10 years later and I am starting to think…maybe life is more
about the misses…than the makes.
Like a brilliant diamond, it was the thousands of cuts,
that made it so magnificent. It’s the refinement process that produces beauty.
ESPN’s top play of the week referred by many Michigan fans
as simply “The Kick”, contains more than a singular kick. Actually, there were
plural “kicks” in the game that led up to the one that most remember.
I still recall folks telling me after the game that one
day people will forget the misses, and only recount how they felt as “The Kick”
from 44 yards out, with ESPN College Game Day nearby, split the uprights to
give Michigan a two point advantage as time expired in front of 110,000
screaming fans.
I still have the ESPN sport center game review and I find as
much meaning in The Kick, as I do in what I will dub “The Misses”…and a couple
of them being big misses.
The first miss came in the first quarter. The Wolverines had
broken out into an early lead thanks to the legs of Chris Perry. On 4th
down I was called in to attempt an average field goal attempt of 37 yards. Good
snap, good hold, wind at my back…but wide left. Directly into the student
section.