Best things/moments in sports; or the times when it’s great to be a sports fan in no certain order...
1. Game 7 of a Stanley Cup playoff series (nothing matches the intensity of the NHL playoffs)
2. Game 7 of the World Series
3. 2:00 left, ball on your own twenty, John Elway under center
4. 1:30 left, ball on your 30, Joe Montana under center
5. Michael Jordan pouring in 63 against Boston in the playoffs
6. Ray Bourque hoisting the Stanley Cup
7. Tiger winning the Masters by twelve strokes
8. Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame
9. Secretariat obliterating the field at Belmont...he won by 35 lengths
10. Lance Armstrong with the yellow jersey (God damn French)
11. The Miracle on Ice
12. Jim Valvano running around like a chicken with its head off after NC State upset Phi Slamma Jamma (rest in peace Jimmy)
13. Villanova upsetting Georgetown
14. Jim McMahon getting knocked the F out against Green Bay
15. First Bronco home game
16. Watching Anna "What a" Kournikova bounce seductively in a white mini skirt
17. A hot dog at Yankee Stadium
18. A micro brew at Coors Field...followed by three hours of shitty baseball
19. Meeting Peter Forseberg who's the nicest guy, BTW
20. No annoying chicks with annoying questions
21. Mike Tyson getting his face beat in by some journeyman
22. John Rocker getting crushed in the minors
23. Randy Moss running a deep pattern
24. Marvin Harrison catching a TD
25. Jerry Rice working harder than everyone
26. Michael Jordan switching hands in mid air and making the lay-up
27. John Stephen Akhwari finishing the marathon in the ’68 Olympics. When asked why he didn’t just quit after falling and dislocating his knee Akhwari responded, “My country did not send me 7000 miles away to start the race. They sent me 7000 miles to finish it.”
28. Jack Nicklas winning the ’86 Masters
29. Sugar Ray Leonard humbling Roberto Duran in the “No Mas” fight
30. Muhammed Ali standing over George Foreman after knocking him to the canvas
31. Listening to the silky smooth Vin Scully broadcast a baseball game
32. Hearing the crowd groan after Steve Atwater knocked Christian Okoye into next week
33. Watching Barry Sanders dart around like a scared rabbit
34. Al Michaels’ call as the clock wound down on the Miracle on Ice…”Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
35. John Madden diagramming a play and going “Boom!”
36. Chris Berman doing his schtick on ESPN
37. Charlie Steiner losing it and laughing for five minutes straight on Sportscenter
38. Ricky Waters crying at the national anthem the first game after 9-11
39. Lawrence Taylor hunting down quarterbacks
40. Cal Ripken and 2131
41. Lou Gehrig giving his speech at Yankee Stadium
42. Willie Mays making the over-the-shoulder basket catch in deep center field
*Update* 7/19-05
There were some glaring omissions in my list...
43. Tom Brady's humility. He gave up an opportunity to demand $10 million per year for the betterment of the Patriots. That's a man.
44. Red Sox beating the hated Yankees and sweeping the Cards to shake off 86 years of Ruth's curse.
45. That 75 yard hail Mary from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook that broke the hearts of 103,000 at Michigan Stadium.
46. John Elway getting pin-wheeled on 3rd & 6 that gave the Broncos the adrenaline boost needed to beat Green Bay
47. Doug Flutie’s last second heave that beat Miami
48. Turner Gill and his incomplete pass that got batted down by Miami to give the ‘Canes the national title in 83
49. Watching CU take the field behind a real buffalo
50. Bobby Thompson’s “Shot heard around the world”
51. The US making it to the final eight in the 2002 World Cup
52. Watching Pele
53. Jesse Owens taking Hitler’s “Aryan superiority” myth and blowing it out of the water
54. In the ’32 Berlin Olympics Hitler demanded every country dip their flag as they passed by the Fuhrer…the only country that refused was the United States of America
55. Jackie Robinson breaking down the color barrier in baseball
56. Ronnie Lott cutting a path of destruction through opposing receivers
57. Jim Everett jumping across the table to shove Jim Rome…he so had it coming
58. Shannon Sharpe taunting the late Derek Thomas so bad that Thomas eventually lost it and got ejected
59. Nobody could talk smack like Muhammad Ali
60. DU winning back-to-back NCAA titles in hockey…I went to law school at DU
