Here’s the game where Bench tied the HR record early and ended it with a groundout (to 3b, not ss, btw.)
College Football: Northwestern beating Michigan 54-51 back in 2000. That place was nuts.
Same thing happened at the playoff game I posted about. The game was not sold out and didn’t get broadcast. And when the Bills fell so far behind, a lot of people in the stands left the stadium (it was cold and raining).
Then when the Bills started to come back, the people outside where trying to get back in to the game. They were told that even if they had tickets, they couldn’t re-enter once they had left. Some of them got arrested trying to climb over the fence to get inside.
The next day, a local TV affiliate asked the NFL for permission to broadcast the game a day late. The NFL turned them down.
I watched this on TV, yelling and screaming.
But I came in to mention Northwestern beating Michigan 17-16 in 1996. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, NU was down 16-0 and fans were starting to leave. Northwestern then scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth to pull out a last-second victory. It was amazing!
I had been going to NU games for years and had never seen us beat Michigan :).
My son’s last state swim meet. I was so nervous the whole time I could bearly stand it. Sorry you all missed it.
When Kevin McBride knocked Mike Tyson on his behind, then refused to follow-up with a thugish knockout.
It was beautiful.
For me, I guess it’s Game 5 of the 2001 World Series (Byung-Hung Kim v2.0). Only time I ever felt the upper deck at Yankee Stadium shake!
Close was Game 4 of the 1999 World Series - that’s the only series clinching game I was at. Game wasn’t much, though.
Others of note would be the above-mentioned Armando Benitez game and Game 2 of the 2000 Series (Clemens vs Piazza).
2001 NHL Playoffs Kings vs. Red Wings. The Kings, seeded 7th were facing the heavily favored Red Wings and seemed to never beat them…like ever. This was a very good Red Wings team and they were up 2 games to 1. So another loss going back to Detroit was pretty much it. And the Kings were down 3-0 with about 7 minutes left and the arena was a tomb. But the Kings scored one, then another and tied it up with 56 seconds left and we were losing our minds. Then they won it in OT which was just life changing 
The Staples Center was out of control. The energy was something I will never ever forget. The Kings won that series 4-2 and lost in 7 to the Avalanche the next round in a great series. Th Avalanche won the Stanley Cup that year.
i was also at the Women’s World Cup final in Pasadena when Brandi Chastain whipped her top off after scoring the winning PK. That was pretty damn exciting too.
It was December 1984. My first NBA game. Milwaukee Bucks at Denver Nuggets. Both teams were dark horse contenders that year, and it was Dan Issel’s final season. The Chicken was in attendance, and in rare form. The lead changed several times in the last minute, with the Nuggets winning on a last-second inbounds pass shot by Calvin Natt. The place went nuts. Great game.
Well, I was at this season’s Blackhawks’ Game 6 against the Canucks in the UC. Seats in the 4th row. Considering the circumstances it was pretty exciting, the Blackhawks battling back from 0-3 series deficit versus an arch rival at home. Forcing overtime with a late 3rd period goal, followed by 15+ minutes of sudden death capped with a great winner. Place went nuts. Had the Blackhawks gone on to finish the historic comeback in the series’ game 7 and/or if the game hadn’t been a first round series following a Stanley Cup season it’d probably be a lock.
I was also at the Cubs’ NLCS Game 6 in Wrigley in 2003, aka the Bartman game. Considering the stakes that was probably the most charged I’d ever felt prior to a game. The tension was incomparable throughout. The excitement was steadily building to epic heights until the inevitable collapse. This probably beats the Blackhawks game for pure excitement based on the stakes, drama and buildup, but my seats were much better in the UC and that was a positive result. Considering the magnitude and meaning though I think this one has to win out.
I was also at Super Bowl 41, Bears vs. Colts. It’s a Super Bowl so the hype is tough to match anywhere and it was by far the biggest investment in an event. My expectations weren’t high considering we were a clear underdog, but the spectacle is something to see. The game opened with the big Devin Hester kickoff return which was probably one of the most exciting moments in any sporting event I’ve experienced. The right guy at the right time. All that said however, the weather was awful and we were cold and wet. Normally this wouldn’t have been an issue, but as a Chicagoan traveling to Miami in February we didn’t exactly pack for cold weather. The Super Bowl, being the corporate event it is with so few real fans takes some of air out of the game. Everyone is really excited to be there, but they aren’t always that invested in the results.
