[Morning Wood]

There's something I wish I could be, but I've come to realize I'm not... being Clutch.

I define being clutch as performing beyond your expected or realistic capabilities to achieve something ridiculously awesome. In other words, I'm not talking about guys who are so talented that they lap their competition. I'm talking about guys who maybe are not the superstars of the world, but do things at superstar levels when push comes to shove. An example close to home would be Martin Gelinas' knack for scoring 3 (could've been 4...) series winning goals en route to the 2004 finals. He's also closed out other series before in the past while he was with Canes. Another example would be how Tiger Woods (in his god state before his scandal) has been caught from behind by Y.E Yang not once, but twice (!!) in the final round of tournaments. At the time, catching Tiger was next to impossible when he was playing in the same group with you on championship sunday. Robert Horry in the NBA playoffs was always pure money in crunch time. But in the regular season, he was never anything special. No one is saying Horry, Gelinas or Yang are superstars, but they have achieved feats that are incredible to say the least.

Why is it that some people can just turn on a switch when the pressure is on and become gods when they want to?

For example, I have a golf buddy who I grew up playing golf with and he's not the best player, but he ALWAYS plays ridiculous near the end of a round. He cruises around the first 11 holes of a round at 18 over par, and then goes -1 the next 7 holes to finish at 89 (doesn't finish with a 90s score). This is a typical round for him.

This happens ALL THE TIME! It's nuts! I played with him at Banff Springs a couple years ago, and he was +29 after 15 holes. After the 15th hole, he tells me that he's not going to shoot over a 100 in his inaugural visit to Banff Springs. I thought this might be tough to do but guess what, he sinks 2 20+ foot birdies and a clutch up and down par to finish at... You guessed it... 99.

And why is it that this clutch behaviour follows them around in everyday activities as well?

He never played hockey before in his life, and never played nhl video games before, but i was lonely one day and decided to invite him over to play nhl 11 (before 12 came out). We played on the same team in an online match, and it was brutal because he was trying to get accustomed to the controls, and refused to use the "baby" NHL 94 controls. Well, we were using the Flames and our opponent were the Sabres. We got scored on early, but I was able to tie the game up with a Tanguay wrister in the 3rd. With 4.8 s left in the 3rd, we got a faceoff in the offensive zone, and I thought we might be able to get a shot off if I win the draw... Too bad my newb friend would get control of the puck even if I win it... But anyway, I told him to just get a shot off before the buzzer sounds if he gets the puck. Sure enough, I win the faceoff, and the puck goes to newb Regehr instead of newb Bouwmeester. There's no chance Regehr is going to score on Miller... Buffalo winger dives in front to block the shot, but surprisingly, newb Regehr skates by him. Then he unloads a slapper low far side on Miller, and it beats him clean... with 1.7 seconds left!!!!

Anyway, I'm just wondering if you guys on CP could share your own clutch stories or comment on why you think some people are clutch. I'm under the impression you're just born with it.