Following the wild final 72 seconds of Michigan/Notre Dame,
Brent Musburger told us, “Folks, you have just seen an instant classic.”
But pretend it wasn’t Michigan and Notre Dame on the
jerseys. Two unranked teams spent the game's most crucial moments unable to cover receivers, tackle
ball carriers or pull together any semblance of defense. They turned the ball over a combined eight times. Game “hero”
Denard Robinson completed less than half of his passes. Notre Dame just
self-destructed once more than the Wolverines.
If you wanna talk classic, let’s change the scene to
Flushing Meadows, where Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer dueled in a five-set
titanic struggle of a semifinal at the U.S. Open. The game’s best right now
against arguably its best ever. Their quality of play matched their reputation.
It wasn’t made exciting because one man made enough unforced errors to keep the
other alive.
No, it was Djokovic saving a match point with an incredible
return winner, then saving another and completing a two-set down comeback.
Unlike Michigan’s big comeback, Djokovic’s wasn’t a result of the opponent’s
self-destruction. Federer exhibited the level of tennis that makes him a
legend. In contrast to the big finish at the Big House, excitement was
precipitated by greatness, not mediocrity, being amplified.
Sure, Denard Robinson found Jeremy Gallon for what became a
64-yard completion and run after the catch. But there wasn’t a Notre Dame
defender near him. Then, on the subsequent game-winning touchdown, the Irish
corner committed pass interference but was unable to prevent Roy Roundtree from
catching the ball in doing so.
Michigan and Notre Dame have the name recognition, the
prestige of storied histories. The atmosphere in the first night game at the
Big House looked just electric, one hundred thousand fans in maize sticking
around well after the final play. It’s just unfortunate that the day’s most
epic action was buried twenty minutes into SportsCenter. Take a step back and
you’ll realize that for all the wild antics of Wolverines/Irish it was a second
week game between teams who have a lot more problems than pluses right now.
Djokovic and Federer, the world number one and three,
delivered epic theatre in a semifinal of a grand slam. When we’re taking
classics, that’s one that will stand the test of time.
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