JohnFMurray.com

In advance of a game, how accurately can the Huskies coach predict how his team will perform?

“I have quit trying to predict it,” Willingham said. “When you are a young coach, you try to see everything before it happens. But I think, with experience, you learn to adjust as you go because you just never know (beforehand). There are times when they’re jumping off the walls and you think, ‘This is it!’ — and then you come out and are (insert table pound) flatter than this table.”

Slam! That’s a perfect sound for the 2007 college football season.

Few imagined that anything could top Appalachian State’s pillaging of Michigan at the Big House. But, lo and behold, 41-point favorite USC fell at the Coliseum to woeful Stanford last weekend, ending a 35-game home winning streak and further scrambling the national title and the Pac-10 races.

Try to find a single season that has produced two upsets of that magnitude. Here’s a hint: You won’t. Individually, each is practically unprecedented. Taken together, we’re talking a millennial occurrence.

Nonetheless, such stunning games are often written off with a shrug and a reflexive, “On any given Saturday.” Or coaches will explain that the 85-scholarship limit as well as blanketing media coverage have narrowed the gap between the haves and have-nots. In the 21st century, every team has good players and is capable of winning against anyone else under the right circumstances.

Doesn’t that seem like a bit of a cop-out, though? As in: the planets align in a certain way and John David Booty suddenly becomes the worst quarterback in Division I-A football, while Tavita Prichard, with zero career starts, casually throws a perfect pass to convert on fourth-and-20 during a desperation drive.

Coaches and some pundits lean too hard on the “parity” cliché. It tells only part of the story.

Often left out is how college athletes have changed — not athletically, but in terms of how they see the world.

Young athletes no longer completely buy into the rah-rah, team-first routine. They look at big-time college sports with a skeptical eye — not without justification, by the way — and see a lot of money changing hands over their unpaid services, and wonder what’s in it for them.

Some use college football to get to the NFL. Others, to get a college degree. Whatever the priority is, it’s more about personal business than waking the echoes.

Make no mistake: There are plenty of bitter smirks when players desperately search under their sofa cushions for change in order to buy a late-night pizza after spending 60 hours the previous week sandwiching meetings, practices and workouts around a full class schedule.

With all the distractions young people face today, combined with the demands of Division I-A sports, how can complete commitment and focus be expected every week? How can anyone expect every Trojans starter, who agreed to play for USC in order to improve their eventual NFL draft position, to take their preparation for Stanford seriously when they remember effortlessly whipping the Cardinal 42-0 a year ago?

Parity? Consider Stanford’s and USC’s rosters. The only Cardinal who would break the Trojans’ starting lineup on either side of the ball is probably receiver Mark Bradford, who scored the winning touchdown on a leaping, fourth-down reception.

Sure, the talent gap in general has closed, but a more demanding, complicated, high-pressure game has made focus and thorough preparation more important than ever. That is the critical and unpredictable variable every week that can overcome pronounced talent disparities.

Still, in an athletic contest, with a margin for error spread out over 60 minutes, it would seem like, eventually, the clearly superior team would prevail. But team sports aren’t dictated by an accounting ledger, where values are absolute.

Ever seen a bully get punched in the nose by someone smaller than him? Doubt creeps into his head, he presses, starts throwing wild punches and gets smacked again.

“The most dangerous situation to be in is when you’ve got everything to lose and the other team has nothing to lose,” sports psychologist John Murray said. “Every game has a momentum and life of its own. If you start getting a few breaks the wrong way …”

Things can start to go wrong, and it’s hard to stop the bleeding.

Just as Oklahoma couldn’t wake up while it blew a 24-7 second-half lead to outmanned but tenacious Colorado, so, too, couldn’t the Trojans reach back and grab some extra mojo when the Cardinal refused to go away.

“That’s why you always hear coaches say, ‘It’s not like turning on a light switch,’ ” Willingham said. “It’s hard to reverse that.”

Imagine a zero-to-100-point performance scale, ranging from execrable to perfect. Stanford’s range of performance might be between 10 and 50. USC’s 49 to 99. And last weekend, for myriad reasons, Stanford peaked at 50 and USC slumped to 49.

It was like winning the lottery. It was impossible to predict. It probably won’t happen again for some time.

And it’s a big reason we keep watching.