I was at the 2009 Rose Bowl when my alma mater Illinois played the stacked USC Trojans. This one is probably a distant last place behind the previous 3 mentioned because of how big of an underdog we were and how much of a blow out the game ended up being, but an Illini Rose Bowl was on my bucket list. College sporting events tend to have a different and more intense vibe than professional ones solely because of the attachment fans have and the unpredictability of the kids playing. The atmosphere around the Rose Bowl is special just because of all the history. You really fell a connection to all the past events there and the sunshine and beauty of the area add a surreal aspect that’s incomparable. The Rose Bowl would be higher on a “most enjoyable” list but as far as excitement, the stakes and result didn’t match up.
Last but not least was the 2005 NCAA Final Four when the Illini beat Louisville in the Semis and got screwed by the refs in the Finals against UNC. The Final Four is a weird one to measure up since it’s a multi-day event. There was the high of the semifinal win followed by the low of the highway robbery that was the finals loss. The stakes are obvious and the teams involved were pretty legendary, UNC, Louisville, Michigan State and Illinois so the stature was there. Illinois was one loss from an undefeated season, in the last regular season game no less, so they were, if not the favorite, very close to it. The event was in St. Louis that year so it was a heavily Illinois biased crowd which elevated the buzz in the building for the finals game. It had the hype, the stakes, the college vibe, the optimism and it had the really competitive outcome. The big downside for this event is the venue, playing basketball games in football stadiums is inherently a disappointing experience. The noise is muted and the sightlines are average at best. My seats weren’t great which only further hurt. Toss in the fact that the Illini lost in a very frustrating way leaves a lot of bitterness that undermines the excitement level.
So, let’s rank them.
- Bartman Game
- Super Bowl XLI
- Blackhawks Playoff Game 6 OT
- Illini NCAA Final Four
- Illini Rose Bowl
Ugh, 4 losses and 1 win, in the least meaningful game no less.
The Bartman game wins simply because it’s the Cubs in Wrigley shooting for the first World Series win in a century. 5 outs away from the first WS appearance in 60 odd years. History, venue and stakes that outweigh everything, coupled with a singular result that will go down in history for better or worse. The Super Bowl on the back of overwhelming hype gets second place. That the NFL is my favorite sport helps it’s case as does the week long hype building into that peak with the Hester opening KO return. The Blackhawks game will probably fade further down the list but it was just a couple weeks ago so it’s still fresh. Plus there’s something special about playoff hockey, especially overtime. It’s intense and when your seats are that good you really get sucked into it. That one gets a big boost when you really focus on the “exciting” part of the question, even if that excitement was limited to the 75 or so minutes of game time. The two Illini events are last mostly because of the result. Had either resulted in a win they’d have been on top, but sadly they didn’t.
Here’s another list, ranking excitement based solely on how I felt from opening whistle to final seconds. Cutting out the pregame hype and just focusing on tension and in-game drama.
- Bartman Game
- Final Four
- Blackhawks Playoff OT
- Super Bowl
- Rose Bowl
The Bartman game still wins because those 100 years made every pitch feel like life and death. The Final Four benefits from being 2 games and generally being so competitive. The Blackhawks game was 75 minutes of pure adrenaline but you can’t escape the fact that a win still meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. The Super Bowl and Rose Bowl were more about the pregame hype and the pre-event parties. The games themselves weren’t special if not for the importance of them.
Wow - I completely forgot about the 2010 NCAA Basketball Final! Butler v. Duke - the ultimate David v. Goliath matchup. Everything came down to the final shot (twice!), and Butler came up short each time. Either way, it was the most people I’ve ever seen rooting for the same basketball team ever. 90,000+ people - that’s a tough number to beat.
Maybe it is my own personal bias, but I feel like I have everyone beat on this one.
