our best closer is on the mound. There are two out, but

the bases are loaded when on a full count, a soft bouncer to second

is all that lies between victory and defeat.

But our second baseman boots it, scrambles to his feet and fires

an off-balanced desperation throw to first base. It’s wide of the

target.

It’s over. We’ve lost. Two runs come across on the play and the

goat has emerged.

Or did it?

It’s true. It was the decisive play.

But the goat?

What about the play just before, when the bunt couldn’t be handled

and all runners were safe?

What about the second inning when we had our catcher on second and

a drive to left found the coach waving the baserunner home, only to

see a perfect peg to the plate cut him down with ease?

What about our starter, who was lifted after giving up three runs

on four hits, a hit batter and two walks in the first two innings?

What about the inability to move the runner over in the fourth

inning, which ultimately cost us a run? That alone would have kept it

out of extra innings.

What about ... a lot of things.

How easy it is to point to the last miscue as the goat-maker, when

in fact, so many other mistakes were made to set up the final error.

When you’re playing volleyball, is the final misfire on a serve

the difference?

Hardly.

If your last shot in a basketball game misses and you lose by one,

is that the ultimate difference? Maybe, if your team was 38 of 39

from the field. But even when your team is a respectable 25 of 39,

that’s 13 other wasted opportunities. What about the two blown layups

in the first quarter?

When you’re playing an individual sport, as in tennis, is the

final mistake the one to remember. I think not.

I can remember a football game between Corona del Mar and Newport

Harbor when the CdM quarterback fumbled the snap on the last play of

the game at the Harbor 1-yard line and the upset bid was quashed.

But did that specific play lose the game?

What about the other mistakes made by both sides, which weren’t so

obvious? If a handful of those errors, and in several cases, just

one, were eliminated, CdM wouldn’t have even needed that last drive.

The Sea Kings could have sat on the ball the final two minutes.

What’s more, the quarterback had played flawlessly to that point, the

catalyst to the near victory.

You’ll see these things happen as the playoffs unfold. When the

competition is close and the stakes are such that the last miscue is

the focal point, the two-legged goat emerges.

Just don’t be fooled. That goat had a lot of company, and in

reality, is a member of a band of champions who came up short on that

particular day.

Hey! See you next Sunday.