Here Come the Waterworks

As I do every year, I stumbled into the middle of Jimmy Valvano's 1993 Arthur Ashe Courage Award Address last night. First of all, those who know me know I'm a sucker for anything that smells of ACC hoops, in particular the 80's - a decade of ball that seemed to last forever (lined up perfectly with my own age, 8 to 18, which does seem to last forever to everyone, no?), as amazing player after amazing player stayed for 4 years on an at-least semi-regular basis, and even the coaches seemed to have been there forever. I couldn't imagine a league without Smith/Holland/Dreisell/Ellis/Krzyzewski/Cremins and, of course Valvano. These coaches and players were part of a warm friendship with myself, and nothing was better than a huge February game with a foot of snow outside, or desperately trying to get home early from school to watch the tournament. So as you can see, any remembrance of things past re: that era usually gets my waterworks at least greased up a little. But back to Valvano's speech. We all know some of the great quotes, and we knew as he was speaking that he didn't have long to live, that cancer had pretty much overtaken him. Every year I try to test myself to see if I can watch w/o getting a lil choked up, but by the end when they have to pretty much carry him off the stage, I'm at total surrender. But last night got me to thinking about how it's okay for dudes to be emotional when it comes to sports, but anything else, nyet. I'm that way. You could tell me that my family was eaten by wolfpups, you could tell me that all the puppies in the world had committed suicide, etc etc. More than likely I'd give you a blank "oh man" but stay stone-faced, prolly even turn on Mr. Funny perhaps. But certain sports moments, I got no problems welling up, even after seeing them year after year. I do believe that sports is one of the true, spontaneous emotional outlets we have - joy, anguish, ecstasy, agony etc. Movies? Camon. Who actually cries at movies? You know exactly what's gonna happen, you should be offended by the Hollywood suits that are writing such tearjerker crap and making you pay $10 a pop for it. But a kid who hits a buzzer beater and leaps into the arms of a coach? Or a man not used to speaking trying to articulate how much a certain game or players means to him? Unbelievable. From the heart. True human emotion we can actually relate to. Plus, another reason we give ourselves a pass and allow some emotion is that in the end, MOST of these moments don't really matter to us personally. Therefore, they're not so real to us as to be as either sad or happy as they would be in "real life." I get emotional thinking about Jimmy V's speech, but I didn't actually know him, he wasn't a friend of mine. So I can allow some waterworks to flow without having to worry about the floodgates crashing open and my life being turned upside down. Anyways, I do have a few moments throughout the years that ALWAYS get to me, so here's a short list. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, so feel free to send in your own. I'm not listing them in any real order. - Jimmy V's speech: amazing quotes, you're watching knowing he's dying, has to get carried off. You can hear him speaking faster and faster as the speech goes on, like he's trying to outrun his fate. AND, in true Jimmy V fashion, is funny throughout. One of the funniest characters in the history of coaching. Except, ironically, for his cameo on "The Cosby Show." - John Cappelletti's Heisman Speech: good lord. You wanna see a room of grizzled football coaches bawling (Joe Pa, I'm looking at you), this is your moment, when he dedicates his trophy to his little brother who is dying of leukemia. Jesus. So tough to watch they only bring this out every coupla years or so. - Terry Bradshaw's HOF Speech: always loved this one, where he starts hurriedly going thru about how all he wants is 2 minutes left to play, just give him 2 more minutes to play, and he excitedly takes us through what he'd do. Still funny, imitating Stallworth's (apparently) high-pitched squeak of a voice. In an emotional, funny moment opens up both the camaraderie that comes from playing with people you love for a long time, and the fact that there's probably not an athlete out there who wouldn't shave years off their lives for just 2 more minutes on the field. - George Brett's HOF Speech: fairly unremarkable until the end, when he talks to his older brother Ken, who had also played in the majors. If you can watch while he fights through to tell his brother "all I ever wanted was to be as good as you", then you're not human. - 1980 US Hockey Team: the Babe Ruth of all "Chokes Xmastime Up Moments." If that damn HBO doc was on a loop, I would never leave my house. By the time I've worked myself up about the enormous political innuendo, and the fact that they really were a bunch of kids playing the greatest team ever assembled, I'm at fever pitch when Mike Eruzione talks about Coach Brooks telling them before they skated out to play the Russians "You were born to play hockey. You belong here." At this age, I can barely get through another viewing of the medal ceremony when he calls all his teammates to jump up on the podium with him. Man. Can't imagine this one being topped, with all the periphery stuff going on. So there you have it. Xmastime's a crybaby!