TED MILLER’S PAC-10 PICKS

Matchup Line
Washington (2-3, 0-2) at ASU (6-0, 3-0)

Sun Devils should be on upset alert.
ASU by 11 1/2

Pick: UW, 33-28
WSU (2-4, 0-3) at No. 9 Oregon (4-1, 1-1)

Oregon spread includes Cougar sashimi.
Oregon by 18

Pick: UO, 48-21
Arizona (2-4, 1-2) at No. 10 USC (4-1, 2-1)

Is the Trojan Colossus starting to crack?
USC by 21

Pick: USC, 38-14
OSU (3-3, 1-2) at No. 2 Cal (5-0, 2-0)

Cal full of Wonder and Thunder and Pappy.
Cal by 14

Pick: Cal, 33-17
TCU (3-3) at Stanford (2-3)

That sound is the Cardinal coming back to earth.
TCU by 6 1/2

Pick: TCU 20-13

Last week: 1-3 overall, 1-3 vs. spread.

Season: 31-10 overall; 18-20 vs. spread

Palm Beach, FL — September 31, 2007 — Our Miami Dolphins are by far the most popular sports show in this football-rich state, and Miami team legacy can still boast two Super Bowl championships in five appearances, the winningest football coach ever, the best pure passer known, and even moderate success during the Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt eras.

But now, for the first time ever, the tradition created by the likes of Csonka, Griese, Shula, and Marino, seems to be in peril. Success seems eons away in this current climate of embarrassment. The team dropped into new depths of mediocrity after the loss to Oakland yesterday 35-17. What made it all the more painful was that the quarterback the Dolphins released, Daunte Culpepper, had a great game, and ran for the final score on the same legs the Dolphins considered his reason for release.

Throughout most of the Dolphins years from 1970 on, there has been one person who has steadfastly supported this team from the varying perspectives of a 12-year old fan in the early 70s, to a season ticket holder, and an occasional sport psychology consultant. I would like nothing more than to see this team find their mark again and return to greatness, says Dr. John F. Murray, the sport psychologist dubbed the Freud of Football by the Washington Post.

In this day and age, I believe that any team that fails to adopt a significant mental training program from day one of camp is really missing a huge advantage, says Murray. Dr. Murray says he has been a sports and performance psychologist in private practice for ten years and lives in South Florida.

Most teams still do not stress mental performance. The mind is the last great frontier in sports, he says, and if there is one successful franchise that could set an example as a model of training for the rest of the NFL, it is the Miami Dolphins. Of course, the assumption is that success does matter and that coaches and administrators are willing to do anything they can to achieve it.

Another aspect of performance is dealing with defeat. The team and the coaches must be very down today. Their feelings probably hurt more than their bodies. When feelings erupt into mental anguish, what do you do? You work with a professional who knows how to help you deal with this pain and best turn the ship around.

You can get through this, Murray states, but you may need help. He, like the rest of South Florida wants what the team wants “ to win.

Dr. Murray is available for interviews.

John F. Murray, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical and Sport Performance Psychologist
340 Royal Poinciana Way Suite 339J
Palm Beach, FL 33480
Telephone: 561-596-9898
Web: http://www.JohnFMurray.com

But for the hapless bowler that one over can be a lifelong curse. Malcolm Nash may have been a decent county bowler, but he is remembered only for the six over-boundaries that Garfield Sobers slammed against him in 1968. Or, Barodas left-arm spinner Tilak Raj, who was taunted and teased for many months after being at the receiving end of Ravi Shast aggression in 1985.

In this backdrop, one wonders about the kind of psychological damage endured by 21-year-old England paceman Stuart Broad after Yuvraj Singh smashed him for six consecutive sixes during the recent Twenty20 World Cup.

London-based sports psychologist Victor Thompson explains. “The main risk is that the bowler will interpret the sixes as evidence that he has failed as a bowler,” he says. According to the sports psychologist, a bowler should focus on the challenge and not the threat of the situation to prevent from crumbling psychologically.

“He should analyse his delivery and look for ways to test and beat the batsman. He must keep his body language confident and positive: upright, purposeful, chest high. He should also recall similar situations before where he has had success and shown grit against a challenging batsman. Other techniques can also help but these can give most bowlers a boost,” Thompson says in an email interview.

Florida-based performance psychologist John F Murray compares the event to a pitcher getting hammered in baseball. “The effect depends entirely on a player’s experience, self-confidence, maturity and resilience. If a player is high in these factors then catastrophic failure has little effect and the player usually recovers well and may even return with increased confidence and focus,” he says.

