# 2008 Greatest Sports Stories **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 28, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994 "2008-12-28T21:15:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/1 "2008-12-28T21:15:13Z")
Ok, the year is almost over. We need some nominations for the prize of Greatest Sports Story of the year. Obvious Contenders: Woods 2008 US Open win Usain Bolt blows away the world in the 100 and 200. Michael Phelps wins 8 gold medals. Greatest Wimbledon Final ever. Giants Stop Patriots from Football Glory. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/2 "2008-12-28T21:40:06Z")
Softball sportsmanship. My favorite, hands down. [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2008-05-01-softball-sportsmanship\_N.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2008-05-01-softball-sportsmanship_N.htm) Brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/3 "2008-12-28T22:28:03Z")
The Tampa Bay Rays go to the World Series. ---
**Author:** ![Dosipede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dosipede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dosipede)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/4 "2008-12-28T22:43:08Z")
[Fresno State.](http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/baseball/recap?gameId=2817700611) But then I’m biased. And that softball story is pure awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/5 "2008-12-29T12:53:03Z")
Matt Ryan’s rookie year. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/6 "2008-12-29T13:00:42Z")
Iceland getting a [Silver medal](http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-hnb-iceland-handballheroes&prov=ap&type=lgns) in the Handball at the Olympics! ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/7 "2008-12-29T19:57:47Z")
Jimmy Johnson wins a (nearly) unprecedented third straight NASCAR cup. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/8 "2008-12-29T20:04:14Z")
Certainly not on a global scare, but for my region, the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series was a huge story. Of all cities with four professional sports teams, Philadelphia was in the midst of the longest championship drought. It has been 100 seasons (four teams, 25 years) since Philly had its last title. From an outsider’s perspective, it was probably the most forgettable WS in years, but to the towns in the Western Pennsylvania region, it was the most important sporting event since Smarty Jones had a shot to win the Triple Crown. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/9 "2008-12-29T20:07:15Z")
> [@Hi\_Neighbor](#): > > Certainly not on a global scare, but for my region, the Philadelphia Phillies winning the World Series was a huge story. Of all cities with four professional sports teams, Philadelphia was in the midst of the longest championship drought. It has been 100 seasons (four teams, 25 years) since Philly had its last title. From an outsider’s perspective, it was probably the most forgettable WS in years, but to the towns in the Western Pennsylvania region, it was the most important sporting event since Smarty Jones had a shot to win the Triple Crown. I’m assuming you mean EASTERN Pennsylvania? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/10 "2008-12-29T20:09:28Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I’m assuming you mean EASTERN Pennsylvania? 😉 Haha, you’re right. I lived out in Pittsburgh for awhile and was very used to typing out ‘Western Pennsylvania’ on all of my correspondence and term papers. Let me see if I can change that. ETA: Ah, too late. Missed my window of opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/11 "2008-12-29T20:24:39Z")
> [@Dosipede](#): > > [Fresno State.](http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/baseball/recap?gameId=2817700611) > > But then I’m biased. All of my wife’s family (her included) went to Fresno State at some point, so it was pretty huge here as well. Offsets some of the underachieving football and Stacey Johnson-Klein garbage. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2008-greatest-sports-stories/478994/12 "2008-12-29T20:33:23Z")
How about the Detroit Lions going 0-16? That’s a record that will probably never be repeated! That is an awesome display of crappiness! Like the perfect storm of incompetence. 🙂