Wide right.
Trailing the Giants 20-19 with just seconds remaining in Super Bowl XXV, kicker Scott Norwood had a chance to deliver the city its first football championship. All he had to do was make a 47-yard field goal. He missed.
Wide right.
Then there was the Sabres’ 1999 Stanley Cup Final appearance in which Dallas’ Brett Hull appeared to skate into the crease when scoring the deciding goal to steal the championship from Buffalo.
It’s Buffalo’s “Buckner” moments, so you could imagine the backlash if a store or shop used “Wide right” and “No Goal” as an advertisement or marketing ploy. Well, a Lululemon store in Buffalo did, and well, people aren’t happy.
Catherine Cook-Cottone, a “local ambassador” tried to justify the store’s use of the sign, but well, the messge falls short.
According to Yahoo’s Jay Busbee, the store manager has decided to cover up the mosaic and will be replaced by one with a more positive message to the Central New York community.
It is our efforts, our trials and tribulations, and our ability to dig deep, try again, and persevere that make us who we are. Success, sure that is great. But character, honest-to-goodness, gritty, get up and pull yourself up by your bootstraps character- man- that comes from days like “Wide Right. No Goal.”
It’s one thing to try an inspire people to strive for greatness. it’s another thing to do so will bringing up the darkest moment in the city’s sports history.
