In a message dated 12/10/13 5:00:30 PM, [email protected] writes:
> Tom, you ,once referred to an aesthetic experience as when at the > final second of a football game your team caches the long pass in > the end zone, winning the game. as an aesthetic experience as ( pleasure) > No -- happily for my sensibility, it involved more than that. And less: San Francisco was not even my team: It was the final game of the season, the NFL championship game. Awful weather. Cincinnati had just scored to take the lead. San Francisco was on their own 8-yard line -- 92 yards from a score. Less than three minutes left. The rookies on the Cincinnati were on their feet congratulating each other. However, the veteran Cincinnati receiver Chris Collingsworth said, in effect, "Better hold off on that celebrating for a minute, fellas: I do believe that's number sixteen out there at quarterback for the Niners." Number sixteen was Joe Montana, a wizard in the clutch, known for last minute heroics. Collingsworth later reported watching the last minutes was like watching a classic tragedy: Nemesis was on the field. And indeed Montana captained his team all the way downfield, and, with seconds left, threw the final, winning, touchdown. I was watching the game, and those last couple of minutes unfolded for me as they did for Collingsworth: like a Greek classic. My "aesthetic experience" lasted throughout the Niners possession, not just during the final pass. It had drama, shape, and a seeming inevitability. When it climaxed I realized what I'd just experienced was truly an a.e..