However, if player lacks resilience then he is likely to interpret the event traumatically and this can lead to mood difficulty, greater anxiety and even poorer performance in the future. “Many of my referrals originate following such negative events. The key in helping those who experience an adverse reaction to failure is to know precisely how that athlete thinks, feel and behaves. And then to design a treatment programme that is most suited to his or her needs,” Murray says.

For the record, Nash wasnt destroyed by Sober sixes. It helped that he was a left-arm medium pacer who was bowling slow left-arm orthodox spin that day. Few know it wasnt the only time that the Glamorgan bowler was mauled. Frank Hayes of Lancashire hit him for five sixes and a four in one over. It is even less known that he himself once hit four consecutive sixes against Dennis Breakwell of Somerset. His county career ended only in 1983. Nash finished with 993 first-class wickets. He now teaches cricket in California.

Even Tilak Raj has made peace with his plight. “In the end, you have to accept it. It is the beauty of the game,” he said recently in a TV interview. Hopefully, Netherlands Dan van Bunge who was clobbered in similar fashion by South Africas Herschelle Gibbs during the one-day World Cup earlier this year has done the same.

Once viewed as a rising NFL star with one heck of a running game, Vick, a 27-year-old Newport News native and Atlanta Falcons quarterback, plans to plead guilty to a dogfighting conspiracy charge today in federal court in Richmond.

His reputation has taken a beating. Public relations and marketing experts won’t rule out a comeback for his image, but they agree it’s an uphill battle that’s just beginning.

And it’s hard to imagine that he’ll ever be the man kids could look up to and parents respect, experts said.

“The chances of him gaining back a positive public image will be very small and will take a long time coming,” said Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd., a Chicago-based sports industry marketing firm.

“And he’s going to have to show a great deal of contrition and positive acts.”

Speculation about Vick’s role in a dogfighting ring investigators uncovered in April stopped last week when he announced he would plead guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal-fighting venture.

The details of Bad Newz Kennels, based out of Vick’s Surry County property, included forcing dogs to fight each other and killing dogs that weren’t good fighters.

Investigators seized “break sticks” to pry apart the powerful jaws of fighting animals, blood-stained carpeting from a dogfighting pit and “rape stands,” used to restrain female dogs during the breeding process.

Crimes against dogs are hard to swallow for an American public that views the animals as man’s best friend, said Eric Dezenhall, CEO of Dezenhall Resources, a Washington crisis management firm, and author of “Damage Control.”

“Torturing animals gratuitously is nowhere on the grid of our cultural experience,” Dezenhall said.

“It’s not like he was driving down the street and the dog ran out in front of him and he hit it. Dogs are a domestic animal. A lot of people have dogs,” he said.

“It is grotesque on a very personal level. Killing them, torturing them, is unspinnable.”

To gain the public’s respect back, he must say he’s sorry and admit he was wrong, experts said.

“He has to use this great visible platform of pleading guilty to be the start of the rehabilitation of his image,” said Ganis.

“He needs to demonstrate a level of contrition and apology instead of defiance. So far, we’ve seen denial and defiance. That is a horrible way to regain the luster of his reputation. If it’s important to him, what the general public has to say about him, he has to recognize that what he did is wrong, and it can’t be through his lawyers. He has to do it personally.”

To some extent, Vick will always have a loyal following, Ganis said.

“There will always be a small segment of the population who will feel he was put upon because of his background or his race or who do not see as heinous an act as virtually the entire country does,” Ganis said.

To gain back the mainstream endorsement deals he had before, he’ll first have to regain the public’s respect.

Mainstream companies will look for an apology, good civic works such as community service and contributions and “extraordinary” performance on the field, Ganis said.

The NBA’s Kobe Bryant’s comeback is a good model for Vick to follow, Ganis said. Bryant was accused of sexual assault but, unlike Vick, did not face a guilty plea or a suspension from the game.

“He has since stepped back. He’s taken his time. He did a lot of charitable activities,” Ganis said. “He stayed out of the spotlight, to a degree, and his performance on the court has made him among the top three players in the NBA.

“(Vick) has one great asset on his side — and that’s his youth,” Ganis said. “He’s still got enough time left in his career — and in his life — to regain some of his reputation back.”

Working against Vick is his tough guy image, Dezenhall said.

