By Micha Morris
Broadway Baseball & Softball Look to Make History In the Postseason
After successful seasons, the Gobblers Baseball & Softball Teams turn their attention to the Playoffs
DISCLAIMER: I WILL NOT BE DISCUSSING MY BELOVED BOSTON BRUINS BOWING OUT EARLY IN THE PLAYOFFS FOR THE FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW.
The mythic ethos of the playoffs is one that anyone involved in sports has fathomed ever since the dawn of man. It’s truthfully the greatest time of the sports season. All the corny troupes apply, where legends are made, etc. Robert Horry, Reggie Jackson and Joe Montana are great in their own right however, when you hear those names, you automatically think of their performances when the lights are brightest and the noise is loudest. It’s where names are made and in some cases, forgotten, (sorry Dan Marino & Pat Ewing).
Legacies have the opportunity to be etched in stone forever, you have the opportunity to do something that outlives you and will be remembered for generations to come. In our case, putting a year on the banner is something that drives us to compete day in and day out. My sophomore year, the baseball team won a district tournament, which meant we got to put our year, 2019, on the banner forever. We did the same thing my senior year in 2021. I’ll remember those two seasons for as long as I live.
Now, introduction aside, what is it like to compete in the playoffs?
The speech we were always given by the all time great football head coach Danny Grogg was something along the lines of getting to play football in November, right around Thanksgiving. That painted picture of November football was something that we kept in the back of our minds especially during the blazing summer months. In 2021, we got to play football with two weeks on the calendar till turkey day. Like I wrote about last year, beating Turner Ashby at their house in ‘21 was the greatest feeling ever. Not just winning, but winning a playoff game outright. You feel the pride of your family, your town and most importantly your coaches and teammates. It’s a vindication and validation like no other. Especially from a coaches perspective. The kids that have given anything to you and the sport we love have done it, they’ve won the game we’ve been dreaming of since we were kids running around on the Pop Warner fields at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School.
From a players perspective, keeping a tough mentality is very important always, but that importance magnifies when you play postseason ball. I’ve always had a huge admiration for the Tim Duncan’s of the world, or shall I say the Tim Turner’s of the world. Guys that no matter the situation, can keep a cooler head. Adversity will always strike in every situation as per the Hagelian dialectic. Life is a constant state of change driven by opposing forces. This philosophy lesson is in my eyes best played out in sports. You have two teams competing for the ultimate prize. Every pitch, every block and every boxout matters. Every little action affects the next action. And admittedly, it can be hard to keep the aforementioned cooler head when you’re in the game. My favorite quote in this regard comes from none other than the greatest team sports athlete ever, Michael Jordan. During the 1998 finals, his last with Chicago, before the famous Game Six against the Jerry Sloan coached, John Stockton and Karl Malone led Utah Jazz was asked by a reporter if he was nervous for the game that was to take place later that night. He simply responded “Why would I be nervous about a shot I haven’t taken yet?”.
That rationale alone is what in my eyes made Jordan the greatest ever. Now, notice a few sentences ago, I mentioned that Jordan was asked this before Game Six, the very same game where he would (definitely not push off), and hit the final nail in the coffin shot that would win the Bulls their 6th and final title. Out of all the playoff moments in organized sports, none is greater than the shot Jordan made. He made it by being cool under pressure, and not letting the outside noise and bright lights shake him.
Because of his hardened mental toughness, Jordan always delivered in the moments where the stakes were the highest, cementing him as the greatest of all time.
To the Softball Lady Gobblers and the Baseball Gobblers, I wish you both nothing but the best of luck in your playoff bouts this week. Thank you for letting us bare witness all year long. Led by the honorable coach Becky Cantrell and George Laase, may you keep the mental toughness, knowledge and preparation of Ichiro and John Coltrane.
