Greatest Sporting Moments

That was great, but how about Vinatieri’s tying and winning kicks in the snowstorm in the last game played in Sullivan Stadium? Great visual on TV, and he destroyed decades of bad Patriots’ karma with two swings of his foot.

I couldn’t believe the guy made the first one, under those conditions. After that the second one was practically a gimme.

I remember that. All the more remarkable because the backup quaterback, Frank Reich, was in the game.

Way too many to count, but here’s a sampler:

Phil Mickelson’s birdie putt to win the Masters. For someone who’s been second, third, and fourth so many times, and was unquestionably THE biggest victim of Tigermania, and for whom there were endless doubts that seemed to grow more crushing by the day…it was incomparable.

John Elway, after so many crushing defeats and disappointments and heartaches and embarrassments and on an on, finally clinching the Broncos’ first ever Super Bowl…by taking a knee. No come from behind, no 99-yards-in-two-minutes drama; in the end, all he had to do was sit on it. That, more than anything, really showed to me how far the team had come.

Konishiki winning his third (and final) tournament title. Injury-prone for his entire career due to his crushing weight, and at best inconsistent as a result, he was able to, for one brief, shining stretch, put together three really good tournaments, culminating with this one. And flirt, ever so briefly, with yokozuna promotion.

This was taped, but I also want to include Mike Tyson’s second defeat to Evander Holyfield. What made it even more remarkable was that in the round that had the infamous ear-biting incident, he was ahead. Clearly. If he just remained patient and continued working Holyfield, rather than going triple bat feces over the “headbutts” (I counted a total of one deliberate headbutt by Holyfield, which Mills Lane called correctly), he had a chance. Just perfectly encapsulates, IMHO, everything that went wrong with Tyson after his return to the sport.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, victimized by horrendous relief pitching during the entire World Series, finding themselves down by two runs against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the ninth in game 7, up against Alphonso Soriano, who had not blown a single save the entire year…and absolutely wiping the basepaths with him.

Dominique Moceanu. Who? The little pixie, widely considered the star of the '96 women’s gymnastics team, which had built a batttleship-sized lead going into the final event of the all-around. All she has to do is land one clean vault IN TWO ATTEMPTS, and it’s locked up. So of course, she promptly delivers two ridiculous pratfalls that would’ve gotten her tossed from tryouts. (She actually performed in a few events after that, but the moment I saw this, I knew it was the beginning of the end.)

Jeff Gordon winning the inaugural Brickyard 400. This wasn’t his first big win, but to take the first ever event on a completely new track showed, beyond any shadow of doubt, that this kid was the real deal.

The nameless Red Sox pitcher who, ah, <<BLEW THE FREAKING SAVE>> in game 6 of the World Series and made any silly error that happened afterward, in my mind, meaningless. I recently saw it on ESPN, and it was an abject embarrassment (and I’ve never been a Red Sox fan in my life). To think that this nameless goat, who played THE biggest part in the Red Sox not winning the World Series, could forever escape scrutiny, is astounding. Who knows, there might be some hope for me yet. :slight_smile:

Frank Reich also led Maryland to a win over Miami, after being down 31-0 at the half.

Mariano Rivera. Soriano is an infielder.

Believe me, Bob Stanley’s name is remembered well, although not fondly, in these parts. Or are you referring to Calvin Schiraldi, who took the loss? People spit when they say his name also.
Laughing Lagomorph, Yankee fan in enemy territory.

I was at the Richfield Coliseum when Michael Jordan hit his famous shot over Cleveland’s Craig Ehlo, but I wasn’t too happy about it.

I was there :D.

Kapil Dev’s 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 cricket World Cup.

On a pitch made for bowlers, India (66-1 outsiders at the start of the tournament) were reeling at 9 for 4 when Kapil Dev walked in. Apparently his knock turned out to be the stuff legends are made of. I say apparently, because the BBC was on strike that day, and so the match was never recorded or telecast! India went on to beat the defending champions, the West Indies, in the final.

Also, Maradona’s 2nd goal against England in the semifinal of the 1986 World Cup. That was sublime.

Good picks, Gouda. Kapil’s knock was at Tunbridge Wells, as I recall. What tremendous all-rounders there were in the late 70-mid 80s: Kapil, Hadlee, Botham, and perhaps the greatest, Imran Khan.

