It's only a game...

If you weren’t watching the Notre Dame vs. Louisville Men’s Basketball game on Saturday, you missed a doozy.  Down seven points with under a minute to go, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish stormed back to score 12 points in just over 30 seconds to send the game to overtime. Irish Junior Jerian Grant scored three monster 3-pointers, and successfully converted a three-point play to lead the comeback. The game then continued for another 5 overtime periods, full of drama, eventually ending in an Irish victory, in the longest game in school history.

It is on nights like Saturday that we are reminded exactly why we play, why we watch, and why sports are so awesome. As athletes, players get to experience the thrill of defying the odds. As fans, we get to experience the truly mystifying exhilaration of a closely fought battle. The whole experience showcases young people giving it there all in an environment that lets them exhibit what they do best.

Tired minds conquer fatigue. Balls and bodies defy the laws of physics. And ordinary evenings turning into legendary nights.

And as epic as the night may have seemed…it was only a game.

And that’s why we watch…it’s a game!

And that’s why the Irish won.

Anyone watching the Irish bench could see that the longtime skipper of Notre Dame’s team, Mike Brey,  knew exactly why we play the game: to play. Irish coaches and players were having fun: laughing, smiling, and having a “ball.” Brey’s positive style of coaching kept the young team poised, loose, and confident in the heat of the game.  The Irish, often overwhelmed by factors of the game that they could not control (foul trouble, intense defensive pressure), never allowed what could not be controlled get in the way of what could be controlled: their joy and their performance.

And this positive style of Coach Brey has led Brey to over a decade of success at Notre Dame. Coach Brey realizes that the essence of sport is play, and play is supposed to be fun. You can see it on his face that he is having fun, and when players see that, they have fun, and when players have fun, they play well. Sure, Notre Dame hasn’t won every game under Mike Brey, but that’s the reality of sports: some games are won, and others lost.

The beauty of sport that I think Coach Brey really embraces is that something as inconsequential as a game has a transformative power. Something as trivial as basket dropping through a net can galvanize fans, inspire youth, and transform athletes. And Brey gets that. He coaches to pursue excellence in a craft, but realizes that without joy in a passion, there can be no real success. And with joy, we get nights like Saturday.