I was at the 2006 Rose Bowl when Texas beat USC. Perfect location, perfect teams (star players, tons of future NFL players, historically good teams), the two undisputed best teams of the year, back and forth, big comeback, exciting ending, huge hype going into the game, and for the championship. I honestly don’t think it gets any better than that.
I watched Brazil beat Uruguay in the 1989 Copa America final. The game was in Maracana stadium and it was packed. I got to see Romario and Bebeto playing. It was pretty cool.
You don’t remember this? It’s the most memorable moment of the entire game! Leonardo got red-carded, but Tab Ramos was the USA’s best player and he left the game with a cracked skull. I always thought that while Brazil were light years better, if only Tab had been OK the US might’ve pulled that game out (being up 11 men to 10 for the whole 2nd half). Without Tab, the US didn’t stand a chance.
As for me, while I was also at the Women’s World Cup Final mentioned upthread, I would have to go with The Chargers knocking off the Colts in OTin the ‘09 playoffs on Darren Sproles’ game-winning touchdown. Here’s a second view from the stands. What a game.
1999 Summer X-Games in San Francisco. I was in the stands for the Skateboard Vert Best Trick competition where Tony Hawk landed his 900. It was crazy fun.
That one’s pretty solid, LonghornDave. I think if Butler had won in 2010 or ND in 2005, I might have the edge - but yours was an extremely exciting game with the underdog eventually beating the frontrunner. And mine would only get the edge for having more fans there (since yours was split 50/50).
Eh, pretty pale in comparison, but I attended the first game ever held in the Twins new stadium (Target Field?) last year vs the Red Sox.
For legit sports, I saw the Saints play the Giants in the Dome on a Monday Night years ago. Rickey Jackson was still playing then, and it happened to be Rickey Jackson Appreciation Night, so that was cool. Saints lost that game, but were competitive, and had a chance to win late in the quarter.
For pro wrestling, I saw part of the epic “Freebirds blind JYD” storyline play out live in a local arena. The Dog was bravely trying to return to the ring after his fiendish injury, in a series of “Blind Man’s Bluff” matches against dastardly Michael Hayes. In this match, each man had to wear a hood over their heads, in theory leveling the playing field between the “blind” JYD and the sighted Hayes. Of course, Hayes, being the heel, eventually removed his hood and took advantage of the Dog. I started a “We want Buck!” chant that rocked the house (Buck Robley was the Dog’s tag team partner at the time, and I was hoping to see him run in to save the Dog). Buck didn’t do a run in that night, but the Dog somehow managed to catch Hayes for his finisher (a powerslam called the “Big Thump”), and pinned Hayes 1-2-3 right in the middle of the ring. The heat for this match was amazing. JYD really was “bigger than Jesus” in the Mid-South area. The 'Birds were hated heels. Hayes got legit, documented by law enforcement death threats during this feud. Exciting stuff for a 12-or so year old Oak.
Weird. I remember Tab Ramos getting his orbit fractured, but if you’d asked me before this thread (and w/o a computer or other reference) I’d have thought that it was Carlos Valderrama who did it to him. Who obviously doesn’t play for Brazil. Or look like anything other Carlos Valderrama. (Maybe Sideshow Bob.) And I wasn’t in Pasadena for the U.S./Colombia match, so how I could have seen the injury in person? Yet that’s what I remembered… I’m probably blurring together in memory, watching in person Colombia and Switzerland play during round robin play, where Valderrama did get cautioned for a cheap shot in the 62nd minute, and the Leonardo elbow.
I do remember being mad at the time that it seemed the U.S. was really passive on the attack and was playing to get to P.K.'s. Shows what I knew back then. Not a bad strategy actually, considering that Meola was one of the best players on the team, and a high variance method of settling ties—like a P.K shootout—favors weaker opponents. Which the U.S. definitely was. Was it Dooley’s shot that came close to scoring, about 11 minutes in? I recall it beating Taffarel and just missing to the outside. It was really exciting. Maybe I’ll be able to see them play in 2014.
For the record, if this were a poll, I would also have LonghornDave in the lead. That USC/Texas game may very well have been the best college football game of all time.