I am vague on this point, but I seem to recall an Indy car race with an odd finish. I believe it was Emerson Fitipaldi who was in a tight race in the last lap. He wrecked on the final straightaway and won the race sliding upside down. Does anyone recall this? Or am I just recalling this incorrectly?
I may be off too, fruibat, but the incident you describe sounds a lot like a crash Christian Fittipaldi (nephew of Emerson) had when finishing the 1993 Italian Grand Prix (Formula One) at Monza.
Here’s a page with the video. Was this the incident you had in mind?
(BTW, young Christian was incredibly lucky that day, obviously!)
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A pitcher hitting a home run
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A desperation basketball shot from the other end of the floor going in
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A Hail Mary pass, a la Doug Flutie at Boston College
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A steal of home
Cubs-Red Sox 2003 World Series?
Coldfire, that clip was a riot. What’s the Japanese word for “D’oh!”?
During game three of the 1972 World Series, Oakland A’s ace Rollie Fingers was pitching to Cincinatti’s Johnny Bench. With a 3-2 count, catcher Gene Tenace assumed the “intentional walk” position, standing up, gloved hand out to his right. Bench could relax and prepare for an easy passage to first base, right?
Nope. At the last moment, Tenace crouched down, and Fingers threw a strike. Bench had been whooshed. Alas, despite their cleverness, the Mustache Gang still ended up losing the game.
In 1940, the Chicago Bears beat the Washington Redskins 73-0.
I should add that Oakland did win the Series.
In the early 90s, I saw Chicago Cubs pitcher Jim Bullinger hit a home run off the first pitch in his first major-league at-bat. I was absolutely stunned.
Happy
Buffalo Bills versus Houston Oilers, at Buffalo, 1992 Wildcard Game. Lose and go home, season over. Cold as hell. UncleBill, is OK, because he has two really big fat guys to his left blocking the wind. Buffalo losing their ass, starting QB Jim Kelly gets injured and is out for the game. Warren Moon owns the field for Houston, going 19-22 for 218 yards in the first freakin half. At halftime it is an embarrassing 28-3. UncleBill not so happy anymore because the fat guys have gone away, as had a lot of the crowd. It is very cold now.
Second half starts. Backup QB Frank Reich at the helm. A minute and 41 seconds later Houston scores again, to make it 35-3. I was using free tickets from work, and the people I was with were talking about leaving. My mom stayed at a Notre Dame game when she was in elementary school and saw one hell of a comeback, and I was taught from an early age that it ain’t over till it’s over. But this was bad. Down 32 points.
Then halfway through the third quarter, Buffalo scores. 35-10. Big woop. A minute later, they score again, 38 yard pass to Don Beebe, the fastest man on the team. 35-17. People in their cars start to turn around, but can’t get back in. Three minutes later, 26 yards touchdown pass to Andre Reed. Two and half minutes go by, another 18 yard TD pass to Reed. 35-31. The crowd is screaming at the top of it’s frozen lungs. 9 minutes of football, 28 points.
Bills strike first in the 4th quarter to actually go ahead for the first time, but Houston hits a field goal to tie with 12 seconds on the clock and bring the game to overtime.
Three minutes into overtime, Steve Christie hits a field goal and the game is won. UncleBill is happy again.
Greatest comeback in American Pro Sports.
Duke Blue Devils (AP #2) at Maryland (AP #8), ACC Basketball. January 27, 2001. Maryland leading by 10 points (90-80), 54 seconds left on the clock. Jason Williams goes on a tear, scoring 8 points in 13 seconds. Maryland turns the ball over like it is going out of style. Nate James hits two free throws to tie, game goes into overtime. Shane Battier scores the last six points for Duke in overtime, and Duke wins 98-96.
Later that year, in the ACC Tournament Semi-Finals, a tip-in by Nate James with 1.3 seconds on the clock gave Duke a come from behind win over Maryland again.
And then they meet up AGAIN, April 1, 2001, this time in the Final Freakin Four of the NCAA Tournament. With 7 minutes left in the first half, Duke trailed by 22 points, 39-17. With 5 minutes left in the half, they were still down 18. The last five minutes got the game closer, to within 11 at the half, then Duke had one of their patented runs out of the locker room. Maryland knew it was coming, and come it did. Duke was on fire and Maryland’s Juan Dixon, who was one fire the first half, went into hibernation with three points in the second. Duke wins 95-84, then goes on to beat Arizona for the title.
I’m not clear…have you actually SEEN the Immaculate Reception? If you have, I think you’d believe it was more than pure luck or being in the right place at the right time. It was a heck of an effort just to get to the ball and a great catch off his shoe on top of that. Thats like saying robbing a guy of a home run is all luck and being in the right place at the right time. Its not as if he was just standing around and the ball popped right to him out of nowhere. He was downfield, stuck with the play and made a heck of a catch. Of course, there are some Steelers haters that disagree and argue that had instant replay been in effect at the time, it would not have counted. Que Sera.
