From writing about comebacks the next logical step would be to talk about collapses, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I suppose Audley Harrison is even now wondering quite how he went from scoring a knockdown in round one to being spectacularly knocked out just two rounds later against Michael Sprott. Nobody saw that one coming, in pretty much the way ‘A Force’ never saw that left hook coming.

 Boxing is probably the sport where the most dramatic turn around can happen, where one blow can change the course of events. Rocky Marciano would never have been champion of the world if he hadn’t somehow found ‘Suzie Q’ against Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round in 1952. Likewise British favourite Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham was surely moments away from winning a world title in 1990 before Julian Jackson found a punch that had the Sheffield man unconscious long before he hit the canvas. A split second loss of concentration is all it can take.

 With top level Sportsman it is difficult to talk about ‘choking’, you have to be exceptional to get yourself to the head of any top class field but sometimes, no matter how good you are, you just can’t quite see a job through.
 
 Take Greg Norman. He was 6 shots clear of Nick Faldo in the 1996 Masters going into the final round. You would have forgiven the tailors if they had started running up his green jacket on the Saturday night to save time. Somehow the lead had gone by the 12th hole, Norman shot a 78 and finished 5 shots back. It was alleged at the time that the so called ‘Great White Shark’ had run up a ‘Great White Flag’.

 Women are not adverse to throwing away a golden opportunity and I sometimes wish my wife would learn, especially in a shoe shop. Jana Novotna had a point on her own serve to take a 5-1 lead in the closing set of the Ladies Final at Wimbledon. A blink of an eye later the Czech had lost the point, lost her service game and more importantly, lost the plot. Within moments Steffi Graf was crowned the 1993 champion and the Duchess of Kent was supplying the Kleenex to the distraught runner-up.

 We can all try and laugh at the misfortune of ‘Johnny Foreigner’ but if we are honest we know that we have our own problems. For a country that used to pride itself for having ‘bottle’ our heroes have shown a marked lack of application when it comes to kicking the pigs bladder from 12 yards. After the World Cup quarter final ‘Hand Of God’ exit in 1986 England have been part of 5 Penalty Shoot Outs and lost 4 of them. Spain being the unlucky fall guys in 1996 at Wembley.
 
 It is easy to think back to Gareth Southgate passing the ball to Oliver Khan in Euro ’96, Chris Waddle obviously being distracted by his monster mullet and driving miles over the bar and the tame efforts of Paul Ince and David Batty in France ’98. At a time when the Three Lions needed to roar they went out with a whimper.

 As always though there has to be an exception to every rule. The other man to miss in that World Cup Semi was Stuart Pearce and there is no way you can accuse that man of having no bottle. ‘Psycho’ played his natural game in blasting his penalty for all he was worth, the goalie was simply equal to it. I think he was forgiven because it obviously meant something to him to have let so many people down.

 Fast forward to that shoot out against Spain. Pearce had to the nerve to try again, same routine but different result. As the ball hit the net the eye bulging, vein pumping, chest swelling, fist waving release of it all won him a place in the nations heart forever. Quite frankly, if you are English and his passion didn’t put a tear in your eye there is something radically wrong with you.

 The fear of failure can certainly be a fearsome obstacle but the example of Stuart Pearce is something we can all identify with. In life they say you always meet twice and when Psycho had his second opportunity he wasn’t afraid to take it.  I’ll remember that thought when another batter launches my bowling out of the park this Summer.