MARYSVILLE — Every once in a while, I have to be told — either by family or friends — that I get to watch sports for a living.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sports fan. In fact, most of my time away from this job involves reading about sports, writing about sports or just watching it on television. But, with each passing year, I become more convinced that whatever your job is, it always ends up feeling like work.
Ironically, for as big of a part that sports are in my life, a game/match/meet would have to be pretty special for me to actually want to pay to see it. The Catch 22 is that I’d almost want to know how it ended before I paid to watch it — but then if I knew the ending, why would I watch it?
That being said, for the rest of the time I am reminded of how different my job is when I see something special.
Like when something comes down to the wire, or a team accomplishes a rare feat — those moments are guaranteed to happen every year, but the frequency and quantity are what’s in doubt.
After spending a week thinking about which games I would have paid to see this year, I could come up with nearly 20, which is a good number for someone who sees them four or five nights a week and made the decision already knowing what happened.
Unfortunately, after spending all day writing a list, I’m going to narrow my choices down to just five, as some games were played by the same team and others just weren’t quite as spectacular.
So without further ado, here they are:
5. M-P 1, Arlington 0
Boys soccer, May 5
After playing soccer for most of my life, I thought there was no equivalent to American football’s Hail Mary until I saw Anthony Johnson’s prayer from midfield.
The Tommies were locked with the Eagles 0-0 with just under one minute remaining in stoppage time when Johnson stepped into a volley that sailed higher and farther than anybody thought — even the Eagles’ goalkeeper.
The rest of the match was not without incident either. Both clubs had ample opportunities to score.
4. Lakewood 13, ATM 12
The Cougars baseball club got an early shot in the arm confidence-wise, beating the defending state champion Wildcats in a season-opening series.
After a pair of lopsided wins was split, coach Larry Delaney’s boys trailed 8-0 in the fourth inning of the deciding game but scored nine to take a one-run lead. ATM came back, however, with three runs in the seventh, but Lakewood scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh, a run that was capped by Alex Keen’s RBI single to win the game.
3. Arlington 61, M-P 58
Win or lose, a double-overtime game has to be one of the better games of the year.
Spectators saw five lead changes in the final four minutes of regulation, this was ready to be an instant classic. Marysville had a lead in the first overtime, but fell behind by one point with 20 seconds remaining. The Tommies got the shot they were looking for, but Ryan Shannon was fouled as time expired. He tied the score and M-P had a two-point lead in the second OT, but turnovers became too much of a factor and Arlington took the game.
Early on, this game looked like it was about to be blown open as Arlington owned a 10-point lead in the second quarter. It just goes to show you that you always have to stick around to the end.
2. ATM 35, Lakewood 28
In easily the most enjoyable football game I saw all season, Lakewood threw out all the stops against the eventual state runner-up. Just about every trick play netted a big gain for Lakewood, which used a flea-flicker, hook-and-ladder and three onside kicks.
Lakewood actually trailed 35-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but coach Dan Teeter’s boys scored on a 38-yard pass, recovered an onside kick, scored again and recovered a fumble to give them one final chance to score with 35 seconds remaining.
I don’t see a number of games go down to the final drive. Even fewer have all of that trickery lead up to it — and even fewer than that decide which team earned the Cascade Conference title.
1. Lakewood 1, ATM 0
Even without a second trip to state and the school’s first conference title, a win over Archbishop Murphy would have been enough to call 2010 the most successful season in Lakewood girls soccer history. The Lady Cougars, however, had two. The first has to be the more epic of the two battles, as Lakewood was outshot 14-5 and the game went through two overtime periods and into a shootout. Lakewood keeper Miranda Head stopped a pair of PK’s to help snap ATM’s 32-match win streak.
Later in the season, the Cougars scored just their third goal ever on the Wildcats to help sweep them in the regular season.