More great football endings come to mind. Leon Lett, who is a great tackle but will always be remembered for the Thanksgiving day blunder on national TV. Cowboys vs. ...I forget who, I think Miami. Its SNOWING in Dallas, first of all, which is rare enough even in November. Miami tries a game winning field goal and misses. It lands in the snow on the 5 or 10 yard line. Leon Lett of the Cowboys decides to try and recover the ball. He does not have to. If he lets it sit, Miami do anything. He just has to walk off the field, but no, he tries to recover it. He fumbles it. Miami recovers. They get another try and hit the field goal for the win.
That stood as the most boneheaded play I had seen in the NFL until last year. At the end of a game, one Browns player went for a QB who head dropped back for a hail mary. I forget the details, but I think the defensive guy thought he had the QB for a sack, but he actually threw a short pass right before the defender got to him. The defender, though, I think missed this, thought he had the sack, jumps up, no time left on the clock, thinks the game is over.....and rips his helmet off and throws it in the air. Meanwhile the play has continued and the short pass has gone for a substantial gain, though far short of the required TD for the win. However, ripping your helmet off and throwing it during a play is a 15 yared penalty. The game cannot end on a defensive penalty, so even though time is expire the other team gets one untimed down. They kick and field goal and win.
The Standford-Cal multiple lateral kickoff runback is probably the most famous college ending. Then the "Music City Miracle" by the Titans is the NFL equivelant. Both are highly controversial and both may have involved illegal forward laterals at some point, but its all history now.Well, I only saw the video linked on this page. In it, the footage is cut in such a way that you see a wide angle shot of the pass landing on the head or hand of one of two opposing players fighting to catch the ball. It certainly looks like a ricochet off a helmet. Just as the ball bounces back, they cut to a close-up shot of Harris catching the ball, and it looks like it sort of lands in his hands coincidentally.
So, it may have been a lot more spectacular than that, but that’s pretty much what it looks like in the video neutron star linked to.
I too am mystified by the Immaculate Reception - not being tremedously familiar with American Football, that catch, run, and touchdown looks like something you’d see several times in most rugby matches. I’m sure it is impressive, but I have know idea why!
The Immaculate Reception can be considered a turning point for the Steeler franchise. http://www.steelref.com/fuqua/immac.html
I’ll say it: I’m an AMERICAN, an enormous football fan, and I don’t get the Immaculate Reception: I’d rate it up there with Babe Ruth’s called shot, in that it was cool, and doesn’t happen often, and all that, but it just is not great athleticism at work. It’s just damn good luck. It’s fun to watch, because it’s goofy. It must have been unbelievable to be a Steelers fan at that moment. But people make out Franco Harris to be a god because of it, when really, he made a catch that, had they been there, any high school wide reciever could have made.
Let me add to that: I realize that “cool but not great athleticism” is the point of this thread, so I’m not saying that the IR doesn’t belong here. But given the confusion about its greatness, I thought I’d offer a dissenting opinion from an American who is a football fan.
Because it was dumb luck that came out during the playoffs. Why is the Hand of God remembered so much in soccer? Because of when it came and in the type of game it came in. Would anyone care if it had happened in a meaningless first division game?
Had the Immaculate Reception happened in the second week of the season, nobody would really remember it. If it had occurred at the beginning of the game and Pittsburgh had gone on to lose, it would just be a footnote. But since it came at the very end of a playoff game, to a team that never won and won the game for them, it’s remembered. And it’s a kick in the guts to Raider fans.
Just like Horry’s three point buzzer beater that sunk the Kings and resurrected the Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA playoffs last year - it’s the circumstances that make it great.
I saw two pitchers combine for a 9-inning perfect game two years ago. Good stuff!
I nominate Ron Hassey catching not one but two perfect games in his career-
One for Len Barker of the Indians 5-15-81 and one for Dennis Martinez of the Expos 7-28-91.
A few years ago, I was at an Indianapolis Colts home game against the NY Jets. I saw a Jets player run back a failed field goal attempt for a touchdown. It was at the end of the half, and the Colts were too far away to expect their kicker to make a field goal. They tried it anyway, guessing the clock would run out and end the half. The kick was short and wide right. An alert Jet caught it in the end zone. Ten of the Colts thought the half was over, and they walked toward the locker room. Only the Colts kicker remembered the rule and knew the ball was still in play. He made a valiant attempt to tackle the runner, and failed. The runner scored.
The Colts came back in the second half to win. The opportunity to run back a failed FG is so rare that most players don’t even know it’s allowed.
That’s an excellent point, and a good example. Well, partially: the outrage over the “Hand of God” incident was mostly because of the illegality of it all. You’re not allowed to touch the ball by hand (unless you’re a goalie, and you’re in the penalty area), let alone SCORE that way. Ask any Englishman today, and they’ll STILL get outraged. Of course, Maradona proved that he really could beat the English shortly thereafter, when he outplayed the entire English team to score. 
But all in all, I see what you mean: the Immaculate Reception is great because of the timing, rather than the athletic skill. It’s just that because of how I’ve always seen it referenced, I somehow expected it to be a great athletic feat, rather than just a lucky fumble at an admittedly exciting point in the game. Then again, I suppose not being American and not being an American Football fan has a lot to do with it, too.