“Michael Vick has never been a cuddly guy,” Dezenhall said. “What would I tell him if he came to me? It’s very easy. It’d take three seconds. ‘Go to jail, come out a changed man.’ ”

Ganis said he’s not sure Vick has come to terms with the fact that what he did was wrong, and that needs to happen for his redemption.

“He may not feel that dogfighting is wrong, that it’s heinous,” Ganis said. “I don’t know if he believes it yet, if he understands it.”

And then again, maybe Vick doesn’t want to be back on the pedestal, said John F. Murray, a clinical and sports psychologist from Palm Beach, Fla.

“He could still be one of the greatest football players of all time and not have to be a hero,” Murray said.

Dezenhall said “the thing about the American public — we will let you up after we knock you down. But we have to see you suffer.

Without the suffering, there is no repentance. And that’s what it comes down to.

“Do I think this will be a complete recovery for him? No way.

But the name of the game is damage control, not damage disappearance.”

These days, it’s not the close calls against Arkansas State or Central Florida that trouble Brown.

It’s the seemingly never-ending wave of off-field legal problems that has brought more pressure than an Oklahoma pass rush the past few months. A string of arrests and suspensions has made the Longhorns a national punch line befitting an opening dialogue for Jay Leno and David Letterman.

What do you call a drug ring in Austin? A huddle.

The Longhorns have adopted a new “honor system.” Yes, your honor. No, your honor.

Four UT football players are riding in a car, who’s driving? The police.

Mack Brown should not have hired a new defensive coordinator this offseason. He should have hired a defense attorney.

Even the familiar Hook ‘Em Horns slogan has been replaced by Book ‘Em Horns from rival schools.

Texas officials are not amused.

“We need to fix it and keep it fixed,” UT men’s athletic director DeLoss Dodds said. “We will survive and come through this.”

Since June, six UT football players have been arrested on charges ranging from driving while intoxicated to drug possession to aggravated robbery to tampering with evidence.

Brown, in his 10th season at Texas, has acted swiftly and sternly. One player (safety Robert Joseph) has been kicked off the team and three others are suspended indefinitely pending the legal process.

“I’ve dealt with more in six months than I’ve dealt with really in about 23 years,” Brown said.
“Especially more than in the 10 (years) here.”

The latest arrest came last Monday when James Henry, a freshman running back, was arrested on third-degree felony charges of beating up a victim and tampering with physical evidence in connection with a July 27 robbery allegedly involving two other football players ” Joseph and defensive tackle Andre Jones.

A hard town and state

Henry’s arrest came on the same day Brown chided coverage of the school’s legal run-ins, saying “Austin is as hard on people and this state’s as hard on kids as I’ve ever seen.”

Brown, who led the Longhorns to a national title during the 2005 season, has taken a tough stance with a zero tolerance policy.

Sophomore linebacker Sergio Kindle and junior defensive end Henry Melton were suspended for the first three games of the season for their DWI arrests, the harshest penalties handed down by Brown since arriving in 1998.

Last season, Brown suspended starting cornerback Tarell Brown for the Longhorns’ showdown with top-ranked Ohio State after he was charged with misdemeanor drug possession and unlawful gun possession. The drug charge against Brown was dropped.

Another player, running back Ramonce Taylor, was charged with possession of marijuana prior to last season and sentenced to 60 days in jail. He transferred to Texas College, where he was academically ineligible. He was not selected in April’s NFL draft.

“Young people who do not obey the law, university or team rules will continue to be disciplined with a stern hand and we will move forward,” Brown said. “We continue to have a zero tolerance policy in that regard.”

The UT administration has solidly supported Brown, who received a two-year contract extension and sizable raise in late August that makes him among the nation’s five highest-paid football coaches. Dodds repeatedly has praised Brown for his handling of the program, and UT president William Powers Jr. offered a show of support last week.

Coach is devastated

Those close to Brown said he has been “devastated” by the off-field problems and how it has stained the program’s reputation. After the latest arrest, Brown took full responsibility and said “it’s all on me.”

“What I’ve got to do is just go back and look at me, and not point fingers, not make excuses but put it solely on my shoulders,” Brown said. “I am responsible for everything we do, and I want to make sure the University of Texas is getting what they’re paying for and right now I’ve got to do a better job.”

In 20 years as coach from 1957-76, legendary UT coach Darrell Royal said he dealt with his share of problems, but nothing compared to the current Longhorns. Although it was a different era and different kids, Royal said the message remains the same.

