Half a Second From Infamy

I know this is a college hoops site, but surely many of our readers caught the end of the Nebraska - Texas Big 12 Championship Game last night. The final possession for Texas was inexplicable by nearly all standards; first, why on Earth was Texas so content to rely on a 45+ yard FG to save their perfect dream season? They had nearly a minute on the clock and a timeout in their pocket, yet never attempted to move the ball any closer. Earlier in the game they let senior QB Colt McCoy (the winningest QB in the HISTORY of college football) throw on third and long on his own one inch line against the best D in the country.

Yet with a minute to go? Scared to even attempt to pick up yards through the air. Puzzling.

As Colt McCoy bizarrely floated a completely useless pass downfield, ten yards out of bounds as the clock appeared to tick to zero, my brain immediately raced to rank that brain cramp on the all time sports scale. My immediate thought had to be Top Five, probably Top Three.

Then came the reprieve. Upon further review officials placed one second back on the clock. Texas's kicker drilled a 46 yarder with about six inches to spare inside the left upright. The clock, again, struck zero, permanently this time, and Texas will play for the National Championship, undefeated.

Saved by the bell. Or at least the replay official.

It got me thinking... what if some of college basketball's most famed gaffes had a similar "replay"??

Hmmm.

Say the officials went to the monitors in 1993, and correctly determined Chris Webber traveled long before the ill-fated "Timeout! Timeout!" Carolina inbounds the ball, likely hits at least one free throw and probably wins the game. The outcome is no different. For anyone except Webber that is.

Instead of being remembered for the TO that wasn't, he is instead remembered as a very good NBA player who never quite reached his full potential as a player or winner...and (allegedly) shagging a pre-hefty Tyra Banks in her Victoria Secret/SI Cover prime. Not a bad career my friends, not bad at all.

What if they go to the monitors and determine Memphis wrapped up before "The Shot" in 2008? Kansas steps to the line, hits the first, then misses the second intentionally. Joey Dorsey corrals the rebound, the horn sounds, he flings the ball several hundred joyous feet into the sky and Calipari hugs his tearful players as they dance in celebration.

The what-ifs here are limitless. For one, there is no joy in Lexington today. Travis Ford's Cats (or John Pelphrey - I say Ford) have just gotten blown off the court by the UNC Tarheels. Rebuilding? Heck, the Heels are BETTER this year with freshman phenom John Wall leading the Heels to the #1 ranking. Their dynamite frontcourt of Davis, Thompson and Wear are dunking in record numbers in transition and the Heels look to be in position to repeat as champs.

Memphis, of course is again loaded, with Xavier Henry and DeMarcus Cousins leading the charge, as the Tigers look to capture the first national title in Calipari's and the school's history.

Oh, the one in 2008? It's been vacated. But Cal didn't do anything, so it's OK.

Of course, none of that happened. It only could have, should have...but didn't. Freddie Brown will have always passed to James Worthy in 1982. Chris Webber will always have the ill-fated TO, and Colt McCoy will always be remembered as the winningest QB in college football history who led Texas to the 2009 BCS Title Game (and perhaps the title.)

You see in sports, just like life, it is the slimmest of slivers of time that affect our legacy.

But sometimes don't you wish you had Instant Replay too?

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