Sunday, February 6, 2011

Wide right!

Is it really him? When I was 7 years old, a man named Scott Norwood became the hero of downstate and the zero of upstate New York when, as the Bills kicker, he missed a 47 yard field goal wide to the right in the closing seconds of Super Bowl 25, preserving the victory for the New York Football Giants. Facebook's new homepage confuses the crap out of me, but my newsfeed did deliver this gem today. I wonder if it is him. I hope it is him.



That season for the Giants and Super Bowl 25 (XXV?) in particular is my earliest sports memory. Stephen Baker's TD grab and Mark Ingram's epic conversion on third down are etched in my memory. But what made that Super Bowl so awesome was the pure, unadulterated Americanism on display. Operation Desert Storm had just gotten underway, there were attack helicopters hovering around the stadium, everyone was waving American flags, the payers were all wearing yellow wrist bands in honor of the troops and Whitney Houston DOMINATED the national anthem. And then Scott Norwood won it for the Giants.

1 comment:

  1. GMEN! I want that sweater Parcells is rockin. That was also one of my first GMEN memories.

    First sports memories were watching 5 set grand slam finals, Edberg v Becker. Man I disliked Becker.

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