By Michael DeFranza ’17

There is nothing worse than watching your team own a big lead and blow it at the end of the game.

Any fan of either the Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Falcons or the Cleveland Indians can relate to this. Cleveland and Golden State both blew 3-1 game lead in their respective league championship series. The Falcons held a 28-3 lead at in the second half of the Super Bowl, then a man named Tom Brady decided to step up and give the Patriots one of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports.

Sports fans call blowing these large leads what they actually are: a major-league choke. It is very common that as big moments happen, the moment can really get to the heads of the players. All it takes is the wrong mindset for a team to think they are ‘OK’ and the other team down to build up that underdog mentality that they can still win the championship or game.

Klay Thompson was unable to give the media his reaction after the Warriors blew a comfortable 3-1 lead in the NBA finals. “It’s hard for me to answer that right now. It is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my sports career,” Thompson said. “It’s just difficult to process right now.”

Losing in something of that magnitude and having that large of a lead can put a burden on someone for quite a long time.

ESPN writer Gregg Easterbrook says blowing big leads aren’t usually due to the team losing in the end. “Being ahead by a big margin certainly doesn’t mean you are the better team! The assumption seems to be that if a team jumps to a big lead, then it deserves to win. The team that plays the best overall deserves to win,” Easterbrook said.

With a quarter left down by 19 the Patriots did what nobody thought they could to make this year’s Super Bowl one for the ages.

“Tom Brady was just unreal and made it clear that blowing a big lead isn’t from the team originally winning. The outcome depends on the team that is playing better in the end,” sophomore Sam Zakkour said.

After losing the game, the thought of being so close can put a toll on a player. If you listen to the post game interviews then you will hear the tone of voice where these players are wildly disappointed in the game. Most of the time they respond with “I have no words for what just happened” or “still can’t believe we lost”.

Even though that the result of choking may be negative, it can bring out a few positives. Losing a game that should have been a victory can teach the team a couple of valuable lessons.