Go The Distance
In one of the many great scenes from the fabulous film, Field of Dreams, one of the most memorable sports movies ever, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is sitting with Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) at Fenway Park in Boston.
Kinsella has built a baseball field in a corn field in Iowa and many former great players who are now deceased, appear in their uniforms and begin working out.
Kinsella feels he is on to something, and reading a magazine interview with Mann, a radical author whose books have been banned by the local PTA, learns Mann’s childhood dream was to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
So Kinsella travels to Boston, finds the author, and tells him about what he has discovered back home.
The author doesn’t buy Kinsella’s tale at first, but agrees to sit with him at a Red Sox game.
There, Kinsella hears a voice whispering to him; “Go the distance”.
He then imagines seeing the face of Archie “Moonlight” Graham on the big screen in the outfield. Graham,it seems, never officially had a big-league at-bat, and is now a Doctor in Minnesota.
Kinsella convinces Mann to journey to the Midwest, to find yet another man whose dreams of playing in the major leagues fell short.
The words, “Go the Distance” rang true in the film, and rang true this past week, when champions were crowned in the NHL, NBA and in horse racing’s Triple Crown.
The Washington Capitals captured their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
It was a long-time coming. The Caps were founded in 1974, won 11 division titles, two conference championships, but never “went the distance”.
They finally made it, defeating a franchise in their first year, the Vegas Golden Knights.
How discouraging it would have been for the long-suffering Capitals to bow to a fledgling team. But it didn’t happen.
To underscore Washington’s achievement, it also was the first Cup crown for 32-year old Alex Ovechkin, the Moscow native, team captain, and regarded as one of the greatest hockey players in the modern era.
Ovechkin, who ended a 13-year drought, was also named the winner of the Conn Smythe award which is presented to the MVP of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Alex Ovechkin
It is heartwarming in sports to see a great performer keep working, determined to help guide his team to the ultimate prize. It truly caps a brilliant career, but it’s not the finish to Ovechkin’s playing days. It is also refreshing to see a team’s star, sticking with his original club and displaying patience and not necessarily chasing a championship by becoming a free agent and jumping to a team with a better chance of going all the way
That hasn’t been the case in the NBA, where the Golden State Warriors vanquished the Cleveland Cavaliers in four straight to win their third championship in four years.
Yes, the Warriors are the latest dynasty in their sport, and yes, they’ve been aided tremendously by the addition of Kevin Durant who came aboard in 2016.
Kevin Durant
Durant, who was the star of the Oklahoma City Thunder, became a free agent and decided the best way to get a championship ring was to sign with the league’s best team. It worked out for both parties.
Durant was named Most Valuable Player in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season.
In comparing Ovechkin and Durant, and the different paths they’ve taken, this is no knock on Durant. Free agency is the name of the game these days in professional sports and Kevin Durant merely played by the rules.
You wonder now what LeBron James will decide.
It appears he is headed out of Cleveland for a second time. But where is he headed?
And the big question?
Will the team he signs with still have enough to dethrone the Warriors and win a title? It is not a simple time for LeBron James.
But it’s nice to see how Alex Ovechkin did it the old fashioned way.
Both the hockey and basketball seasons are long. They begin in October and finish in June.
Not so, for the Triple Crown in horse racing. That’s a five-week campaign. But don’t be fooled. It is a grueling five weeks. For three-year old thoroughbreds to race against the best in a short period of time is incredibly demanding.
Justify, trained by legendary Bob Baffert, captured the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, winning in sloppy, muddy conditions each time.
Justify
Many 3-year olds have won the first two legs. But it’s the incredibly taxing mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes that separates the very good from the great.
Finally racing under ideal track conditions, Justify won the Belmont and with it, the extremely elusive Triple Crown in a wire-to-wire spectacle.
For Baffert, he became only the second trainer in history to garner two Triple Crowns.
Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons trained Gallant Fox and Omaha in the 1930’s.
Baffert ended the sport’s 37-year drought by leading American Pharoah to the Triple Crown in 2015.
The day was especially sweet for jockey Mike Smith, who at 52 became the oldest rider to win a Triple Crown.
For Justify, who did not race as as 2-year old, it was his sixth straight victory in about four months.
He has never lost, and now will get some rest.
So do the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin, as well as the Golden State Warriors.
In a glorious week in the wonderful world of sports, three champions heeded the call, “Go the Distance”.
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