Semi-OT: Drake Maye, Ilia Malinin, and Will Campbell

[ctpatsfan77]

I tried to post something on this yesterday, but it was basically a little too soon.

So, if you haven't heard, "Quad God" Ilia Malinin, who was the prohibitive favorite for the gold medal in men's figure skating in Milan, simply bombed his free skate Friday, and finished eighth. It was a meltdown on the order of the fourth-quarter Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

He had a "hot mic" moment right after, but was still gracious to the champion. Somehow, he managed to be composed enough to be able to answer questions of an NBC reporter shoving a microphone in his face just a couple of minutes later. I give him a ton of credit for that, but I also get why Will Campbell refused to talk to the media; he's a much more "heart on his sleeve" guy, and I don't think he would've maintained his composure nearly as well as Malinin did.

Speaking of his performance:

“Going into that starting post,” Malinin said. “I just felt like all the traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head. There's just so many negative thoughts that just flooded into there. I just did not handle it." [...]
“People only realized the pressure and the nerves that actually happened from the inside. It was really just something that overwhelmed me,” he said. "I just felt like I had no control."

I have to wonder if something like that happened with Maye. The clip of him walking into the stadium had him looking far more nervous than I had seen him earlier this season. At least over the last six months or so, I think they were both getting hype as the "Next Big Thing" in their respective sports, and both were going for the biggest prize in their sport for the first time. Both failed to live up to the hype. In a sense, I feel worse for Malinin, because figure skaters aren't dependent on teammates or trying to outwit/evade defenders. Also, while Maye was getting MVP buzz, the vast majority of analysts did not expect him to win the Super Bowl, while a lot of analysts felt that the only person who could beat Malinin was Malinin himself. Finally, Malinin's next chance to "avenge" this is four years away, while Maye's begins in a bit more than four months.

It'll be fascinating to see how Malinin and Maye (and Campbell) evolve after their respective setbacks.

Malinin quotes:

What happened to Ilia Malinin? Quad God says he fell apart at Olympics

Ilia Malinin, expected to win gold easily, fell twice in a disastrous performance to finish eighth at the Olympics. Here's what he said happened.

www.usatoday.com

 

[Ring 6]

How does someone look far more nervous while walking into a stadium?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

How does someone look far more nervous while walking into a stadium?

It was the way he exhaled combined with the look on his face while doing it. I can't find the video atm, but that's the immediate impression I had.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

It was the way he exhaled combined with the look on his face while doing it. I can't find the video atm, but that's the immediate impression I had.

He knew that he was not right and doubted his ability to perform. Under normal circumstances Maye gets too amped up to start games because he knows that he can do the job. Unfortunately the clock struck midnight on the Cinderella season when Maye landed on his shoulder in the Denver game.

 

[fnordcircle]

I'm excited for a new generation of Body Language dissection posts.

"Do Drake's eyes twinkle less since the SB loss?"

 

[Ring 6]

It was the way he exhaled combined with the look on his face while doing it. I can't find the video atm, but that's the immediate impression I had.

Wow. Exhaling and having a look on his face. Maybe he had to take a ****.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Sports psychology is a very important factor

 

[Pape]

Sports psychology

that phrase a;ways makes me think of Tin Cup

 

[Kargetina]

I don't know what exactly happened during the two weeks during the SB, but it wasn't only Maye, the entire team seemed to have very little confidence. Having seen the Mic'd Up segments of the game, it's really disheartening to watch Vrabel go and try to encourage the players, telling them not to put their head down, and continue to believe....while down 3-0. Once upon a time, this team was down 28-3 with a quarter left and never even thought about quitting, and 3-0 in the first quarter is a punch in the mouth they can't recover from? I also think that there was a deepening chasm between the defense and the offense, and some of the reactions on the sideline show that the defense had ZERO confidence in the offense, that they were aware that it's up to them to win the game with turnovers, otherwise it's all futile. The chemistry wasn't there like it was in the regular season.

After everything that happened during the build-up, 90% of experts picking Seattle, everyone saying we don't belong, a lot of people saying we were one of the worst teams ever to make the SB, Belichick snubbed as a first-ballot, Maye losing MVP by a vote, i expected the team to be amped up, angry, volatile, to live up to the ''We all we need'' mantra and either destroy the critics, or go down swinging.

Instead, the entire demeanor and the gameplan were conceding we're an inferior team, happy to be here, and if an Seattle beats themselves, great, if not, well, no one expected us here anyway. It's one thing to lose, but not having belief after winning 17 out of the previous 18 games is very bizarre to me. Far worse teams have had more confidence against far better teams than Seattle, and ended up winning.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I think it was as simple as this, he had less than 2 seconds to throw, no receivers were getting open that fast, and he was told not to put the ball in danger, so he was missing to the safe sides. They should have gone no huddle to start the second half to keep Seattle's. defenders on the field and wear them down. The coaches had a great season, but they had a bad game, they bet on Darnold faltering and turning it over and it didn't happen. They should have put the game innMaye's hands instead of trying to establish a run game but failed to do so.

 

[oldrover]

that phrase a;ways makes me think of Tin Cup

 

[upstater1]

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

 

[jdlboot14]

This reminded me of the 2007 SB. The DL just vastly superior to our OL.
I do put a lot of blame on JMD and Marrone - they didn't scheme for a quick game at all, nor had their OL ready (+ backs/TE's) to really help that much. I don't think it was Maye's shoulder - it was the pressure and not adjusting through 3 qtrs. It's actually quite mind boggling why they didn't adjust for so long.

And don't get me started on the run plays - especially with the usage of Hendo.

 

[Steve102]