Don't Count the Chickens

Greetings Happy People,

For my next story, let me take you back to the fall of 1999.

I was listening to the UNLV-Baylor football game on radio. Baylor was up 24-21 with only a few seconds left. Baylor had the ball near the end zone. UNLV had no timeouts left. The smart thing to do in this situation is to take a knee and run out the clock. Did the Baylor head football coach decide to do that? Nope.

Instead, he wanted to embarrass UNLV by running the ball in the end zone. What happened next was unbelievable.

Just when I was about to turn the radio off, the running back from Baylor ran towards the end zone and fumbled the football. One of the UNLV players picked up the football and ran 101 yards for the touchdown. The time ran out on the clock and UNLV won the game 27-24!! This victory moved their record to 2-0. Unfortunately, UNLV finished the season at 3-8. This was a major improvement from season before when they were 0-11.

What started off as a sure victory for Baylor, ended in an embarrassing defeat. It did not pay to be overconfident that night.

Now let us fast forward to 2008. UNLV was about to play Arizona State at Sundevil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Arizona State was the 13th ranked team in the country. They were favored to beat UNLV by 23 points. This team looked past UNLV and was getting ready for their next opponent. Little did they know, what happened that night was going to change their fortunes to misfortunes.

Arizona State had a 10 point lead late in the game. They were ready to celebrate until UNLV came back to tie the ball game. Next thing they knew, they were about to go into overtime. In overtime, UNLV kicked a field goal to take a 23-20 lead. It was up to Arizona State to tie the game and send it to a second overtime. The ball was snapped and the kick was BLOCKED!! UNLV won the game 23-20 in overtime!! The fans in Tempe were in complete shock. At the stadium, you could hear two things: the UNLV fans celebrating and the fans from Tucson snickering at Arizona State. To this day, they have not recovered from that upset loss.

The two stories I shared with you were two of the best victories that UNLV football had. While it is not known for being a college football powerhouse, they can still catch opponents off guard and surprise them when they least expect it. One common rule can be learned from these two games. It does not pay to be overconfident. A little respect does not hurt at all.

Whether one is watching a game, or listening to someone brag too much, any hint of overconfidence can come back and bite a person. While it is okay to feel good about something, one should never go overboard with that feeling. Because you just never know what will happen in the end. Nothing can kill an ego faster than being too overconfident in one's self.


That is all I have for now. Take care and thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Jesse I-I-I