There are few situations in sports that are more pressure-packed than what Matt Bryant faced Sunday. The Atlanta Falcons kicker was called on with 8 seconds left to boot a 49-yard field goal that could send his team to the NFC championship game. All 70,000 fans in the Georgia Dome were watching Bryant intently, along with tens of millions of people across the country.
So how did Bryant do it?
He channeled another athlete known for his big performances under pressure and found his "happy place." True, the other athlete is Adam Sandler's fictional character Happy Gilmore from the eponymous movie, but it worked for Bryant.
“For kickers, I think you have to be able to manage the situation, and once you step out across those white lines it’s kind of like a twilight zone and you go to a different place," Bryant told Atlanta radio station WCNN this week. "You go somewhere else. It’s kind of like Happy Gilmore, you just try to go to a happy place."
We know what Happy Gilmore's "happy place" looks like, so what's in Bryant's dreamland? It's unclear, although there's a good chance that alligators are involved.
(H/T to Larry Brown Sports)
