Thin Margins in March

I spent Sunday night at the TD Garden, broadcasting a pair of State Championship games. The first was a tight battle between favorite Nauset and Marblehead, and Marblehead was able to pull out at 1-0 victory with a stellar performance from their goaltender Leo Burdge. Nauset was top 5 in all divisions for scoring and Marblehead shut them out despite a plethora of scoring opportunities throughout the game.

The second game has made national headlines, with St John’s Prep defeated Winchester by the thinnest of margins at the buzzer. The issue is the buzzer is delayed, and it appears the goal did not cross the line during the running portion of the clock.

There was a systematic failure that led to the game being decided after a conversation between officials that ruled a good goal and a State Championship for St John’s. Certainly, the decision is a heart-wrenching result for Winchester, who should feel slighted by the lack of a chance to win in Overtime. And it sucks for St John’s as well, as there will always be a precinct of folks reminding them of how that game ended. However, they did get an unbelievable shot of a goal that was wrongly waived off in the second period. That should quell things as well. It wasn’t a matter of who got screwed, it was who got screwed last.

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Also that’s a high school kid’s videography work. Pretty insane.

But that’s sports for you. If refs were always right, Tom Brady fumbles in 2001, Dez Bryant catches the ball in 2014, The Saints lose to the Patriots instead of the Rams, and on and on.

With high school sports, hockey in particular being the pinnacle of the Athletic career for 95% of players who play, we owe it to the athletes to be better going forward. I’m sure every men’s league locker room has a story like this to talk about, Andover St John’s in Basketball in 2013, CM-MC hockey in 2010, and so on. That’s the risk you run playing in these games, and it’s why truly dominant teams are so hard to come by, because at the end of the day, there is always a luck proponent involved.

Speaking of that, look at the Players Championship from Sunday. I watched the end on a tv in the next booth over, and man how did that putt not go in for Wyndham Clark. Think about the sequence on Sunday, Scheffler holes out mid round and ends up shooting 65 for the clubhouse lead. On 15, a hole set up for players like Clark to climb back into it, his putt just breaks short of the hole and he taps in for birdie. He then fires an absolute dart and buries the birdie putt. Simultaneously, Xander Schauffele is just as close and his putt just misses keeping him one off the lead as well. It’s crazy how many micro moments lead to a decision in a golf tournament. On Friday Scottie Scheffler, who is dominating golf on a level that hasn’t been seen since Tiger Woods, was getting neck massages in between shots, and by his phrasing “slapping it around.” Which is insane based on his performance:

What a monster. And even with that performance he had to rally back to beat the leaders going into Sunday. The margins are so small in these tournaments, and the Players delivered a much needed big time Sunday.

This has been quite the ramble. One final note for self-promotion purposes. On Saturday I will be on the call for Merrimack and UMBC on ESPN+, if you are looking for something to break up March Madness before the round of 32 tune in, there should be lines available on the major books if you are outside of MA, so get involved and enjoy some Saturday D1 Lax with your boy. It would be much appreciated. Be well, and talk next week.

TT