Wow!
After the New England Patriots re-introduced the art of “cheating” last month, another element in the sports world has re-surfaced. It's called “the meltdown.”
ESPN, our most beloved cable channel besides Cinemax late at night, has pegged its top stories revolve around some sort of “meltdown.” Sports Center ’s top stories have included Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy and the New York Mets.
“Meltdowns” can be described in a variety of ways. A "meltdown" is defined as “choking," “tanking” and even “paralysis.” The Mets’ late-season collapse, or “meltdown,” is in the realm of a choke or tank. Then there is the animated rant or very loud rebuttal, which would be described as a head coach having a meltdown. Coach Gundy’s post-game comments, after Oklahoma State ’s win over Texas Tech a couple weeks ago, are described as a meltdown in the media world.
A meltdown can be a benefit, or it could pave a long and arduous road. Remember the Mike Tyson ear-bite? Yes, Tyson’s meltdown led to an all-of-a-sudden rocky road. Oct. 7, 2003 Monday Night Football game featured the Indianapolis Colts at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs were up 35-21 with just over four minutes left in the game. The Colts made one of the biggest comebacks in Monday night history winning 38-35. Tampa Bay’s collapse during the game resulted in a 7-9 season after starting the season with two wins and a Super Bowl trophy the season before.
Gundy teed off on writer Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman. His backlash about Carlson was provoked by her column about Oklahoma State quarterback Bobby Reid. She had questioned Reid’s stability, confidence and made a reference about Reid’s mother feeding him chicken after Oklahoma State ’s loss to Troy.
Carlson wrote: “A 21-year-old letting his mother feed him in public? Most college kids, much less college football players, would just as soon be seen running naked across campus.”
So, Gundy, in a passionate and loud post-game press conference, let everyone know how he felt about her column. Though his post-game rant was fun to watch, it was not as amusing, or entertaining, as former Indiana and present Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight’s classic meltdowns (and he has had many), former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green’s famous line, “The Bears are who we thought they were!” (Those Coors Light commercials have made it even more entertaining), or former Colts head coach Jim Mora’s, “Playoffs!? You kidding me? Playoffs!? I just hope we can win a game!”
Gundy’s animations will be seen for years to come on Sports Centers Top 10 head-coaching rants of all time. But, never-the-less, he came to the defense of his offensive leader. He let everyone know that NCAA athletes are amateurs. He questioned Carlson’s sensitivity, journalistic integrity, and whether she probably doesn’t have any children.
NCAA Division I athletes tote a lot of pressure. Everything from keeping up with grades, keeping their starting jobs, to keeping their mental toughness.
I know first-hand.
Though I wasn’t a college athlete, my younger brother was. He played basketball for the New Mexico State Aggies. He had struggled to get playing time during his junior season. NMSU and UTEP had faced each other in Las Cruces and I was sitting on the press row during my days as the Sports Editor at The Prospector (UTEP’s campus paper).
At one point during the game, the ball came my way; I had caught it and threw it back to the referee. I made a remark to Darren Hunt, a former beat writer for the El Paso Times. I told him that I got to touch the ball more than my brother during the game. Hunt printed it and boy did I get it from my brother, mother and a few friends who all read the paper the next day.
Did my brother have meltdown? Well, no, but boy was he pissed and he let me know how he felt about my “unfunny” comment.
Gundy’s type of meltdown was positive in the sense that he wanted to restore the confidence in his guy. It’s better that the head coach had the “meltdown” in the media room and not the college athlete.
The New York Mets had a meltdown of their own this past season, as mentioned before. Some have called it the biggest meltdown of all time. It was, maybe, not as bad as the ’64 Philadelphia Phillies (they were up six-and-a-half games on the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 20, lost 10 straight, and finished a game behind on the last day of the season), but worse than ’69 Chicago Cubs (they were in first place all season until early September, had what was refereed to as “The Miracle Collapse”, and lost first place in the National League East by eight games to the “Miracle Mets”). The Mets held a seven-game lead on the Phillies with 17 games left in the season for the NL East Division. The Mets tanked and went packing home, while the Phillies won the division by one game and lifted themselves into the playoffs. Current Phillies manager Charlie Manuel had a meltdown of his own after an 8-1 loss at the beginning of the season. The rest is history.
Met’s manager Willie Randolph has taken a cerebral approach to managing, much like Yankees skipper Joe Torre, and has taken much heat for not heating up.
Cubs’ current manager Lou Piniella has a reputation for “meltdowns” during his days with the Reds, Mariners and Devil Rays. Piniella “went off” on an umpire at the beginning of June when the Cubs, again, looked dismal and lost. After Piniella’s rant, the Cubs went on to win the National League Central Division and are now in the playoffs.
The “meltdown” can make sports an exciting and intense element. I think we, as a sports nation, get excited about tirades and tanks (as long as it’s not your team). To think about the irony of one guy throwing a temper tantrum one minute, then being in the playoffs the next.
I think Piniella has it figured out. He is damned if he has a tirade or damned if he doesn’t throw a fit.
