Last week in professional sports was exceptional and memorable.
In the National Basketball Association, two of the league’s star players reached the 70-point level in a single regular season game. That gaudy total has only been reached 15 times in history (six of those decades ago by the incomparable Wilt Chamberlain). The Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic scored 73 (tied for fourth-most all-time) on Friday, while the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, scored 70 last Monday.
In tennis, 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open grand-slam tournament by defeating 10-time Australian champ and tennis GOAT Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and coming from two sets down to prevail over Daniil Medvedev in five sets in the final.
In the National Hockey League, the Edmonton Oilers entered into this week’s all-star game break on a 16-game winning streak, just one victory shy of the all-time record set by the Pittsburgh Penguins over 30 years ago. As any hockey fan can tell you, in a sport where the margin between defeat and victory is often razor-thin and may be determined by a fortuitous bounce of the puck, 16 consecutive victories borders on the miraculous.
To cap off a truly amazing week in sports, the National Football League’s AFC and NFC Championship games on Sunday were filled with drama and surprises. The venerable ABC slogan about “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” was exceedingly appropriate.
In the AFC matchup, the perennial championship contenders, the Kansas City Chiefs, overcame the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens’ homefield advantage, winning 17–10. The biggest surprise of the game was the low score. Two stout defenses were able to contain two of the NFL’s most potent offenses.
The game didn’t seem as close as the final score indicated. Kansas City dominated throughout. The Ravens had no answer for the Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce aerial connection. Kelce was perfectly efficient, catching 11 passes on 11 targets, in the process surpassing the great Jerry Rice for most career receptions in NFL playoff games.
It was an excruciatingly painful day for the home crowd in Baltimore. Leading MVP candidate, quarterback Lamar Jackson, had an early fumble and was off-target on several key pass plays. A couple of personal foul penalties led to a Chiefs’ field goal. Ravens’ rookie receiver Zay Flowers showed his immaturity by incurring a 15-yard penalty for taunting, moving the ball back from the Chief’s ten-yard line to the 25. That proved to be huge, for a few plays later, Flowers caught a pass and then had the ball punched loose when he tried to reach over the goal line, turning the ball over to Kansas City.
In sum, the Chiefs played well enough to advance to the Super Bowl in two weeks, but the Ravens now enter the offseason with the bitter knowledge that they beat themselves.
Whereas the AFC game was a grim slog in which the Ravens never really looked like they were going to win, the NFC game was an emotional rollercoaster. The visiting Detroit Lions dominated the top-seeded home team, the San Francisco 49ers, throughout the first half, going into the break with a 24–7 lead, only to have the 49ers storm back for a 34–31 victory.
As was the case with Baltimore, the Lions did much to sabotage themselves. Normally reliable receiver Josh Reynolds dropped two passes at key junctures in the second half. Star rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs coughed up a rare fumble deep in Lions’ territory, setting up a 49ers’ touchdown. And millions of Lions’ fans (yours truly having been one for over 60 years) were varyingly disappointed, angry, and nonplussed that Head Coach Dan Campbell twice decided in the second half to forgo field goal attempts of less than 50 yards and instead turned over the ball on downs after failing to gain the necessary yardage on fourth down. Campbell is known for taking chances that other head coaches bypass, earning him a reputation for boldness when his strategy succeeds and recklessness when it does not. Personally, I think he believes in his players so totally and emotionally that his faith outweighs reason.
While both the Ravens’ and Lions’ losses were heartbreaking for their fans, on a national level, the bigger heartbreak was for the Lions. As commentators repeatedly reminded viewers, the Lions are the only NFL team that has played in the 58 seasons of the Super Bowl era without ever once advancing to the Super Bowl. Americans love underdogs, and there may not be an underdog story to match the futility of the Lions.
Before and during the game, I received texts from people all over the country—even people who aren’t pro football fans—rooting for the Lions to win. Alas, the team will have to wait at least one more year before going to their first Super Bowl. But on the positive side, we should remember that only two years ago, the Lions finished with a 3–13–1 record. For them to have advanced to the NFC Championship and almost won it in just two years is an outstanding achievement. Congratulations to Coach Campbell, General Manager Brad Holmes, all the assistant coaches, and especially all of the players on an impressive season.
And thanks to all the athletes who gave us such a memorable week in sports.
