Saturday, April 18, 2009

Susan Boyle = Kirk Gibson


I am man enough to admit I watched that Susan Boyle clip and smiled, laughed and cried a little.

Nothing wrong with letting something move you.

Try watching Rocky, Hoosiers or Field of Dreams and look me in the eye and tell me ONE of them didn't move you to tears!

(Actually you won't be able to look me in the eye because I'll be crying.)

For the two people on the planet who haven't seen it, here's the clip.

Now for those of you sports fans who don't understand what the big deal is, let me put it into terms that might clear it up.

When you watch a sporting event, there is inevitably an out of this world scenario that pops into your head. "Wouldn't it be amazing" if this happens or that happens. It usually is a big upset, or an unknown getting the big hit.

And it would be amazing because most times it doesn't happen. Most times the better team wins. Most times the stars beat the obscure players.

But every once in a while a scenario unfolds that is so incredible, so amazing that people constantly describe it as "out of a movie" or "if they put it into a movie, nobody would believe it."

Think of the Kirk Gibson homer. When he was limping around at home... with 2 strikes on him... and Dennis Eckersley on the mound... you had one part of your brain imagine if suddenly he hit a homer. But you knew it wasn't going to happen.

Which is why his homer was even more amazing.

As Jack Buck said "I can't believe what I just saw!"

Bob Costas described it as a B Movie moment.

And any baseball fan (other than Don Marquez) gets chills when they see it... remembering that moment that an impossible "don't even let yourself think it" moment REALLY happened.

Well that was Susan Boyle.

It's something you hope for, but know will never happen. There won't be some frumpy spinster sitting in a village in Scotland who is so talented that she gets a standing ovation and moves the snarky judges to tears.

And she did it... and it really happened. It was the Gibson homer of Reality TV moments.

I can't embed the clip of Susan Boyle onto the site.
But I CAN embed the Gibson homer.

It's worth watching again





6 comments:

  1. You are so right about Susan Boyle, Saw her on Larry King and she sang the theme from Titanic without any music backround and I was amazed even more.
    I am surprised that MLB has not lifted the Gibson Moment. Myself and my Dad was yelling and cheering this moment with Gibson and we both hate the dodgers, Never liked Lasorda and I never liked Gibson, But I was moved to tears by this Home Run.

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  2. I remember the next night NBC replaying the Home run with the Music of 'The Natural final Scene in the pre game.

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  3. right about boyle - i preferred paul potts - but nothing is/was better than gibson's home run.
    thanks!

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  4. I still remember this night. Hated the Dodgers but I almost hit the ceiling with excitement when it happened.

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  5. The thing that made the Gibson homer more unbelievable for me was the unintentional buildup Vin Scully gave it. I've got the game on tape. Vin talked about Gibson's unavailability in the opening. Then, about the 7th or 8th inning, they pan the Dodger bench and Scully talks about whether Gibson would be available even to pinch hit, but they don't see him on the bench. Then in the 9th......

    I taped it from the old Classic Sports Network and they had Dick Schaap interviewing Gibson. He asked about the legs and whether that set him back because he wasn't healthy the next 2-3 years. Gibson agreed that his legs weren't right for the next 2-3 years and he was told before the game that could happen, but he went on to say that he wouldn't trade that ring for perfect legs those next 2-3 years.

    And Roy Hobbs wouldn't trade his ring (if the Knights went on to win) to get that silver bullet out either.....

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  6. I have the original broadcast on VHS also I believe the Game is available as part of a Dodger DVD Set.
    But As you say, The broadcasting of Vin Scully and the way he paints a picture sure added to the drama.

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