Sad endings are unfortunately part of life, but they do not have to ruin our greatest stories. The most popular romance movie on Letterboxd is La La Land, a movie with a horribly unsatisfying ending to an otherwise lovely story. That summary is one so often befitting in sports. Not everyone gets a walkoff hit in their final game like Derek Jeter, or a buzzer-beating game winner to cap off an MVP season like Russell Westbrook; more often than not, things do not go as planned.
Throughout the 2025 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs, Tyrese Haliburton played a crucial role in producing one of the most exciting tournaments in years. Haliburton hit four game-winning or -tying shots in the final five seconds of a fourth quarter or overtime, giving him five for his career. Only LeBron James has more, with eight. Haliburton created iconic moments that will forever be in the hearts and minds of Indiana Pacers fans, or really anyone who got to experience what he had to offer up until Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Game 7’s are a lot like heavy romance. Sometimes they end with the ultimate celebration, or, in Haliburton’s case, it can end with tears streaming down your face while you lay in agony. The image of Haliburton pounding his fist into the floor while screaming in pain after he tore his Achilles tendon in the final game of the 2025 NBA Playoffs will forever be etched into the brains of fans, but more importantly, it ought to remind them of how special Haliburton truly was throughout those four playoff rounds.
Towards the end of March, we saw another sports love affair end in tears. McGill swimmer Romain Vanmoen found himself competing at the U SPORTS National Championships in Markham, Ontario for the final meet of his career. Vanmoen qualified for the 200-metre backstroke final, where he had an underwhelming performance and the slowest time. However, his performance was secondary, as after the race something far more important happened. Vanmoen—who had just swam in lane five—turned to the competitor in lane six, Cameron Carlyle of the Dalhousie University Tigers.
The two hugged and shed tears after the final race of their respective careers. These were not just two athletes drawn in the lanes next to each other; for Vanmoen, the guy in lane six is his best friend. Carlyle spent the first four seasons of his U SPORTS swimming career at McGill where he swam next to Vanmoen in practice everyday. Not only were they teammates for five seasons, but the pair spent four of those seasons living together before Carlyle graduated and moved on to Dalhousie. The race represented the final time two best friends got the opportunity to share the pool together. The tears seen streaming down Vanmoen’s face were not of disappointment because he had a bad race. In an interview with The Tribune, Vanmoen emphasized that he was not held up on the outcome of the race, but on the emotions he felt.
“Even if the performance wasn’t great I didn’t care at all,” he wrote. “[I am] grateful for everything the sport gave [me], all the way to allowing me to race next to [my] best friend.”
Some would consider a last-place finish in the final a bad ending for Vanmoen, but to him it did not matter because the best friend he ever made in swimming was right next to him until the very end of his career.
La La Land teaches us that we do not always get the storybook ending we want, but for Haliburton, Vanmoen, and Carlyle alike, that does not ruin a great story. Haliburton endeared himself to millions around the world and created so many new fans eagerly awaiting his return. For Carlyle and Vanmoen, as their swimming careers come to a close they can say goodbye to a sport they love with the comfort of having gained a lifelong friend with whom they share countless memories with and someone who will be there for many more. The storybook ending did not happen for any of the three, but maybe one day they can all walk into Seb’s and share a smile knowing they won in life.