One Call Can Change A Season

Author's Note: This is a piece that I wrote about a botched coin flip that cost the Steelers the game on Thanksgiving Day. I wrote this from not the Lions point of view, but from the Steelers point of view. 

Have you ever had a moment when you are in a game and a call doesn’t go your way, and it changes the whole game? Or if something happens that gives the opposing team momentum and you can’t come back? This happens, sadly, a lot in sports. There are prime examples of this, and in big games, which is even tougher to comprehend. Thanksgiving Day football game, everything is going good. A tough, smash mouth game that went into overtime.  It all came down to the coin toss. The Steelers were away so they got to pick heads or tails, and they chose tails. The coin goes up in the air, and then falls hardly to the turf. It finally stops moving, and it is clearly tails…so we thought. The referee called it heads when everyone standing right there and all the fans watching on television, knew the real call. The Lions had ”won” the coin toss, and elected to receive. In a sudden death game, the first team to score in overtime wins. The Lions marched straight down the field and scored. The game was over and Detroit went home happy. The Steelers, had a different feeling, a feeling that they had the game stolen from them. 

In the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room, there was a lot of despair and sadness in the air. They felt like they should’ve won, should’ve had a chance to at least touch the ball in overtime. After all, they did win the coin toss. The locker room was completely silent, except for the clanking of the helmets and pads getting put into their lockers. They fought all the way up until the end, and it’s a shame that they had to lose like this. That was going to be a long trip home, and it didn’t help that everyone was infuriated.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Lions were in their locker room partying, and all riled up. They felt a little guilt though, knowing that they probably should’ve lost, and the roles would’ve changed. You can’t change it now, so why not party with your teammates? A win is a win.

There have been some horrific calls in sports. Some not as bad as others, but all bad calls are bad calls. In a close game, those calls could cost a team their chances for that whole year. You never know what could happen to your season, so protect it the best you can.