Quote:
Originally Posted by 1990C4S
There were hundreds, probably thousands of better players. But what Paul Henderson did in 1972 was the greatest performance I have ever seen. He carries an all-star team, scored the winning goal in three straight games (in the Soviet Union), scored a hat trick in the final game, then netted the winner with 21 seconds remaining. Simply incredible, and even more so because he was just 'average'.
|
Excellent point.
Peak performance and sustained excellence are two very different things. I was possibly an above average athlete. Like most, I had the heart but not the body. Anyways, there have been a couple of brief moments where it all came together. Once was an awesome experience during a 200m footrace. It seemed like with every stride just at exactly the right moment I pushed off extended perfectly and planted each time exactly right. It seemed effortless, it was joyous. I was accelerating with every stride! I honestly don’t even remember where I placed in the race.
Those personal moments of perfection are probably the reason each of us admires our athletes of choice so much. It is for me, anyway.