“I eliminated some of them, just told them to move out of the dorm and their scholarship wasn’t any good anymore. That makes it damn serious to the rest of them that are there,” he said. “I could do things they can’t do now. They’d like to, but they can’t. It’s against the rules.”

What can the Longhorns do to prevent such incidents? Presently, freshmen and sophomores are required to live in on-campus dormitories. Those upperclassmen requesting to live off campus must receive permission from everyone from the coaching staff to the athletic department’s academic advisers.

There are no plans to implement a curfew or centralized housing for the team, Dodds said. All but one of the arrests occurred during the summer, when the NCAA prohibits contact between the coaching staff and players.

Where the Longhorns can avoid issues is during the recruiting process, leaning heavily on Brown’s close ties to the state’s high school coaches. None of the 19 players for the 2008 recruiting class have backed out of their commitments, including several from the Houston area, a school official said.

Joseph, who remains in Travis County Jail facing two felonies, was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and evading arrests less than nine months after committing to the Longhorns in August 2005, according to the Port Arthur News. Brown had no knowledge of Joseph’s previous arrest, a school spokesman said.

“Where we need to start is recruiting,” Dodds said. “We are careful who we recruit to the University of Texas.”

Texas isn’t alone in dealing with off-field legal problems. No fewer than seven Florida football players have been in trouble with the law since the Jan. 8 national championship victory over Ohio State.

Oklahoma State linebacker Chris Collins, a former UT commitment, continues to play despite remaining under indictment for sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl in 2004.

Nebraska suspended Maurice Purify, the team’s leading receiver last season, for one game after he pleaded no contest to assault this summer.

With an influx of high school players leaving school a semester early to enroll in college, schools need to invest more in a support staff to tackle early problems arising from immaturity and being away from home for the first time, said sports psychologist Dr. John Murray.

Reputation at stake
“Money should not be an issue when talking about the reputation and the success of the program,” Murray said. “The administrators, alumni and power people at every particular campus across the country need to wake up, smell the coffee and get real.”

Despite the arrests, Brown said the problems are not indicative of his program.

“I will put our long-term record of character up against anybody,” he said.

A recap of recent arrests involving UT players.

Robert Joseph
Class/hometown:Sophomore/Port Arthur

Position:: Safety

Arrest dates: June 9 and July 29

Charges: Two charges of burglary of a vehicle (misdemeanor); aggravated robbery (first-degree felony) and tampering or fabricating physical evidence (third-degree felony).

Status: Transferred from the team (remains in Travis County Jail)

• • •

Henry Melton
Class/hometown: Junior/Grapevine

Position:: Defensive end

Arrest date: June 1

Charge: Driving while intoxicated

Status: Reinstated Sept. 17 after serving three-game suspension.

• • •

Sergio Kindle
Class/hometown: Sophomore/Dallas

Position:: Linebacker

Arrest date: July 28

Charge: Driving while intoxicated

Status: Reinstated Sept. 17 after serving three-game suspension.

• • •

Andre Jones
Class/hometown: Freshman/El Paso

Position:: Defensive tackle

Arrest date: Aug. 2

Charge: Aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first-degree felony.

Status: Suspended indefinitely from team

• • •

Tyrell Gatewood
Class/hometown: Senior/Tyler

Position:: Safety

Arrest date: Sept. 12

Charges: Two misdemeanor counts for drug possession.

Status: Suspended indefinitely from team

• • •

James Henry
Class/hometown: Redshirt freshman/Schertz

Position:: Running back

Arrest date: Sept. 17

Charges: Obstruction and tampering with evidence, third-degree felonies, in connection with July 27 robbery involving Joseph and Jones.

Status: Suspended indefinitely from team

But heaven help them when they choke.

Because when the moment grows bigger than the man – when Jean Van de Velde squanders a three-stroke lead on the final hole at the British Open, when a ground ball goes between Bill Buckner’s legs, when a player fails with a championship in the balance – brilliant legacies become punch lines.

Famous “chokes”

1. New York Yankees, 2004, ALCS. The Yankees led three games to none with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 when they collapsed in the 2004 American League Championship Series. The Boston Red Sox allied to win Game 4 and became the first team in baseball history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games.

