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On Kyle Williams, Billy Cundiff, and Becoming a Legendary Goat
On Kyle Williams, Billy Cundiff, and Becoming a Legendary Goat
The signature takeaway from yesterday's terrific NFC and AFC Championship Games — other than that, holy crap you guys, the Giants are in the Super Bowl — was the creation of two goats for the presumed ages. In New England's win over Baltimore, Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a chip shot field goal that would have sent the game into overtime. In the Giants' win over the 49ers, kick return Kyle Williams fumbled two punts — one that bounced off his knee in the fourth quarter and one more traditionally taken away in overtime — that led to ten Giants points in a defensive struggle, including the game-winning Lawrence Tynes field goal. It's tough to be much more of a goat than that.
Thing is, though, both Cundiff and Williams — who, we didn't realize until this morning, is the son of Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams — lack a crucial component in becoming historical, legendary, lifelong despised goats: They don't play for traditionally tortured franchises.
Last week, we talked about how all four teams in the conference championship games had a history of franchise success; three of the entrants (New York, New England, and Baltimore) had won titles in the last decade, and the other (San Francisco) had a lifetime 5-0 Super Bowl record. There was no chance of any of those teams having any sort of credible claim on being tortured, star-crossed, or somehow sadsack.
That's crucial to cementing goat status. Sports history's most famous goats are ones who somehow deny history, who cost their long-suffering fans the opportunity at oft-delayed redemption. You need to have a fanbase that's desperate for a championship, and to have you personally take that away from them, to achieve true rarefied goat status.http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2012/01/kyle-williams-billy-cundiff-and-legendary-goats.html
The signature takeaway from yesterday's terrific NFC and AFC Championship Games — other than that, holy crap you guys, the Giants are in the Super Bowl — was the creation of two goats for the presumed ages. In New England's win over Baltimore, Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a chip shot field goal that would have sent the game into overtime. In the Giants' win over the 49ers, kick return Kyle Williams fumbled two punts — one that bounced off his knee in the fourth quarter and one more traditionally taken away in overtime — that led to ten Giants points in a defensive struggle, including the game-winning Lawrence Tynes field goal. It's tough to be much more of a goat than that.
Thing is, though, both Cundiff and Williams — who, we didn't realize until this morning, is the son of Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams — lack a crucial component in becoming historical, legendary, lifelong despised goats: They don't play for traditionally tortured franchises.
Last week, we talked about how all four teams in the conference championship games had a history of franchise success; three of the entrants (New York, New England, and Baltimore) had won titles in the last decade, and the other (San Francisco) had a lifetime 5-0 Super Bowl record. There was no chance of any of those teams having any sort of credible claim on being tortured, star-crossed, or somehow sadsack.
That's crucial to cementing goat status. Sports history's most famous goats are ones who somehow deny history, who cost their long-suffering fans the opportunity at oft-delayed redemption. You need to have a fanbase that's desperate for a championship, and to have you personally take that away from them, to achieve true rarefied goat status.http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2012/01/kyle-williams-billy-cundiff-and-legendary-goats.html
Get off their backs. You're going to blame a placekicker and a rookie reserve for their teams' failures?
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
His last name is too similar. Better safe than sorry:
