Totally Eclipsed

You know how much of a dork I am, so you knew that the eclipse would serve as the inspiration for a blog post.  For me, today's eclipse was a bit of a dud.  There was cloud cover during the time I was supposed to be able to see the 70 percent I was gonna get.  Fortunately, I only have to wait seven years until the next one, and I've already told my buddy in Buffalo that I'm staying with him for it.

Anyway, how can the eclipse possibly inspire a blog post?  Easy.  Because there are so many situations where athletes stood to be the hero in a championship situation, only to have their performance eclipsed by someone else.  Instead of being the play that led their team to victory, they've instead been relegated to footnotes in the story.  Like these 10.  Almost the hero, but not quite.

John McEnroe, 1980 Wimbledon Final: At the height of his rivalry with Bjorn Borg, they met for the Wimbledon title in 1980.  This match is widely considered one of the greatest of all-time, and it's widely remembered for its epic fourth set tiebreak.  McEnroe won the tiebreak 18-16.  He didn't win the match, though.  Borg won the fifth set 8-6, and with it, his fifth straight Wimbledon title.

Carlton Fisk, 1975 World Series: It's one of the most memorable home runs in history.  Fisk's 12th inning walk-off over the Green Monster that won Game 6 for the Red Sox.  It's a home run that, to this day, still lives in New England folklore.  Except it ended up being for naught.  Because the Reds won Game 7.

Endy Chavez, 2006 NLCS: Before Adam Wainwright froze Carlos Beltran with that wicked curve ball, Endy Chavez was poised to be the hero.  You all remember the play.  It was a 1-1 game in the top of the sixth when Scott Rolen crushed one to left center that was well out...until Endy Chavez made a ridiculous snow-cone catch with his glove well over the fence.  He then threw Jim Edmonds out at first for an inning-ending double play.  But then Yadi Molina hit a two-run homer, Wainwright threw that curve ball, and the Cardinals went to the World Series.

Larry Fitzgerald, Super Bowl XLIII: Speaking of Cardinals, Larry Fitzgerald scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIII, including a 64-yard catch and run that gave Arizona a 23-20 lead with 2:37 left.  His name was on the MVP trophy...until the Steelers drove down the field and Ben Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes in the corner of the end zone with 35 seconds to go to win it, 27-23.

Josh Hamilton, 2011 World Series: Back to the baseball Cardinals.  We all remember Game 6 of that incredible 2011 World Series.  After David Freese's two-run triple tied it in the bottom of the ninth, Hamilton crushed a two-run bomb in the top of the 10th to put the Rangers back in front.  But, the Cardinals scored two of their own to tie it again, then Freese clinched his MVP award with a walk-off homer in the 11th.

Josh Hamilton, 2008 Home Run Derby: Hamilton is the only player with the honor of being on here twice.  Because the 2008 Home Run Derby at the Old Yankee Stadium will always be remembered for the show Hamilton put on.  Moon shot after moon shot, 28 homers total in the first round, many deep in the right field upper deck.  Except Hamilton didn't win the Derby.  Justin Morneau did.

Carl Lewis, 1991 World Championships: I'll always hold firm that the Carl Lewis vs. Mike Powell in the long jump at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo is one of the single greatest head-to-head duels in sports history.  Lewis was in his prime and had been going after Bob Beamon's world record for years.  He finally beat Beamon's mark (albeit wind-aided) by a centimeter in the fourth round...only to see Powell jump a wind-legal world record on his fifth jump.  Lewis had the second-longest jump in history (his best wind-legal mark of the night is No. 3 all-time, behind only Powell and Beamon), but finished second in the competition.

Marcus Paige, 2016 National Championship Game: North Carolina's Marcus Paige sent the game into overtime with his ridiculous three-pointer that tied it with 4.7 seconds left.  That's what we all thought.  Well, all of us except Kris Jenkins.  He hit that half-court buzzer-beater to give Villanova the title, 77-74.

Alfonso Soriano, 2001 World Series: There were so many memorable moments in the 2001 World Series.  The back-to-back ninth inning home runs in Games 4 and 5 at Yankee Stadium.  The Derek Jeter "Mr. November" home run.  Luis Gonzalez's flare over Jeter in the ninth inning of Game 7 that gave Arizona the title.  But, before Mariano Rivera blew that save, the Yankees had a 2-1 lead thanks to Soriano's homer off Curt Schilling in the eighth.

Jalen Hurts, 2017 CFP National Championship: Alabama-Clemson II was a classic college football game.  Back-and-forth it went, with Clemson scoring that touchdown on the final play to win it.  That was right after Alabama had taken the lead just 2:06 earlier on Hurts' 30-yard run.

Tim Howard, 2014 World Cup: Ryan Miller's 36 saves in the 2010 Olympic gold medal game could easily have been the choice here, but I decided to go with a different American goalie in a different sport.  Tim Howard's record 15 saves kept the USA's round of 16 game with Belgium scoreless thru 90 minutes, even though the Belgians had dominated.  Belgium scored twice in extra time, though, to win 2-1.

As you can see, it's happened plenty of times.  The hero makes the historic play, only to be eclipsed by another historic play by somebody else.  Which shouldn't make that original play any less memorable.  Sometimes it's just the opposite actually.  We remember the outstanding performance in a loss more than we remember the championship moment.