Yesterday afternoon, while not-so-patiently waiting for the 111th Apple Cup, the annual rivalry college football game between the University of Washington Huskies and the upstart Washington State Cougars (in case you are the reader from the Outer Hebrides), I witnessed an unusual sensation. Something like a cross between laissez-faire supreme confidence and genuine gratitude for simply having the opportunity to watch two bitter rivals in dramatic battle with a championship on the line. The following thought was the one that caused my flowing consciousness into stomp on the brake screech mode. WHAT? Are you seriously saying that even if the underdog Huskies (3pts) actually lost to the Cougars for the first time in five years, you would be OK with it because, well, you like the kids on the roster, have enjoyed the wild ride they have orchestrated over the course of the last four years, and worse, that the Cougar mercenary QB who has lit up the college football world with a quick release, deadly accuracy and a porn-star moustache, is actually pretty good. It is an away game, looks like snow and the world most likely will not come to an end as a direct result of a Husky loss.
The old it doesn’t really matter defense. But there is more here than meets the eye. Consider:
We have been talking a lot recently about flow. Specifically flow in sports. How it can often be the deciding element in the ascension and sustainability of peak performance. In triathlon and cycling, in the marathon or sprinting and up to and including college football, the attitude known as swagger, that level of confidence having the capability to not only raise the performance of the one - but of the many as well. When we are talking about team sports it is simply the one element that separates contenders from pretenders, champs from chumps, winners from those that need more work. One, or a team, will work tirelessly to learn the system of the game and style of the coach. They then practice it inside and out until reaction times are reduced, success ratios increased and that graceful flow of focused energy results in the achievement of individual or team goals. If any one of those three parts are missing, you get less than desired results.
The hardest part, by far, is the flow. One cannot talk the talk without walking the walk. It is a beautiful thing to watch when running full-throttle on all cylinders. The magic component comes into play when we accept that the reason we are so drawn to this is that watching it unfold exposes weakness, tendencies, inadequacies, strengths, character, bravado, immaturity and every other emotional manifestation of the actuality the military calls grace under fire. In other words, shit happens.
Although I was prepared to lose, my sense was that our team had, through the fire and brimstone in the heat of Pac-12 football, grown together and were, finally, at the place of competitiveness where flow could be used much the same as a double-pass.
It all unfolded on script. They played, made mistakes. It rained and then it snowed. We had our usual solid first half and then hung on. I tip my cap to the rival Cougars, they had a sensational season. But the best thing about the game, the entire Apple Cup game-week mystique, something that will get lost in the celebration and licking of wounds, is what took place the day before.
Traveling by bus from Seattle to Pullman on I-90, the Husky Marching Band suddenly found themselves crashed on the side of the icy road. No one was badly hurt but the shock and trauma was enough for the trip to be cancelled and the band sent either home or to the closest hospital for care. Locals, mostly Cougar fans, brought food and volunteered their assistance. But the best part, the part that matches my new mellowness and appreciation of this game, these teams, and the 111 years of tradition is what the Washington State Marching Band did before the start of the big contest.
Having learned the Husky fight song, they formed a giant on-field W and played it in honor of their rival band-mates who couldn’t make it due to the black-ice bus accident.
I will say it here first, very classy Cougars. Thank you.
And good luck the rest of the way.
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