The Really Bad Halftime Kick (Oxymoron project ongoing) ...

The Really Bad Halftime Kick (Oxymoron project ongoing) ...

Seattle Sounders (circa 1999-2002) Memorial Stadium

The halftime kick, half court shot, or other contest is a staple of American sports entertainment at various levels. i have actually been in attendance when someone made the shot that won the car more than once. It is actually pretty cool when it happens. I have also been in attendance many, many, many, many more times when someone failed miserably, not just missing or coming close or doing a respectable effort, but when the person fails so utterly and spectacularly that it would have actually have been easier to make the shot than to duplicate what they actually did. In the latter instances, the toughness of a crowd really comes through when they boo the poor participant that had hoped to win something huge (It is a tough crowd that boos the halftime shot guy, let me tell you.). In the age of digital cameras and You Tube Dot Com a failure like that can be shared with family, friends, and strangers to forever immortalize a catastrophe even before a participant gets home from the game in question. So much for Big Brother, we are going to monitor ourselves so much the government will never need to.

I have been a part of a couple promotions. I got to try and throw a pitch through a little hole at a Cougar Baseball game in 1995 (I refer to the tee I won as a consolation as my $5,000 shirt), I won a beach ball soccer juggling contest at a Spokane Shadow game in the late 90s, and I got to take a halftime kick at a Sounders game a few years later. The first two were respectable efforts, the third was not so good.

Robin even got a sitter and went to the game - which given the time period in question - was quite remarkable.

I, with my decades of soccer experience dragged my toe on the turf and took a shot that looked more suitable to having been staged. I even wore my turf shoes so that I wasn't one of those guys trying to kick in my leather sandals.

Even the Sounders promotions guy looked at me with pity, since he had to figure I would have done something better than what I did.

Fortunately, few people watched my kick and it seems to have predated everyone carrying digital cameras with them everywhere. It was not just because the crowd was small, but we ran out, I screwed up, and we got back off the field a number of people asked me when I was going on. I replied, "Nope, I missed." An understatement to be sure.