I Still Love You Jordan Williamson

I felt so sorry for Stanford (walk-on!) kicker Jason Williamson, who missed 2 big field goals I wanted to comment on the “We Still Love You Jordan Williamson” Facebook page.  I felt even worse for his Mom. Whenever a swimmer jumps the gun and is disqualified, or a runner drops the baton and the team is out of the race, or when a goalie lets in the game-winning shot, look up in the stands and you’ll find her - that mom who feels just as much misery and disappointment as her athlete.

I was hardly alone in my pain. On January 4, two days after the Fiesta Bowl football game between Stanford and Oklahoma State, sports columnist Chris Dufresne wrote an article in the LA Times that started out, “Momma, don't let your babies grow up to be … kickers. If you do, buy earplugs and a crate of antacids.

Three weeks later, a pro kicker, Baltimore’s Billy Cundiff had a chance to tie up the score in the AFC Championship game against New England, and send the game into overtime. He missed an easy field goal.  Baltimore lost the game.  I was feeling sympathy for him, and his mom too--and Fox Sports reported that I wasn’t the only mom in pain – “Maggie Ann Tynes, mom of Giant’s hero Lawrence Tynes, said Monday her heart still bleeds for a man she‘s never met: the Raven’s field goal specialist that choked a chip shot that would have kept Baltimore’s Super Bowl hopes alive. “I felt so badly for him (Cundiff) my heart was breaking.”

 There used to be an ABC Sports introduction that showed high performance athletes as the music swelled, and the announcer boomed, “The thrill of VICTORY, and the AGONY of defeat…” just as a downhill ski racer missed a gate and crashed into the barricade.  That is the essence of being a mom in the stands – sometimes you’re thrilled and then other times you just want to climb down out of the bleachers, gather your kid in your arms and go home.