The Cause and Effects of a Miscue (The Etiquette of Sportsmanship) - By Moses

The 1941 and the Brooklyn Dodgers were one strike away from winning the World Series against the favourite New York Yankees. That is exactly what they got. Yet their Catcher Mickey Owens dropped the ball, and the Yankees ended up winning the deciding seventh game.
It was 1971, and the Toronto Argonauts were on the 4 yard line during the Grey Cup final against the Calgary Stampeders. Down by 3 in the last minute of the game, the Agonauts looked poised to come back and defeat the Calgary Stampeders in the 61st Grey Cup. Argo's running back Leon McQuay carried the ball, slipped and fumbled, and Calgary recovered winning the game 14-11. Not many people today remember who Leon McQuay was, determined by a once famous fumble.
In 1986, the California Angels were tied 2-2 in a best of five series against the Boston Red Sox. Winning by two runs going into the top of the ninth, they turned the ball over to their ever reliable closer Donnie Moore. With two on two out and two strikes on batter Dave Henderson, it looked like the Angels would reach the World Series for the first time in their organizations' history. Dave Henderson hit a game winning three run home-run and the Bosox ended up winning the game. A few years later, Donnie Moore (never recovered from this incident) took a gun and blew his head off. Today he is just a footnote in the anals of sport.
Later in the Fall Classic of '86, the Bosox were winning 3 games to two against the New York Mets. There were two outs and a runner on third base and Mookie Wilson was batting for the Mets. He hit a groundball to the right side and first baseman Bill Buckner looked poised to field the ball and end the Series. The ball went through his legs and the Red Sox never recovered, with the Mets coming back and winning the World Series in seven games. While most baseball fans will forever remember Bill Buckner for his mistake, an otherwise stellar career is sidestepped by most.
During the 2005/06 NFL Football Season, the Indianapolis Colts were perfect through 13 games. Trying to achieve the first perfect season since the Miami Dolphins of 1971, it looked like they could do it. It was completely unexpected when the Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy's son committed suicide. How much pressure he had in his life is telling, as his Father had tremendous success throughout his life. Later on, in the playoffs of that year Pittsburgh was winning the AFC Championship game against the Colts and it looked like an insurmountable lead in the dying seconds. The Steelers gave the ball to their reliable 'back Jerome Bettis, and he fumbled at the Colts two yard line. The Colts almost came back, if not for an heroic tackle by Quarterback Ben Roethisberger. How would Football have remembered Bettis had the Steelers not won the game (and later the Superbowl)?
This last year (to today) we saw our Canadian Junior Hockey Team try and win our sixth straight World Championship. We were undefeated through the preliminaries and beat a surprising Swiss team in the Semi's. Going up against the U.S.A in a New Year's Eve rematch, expectations were high. Our starting Goalie for the game was the consistent Jake Allen. As we were in a Classic battle and the game certainly within reach (down 3-2) in the third period, Allen let in a soft goal. Jake Allen was taken out of the game. Canada came back and tied the score late in the third, but couldn't stave off the Americans in Overtime. Most would say this miscue by Allen was an aboration towards his usual strong consistent Netminding. We'll only know the effects of one bad goal in his career by how he performs in his climb to the Pro Ranks. Still in the Junior ranks, thank G-d he's already been drafted by the St. Louis Blues.
Let's not forget about the overtime goal in 1988-89 when Steve Smith scored on his own net to give the Calgary Flames a surprising win over former Champion Edmonton Oilers. To this day, Steve Smith as the previously mentioned Mickey Owens, Leon McQuay, Donnie Moore, and Bill Buckner, have negative connotations towards their sports accomplishments. In fact it's a North American traditional perspective 'to the victor goes the spoils'. To what extent does second place determine failure. For the aforementioned athlete's who competed at the highest level for many years, failure was not an option. Are we too hard on our athlete's? How does Jake Allen feel about his miscue? Was U.S.A just plain and simply the better team, or do we need a fall guy? Last I remembered you win as a team and you lose as a team. This is sportsmanship.