“THE CHOSEN ONE”
 
Fourth and goal as Mark Bradford lines up in the X-slot, glancing to his right to look at his second string quarterback. The kid who went to Fremont High School clinches his fists as his team is giving the great Goliath hell. No.1 ranked USC with their backs against the wall and everything on line. Bradford comes out arms pumping hard, jams to his left with about a foots worth of separation. The football comes out of the Coliseum lights he catches it, Goliath is slain, Goliath is slain! For the people that know it all, this isn’t how it was supposed to end. Vegas had it 100 to one, the people that configure points for a living had the spread at 40. Fate, football, destiny and faith all clashed before our very eyes as 1-3 Stanford beat No.1 ranked USC 24-23. Ending the Trojans six year, 35 game home winning streak. What you don’t know is that Bradford made a promise, a dedication to his father. Bradford’s father died of a heart attack 17 days ago, he grew up less than two miles from the Coliseum. He was at home. “If you dedicate the game to someone, you’ve got to win it” Mark Bradford said among press reporters. “I did it for him.”   It wasn’t supposed to happen this way? Negative, It was supposed to happen just like this. A kid growing up on 101st street in the heart of the City. He attended Fremont High School, in his senior season at Fremont his good grades granted him the opportunity to go to Stanford University. Mark Bradford lost his mother years ago and the man who raised him passed away 17 days ago. Bradford carried a heavy heart after being pounded by Arizona 41-3 and being worked by Oregon 55-13. He mourned for a week with a limited role against Arizona. He got back to business the week his team would play in his hometown and on the last play of the game against the No.1 team in America he caught the game winning touchdown. This was a magical night of fate, none of it was supposed to happen but it did. Call it what you want but this is something special, this is the biggest upset in college football history. This is a case of PAC-10 teams battling against each other in fierce manic tones. No other team was supposed to do this because this was not supposed to happen, not here on earth. Fate would have it as no other team could do this. The next day after the biggest win in the history of the Stanford football program Mark Bradford celebrated his first birthday without his father but he was not without love. Matter of fact, he was showered with love as some two thousand Stanford students yelled and screamed and opened the bus door for their team as soon as it stopped on the Cardinal campus. They also immediately started a party on campus. USC losing to Stanford? The last time that happened was in 2001 to Stanford. USC did just enough, they showed signs that they didn’t want it, they did just enough to lose. They made all the mistakes, interception for a touchdown, several dropped passes,  sacks, more interceptions. Not scoring on a fourth and one yard to the goal line just before the half. Stanford stopped USC on the one-yard line, it was supposed to happen this way. The Trojans did just enough. They did all the things needed to keep Stanford in the game and daring them to try win. It’s like the big kid pushing the little kid and daring him to swing, he swings and knocks him out. That’s pretty much what happened. To say it wasn’t supposed to happen is a lie, it was supposed to happen, look at the sequence. Evan Moore caught a TD pass a few plays earlier, it was ruled out of bounds, the game winning touchdown was not meant for Moore it was meant for Bradford. Bradford was meant to dish the dagger into the heart of Goliath being the chosen one could not be more clear. If it was a script it would be award-winning, some kid from the City is the star, nobody could have thought this up. Try telling Bradford about things that aren’t supposed to happen. His mother was not supposed to pass away when he was a teenager, his father was not supposed to die of a heart attack and they were not supposed to beat USC. Maybe we were wrong, everything that is supposed to happen just happens. We’re just the guessers, the ones who don’t know anything about anything trying to control fate the best we can, by guessing. In our relationship with life all we can really do as human beings is keep our promises, that’s all we have control of is keeping our promises. Bradford kept his promise to his father just as his father kept his promise of raising his son, the cycle of love spins. He caught the game winning touchdown against the No.1 team in the country, try telling him, it wasn’t supposed to happen. It happened just as it was supposed to happen. e-mail me at og@ogsportsshow.com  mailto:og@ogsportsshow.comshapeimage_1_link_0
“THE CHOSEN ONE”
By Leopold Geans