I was in college at the time in Southern California (but not AT Southern California) and the Romanian national team was practicing on our soccer fields. It was just amazing to watch those guys go through the most routine of drills. I don’t think I’d ever even heard of Gheorghe Hagi (the Maradonna of the Carpathians!) before that World Cup, but I certainly became a fan of his during it. We had tickets at the Rose Bowl for a few of the games, and watching Romania v. the US and v. Colombia was fantastic.
Looking at the footageonce again six years later I’ll have to agree with you. Both Umaga and Mealamu should have received yellow cards at least. And what was the touch judge thinking - O’Driscoll was taken out right in front of him?
But Carter was still amazing in the next test.
I think the good thing that came out of it was a crackdown on dangerous play like that.
And thankfully no-one ended up badly injured for that to happen.
And yes, Carter was (and continues to be) a wonderful player. This autumn could be lots of fun.
How can a old time Cleveland fan pick George Strickland over Vic Power (Vic Power!!!) as your favorite player. Nevermind stealing home, it’s Vic Power!
Maybe it should be a poll later. That Texas-USC game was a hell of a game but it featured two of the winningest college football programs of all time. I’m not sure there was much at stake. Not to sound too bitchy, but would anyone have left that game wringing their hands over what could have been? How excited can you get for a team that’s essentially a contender every single year? For me excitement requires having something to lose, and while I’m sure USC fans were seriously bummed about not adding another title they weren’t exactly ripping their hair out over it either. I don’t think anyone who’s a fan of any of the Have-Nots of the sports landscape would accept that as the most exciting game.
I was at the other end of the stadium when Romo botched the hold.
Sure, it can be argued. I could make a hell of an argument myself for Boise St. versus Oklahoma instead. But that Rose Bowl had it all - 2 of the greatest programs of all time, who also happened to be the only 2 undefeated teams that year, playing for the national championship at “The Granddaddy Of Them All”. USC played that game with not one, but TWO Heisman Trophy winners. And, oh yeah, it finished 41-38. I love a good underdog story as much as the next guy, but there’s a lot to be said for a true Clash Of The Titans match up on the biggest possible stage.
Anyway, it’s still got my vote for the most exciting game anyone in this thread has posted so far.
This might not exactly count, but one of the games of Kasparov vs. Deep Blue. The first time; the one that Kasparov won. What was most intense is that Kasparov’s style is largely based around the psychological game, and he was so good at it that he was even able to use that against a computer.
My best is easy to name: The game that ended with this goal.
At the top of his airborne trajectory, Orr’s left leg was pointing at me.
Maybe the 1994 World Cup QF between Holland & Brazil. The bad guys won that one though.
Or maybe 1986 France-Brazil.
The most exciting game that I was in attendance at was the 2000 NCAA Championship where the Spartans beat the Gators 89-76. This contest featured the infamous take-down of Mateen Cleaves by thug, Teddy Dupay. Later in the game Mateen returned to an erupting stadium. He had said the only way to keep him from coming back was if they had amputated his leg.
Another very exciting game was the semi-final game between the Spartans and UConn in 2009 at Ford Field. AWESOME!
I agree with the Illini poster on the previous page that the 2005 semi between the Illini and Pitino’s team (Louisville) was pretty exciting. I was with about a dozen Illini fans and it was electric. The evening was GREAT up until the refs kept letting May get away with murder and called fouls on the Spartans when they even breathed on the Tarheels. oh well. 6 Final Fours in 13 years; I’ll take it.
There was also the 1978 basketball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Hinsdale Central faculty, announced (at least, the last play was) by Ray Burris, which ended in a thrilling tie. However, I later heard whispers that the outcome had been prearranged.
I was in the crowd for Sammy Sosa’s 350th career home run.
In the race for the bottom, I offer my being at Deion Sander’s first home game as a rookie for the Falcons back in 1990-whatever. He dropped a kick off, picked it up, and ran for a touchdown. Twice.
My dad, however, was at the Ice Bowl back in 1967.
That was the hundred-mile-an-hour backwards bicycle kick that missed outside by what seemed like a couple inches? I always thought if it had been a little to the right, it would have been in contention for the most famous soccer play ever (in the U.S. anyway), at least a top-ten play of the year for ESPN.
Of course, I only saw it on TV. Most exciting in person was a college hockey first-round playoff. Home team dominated play, but every shot found the iron or somewhere besides the back of the net, while somehow let in two cheap goals for the visitors. Then at about 6:30 to go, home team gets hit with a major penalty. So, they not only have to kill off a five-minute power play, but between that and the last 1:30, score two goals.
I guess it’s pretty obvious what happened, since I’m telling the story, but we certainly didn’t know that the home team would not only kill the five-minute penalty, but get a shorthanded goal, and then with the goalie pulled, run a perfect six on five power play in the last minute to tie it up and eventually win the playoff series. If you’ve ever been to a college hockey game, you know what the atmosphere is like. This was a little more than that.
This one wasn’t even on TV, but I thought it was exciting. Most wrestling house shows are the mid and lower card wrestlers and the matches aren’t great. They say something on the mic, wrestle, then the next two come out. The main events are normally 2 of the upper mid-card wrestlers. About a month before the Iron Man Match, I went to a WWF house show and, to my surprise, the main even was Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels for the belt. Diesel had won the belt at a house show a little over a year before, so there was a small chance that Shawn could win it. Anyways, those two wrestled on a completely different level than the entire under card. The price would have been worth it if it was just those two who wrestled that night. Since it was about a month before Wrestlemania, it was also a preview of the Iron Man match.
You’re probably thinking of Marcelo Balboa vs. Colombia.
Probably the first ML baseball game I ever attended: Roger Maris hit home run #61.
For college sports, it was the Union College vs. Salem State hockey game in 1975. The team fell three goals behind at the end of the second period. They switched goalies (the one they pulled, Steve Baker, played for a year or so with the Rangers) and came on with a furious rush. They managed to tie the score, and then, their best player was tripped from behind when in the clear: penalty shot. The place went crazy when he succeeded.
My uncle was there, too. As I was only 2 1/2, I was too young to attend. 
game 7 of Stanley cup finals in 2006. Everybody stood up for the whole game.
I’ve seen four of the top 10 closest finishes in Indy 500 history live: 1991 (Rick Mears wins over Michael Andretti, 10th closest), 1992 (Al Unser Jr. wins over Scott Goodyear in the narrowest margin so far), 1993 (Emerson Fittipaldi wins over Arie Luyendyk, 9th closest), and 1995 (Jacques Villeneuve wins over Christian Fittipaldi, 8th closest).
Interestingly enough, the 1992 race was also mostly boring (but not really for me, until the last 10 laps, which I hated). My favorite driver, Michael Andretti, had lead nearly the whole thing, and looked on track to finally win Indy. He’d lapped everyone in the field except the 2nd place car, and had a lead of 30 seconds. It was truly a dominating performance.
Until his fuel pump failed at lap 189. He coasted to a stop right in front of me, between corners 3 and 4. And then everyone else got interested in the race, except all the Andretti fans.
Oh well.