Comeback, Collapse or Choke?

Last night's Super Bowl will be remembered as one the most memorable in history.

Will it be remembered as a comeback for the Patriots or a collapse or choke by the Falcons?

It is never an easy question when sports are involved. Unfortunately, I have too much personal experience myself in what happened to the Falcons last night.

As I saw Matt Ryan get sacked and fumbled the ball as he attempted to throw a deep ball (why was he passing on third and one? if they wanted to pass why not a quick route rather than attempting to throw deep ?) with 8 minutes to go and leading by 16 points I turned to Mrs. BeeLine and said, "The Falcons are going to lose this game."

I knew. I have been there before.

My alma mater, Miami University was up by 2 goals over Boston University in the NCAA National Hockey Championship game with one minute to play in 2009. They gave up 2 goals in that last minute and then lost in overtime.

My son's college lacrosse team was up one goal with less than two minutes to go in their conference championship game his sophomore year and had a two-man advantage due to penalties called on the other team. They lost the ball and the other team scored on a fast break with less than 30 seconds to go in the game. They lost in overtime.

Over 25 years ago I was 1up in a golf match in my club championship (first flight) after birdieing the 17th hole. The 18th hole was a difficult finishing hole that required a 180 yard carry over water and the water also went up the entire left side of the fairway. I split the fairway with my drive and saw my normally steady opponent hook one into the water on the left. He was choking. I thought the match was mine.

My opponent was able to take advantage of a drop area on the other side of the water between the tee and fairway but still had over 200 yards to the green. He got his third shot about 20 yards short of the green and I was sitting in the middle of the fairway with an 8-iron in my hand confident the match was over. I hit a solid shot but it starting drawing to the left of the green dangerously close to the water that bordered the green. It bounced twice and then went dead left into the water.

I am now laying three after the penalty but I am only about 20 feet from the pin compared to my opponent's 20 yards. You can guess where this ended. My opponent gets up and down for a bogey 5. It takes me three shots from 20 feet for a double bogey. You would also be right if you guessed that I lost the match on the first playoff hole. It still hurts after more than 25 years. I am sure it will still hurt after 50 years.

I have no doubt it will be the same for the Falcons who played in that game.

Why do these collapses (or chokes) occur?

It is one of the eternal mysteries of sports. How can someone be breezing along for an entire game, or match, and suddenly lose it?

I have written about Matthew Syed and his book, Bounce, in these pages before. Syed wrote Bounce to explain what he believes to be the science of success.

Syed knows something about success.  He was the top-ranked table tennis player in the UK and is a two-time Olympian as well as a graduate of Oxford University. You might say that he is a talented young man. Syed would say to you that talent is not what you think it is. In fact, he thinks it is highly overrated.

What most people call talent is really just hard work.  It is about toiling and training for long hours. Practice, practice, practice. Nothing more.

Syed became interested in the topic after thinking about his own success...and his failure. In his own words, Syed "choked" in the Olympics.  Those experiences led him to explore the science of success as well as the science of choking.

In his view most success in sports comes from toil and training. Endless hours of developing the right muscle memory. You don't think. You just do it. The training makes it automatic.

Of course, it is automatic until it isn't. And that time usually comes when the stakes are high and the pressure mounts. Instead of doing it, you start to think about it. And when you are thinking, you are not doing it the way it is natural to you. The way your muscle memory remembers it. You start to overwhelm your muscle memory with your brain.

It doesn't have to involve sports either. You walk and talk every day. It is automatic. You don' think about it. However, what if you have to walk down a runway modeling clothes in front of 1,000 people. Or give a speech in front of 10,000?

Thinking too much is inimical to success in many situations.

Through three quarters of the game last night the Atlanta Falcons played their game. They were leading by 19 points with 15 minutes to play.

It is probably fair to say that as the fourth quarter began the Falcons began to first think about what they were on the brink of achieving. It was all downhill from there.

How do you avoid choking?

Don't think about it. "Just do it" as Nike would say.

How do you just do it?

Practice. Practice. And more practice.

Of course, how do you practice leading the Super Bowl?

You don't. It was something that the Falcons simply could not do.

However, the Patriots had been there before. They had the experience of being there and doing it.

Had the roles been reversed, there is no way the Patriots would lose. They had been there before. They would not have been thinking as much about winning as the Falcons.

Experience is worth as much as practice.

That is why the Patriots won and the Falcons lost.

Practice promotes perfect. Experience enhances execution.

A great comeback made possible by a monumental collapse.

May the Falcons be more fortunate in the future.

May I be so fortunate to forget about a shot I missed over 25 years ago.