As I sat in my apartment Saturday afternoon, having just watched Ben Brust’s half-court prayer send the Wisconsin-Michigan game into overtime, I tried to remember the last time I was this excited by a sporting event—any sporting event. When was the last time that a play literally made me jump out of my seat and start jumping up and down while yelling myself horse?
I then had a sudden sense of déjà vu, like I had been in this moment before, and then it came to me. The last play to make me react that way was Christian Watford’s last-second three-pointer to propel Indiana over No. 1 Kentucky last season.
In the period between Watford’s three-pointer and Brust’s miracle, I watched Washington Capitals’ forward Joel Ward score a sudden-death overtime goal to win game seven and knock the defending-champion Boston Bruins out of the playoffs. I watched Freddie Freeman secure the Atlanta Braves a playoff spot with a walk-off homerun against Miami. I watched Russell Wilson take down the Packers with his last-second Hail (or, “Fail”) Mary pass to Golden Tate.
None of these plays made me react the way Brust’s and Watford’s did, and that is why I am comfortable declaring the buzzer beater to be the best play in all of sports. No play can make an entire fan base explode the way a last-second basket does.
When watching Kentucky-Indiana last year, I had no real rooting interest in the outcome one way or another, but that didn’t stop me—or anyone else in my apartment at the time—from leaping up and screaming about what we had just seen.
There is something about the buzzer beater itself that is simply majestic. The collective deep breath taken by everyone in attendance. The dead silence from when the ball leaves the shooter’s hands to when it drops through the hoop, broken only by the sound of the buzzer itself. The ensuing madness that immediately grips everyone who just watched. All of it together makes the buzzer beater the biggest roller coaster of emotions in sports.
If you think I am wrong, just go back and find the video of Brust’s shot. Better yet, find video from the student section and see how they react. The immediate shift from stillness to chaos makes it seem as though a 9.0 earthquake had just struck Madison.
Think about the odds of a buzzer beater itself. A walk-off home run has hundreds of feet to land and still be a home run. A touchdown can end up anywhere in a 10x53 yard end zone and still count. A basketball player has to put a ball with a 29.5-inch circumference into a hoop with a circumference of 56.5-inches from, in Brust’s case, 40 feet away.
If Wisconsin had beaten Michigan without the help of a buzzer beater, the court at the Kohl Center would not have been stormed and Mike Bruesewitz wouldn’t have taken the PA microphone to thank the fans for their support.
Brust’s shot turned that game into something more—a classic—that will be remembered for years. That is why the buzzer beater is the best play in sports.
Do you think there is a better play in all of sports than the buzzer beater? Let Matt know by sending him an email at sports@dailycardinal.com.
