Inspired by the French soccer game thread and the hand ball which was referred to as “The Hand of God II”. I always thought “The Hand of God” was a cool nic for the play involving Maradona.
There is also “The Immaculate Reception”,“Music City Miracle”,“The Play” ,“Thrilla in Manilla” and many more.
What are your favorites?
If you mention The Slide or The Catch around Atlanta Braves fans, they’ll know precisely which plays you’re talking about.
The quintuple-lateral Stanford-Band-on-the-field kickoff return gets the honor of being the subject of the Wikipedia article, “The Play”
Being a Steelers fan, my favorite is the Immaculate Reception, but there is also the Immaculate Redemption (around 2:20).
I’m partial to “the shot heard 'round the world”.
Any Browns fan can tell you about “The Drive” or “The Fumble”.
Ask Bill Buckner about “Game 6” and he might just start crying.
It should be noted that the goal brought about in 1986 by “El mano del Dios” is so-called because of Diego Maradona’s post-game commentary, that the goal was scored “un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios.” Of course, his head had zero to do with it, and it is one of the reasons I find the man repugnant; he not only cheated to win, he was proud of his accomplishment.
Of the plays with a recognizable name, how many of them was the name the result of a statement from the player him/herself?
Oh, and one of my all-time favorites was “Bear tracks” on the 16th Green. 
The “Hail Mary” explains a large part of the disdain that many Minnesotans hold towards Dallas. Well that, and Herschel. And the North Stars…
When I hear “The Catch”, I think of Joe Montana hitting Dwight Clark in the corner of the end zone.
And, as someone who really doesn’t like the Cubs, I still smile over “The Bartman Play.”
However, for most baseball fans “The Catch” refers to Willie Mays’ catch of Vic Wertz’s fly ball in the 1954 World Series, as the Wiki article indicates.
One of my favorites is Ernie’s Snooze, when Reds’ catcher Ernie Lombardi was temporarily knocked out when Charlie Keller slid into home in the 1939 World Series.
Merkle’s Boner (named in a more innocent time) commemorates an incident when Fred Merkle of the NY Giants failed to touch second base after an apparent winning run and ultimately cost the Giants the 1908 NL pennant.
There is also the Snodgrass Muff, when Giants outfielder Fred Snodgrass dropped a fly ball in the 1912 World Series, costing the Giants the Series.
Snodgrass had a long, successful career after baseball as a banker and local politician. When he died in 1974, his obituary was headlined, “Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead; Ball Player Muffed 1912 Fly.”
One word: Flutie.
Which ties in nicely with “The Jeffrey Maier”
“The Pine Tar Incident”.
(Here’s a nice recreation of the eventas performed by the San Diego Chicken.)
“El Maracanazo”.
“The Tripper”
http://www.cfl.ca/article/the-cfl-remembers-david-g-humphrey
“I had intercepted the ball and was hugging the sideline when this guy tripped me. He was a little bit inebriated, I think. Well, maybe not a little bit.”
Bawel, 77, confirmed that Humphrey sent him a watch engraved “from the tripper.” Bawel only played that one year for the Cats before retiring but said Humphrey always said he would try to get him in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame because no one would remember anything else but that strange play in the Grey Cup game."
Kerri Strug, Atlanta Olympics, 1996: The Vault Heard 'Round The World. It’s the second vault, but you kinda need to see the first for context.
Summary: Team USA is in position to win their first ever gymnastics team gold in a non-boycott Olympics (meaning, we’d have to beat the powerhouse Russian and Romanian teams). All they need is a solid score on the vault. Two athletes are left. First came the much-hyped superstar, Dominique Moceanu. She vaults, twice. And she falls, twice. That leaves everything up to the last team member, Kerri Strug.
Strug runs, vaults, and falls, the third USA fall in a row. And when she gets up, she’s limping. It appears that all hope is lost. But Strug walks back to the mat, loosening up her ankle, and runs for her second and final vault. She vaults…and nails the landing, on one leg. She collapses in pain, and later has to be carried to the medal stand by coach Bela Karolyi, but she sealed the victory, and won the gold. On one foot.
There’s The Holy Roller in football. Great call from play-by-play guy Bill King
“Madden is out on the field! He wants to know if it’s real! They said yes, get your big butt out of here! He does!”
For hockey, there’s The Miracle On Manchester, when the Los Angeles Kings (with Marcel Dionne and…uh…Marcel Dionne) came back from 5-0 down to beat the Edmonton Oilers (with Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, etc.) 6-5 in overtime.
