I’m old enough that, despite not caring at all about skiing, I still have burned into my brain Franz Klammer in the 1978 Olympics. Final run of the day and he needed the best run of the day for gold; I’ve not yet seen anything that better exemplified being terrifyingly and spectacularly right on the edge the entire time. Just an insane combination of absolute commitment to going for it all, skill, and indeed luck.
Another track fan here, and a longtime student of the sport.
I really think the men’s 2014 Boston Marathon rates as one of the great races of all time. Given the situation ('13 bombings), Meb Keflezighi stealing that race and holding off the cavalry in downtown Boston was almost unbelievable.
The other great battle of all time was the 1991 World Championships long jump, where Mike Powell had to break the world record in order to beat Carl Lewis.
1986 National League Championship Series, Game Six, New York Mets at Houston Astros. Mets go down 3-0 early and get utterly dominated by Bob Knepper, then come back with three in the ninth to tie it. Mets take a lead in the top of the fourteenth inning… only to have Billy Hatcher hit the tying home run off the foul pole with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Then, in the sixteenth inning - the SIXTEENTH inning - the Mets score three to take a 7-4 lead. And then the Astros score two in the bottom of the sixteenth and get the tying run into scoring position. And then Jesse Orosco strikes out Kevin Bass, and a nine-year-old in New Jersey goes to bed - finally - with a favorite sport.
And Bill Buckner’s long national nightmare begins…
Super Bowl 52? Good lord, I hope we don’t have to see another Giants-Patriots Super Bowl 3 years from now. 
I am biased also, but yeah, this was a great game. Harrison should have been MVP, the single most exciting play from start to finish in SB history… The drama of him having to score because time expired, watching Larry Fitzgerald run him down for 100 yards and tackle him on the goal-line, and Harrison landing on Fitzgerald before hitting the ground… And then, having to sit through the replay… Amazing.
Then, watching Fitzgerald streak up the middle with that quick slant, and TD late in the 4th…
Then, add the final Steeler drive, where Holmes drops an easy TD pass before doing the tip-toe dance, and Ben throwing a pass into triple coverage when he had (I think) Moore open for an easy flip into the end-zone was incredible.
For a Steeler fan, it was the ultimate. For anyone who doesn’t hate the Steelers and just loves football, this has to rank in the top 5 games of all time.
This game (not the gold medal game) is the single biggest memory I have of any sporting event. That was a true miracle. That Russian team was the closest thing to the Harlem Globetrotters on ice I have ever seen.
I will add my own personal favorite..
Game 7, 1960 World Series, Pirates vs. Yankees.
This is the famous Bill Mazeroski, bottom of the 9th walk off home run game. But it was so much more. The series was dominated by the Yankees, who had 3 blow-out wins. The Pirates somehow squeezed out 3 one-run games.
Game 7 was incredible. What most people don’t know is that the Game was 5-4 Yankees after 7. The Yankees scored 2 in the top of the 8th to make it 7-4. The Pirates scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th, and a footnote in history, Pirate cacher Hal Smith, hit arguably the most famous HR in WS history in the bottom of the 8th… A 3-run homer with the Pirates down 7-6, to give the Pirates a 9-7 lead. That famous home run? Lasted for one inning. Smith could have been famous forever, but the Pirates blew the lead and the Yankees scored 2 in the top of the 9th to tie the game again. That set up Mazeroski’s famous hit.
The only baseball game that came close to that excitement (for me, anyway) was game 6, Red Sox-Reds.
I happen to think the best single Super Bowl was the one between the Giants and the Bills.
That was a very close game, AND it featured two VERY different teams doing what they did best.
As a Giants fan, I admit I may be biased! But I think it would STRILL have been a great game if Scott Norwood had been a little more accurate.
If we can define “Women’s Soccer” as a sport for purposes of this thread, this is the winner.
You sound like me and my opinion of the 1997 Florida Marlins-Cleveland Indians World Series. Close second would be the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks-New York Yankees WS, with Luis Gonzalez and the game-winning hit.
Hagler - Hearns Round 1 has to be on the list.
I get this for the Bills - what they did best was lose Superbowls. What did the Giants do?
It is hard to take your fan bias out if these types of memories. When you have an emotional attachment to one of the teams, and the game is exciting, it is euphoric when your team comes out on top.
/hijack
I often wonder if Scott Norwood have made that kick, if Bill Parcells would be remembered differently.
IMO, he is one of the most over-rated coaches in NFL history. He was a very good coach, but everything connected to NYC gets blown out of proportion. If Norwood makes that kick, I wonder if Big Tuna would have been a lot smaller.
/end hijack.
I’ll add another game which most people won’t remember.
The 1st game of the 1991-1992 Stanley Cup Finals, between the Penguins and Black Hawks.
The Black Hawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and held a 4-1 lead in the second period. They dominated the Penguins, and were on a roll at the time. The Black Hawks came into the game with an 11 game winning streak in the playoffs.
The Pens cut the lead to 4-3 late in the second period, when Mario Lemieux scored a goal from behind the end-line, by banking a shot off the back of Ed Belfour’s leg.
With less than 5 minutes in the 3rd, Jaromir Jagr tied the game on a dazzling goal, where he carried the puck around 3 different Black Hawks before scoring a back-handed goal. It’s amazing to watch.
Game tied, 4-4
17 seconds to go, and the Pens are on the power play, and the faceoff is in the Black Hawks end. The play unfolds in slow motion, shot on goal saved by Belfour, and Lemieux is in a perfect spot. He buries the puck.
That was the loudest I’ve ever heard an arena on TV ever. The igloo was shaking, and as a Penguins fan, I was going crazy.
Pens win, 5-4. Sweep the Black Hawks, end the playoffs with an 11-game winning streak of their own. Back-to-back cups.
But game 1 is my favorite hockey game ever.
Unfortunately, I had tickets to game 2. Pens won, but I would have given anything to be at game 1.
For a Black Hawk fan, I imagine that game sucked.
.
Yet another Pittsburgh game that sucked but was great, was game 7, 1992 NLCS Pirates against the Braves.
Pirates lead 2-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. Jose Lind makes an error, the Braves score 3 runs, Sid Bream (the slowest player in baseball history, with no knees) scores the winning run on a single to left that Barry Bonds threw up the first base line.
Pirates lose, go onto a 20-year losing streak.
A piece of me died that night. But it was a great game.
Sorry for the lack of links. I still can’t post links to this message board.
They damn near got whistled out of the World Cup - the English scrum got penalised more times in that one game than in all their other games put together. But yes, it should have been a more convincing win, just as they should have steamrolled Australia in 1991.
How about Kerri Strug in the '96 Olympics on the vault, injuring her ankle and nailing the follow-up with a perfect vault for the gold, limping off and getting arm-carried to cheers…
If this had been a movie, I would have complained about how cheap, unrealistic, and manipulative the scriptwriters were.
Chess: Karpov vs Korchnoi 1978
Boxing: Ali vs Foreman
Olympic Basketball: US vs USSR 1988
Women’s Olympic all-around gymnastics: Sylivas vs Shushonova 1988
Dunno why but everything about the 1988 Olympics was great.