Even here in Cleveland, God has allowed us brief moments of sporting pleasure.
1995 ALCS Game 6, when the Tribe beat Seattle’s ace Randy Johnson 4-0 to win Cleveland’s first pennant since 1954, was a joyous occasion.
The 1997 baseball playoffs, when the Tribe knocked off first the defending champion evil empire Yankees in the ALDS and then the Orioles in the ALCS, were a hell of a lot of fun too.
As a Notre Dame fan, I can’t improve on the 1973 Sugar Bowl (12/31/73), when the Irish beat out Bear Bryant’s Alabama team 24-23 for the National Championship.
Usain Bolt’s 2008 Olympic sprints were a joy to watch. It was simply incredible to watch him obliterate records like that.
I mentioned in the other thread but as a Penn State fan from birth (literally…I was born just yards away from Beaver Stadium) the 1987 Fiesta Bowl win for the National Championship was fairly dramatic. Probably the best defensive effort ever from a Joe Paterno team, and there have been a few of those.
1981 NFC Championship Game: Montana to Clark immortalized as “The Catch.”
1989 Super Bowl: Montana to Taylor for the win.
1989 Tour de France: Greg Lemond (after being shot in 1987) behind Fignon by 50 seconds with only the final individual time trial left. The only time I have ever, literally, screamed at the television. Unbelievable.
2007 Fiesta Bowl: I’m not a fan of either Boise State or Oklahoma but this was the most exciting college football game I’ve ever seen, culminating in Ian Johnson asking his girlfriend (the cheerleader) to marry him minutes after he’d scored the winning touchdown. You can’t even make up shit like that.
I haven’t been following sports to any extent until relatively recently, so mine have all been from the past year or so! I don’t think it’s fair to post about events I didn’t watch unfold “live”, and they might not be the greatest moments of all time, but I sure liked them!
2010 Olympics - The Golden Goal (winning the gold medal was awesome, but the fit of giggling I get whenever I hear Chris Cuthbert’s calljust makes it that much more worth it!) Capped off a very fun Olympics, though I think I was just as happy to see Alexandre Bilodeau win his gold in moguls and even though I’m not a figure skating fan, it was hard not to be in awe of Joannie Rochette.
2009 Grey Cup Final - watching Montreal’s Damon Duval’s kick go wide, and then realizing there are flags on the field…and then realizing it’s against the Roughriders…for too many men on the field…10 yard penalty…the do-over, and Duval splits the uprights with time expired…it was awesome!!
09/10 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Habs’ First Round Game 7 win against the Capitals…Second Round Game 7 win against the Penguins…just wish it could have lasted a couple of rounds more!
Looks like no one has mentioned golf; the 1986 Masters is my favorite golfing moment. A 46 yr old Jack Nicklaus makes a back nine charge against a host of great players.
One of my favorite moments was always the 2000 Olympics final for women’s Judo. Ryoko Tani was at the time probably the single most famous female Judoka in Japan, and she came up against Lioubov Brouletova in the finals- the two had been competitors and (somewhat) friendly rivals for years, but it was the first time they had come up against each other in the olympics. The match really speaks for itself-I love Tani’s elation when she scores the match-winning Ippon. ^^
Games that come to mind are Eli’s big comeback win over the Broncos in 05. His winning touchdown pass to Toomer was one of the last things Wellington Mara saw before he died.
Another was Eli’s comeback against the Eagles in 06 (I think?) when they came back by 3 toucdowns. Eli was sacked like 8 times that day, but he played great in between sacks. heh.
The big sack days were also very sweet. Against Vick’s Falcons in 05 (?), McNabb’s Eagles in 07 (?), and Cutler’s Bears last week.
2002 Ohio State v. Michigan: Last 5 minutes of the game were deafening. With the interception to the end of the game it was as though 105,000 people let out a collective roar of exultation.
Columbus Blue Jackets v. Chicago Blackhawks, April 8, 2009: Jackets enter the game needing one point to clinch their first playoff berth in team history. The fan community is small but dedicated and passionate. I was at home that night watching the game with family and I was not dry eyed after the game. See this story for why that win was extra special: Ryan Salmons.
I wish I remembered most of the end of OSU-Michigan in 2002. I smuggled in a bottle of Goldschlager in a gigantic flask and drank most of it during the third and fourth quarters out of nerves and freezing cold. Amazing I didn’t end up hospitalized.
The end of 2006 OSU-Michigan was pretty awesome too, but there’s not a particular moment I can point to with that one. Maybe the late hit out of bounds on Troy Smith, but that’s hardly spectacular. Plus, the whole thing is tainted by the NC game that year, which got an honorable mention in the “Games that tore your heart out and stomped on it” thread.
From the same game, Darryl Sydor breaks his ankle and yet crawls to the front of the net to help out when he realizes that the play is not going to stop for his injury.
Being from Calgary, I can’t help but love this. Steve Smith banking one off Grant Fuhr for an own goal. The clinching goal in the best playoff series I have ever seen.
I may have told this story before but it’s cool. I worked with a guy who was a four year starter at Cal and was a player on the field during that play. He and I were at a meeting with a few people from one of our customers. When we got to talking, we found out that one of them was in the Stanford band and was on the field that day too. They (and I) had known each other for a couple of years and never realized that fact until that day. This was maybe twelve years after the Big Play.
A couple of mine have been mentioned already - Greg LeMond overcoming Laurent Fignon to win by 7 (or 8?) seconds in the last day of the TdF; Tyree’s circus catch against the Pats; Usain Bolt obliterating the 100 meter dash WR. I’ve got a few to add.
Seeing John Trautmann set a new national record at the 1986 Penn Relays in the high school 3000 meter run, besting the former record by a few seconds, a record set by Steve Prefontaine (Pre had set the mark during a 5k race!!). Also, at the same meet, seeing a 15 year old man-child, William Reed, split a 45.1 in a mile relay - good hs quarter milers will split under 50 seconds (a split will be about .6 or .7 faster than an open quarter race due to the running start), great quarter milers will get to 47.5, low 46 are the elite, and he was crushing ‘em all. I didn’t go the next year, but he split a 44.2!
Jim Leyritz’ home run off of Mark Wohlers in game 4 of the 96 World Series. The Yanks were 'dogs in that series, and were 4 outs away from being down 3-1; and they were a different team then, they had stunk up the joint for years, and were almost completely home grown, unlike this decade’s incarnation (thank you Howie Spira!!).
Oh yeah, another great moment for the Giants was in the NFC Conference Championship against the 49ers when Leonard Marshall knocked Joe Montana out of the game. Youtube
I clearly recall a sideline reporter later in the game quoting Montana as saying “I hurt all over.” That was the greatest sentence I ever heard.
This was the season the 49ers created the term threepeat, and it was a joy to watch the Giants end those hopes. The 1990 playoffs were just so damn good, as was that whole season. Too good.
Man, how could I forget about that? That’s a trooper right there. Exhibit A in the argument for hockey players being among the toughest, most devoted athletes on the planet.
