I’ve been guilty of it. When catching up on the day’s sports happenings, I tend to carelessly glance only at the main highlights or statistics and not think anything of the context of the game or what storylines were present prior it. Skimming the surface is another way to describe it. Just show me the numbers, and I’ll move on.
But the problem with this style is that we don’t dig deep enough to appreciate the context surrounding the game or the meaning of a simple statistic. As causal fans or channel surfers, we owe it to the participating parties to have some prior knowledge before tuning in.
So many times, we solely focus our attention on the analytical part of sporting events. “How many homeruns did he hit this year?” or “I wonder how many points he will score for my fantasy team today.”
Last Saturday, I was watching the Boston College/Notre Dame football game when I heard one of the commentators utter something along the lines of “Mark Herzlich with the tackle.” I knew I had heard that name before, so I became curious. Sure enough, Herzlich had been in the news recently because this was his first season back since he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in his left leg.
He was diagnosed after his junior season and had to undergo extensive chemotherapy treatments throughout his senior year, when he was medically redshirted. The ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Butkus Award finalist, and first team All-American, Herzlich was a lock to be selected as one of the top picks in the NFL Draft after his junior season. But a little thing called chemotherapy got in the way of the then 22-year-old business major and his dreams of becoming an NFL player.
However, in Lance Armstrong-esque fashion, Herzlich persevered through everything placed in front of him and prevailed, cancer-free on September 29, 2009.
Simply playing in another collegiate game was a miraculous feat for the Boston College linebacker.
While the stat sheet for Herzlich last Saturday was by no means eye-popping, his three tackles signified something much more to those who knew his story and were aware of his past.
Those three tackles were a source of hope, inspiration and encouragement for those who knew what number 94 has been through.
Try putting a statistical figure on that.
