So, Samsung wants to know what my favorite sports highlight is! I mean, they want to know yours, too, because they make pretty TV's that you can watch sports on and they probably want to figure out what qualities in TV's will best reflect what highlights or something like that, but I get to write about it up here while you guys write about it in the comments.
This took some serious thinking. While Northwestern hasn't been the most successful team in my four years here, some absolute ridiculous things have happened. Disturbing comebacks, miraculous plays, the whole kit and caboodle. (That's a term, right? Any idea what a caboodle is? Is "kit" referring to a baby fox?)
I basically narrowed myself down to two highlights that occurred during my college career: the first, and the one I eventually didn't pick, was Dan Persa's final throw of the 2010 season, the game-winning touchdown pass to Demetrius Fields in the corner of the end zone over Iowa. It had narrative - completing a major comeback against one of NU's biggest opponents - and highlight reel factor - it's a nuts throw, with Persa running the wrong way and still putting a perfect pass right where only his receiver could reel in the touchdown - but it's also so sad, since it's the last time we'd ever see Dan Persa at 100 percent, as he obviously tore his Achilles by some stroke of unluck in the play's aftermath.
So I picked possibly the greatest physical effort on a single play I've ever seen: for me, the last name Play, first name Greatest was courtesy of Drake Dunsmore. He's the he's the best, the best we've ever had.
I'm proud to say I was one of the idiots going nuts in the Raymond James stands after this touchdown. Northwestern looked straight up outmatched at first, going up against an Auburn team that quickly skittered out to a 14-point lead, in part due to a 100-plus yard interception return by Walter McFadden, while Auburnians yelled things like "WAR" and "EAGLE" and other words that had nothing to do with their mascot or Cam Newton. NU got back a score. Then this happened.
By all accounts, Dunsmore's effort shoulda been a one-or-two yard loss. But as we learned that day, one does not simply oh crap that's that dumb meme let me rewrite this: you can't just bring down Drake Dunsmore by yourself. The first responder thinks he has him. A spin-move, and he's left holding a jersey. A few powerful Dunsmore steps, or as I call them, Dunsteps, and the jersey is gone. He sprints past some more anonymous Tigers and hits a tackler's arm with enough force to probably break it, and he's in the clear.
But Walter McFadden - YEAH, THE DUDE WHO HAD THE PICK-SIX EARLIER - has other ideas. He catches Drake at the 20 and has him wrapped up for a routine arm-tackle, both arms around the tight end and he prepares, poised to drag him to the ground. So he starts dragging... but Dunsmore doesn't come with him. A few Dunsteps later and McFadden - YEAH, THE DUDE WHO OWNS MCFADDEN'S THAT ONE BAR IN wait, that's probably not him, YOUR BAR IS AWESOME KEEP TEXTING ME YOUR EVENTS AND TELL ME IF I WIN A FREE OPEN BAR (in reality, McFadden's is owned by Oakland Raiders RB Darren McFadden and McGee's is owned by JaVale McGee, which explains why their open bar is insane) - is left in a disgraced heap on the sidelines while Dunsmore gleefully bursts into the end zone and the purple crowd goes nuts.
The nutsness of that afternoon was nuts. You all likely remember it: NU trailed by 14, then came back, then trailed by 14 again, then came back, then could've won in regulation, thought they lost twice in overtime, then lost on a failed fumblerooskie. Being in the stands for that game was the most confusing experience of my life. We went from flatlining to heart attack to heartbreak in the span of seconds over and over again, and we remembered that being a sports fan is just a nobler way of letting outside influences manipulate your emotions than being a heroin addict.
Dunsmore's He-Man run encapsulated that feeling. He should have been tackled. He should've been stopped behind the line of scrimmage and left Mick McCall fuming in the booth about how his screen got blown up so easily. He should've been stopped short of a touchdown and left NU needing work to score. But Dunsmore finds narratives uncompeling: the least compelling of these to him is the one where the guy who is supposed to tackle him succeeds. So he threw his transmission into UNSTOPPABLE DEATH BEAST and ran until the officials told him running anymore wouldn't help his team score any more points and it was okay to celebrate. Our emotions swung from "DAWW BAD PLAY" to "WOAH!" to "that play was pretty good" to "I AM SUPERMAN BECAUSE THAT PERSON GOES TO MY COLLEGE".
So that's me. But what about you guys? I assume you ignorant fools have different ideas as to your favorite plays. Some Victory Rights? Something from NU's Rose Bowl run in 1995? Anything basketball related? (Probably not). Please leave your ideas in the comments, or something.