Sports Wide and to the Right On striking out when everyone’s watching. Tyler Loop was inconsolable.  The Baltimore Ravens kicker pulled the facemask of his helmet down tight over his face in an attempt to hide from the world as he navigated the bowels of Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh moments after missing a 44-yard field goal that would have sent the Ravens to the NFL playoffs on Sunday night. In the chaotic aftermath, Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh wrapped his arm around Loop’s shoulder as frustrated fans of the team called for the pair’s dismissal on social media pages across the internet.  “I feel for Tyler,” said star running back Derrick Henry following one of the most exhilarating and harrowing finishes to an NFL game in recent memory. “I just told him to keep his spirits up, deal with it tonight and then tomorrow the sun rises again. I just told him to trust God’s plan. He wouldn’t have put him in this position if he wasn’t strong enough to handle it.” Loop eventually made his way in front of the cameras and spent several minutes apologizing to Baltimore fans and his teammates for his failure to put the Ravens ahead with no time remaining on the clock. Many lesser men would have refused to speak with media members after such a catastrophic ending to the season but Loop met the moment, citing a prayer he had written down before the game.  “Faith is a big part of my life,” Loop said through bloodshot eyes. “Right now I’m reading the book of Romans and in Romans 8 it says, ‘God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’” In many ways, it was a fitting end to a game for the ages. The Ravens and Steelers had traded shots and touchdowns all night in frigid temperatures, and Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who turned 42 in December, engineered a triumphant scoring drive with less than two minutes left in the game, hitting wide receiver Calvin Austin for a 26-yard touchdown to put the Steelers up two. Pittsburgh kicker Chris Boswell, one of the most reliable kickers in the league, then inexplicably shanked the extra point, which left the door open for the Ravens to win the game with a walkoff field goal if quarterback Lamar Jackson could guide Baltimore down the field with little time remaining.  As if destined, that’s exactly what Jackson did. The Ravens quarterback, who has been dogged by questions throughout his career regarding his ability to win in the biggest moments, showed poise and accuracy over several plays before finding tight end Isaiah Likely for a highlight-reel grab that put Baltimore in position to kick a makable, 44-yard field goal to secure the win. And that’s when it all went wrong for Loop. The snap was good, the hold was firm, but the kick accelerated up and to the right, stretching outside the post as Pittsburgh fans erupted in celebration. All Loop could do was look away.  Watching the final moments of Sunday night’s game was doubly momentous for me, a former field-goal kicker who missed a game-winning opportunity to send my high school, the Patrick Henry Patriots, into the playoffs 20 years ago this year. It was late November then and we were playing our conference rivals Hermitage in front of a packed house of 7,000 fans on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia. At Patrick Henry, in Central Virginia, before cellphones and TikTok, the gridiron was all that mattered. My coach, Ray Long, was a legend. After serving in Vietnam, he had returned to the corn fields of Hanover County to ply his trade. In 1994, he led a ragtag team of cowboys and rednecks to the state championship, a story that still resonates among the Patriots faithful all these years later. Long, who was my drivers’ education teacher, recruited me and my big leg off the soccer team to kick extra points and field goals for the varsity football team. I was good at my job, rarely missing an extra point. In my junior year, I broke the record for the longest field goal in school history when I smashed a 45-yarder against John Marshall High School down in Richmond on a wet Friday afternoon. Although I grew up a soccer fan, it was a dream come true to don the red, white, and blue uniform of the Patriots and participate in America’s great game.  By my senior year, I could be counted upon as a reliable and steady kicker. That year, I didn’t miss more than two or three kicks the whole season. That was until the most important game, against Hermitage, with the playoffs on the line. Like the Steelers game on Sunday, our game against Hermitage was one for the ages. Both teams scored at will in a high-octane affair that came down to the final play. In the driving rain, our running back R.J. Waters battered his way across the goal line to tie the game. All that was left was a makeable extra point that would win the game and send us to the playoffs. Onto the field I trotted. And that’s when it all went wrong.  The snap was good, the hold was firm, but my boot slipped against the ball. Up rose the pigskin. All these years later, I can still remember watching, as if in slow motion, the ball drifting up and to the right. Bang. It spanked the post and fell straight back down to earth. The biggest moment of my athletic career, wasted. The game then went into overtime; we lost and our season ended. It took many years for me to accept what had happened. I used to think: Why me? But the older I get, the more I’ve come to consider the opposite: Why not me? What’s this life other than hardships and triumphs and more hardships? Learning to deal with it. Learning to swallow your pride, admit your faults, seek forgiveness and success in all stages. It’s the rollercoaster that makes the man. So, I know what it’s like to miss the big kick. I know what it’s like to watch your brothers fight and claw in the mud all game only to lose because of a technical error you made. I know what Loop is battling at this very moment. The doubt. The uncertainty. The sadness. It’s all part of it. I wish I had an eloquent summation, something to explain away the trials and the tribulations that we all must face, but then what fun would the great mystery of life hold for us all?  Years later, as I was driving through the small town where I grew up I spotted Long walking down by the train tracks. I pulled up in my car and rolled down the window. “Hey, coach.” He smiled and asked how I was. “Still thinking about that kick.” His grin widened. “I never think about it,” he replied. In an instant, he relieved me of years of turmoil. That response is exactly what I needed to hear and what made Coach Long such a legend in our community. The simple recognition that sports are about a whole lot more than just winning and losing, they’re about acceptance and overcoming adversity. So, thanks Coach Long. And hang in there, Mr. Loop. And for those of you who haven’t missed a kick but struck out in life’s other ventures, remember that, although the night is always darkest before the dawn, the dawn is a sight not to be missed. The post Wide and to the Right appeared first on The American Conservative.