Things happen. And every once in a while, they happen in the wide world of sport to remind us that even people who play games for a living sometimes take life a little bit too seriously.
What happened to Quincy Watts the other day has happened to all of us at one time or another. He was in a hurry on his way to somewhere when that telltale flip-flop sound told him the bottom of his shoe was coming loose.Now most of us write such things off as one of modern life's minor annoyances, like bad hair days or lawsuits.
But because Watts just happens to be the Olympic gold medalist, and because he was wearing a customized Nike shoe and halfway down the track in the 400-meter final at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, when it happened to him Tuesday, it set off talk of tragedies and grand failures.
"We are decimated," Nike spokesman Keith Peters said. "It's the first time in 20 years that's happened. It's a tragedy."
Granted, it's bad. But bad enough for the ashes-and-sackcloth treatment?
"I didn't sleep much," said Tom Hartge, Nike's marketing manager for running. "It really drove me crazy."
Though plenty of people, including Nike boss Phil Knight, tried, Hartge apparently was inconsolable. Even though two other clients, Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds, finished 1-2 in the same race wearing similarly customized Nikes.
"Our shoe was not up to the level of Quincy Watts as a performer," Hartge said. "For me, it's embarrassing."
Because these are times that try men's soles, not all the ruminating was limited to the people over at Swoosh, Inc., where shoes are regarded as much a mission as a product.
Over at Reebok, meanwhile, another bunch of shoe types were thinking deep thoughts, too; but mostly they had to do with how to take advantage of their main competitor's "tragedy."
"We're pretty open about these things," said John Morgan, a Reebok marketing vice president and a former Nike employee. "To me, we're in the entertainment business. I'd hate to do something to reflect badly upon the athlete. But it would be nice to have some fun with Nike."
Cold. Still, even Morgan admitted to some misgivings.
"Our shoes, like theirs, are made by hand, and there is the possibility of human error," he said. "We live in a glass house."
Why all the concern? Go ahead and - as Nike says - just do it. And have a little fun while you're at it. The rest of us certainly are.
Goofy bounces, cracked bats, thrown horseshoes, flat tires, busted racket strings and shoelaces have been part of the games forever. Sport is supposed to be a bumpy road, not smooth pavement. And sometimes you hit your best shot of the day down the middle of the fairway and then have to hit your next one from out of somebody else's divot. As the Scots who codified golf, that cruelest of games, knew several centuries ago, sometimes you have to play it as it lies.
Credit Watts, if not his sponsors, for knowing as much. Michael Johnson's winning time was anything but slow; at 43.65 seconds, it was the third fastest of all time. Watts himself flapped home in fourth at 45.05, well off his personal best.
But he didn't whine and most important, he didn't threaten to call his lawyers, despite the fact he stood to gain a performance bonus of some $25,000 plus a $30,000 Mercedes Benz for winning the race.
"They admitted something went wrong with the shoe and said they were sorry," Watts said.
There was a time when sorry would have been enough. It must have been a long time ago.