My teen newspaper's Web site is down again, For Fuck's Sake. I am almost seething. The best part is that I got little help from our site hosts. They blame the problem on the program code, which is weird b/c the site was working fine yesterday. They offer no advice on how to prevent this and cannot resolve why it's a problem today and not yesterday.
Continued seething.
Oh yeah ... I was fortunate enough to witness a portion of one of the greatest endings ever in a sporting event tonight. Boise State, an undefeated "mid-major" football team, upset the Oklahoma University Sooners 43-42 in overtime.
When I left my apartment to do an airport run, the score was Boise State 28 -- Oklahoma 17, and Boise State had been dominating 28-10 until a bad-bounce fumble set up Oklahoma for a get-back-in-the-game-maybe touchdown. But even after Oklahoma scored the radio announcers noted that Oklahoma still didn't seem to have caught a spark. Eventually I turned off the radio to listen to Jenny Lewis. Then I picked up Dave. Then we got dinner. I didn't return home until like 90 minutes after I left the house.
When I opened the door the television was off, even though this was a game that Curtis (other roommate) cared about the outcome of. At first I assumed that the game was over and Boise State won. But the look on his face shot that down.
"It's over."
"What happened?"
He proceeded to tell me that Oklahoma scored late to make it a two-point game, 28-26. And after three tries, eventually successfully scored a two-point conversion. First one: pass interference. Second: illegal shift. Third: bingo!
Boise State opened the ensuing drive (during which Boise would have needed to get about 50 yards to kick a time-expiring field goal) with a quick interception, which Oklahoma ran back for a TD. One minute left, and Oklahoma was up 7, Curtis said, noting that at this point he was so disgusted that he shut off the television.
I go into my room to put down my keys and such and decide to see what the final score was. I open my laptop, go to espn.com and see that the game is in OVERTIME and Oklahoma is up 42-35, having scored on its first possession.
"Turn on the game, it's in OT," I yell into the living room.
Click.
"Will they go for one or go for two?" the announcer asks.
As the screeen reses up, we see that Boise State has also scored a touchdown and the coach is trying to decide whether to kick the virtual-sure-thing extra point and keep playing or to just go for broke. The announcer thinks he's going for broke. In the interim we get a replay of the fourth down trick play used to score the touchdown -- a direct snap to a wide receiver type who threw it to the tight end. CRAZY!
Timeout Oklahoma.
Curtis and the announcer note that every team has a special play for these situations that is an almost-guarantee score if the offense executes it correctly.
After the timeout, Boise elects to go for the win. If they can go 2 yards it's one of the biggest shocks in college football history (and a HUGE argument in favor of a playoff). If they cannot make two yards. Ballgame over. Thanks for playing. Insert condescension here.
They line up with three wide receivers split right and a single back.
Ball is snapped and the QB looks right as he whips his arm toward the receivers, but the ball has been transferred to his left hand surreptitiously and he flips the ball to his left as the running back starts dashing to a W I D E O P E N left side of the field, because most defenders were fooled just long enough and the offensive line is mauling that side and sealing off the linemen and linebackers.
The back goes in untouched. Ball game over.
Wow! Though not a particular fan of either team, it was so cool to see other fans enjoy what is easily their biggest sports moment. I've been courtside of a basketball national championship, which was easily mine, but even still, I don't think my joy matched theirs. Arizona goes to the NCAA basketball tournament every year and usually is a threat for deep advancement. This could seriously be their only shot in their lifetimes.
Eventually we catch the highlights and it gets even better. After falling behind 35-28, Boise State had one minute to go the length of the field. On FOURTH DOWN with about 30 seconds to play they run the best hook and ladder ever, covering 50 yards and bringing the Broncos to within one with 7 seconds left.
I'm elated as can be over a game I had so little invested in.
Fast forward several hours. I get an e-mail from a student asking what's up with the Web site, which I spent the entire week before xmas break repairing along with our amazing, crack programming consultants (they did the work, I just mainly got pissed and did some reloading). I had been so nervous the last 10 days that I'd been checking to make sure the site was still there like every day. I hadn't yet checked Monday. Dammit. Layouth.com was gone again!! Final Fantasy Seven!!!!
So despite witnessing such an amazing college football game, the only thing really on my mind and that has helped me establish a new record for blowing a new year's resolution of reading 30 minutes (at least) for pleasure every day is the site shit.
Perspective?
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