Apparently when President George W. Bush told Americans to return to normalcy, those in the sports world weren't listening.
Unless you were in a cave this past weekend, you could not hide from the barrage of jaw-dropping sporting events.
One of the great moments of this past weekend happened in our own backyard while a former Phoenix high school football star provided another.
Breaking a four-year old record previously held by the Florida Marlins, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion team ever to win the World Series. The win itself was not even the amazing thing; it was how they did it.
The Diamondbacks faced Mariano Rivera — the best relief pitcher in the game, perhaps ever — in the eighth and ninth innings with the Yankees leading by one. They all struck out in the eighth but mounted one hit after another in the ninth until Luis Gonzalez, the season-long hero, drove home Jay Bell, the season-long goat. Bell endured one of the worst seasons of his career and was relegated to the bench behind two other infielders this year, Craig Counsell and Junior Spivey.
In his pinch-hit at bat, Bell dropped a terrible bunt, right to the solid fielding Rivera who promptly tossed the ball into centerfield. Rivera converted 23 consecutive save opportunities, blowing his last save against Cleveland in Game 4 of the 1997 American League Division Series.
The Yankees don't lose close games. Under Joe Torre, they were 10-0 in one-run games in the playoffs, but the resilient Diamondbacks gave them some of their own medicine in the miraculous win.
It was strange that, as the team accepted the World Series trophy on the field after the game, rain was pouring down in Bank One Ballpark. Because the Sun Devils, who played their eighth football game of the season in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, were drenched only with sunshine and weather in the low-60's.
According to the Weather Channel, Eugene averages more rain in the month of November alone (8.3 inches) than Phoenix averages in an entire year (7.8 inches).
Meanwhile, in Chicago, Bears safety Mike Brown, a Scottsdale native, set an NFL record.
The Bears pulled off one of the most remarkable victories in recent NFL history. Trailing by 14 points with less than one minute to play, the Bears scored two touchdowns in 30 seconds to tie the game.
Then, in overtime, Brown returned an interception for a game-winning touchdown for the second week in a row. Not only had a team never won consecutive overtime games with touchdowns, no one would have ever dreamed of one player returning two overtime interceptions for touchdowns in consecutive weeks.
The world of college football was not immune to the strange finishes this weekend. In Mississippi, Arkansas and Ole Miss combined for 114 points and 988 offensive yards in Arkansas' 58-56 seven-overtime victory.
What makes the game most bizarre is that, in college football, teams must attempt a two-point conversion after the third overtime. Each team did so three times until Ole Miss tight end Doug Ziegler was finally stopped at the 2-yard line, more than four hours after the game began.
Now, back to normalcy.
