“It is better to go down in infamy than to never go down at all.” – Jack Bowman
A defining moment is that one moment in time in which we let our lives be defined in an instant for better or for worse. We continuously hear about the better moments like Tendulkar in Sharjah or Usain Bolt running faster than anyone thought possible or Ronaldo reaching redemption in 2002. But what of the flip side, those careers which are defined by a moment of madness which they will never live down irrespective of what they achieved in the game.
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If you visit the Wikipedia page for “Trevor Chappell”, in the picture associated with the article you may expect a picture of the player either during his playing days or a more recent photograph showing an aging legend of the sport. Instead, the article picture does not even show his face, the photo is in fact of Chappell delivering the now infamous “Underarm ball”. What is lost during our recollection is that an underarm delivery was completely legal at that time. When Chappell was recently interviewed by Cricinfo, he was once again asked about this incident, and his response was “I’m a bit sick of hearing about it. It’s just become something that’s always there and it’s showing no signs of going away. Some years ago I came to the conclusion that I’m better off just to go along with it rather than get upset by it. So I might as well jump on the bandwagon and have a bit of a laugh about it.”
When we think of Zinedine Zidane now, do we remember the amazing goal he scored to win Real Madrid the Champions league? Do we remember the audacious chipped penalty he scored in the 2006 World Cup Final? Unfortunately, the first image now associated with Zidane is the headbutt. As a Wikipedia exercise again, the entirety of Zidane’s career till the 2006 World Cup spans 908 words on wiki. The description of Zidane being sent off spanned 693 words.
And when we talk of fallen heroes, we must think of the person who was actually the inspiration for this article, Tiger Woods. Till November 2009, Tiger Woods was the epitome of an ideal sportsperson. But now his name cannot be brought into everyday conversation without at least a few jokes being cracked at his expense.
There are many others who are now remembered for things which may be only tangentially related to the sport. Hansie Cronje, the other half of the Zidane puzzle – Marco Materazzi, and from one of my favorite “sports” – Chris Benoit and Bret Hart. Most people would say it is because of schadenfreude, a German term describing a desire to have bad things happen to successful people. I feel that it is mostly due to the human mind perceiving the sportsmen as ideals, so this image when shattered remains etched in our mind. A reputation built over years comes crashing down and the image remains forever.
To sign us off, here is another Trevor Chappell quote: “I have scored a century in the world cup, won the ashes, and represented Australia at the highest level. But the only thing they remember about me is that underarm delivery”
