Today, I’m thankful for the perfect comeback.
On this day (Nov 27) exactly 60 years ago, the Buffalo Bills held a commanding lead over the Denver Broncos. Midway into the third quarter, the Bills led 31-7, when an additional interception and touchdown by their stingy defense increased the margin even further. Down 38-7, the Broncos could have easily thrown in the towel. However, over the next twenty minutes, three touchdown passes from Frank Tripucka to Lionel Taylor cut significantly into the lead, and the Broncos now found themselves down by just 10 points. With just 4 minutes to play, the Broncos‘ defense held the Bills, and their offense then marched the ball 42 yards down the field to score another touchdown on a short run, thereby closing the score to 38-35. All Buffalo needed to do in the last 2 minutes was to run out the clock. However, they failed to take sufficient time off their ensuing possession. With just 72 seconds remaining, the Broncos marched from their 34-yard line into Buffalo territory, at which point their placekicker Gene Mongo nailed a 19-yard field goal attempt to tie the game with just 4 seconds to go. The game ended in a tie, 38-38 – the proverbial ‘kissing your sibling’ moment. Yet, the Broncos carried forth a moral victory of the greatest comeback the game of football had ever seen at that time (31 points).
The record stood until early in 1993, when the Buffalo Bills would put together a stupendous comeback of their own in a wild-card playoff game against the Houston Oilers. In that contest, the Bills trailed heavily in the third quarter by 32 points, 35-3, with just 28 minutes left in the game. By this point, the Bills fans performed a mass exodus reminiscent of Moses’ departure from Egypt, as they poured out of the stadium and headed dejectedly to their cars. But, then, something amazing happened. Playing with their back-up quarterback, Frank Reich, the Bills made a roaring comeback. In a span of just 12 minutes, they scored four touchdowns, cutting the lead to 4 points. As the departed fans heard the events unfold on the radio, they returned to the stadium, with many climbing over fences to get back to their seats. Finally, the stadium officials opened the gates, and the revitalized fanbase found their way back to their seats. The fourth quarter saw little action, until the Bills scored a touchdown to take the lead, 38-35. However, Houston would not go gently into the night, as they secured a field goal with just 12 seconds remaining in regular play to even the score. However, because this was a playoff game, an overtime session would be needed to determine the winner. In that extra session, the Bills’ defensive back Nate Odomes would intercept the ball and give the Bills possession of the pigskin on the Oilers’ 20-yeard line. After a few running plays, the Bills ended the game with a 32-yard field goal by Steve Christie. To this day, the Bills have the odd distinction of being the one football team involved in the two greatest comebacks in the history of professional football.
Although sports are often heralded as the quintessential example of ‘comebacks,’ in my humble opinion, the best stories of exciting comebacks are the personal biographies of humans who have clawed their way back into the limelight through perseverance, grit, and diligence. Individuals like Ulysses S. Grant, who rose from oblivion and destitution to become the Commanding General of the United States Army during the Civil War and the eventual 18th President of the United States. Or Abraham Lincoln, who served only one term in the House of Representatives before being ousted from his Congressional seat. It would be another 11 years before he would return to office, this time as the 16th President of the United States. And the list of comeback stories goes on – Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Disraeli, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor Justinian II, and, of course, my all-time favorite, Winston Churchill.
When one thinks of notable polymaths of the last century, it’s hard not to turn your attention to Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British army officer, statesman, author, and amateur painter that navigated the United Kingdom through its ‘darkest hour’ during World War II. But, long before Churchill became the Prime Minister in 1940, the young lad had gained renown as a member of the British Army fighting in skirmishes in Cuba, India, Sudan, and South Africa. Born this week into a relatively wealthy family, Winston was not much of a student, despite his aristocratic upbringing as a direct descendant of the Duke of Marlborough. As the son of a British Member of Parliament and a New York socialite, you would think that Churchill would find his way into Oxford, Cambridge, or some other renowned British institution of higher learning. Instead, he barely struggled to make his way into the Royal Military Academy - securing entry only after a third attempt. He became a prolific writer and war correspondent, and his fame catapulted him into a career as a Member of Parliament, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and even the Lord of the Admiralty (the head of the British Navy). Along the way, he earned his share of enemies, even succumbing to a beating with a dog whip on a train platform in 1910 by an activist in support of women suffrage. However, he survived, with just a few bruises on his face. He ‘saved face’ with that episode, but he could not do so following his failed Gallipoli campaign in World War I. After that 1915 disastrous event wherein British troops retreated in battle, Churchill resigned his naval post to join the Western Front as a Lieutenant-colonel. In fact, on this day in 1915, he almost died after shells exploded in a trench he had just evacuated minutes before.
Although Churchill would hold several governmental posts after the end of the Great War, including the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he essentially left politics in the 1930s. During these ‘wilderness years’, he sustained massive losses in the Wall Street Crash, securing income solely from writing books. Despite being separated from politics, he publicly warned of the growing threat of appeasement of the military regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan. Finally, with the onset of second World War, he made his comeback as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1940. He helped cement the Allied response to the growing global conflict against the Axis powers. In fact, Churchill was the glue that kept the fragile alliance with the United States and Soviet Union intact. Through a series of international conferences, first held in Tehran on this day in 1943, he would bring together Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin to help align on principles that would eventually form the United Nations after the war.
Yet, despite helping to secure the Allied victory in 1945, Churchill found himself tossed from office soon thereafter. But, the ‘comeback kid’ had one more return in him, as was demonstrated by his selection to the Prime Minister role once again in 1951 during the Cold War. As he did prior to World War II, he brought worldwide attention to a new concern – the ‘Iron Curtain’ that Stalin was stealthily constructing in Eastern Europe. Finally, in 1955, in the midst of deteriorating health, Churchill stepped down form the Prime Minister post. Nevertheless, he still remained a Member of Parliament until 1964. He would die in early 1965, as England’s most respected statesman of the 20th Century, a venerated knight, and even the Nobel Prize winner for Literature.
But, of all the comebacks Churchill ever had, the verbal ones he often reserved for his opponents in Parliament make me smile the most. Let me finish with just a few of these gems to whet your appetite:
A Member of the opposing Labour Party once chastised Churchill for dozing off during one of his speeches: “Must you fall asleep while I’m speaking?” Churchill awoke from his brief nap with a pithy response: “No, it’s purely voluntary.”
Bessie Braddock, a long-time Member of Parliament, once berated Churchill for showing up drunk to the House of Commons in 1946: “Winston, you are drunk, and what’s more, you are disgustingly drunk.” Churchill responded in a matter-of-fact manner: “Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what’s more, you are disgustingly ugly. But, tomorrow, I shall be sober, and you will still be disgustingly ugly.”
Finally, Nancy Astor, the first female Member of Parliament, once mocked Churchill for his boorish ways: “If I were your wife, I would poison your coffee.” In a rather nonchalant manner, Churchill retorted in a rather amusing way: “And if I were your husband, I would drink it.”
Yes, there’s nothing like the perfect comeback. Many thanks to the Buffalo Bills and an oft-brash English legend for showing us just how it’s done.
Kommentare