Live: Roger Maris hits home run #61*

On TV: Tossup between Superbowl III or the sixth game of the 1986 world series (as a Mets fan). :slight_smile:

Preach it. They couldn’t even get Big Red and the rest of the field in the same camera shot, the lead was so big.

“Say, aren’t there other horses running this race…where the hell are they?”

**Crisp ** losing the 1973 Grand National steeplechase to Red Rum. After a faultless jumping display, Crisp (under top weight) was overhauled on the line after 4.5 miles by a horse with a 20lb advantage. Decent animal, though. Went on to win it twice more.

The greatest sports performance of my memory was seeing Quebec Nordiques goaltender Ron Tugnutt making 70 saves on 73 shots in a 3-3 regular season tie against Boston on March 21, 1991. That included 19 saves against Ray Bourque alone. Bruins fans gave Tugger a standing ovation. :smiley:

BTW, this is my first post since August 13th, and my first visit to the SDMB since close to the same time. I’m just getting back into the swing of things after spending two weeks in the hospital for anxiety and depression (after a little bit of a breakdown). What have I missed? :slight_smile:

Anyhoo…

NZ winning the first rugby world cup. I don’t like rugby but I like being a Kiwi. It was a sweet, sweet time to be a Kiwi in London.

Ok, so I won lots of dosh but that didn’t make me appreciate the moment more. :wink:

The Immaculate Reception.

CalmKiwi, Kirk’s side was a real team. The All Blacks have lacked a good leader in recent times, and much as I like Tana Umaga, I’m not sure if he’s the man. You lot are too good for England at the moment, though!

I don’t know if lacking a leader is it Roger, NZ as a nation does pretty good in sport but we are very good at failing at the most important moment. I think we put to much pressure on our sports people.

We have this deep desire to do as well as that lot over the Tasman. The population imbalance means we will beat them sometimes…but not as often as they will beat us. If the NZ public would give up bashing tall poppies we might actually do better.

Tana is groovy though :slight_smile:

My greatest/worst moment has to be the 1992 NCAA East Regional Final. Some of you know it as The Greatest College Basketball Game Ever. Kentucky-Duke. Christian F’N Laettner hits a jumpshot to destroy the hopes and dreams of the Unforgettables. If only we’d defended Grant Hill inbounding the ball…

Second would be the 1998 Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt, 0 for 19 in attempts to win the 500. He’d won everything else there was to win during Speedweeks in his career. He’d been robbed for so many years (running out of gas, cutting a tire down on the last lap, HITTING A FRICKIN’ SEAGULL) that when the caution came out on lap 199, I started crying, realizing that he was finally gonna win The Great American Race. Seeing every crewmember, owner, friend and family member come out to shake his hand on pit road was a special moment.

On a more somber note, seeing him die at Daytona just 3 years later.

Sarah Hughes turning in the performance of her life in the women’s figure skating long program in the Winter Olympics, but still needing Irina Slutskaya to finish ahead of Michelle Kwan, and neither to finish ahead of her, to take home the gold. Kwan falls, and Slutskaya mails in a lackluster routine which the announce team can’t find anything good to say about. Hughes has her one shining moment.

Ditto on Dale Earnhardt winning the Daytona 500 (and I can’t believe I missed it the first time). The Daytona 500 for him was like The Masters for Greg Norman, and I raised the roof when he finally took the checkered flag. Terrible that it would also be his last.

The USA America’s Cup team, after losing the Cup in a 7-race heartbreaker to Australia after (IIRC) 22 straight defenses, facing them in the Aussies’ first defense…and blowing them out of the water 4-0. “What goes down…must come back up!”

And on a personal note, the University of Hawaii football team, after losing something like 300 straight games to BYU, finally mange to close within 7 and score a touchdown, with no time for another drive. This was before OT was instituted, so it’s do or die time. Countless thousands around the state breathlessly anticipate exactly which play the coach is going to call for the conversion attempt. Decades of frustration hang in the balance. Finally, the call is made…

…and the kicking unit goes out.

I swear, we were debating that one for a month. Conservative estimate.

Winning the America’s Cup was also a good moment for NZ. It was pretty good the second time too. :wink:

Damn those Swiss!