2. Houston Oilers, 1992 AFC playoffs. The Oilers led 35-3 in the third quarter before the Buffalo Bills staged the largest comeback in NFL history, rallying to win 41-38 in overtime. The next day, the Oilers fired defensive coordinator Jim Eddy and defensive backs coach Pat Thomas, each of whom had been a part of coach Jack Pardee’s staffs with the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League and at University of Houston.

3. Bill Buckner, Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Series. He hit .289 with 2,715 hits in a 22-year major league career, but Buckner is remembered for the costly error he committed at first base in Game 6 against the New York Mets. A ground ball rolled between Buckner’s legs in the bottom of the 10th inning, allowing the winning run to score from second base. The Mets won the seventh game two nights later.

4. Jean Van de Velde, 1999 British Open. Van de Velde needed only a double-bogey on the final hole at Carnoustie to become the first Frenchman since 1907 to win the Open Championship. After birdies on the 18th hole in the first two rounds, Van de Velde took a triple-bogey 7, putting him in a three-way playoff he would lose to Paul Lawrie.

5. Chicago Cubs, 2003, NLCS. Mark Prior was throwing a three-hitter against the Florida Marlins, and the Cubs were five outs away from their first World Series since 1945. Chicago, which hasn’t won a World Series since 1908, led the series three games to two with a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning of Game 6 at Wrigley Field when Cubs fans Steve Bartman interfered with Moises Alou’s attempt to catch a foul ball down the left-field line. Alou couldn’t make the catch, and by the time the inning ended, the Marlins had scored eight runs, winning the game and, later, the series.

6. Dan O’Brien, 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials. Amid the hype of Reebok’s memorable “Dan and Dave” commercials, featuring O’Brien and fellow decathlete Dave Johnson, O’Brien failed to qualify for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. He passed on the opening heights in the pole vault at the U.S. Olympic Trials and failed on his first three attempts, leaving him with no points in the event and no place on the Olympic team.

7. Greg Norman, 1996 Masters. “The Shark,” the world’s top-ranked golfer for 331 weeks in the 1980s and 1990s, blew a six-stroke lead in the final round, posting an unsightly 78 that allowed Nick Faldo to win by five strokes.

8. Andres Escobar, 1994 World Cup. The Colombian soccer player scored an own goal against the United States, eliminating his team from the World Cup. Ten days later in his homeland, Escobar was shot and killed.

T9. New York Giants, 2002 NFC playoffs. The Giants blew a 24-point second-half lead, eventually falling 39-38 to the San Francisco 49ers in an NFC wild-card game.

T9. Chris Webber, Michigan Wolverines, 1993 NCAA Championship. With his team trailing 73-71 and 11 seconds remaining, Webber called a timeout when double-teamed by North Carolina. The Wolverines had no timeouts remaining, and the resultant technical foul gave the Tar Heels two free throws and, ultimately, a 77-71 victory.

“Choke,” Pacific baseball coach Ed Sprague said. “It’s just one of those words, in sports and in life, you don’t want to hear.”

Sprague is among the fortunate ones who produced when it mattered most. He hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays over the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the 1992 World Series. Some have a tendency to shine in the spotlight. For them, the walk of life is lined with adulation, but just as many fail profoundly because of a mental phenomenon so widely recognized it warrants explanation in the dictionary.

Choking is defined as failing to perform adequately due to tension or agitation. It occurs in all areas of life, but in sports, money and media exposure have pushed risks and rewards to historic highs. Knowing this only heightens intense biological, psychological and physiological forces athletes feel in critical situations, said Dr. John Murray, a Palm Beach, Fla.-based sports psychologist.

“You almost have to play as if it doesn’t matter, but, goodness gracious, it matters,” Murray said.

It matters the same way an approaching lion matters to a zebra in the wild. Murray, author of “Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game,” said the stress response in athletes under extraordinary pressure mirrors the fight-or-flight response seen in nature. The massive adrenaline rush may enable a man to fight off a mob or a woman to lift a wrecked car off a trapped baby, but it hinders the fine motor skills needed in sports.

“There could be select instances in sports like football or wrestling where a big burst of adrenaline might help you pin the guy to the mat or block a guy to get the winning touchdown run, but that is extremely counter to what’s necessary in most sports,” Murray said.

Muscles tighten. Palms become sweaty. Breathing becomes heavier. Blood rushes to the center of the body. The heart begins to race. Thoughts become quicker and more confused.

