by Kevin Burton
Mitch Holthus is the radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s really good at his job, in the overheated manner of the hometown play-by-play guy.
There is a nearly-universal breathless presentation of sports that attempts to elevate it to something truly significant, when it really is not.
Hey, I’m not pointing fingers. I am as guilty of suspending disbelief in that arena, as anybody.
Holthus is forever talking about the “sweet nectar of the end zone” as the Chiefs are matriculating the ball down the field. I chuckle when he says this without coming down from my sports revery to figure out exactly what he is saying. I mean, I sort of know what nectar is.
But not really. I mean, I don’t exactly go to IHop and say, “yes, I’ll have the sausage and eggs, with wheat toast, black coffee, and I’d like a small glass of that sweet nectar.”
So I looked into nectar yesterday.
Our friends at Merriam-Webster Dictionary say nectar is “the drink of the Greek and Roman gods,” “something delicious to drink,” or “a beverage of fruit juice and pulp.”
A second meaning is “a sweet liquid that is secreted by the nectaries of a plant and is the chief raw material of honey.”
In its “Did You Know” section on its website, the dictionary I think gets to what Holthus is hinting at, if not literally, then in the spirit of sports hype.
“Nectar is often mentioned in conjunction with ambrosia, the food of the Greek and Roman gods. For centuries, English speakers have used ambrosia to refer to something with an extremely pleasing taste or smell, and nectar to refer to a delicious drink, especially a fruit juice.”
“To the ancient Greeks and Romans, however, the powers of nectar and ambrosia far exceeded those of any earthly fare; consuming nectar and ambrosia gave the gods their immortality. In Greek, the literal meanings of ambrosia and nectar are “immortality” and “overcoming death,” respectively. Nektar is believed to be a compound of Greek nek– (probably akin to Latin nec-, meaning “death”) and –tar (probably akin to Sanksrit tarati, meaning “he overcomes or crosses over”).
A touchdown is obviously a desirable means to an end in a football game. It may sound other-worldly the way Holthus announces it, but it is in reality very much earth bound.
So how sweet are our sports victories, really?
This thought and others washed over me Monday night as I celebrated four regular-season league titles in fantasy football this year.
Most fantasy players take little note of a regular-season championship. Winning in the post-season is the point of it all. In fact, I woke up Tuesday morning to discover that only two of my five playoff teams is favored to win its semi-final. I was brought back to reality literally overnight.
But I only had one regular-season title in my first three years, so getting four this year means something to me.
My celebration Monday night came without apology, as I was especially glad for one of the titles. The team I named the “ K&J Middle 8,” Middle 8 is a nod to songwriting (the middle 8 is also commonly called the “bridge” of a song). I call the team the Middies for short.
Fantasy teams in my leagues have nine players. I had played all mine in the previous games. My opponent had two remaining on Monday. The Middies entered Monday with a 118.54 to 91.20 lead (A difference of 27.34 points).
My opponent had Minnesota running back Aaron Jones and Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo remaining to score points against me. Half way through the Minnesota-Chicago game, I still led by about 20 points.
Then the fantasy ground began to crumble beneath me. First, Koo kicked a field goal, then Jones scored a touchdown. That left me about seven points ahead.
Another field goal by Koo really had me really sweating.
Jones, a player I had on one of my teams last year, continued to gain yardage and score points. But Minnesota also played its backup, Cam Akers, some of the time. That saved me.
About halfway through the third quarter a Jones run left my fantasy opponent exactly 0.74 points behind me. That meant that even if Jones was removed from the game (as he actually was because the score got out of hand), a single extra point from Koo in the other game would sink me.
When the televised Minnesota game ended without any more damage from Jones, I hurried downstairs to find Atlanta vs Las Vegas on the radio. The first thing I heard made me happy, Atlanta having to punt. Las Vegas ran the clock out, no further scoring, and I held on to my slim 0.74-point lead.
Ah, that sweet nectar of victory!
What was at stake? The Middies went into the game in first place but were facing the second-place team. So I got my fourth regular-season title.
In one way that means very little, that in the first round of the playoffs I will play the fourth-place team instead of the third-place team.
The true skill in fantasy is winning the regular season. The playoffs are a crapshoot. I’ve heard that from many players much more experienced than I.
So I was happy to celebrate Monday. . And I hope I can get back to celebrating my small victories when they come in the more meaningful parts of life. You can call it smelling the roses, looking on the bright side or whatever.
You can also think of it as counting your blessings. This I hope to do much more often in the future.
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