“A number of things typically transpire when an athlete or team is in a situation they perceive as important – more important, perhaps, than another situation,” said Murray, who has counseled NFL quarterbacks, pro tennis players and golfers. “For some reason, they place higher importance on a particular play, a particular point or a particular shot, and they inadvertently sabotage themselves.”

They choke.

It may be the dirtiest word in sports, but it happens to the best of them.

Michelle Kwan, widely regarded as one of the best figure skaters of all time, won nine U.S. championships and five world championships, but she never won an Olympic gold medal due in large part to flawed performances.

Golfer Greg Norman entered the final round of the 1996 Masters with a six-stroke lead. He shot a 6-over-par 78 and lost to Nick Faldo by five strokes.

The New York Yankees led three games to none with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4 when they collapsed in the 2004 American League Championship Series. The Boston Red Sox rallied to win Game 4 and became the first team in baseball history to win a seven-game series after losing the first three games.

Then, there’s Buckner. He hit .289 with 2,715 hits in a 22-year major league career, but is remembered for a costly error that allowed the New York Mets to score the winning run against the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

According to a 2006 “Outside the Lines” report on ESPN, Buckner foreshadowed that fateful moment 19 days earlier in an interview with a Boston television station.

“The dreams are that you are going to have a great series and win, and the nightmares are that you are going to let the winning run score on a ground ball through your legs,” Buckner said. “Those things happen, and I think a lot of it is just fate.”

Fred Mills, a sports psychology consultant at Pacific, believes it has more to do with focus. Mills believes in the power of concentration and positive thinking, lessons he conveys when counseling Pacific’s baseball, men’s basketball and women’s soccer teams.

“I’m a great believer that consistently high performers lock on to what they want,” Mills said. “Others have a tendency to lock on to what they don’t want. When you’re focused on what you want to happen and have this level of confidence, you’re more likely to be calm and in control.”

Mills aided junior forward Anthony Brown in overcoming his free-throw shooting struggles. Brown said he was a good free-throw shooter in high school and prep school, but self doubt set in when he shot 53.8 percent as a freshman at Pacific. Coaches helped him improve his form while Mills improved his mind-set, and as a sophomore Brown shot 70.1 percent.

“Fred talks about playing from the subconscious,” Brown said. “He’ll ask you what’s the best game you ever had, and he’ll ask what you were thinking about. When you’re playing free you aren’t thinking about anything, but I had a lot of things in my head my freshman year.”

Mills preaches the importance of “being in the moment” when tensions rise.

“Being in the moment means being in the present, because almost all of your distractions in a competitive environment are when you’re in the past or in the future,” Mills said.

One player might flash forward to the roar of the crowd, the postgame champagne or the glory of hitting a winning shot. Another might flash back to a missed putt or a failed fourth-quarter drive.

Pacific basketball coach Bob Thomason said he believes there is hope for chokers everywhere, citing examples of athletes who conquered their frailties to become better clutch performers.

“Just because somebody doesn’t handle it well early in their career doesn’t mean they can’t handle it later,” Thomason said. “(Professional golfer Phil) Mickelson was like that. Then he won a major, and all of a sudden he’s won a couple more.”

Lorena Ochoa’s tendency to cough up golf tournaments led to the nickname “Lorena O-choke-a,” but she surpassed Annika Sorenstam as the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s player in April and has won three consecutive LPGA Tour events, including her first major, the British Open in August.

Murray said he can help athletes reduce performance anxiety by conditioning their minds to take the importance out of the situation. Recovery is possible, but many deny they have a problem.

In his book, “I Call the Shots: Straight Talk About the Game of Golf Today,” former golfer and current NBC Sports analyst Johnny Miller said PGA Tour pros take offense when he points out that they choked.

“Why be in denial about it?” Miller wrote. “The way some tour players react to the suggestion they choked, you’d think they’d run out of a burning building and left their family behind. My thinking is, there is a lot to be learned by studying choking.”

Lessons to be learned; glory to be gained.

editor’s note

The word “choke” oftens falls on those who stand alone in the spotlight and fail to come through with everything on the line.

“Upset” describes teams that lose unexpectedly.

There is a difference between the two words. The Houston Oilers
collectively gagged in the 1992 AFC playoffs, while Appalachian State upset Michigan in football earlier this month. Several teams made our list of top-10 all-time examples of choking in sports (PAGE C10), but more often than not, the individual gets saddled with the label.

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