1. This is NOT a list of my 10 favorite sport moments. In fact, I will probably cringe when I write about some of these moments.
2. For a game or event to have made this list, I must have watched it live. If I missed it for any reason and had to capture the highlights on Sportscenter or some other media outlet, it was automatically eliminated from the process.
3. This list is not in any particular order.
4. Well there isn't a four, I just had already written down the number and didn't feel like hitting the backspace button, so here it goes.
Superbowl XXXV
Alright, I realize I did say that this is not a list of my favorite sports moments, but I figured we would start with my favorite, plus, it is playoff season in the NFL. I was a sophomore in high school when the dominating defense of the Baltimore Ravens blitzed their way through the AFC playoffs and into Superbowl XXXV. The Ravens dominating defense eliminated three teams as well as three quarterbacks on their march to the Superbowl. After wins against Denver, Tennesse, and Oakland, the Ravens were poised to play the New York Football Giants for all the marbles. By the way, special thanks to a Mr. Del Greco, who knows if I would be writing this without your help.
I remember how pumped the city of Baltimore was for this event. Every gas station had stands selling Ravens sweatshirts, hats, and flags. The city was a blitz in purple passion. Anyways, the first score of the game came when the resilient Trent Dilfer found the speedy Brandon Stokely in the endzone for a 38yard touchdown pass, giving the Ravens a 7-0 lead. This was significant because not only did the Ravens strike first, but they were 15-0 at that point in the season in games in which they had scored 1 touchdown. All four losses came under quarterback Tony Banks, who failed to get the team in the endzone. If you do remember, many sports writers predicted Banks would be the breakout player of the year in 2000, so much for that.
The Ravens would add another 10 points on a Matt Stover field goal and than a Duane Starks interception return. With the game at 17-0, it seemed like it was all but over. However, seconds later Ron Dixon took the kickoff back 97 yards, the score was 17-7 and all of the sudden negative thoughts were beginning to creep in the back of every Ravens fans head. The Giants bench was extatic, the Ravens bench dismal. Just a few seconds later though, the ball landed in the hands of #84 and 84 yards later, Jermaine Lewis had made it 24-7. This is without a doubt my favorite play, I've ever witnessed as Jermaine throw his hands to the heaven. The three touchdowns in 42 seconds or whatever it was is also a Superbowl record and one that probably won't be broken. The Ravens would add on another 10 points on another Stover field goal and a short touchdown run by rookie Jamal Lewis, one that would be heavily disputed by Giants fans. Plain and simple it was a touchdown but even if it wasn't we still intercepted Kerry Collins four times and Ron Dixon turned the ball over with a fumble, so we would have still kicked your ass regardless. Ray Ray was handed the Superbowl MVP, Art Modell cried, and than the Ravens released Dilfer and put Elvis Grbac at qb the following season. Either way that defense was dominating and it was a great game.
Michael Jordan's last game..........as a Bull.
I watched an interview once with Sylvester Stallone, where he was asked about Rocky V. He claimed in his mind that it never happened. I'd imagine Michael Jordan does the same thing when asked about his playing days with the Washington Wizards. Although in Jordan's defense his days with the Wizards brought forth at least two postive things. One being the fact that he donated a good portion of his salary to a charity helping the families of 9/11 victims and the other being that we all got to see Mariah Carey wear a very sexy uniform/dress thingy in Jordan's honor.
Jordan's era with the Bulls was simply jaw-dropping. Despite his numbers and production, the NBA was at its peak. I can remember as a child, my dad would be watching the Bulls and my mother would make me go to sleep saying it was past my bedtime. Now, by the time I was sent off to bed my Dad was usually asleep on the couch, so I would army crawl from my bed and watch the game from the hallway. Anyways onto the game.
It was game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. The Bulls were looking for a three-peat and to top the Jazz for the second straight year. Besides Jordan, I believed I loved most of the members of that Bulls team. In fact, I may just have to do another entry on their teams alone. They had Scottie Pippen, who was Jordan's right hand man. My main man Dennis Rodman, who was entertaining on and off the court with his insane antics. Toni Kukoc, one of my favorite players of all time. Steve Kerr, deadly from behind the arc, although he may be more deadly as a general manager. I could go on and on.
Game 6 was held at the Delta Center in Utah with the Bulls leading the series 3 games to 2. Early in the game, Pippen hurt his back on a breakaway dunk, which slowed him down and put most of the pressure on Jordan. Jordan responded the way a superstar should by putting up 23 first half points. The second half was a battle, with both teams playing well. Watching the game, you just knew you were viewing a classic. A John Stockton three gave the Jazz an 86-83 lead with under a minute to go and sent the Delta Center into a frenzy. On the next possesion, Jordan scored driving to the rim for a layup and the lead was cut to one. Following, Jordan's layup the Jazz had the ball where they wanted it, in the hands of league Mvp Karl Malone. However, Malone had far from an MVP series as he had trouble with the tough defense of Rodman. The two would also do battle in WWF or maybe it was ECW in future years. With Rodman sticking Malone like glue, it allowed MJ to make the big play. Stripping the ball from Malone, Jordan dribbled up court, crossed over Byron Russel, the Jazz' best defender, and sunk the shot to give them an 87-86 lead with less than 6 seconds remaining. Stockton would attempt a desperation three, but it fell short and the Bulls were once again champs, Jordan was named Finals MVP for the sixth time. Malone never won a championship.
Aaron Fing Boone
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have quite possibly the most intense and historic rivalries in sports. I'm not going to get into that debate but the 2003 A.L.C.S. was just another chapter in their long rivalry.
The series was a classic, the teams swapped victories through the first six games. The Red Sox even had a late comeback in game 6 against a Yankee bullpen in New York. Red Sox nation had reason to believe that this was the year the curse of the Bambino would finally come to an end. There had even been a brawl in the series were Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez would infamously toss Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground.
It was Pedro versus the Rocket in game 7. Power against power. I was a freshman in college at the time, watching the game in my tiny 10 x 10 room that I shared with my roommate Chuck. Neither Chuck nor I had any affiliation to the game, he was a Phillies fan and I rooted for the Orioles. However, we had two friends over to watch the game that day. My buddy Reno, a diehard Redsox fan who grew up on the same street as Fenway Park, and my buddy Scottie, a Yankees fan. There was plenty of tension.
The Red Sox jumped to the early lead, knocking Clemens out in the fourth. Former Oriole Mike Mussina would come in out of relief, to pitch three scoreless innings. Everything was going great for the Sox. They had a 5-2 lead through seven and their bullpen had been dominant. However, manager Grady Little would make a controversial decision and leave his ace on the mound despite a high pitch count and Mike Timlin and Scott Williamson being ready in the pen. The Yankees would start the inning with a Derek Jeter double and than a single by Bernie Williams cutting the lead to one and forcing Little to go out to the mound. Once again, to the surprise of many Little left Pedro on the mound, even with Matsui coming up and Alan Embree, a lefty specialist, ready in the pen. Matsui would double, and than Posada would double as well tying the score at 5 as a rested pen watched their tired ace blow the lead in the latter parts of game 7. Mariano Rivera would be brought in the 9th for New York and throw 3 scoreless innings, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield for Boston pitched a perfect tenth, bringing us to the bottom of the 11th. The tension in the room was a tight as ever, the room was quiet too. Aaron Boone, who didn't even start the game for the Yankees stepped up against the knuckleballer. One pitch later, the ball was in the left field bleachers and the Yankees were moving on to the world series. Little was soon fired and thousands of t-shirts were sold with the phrase "Aaron Fing Boone." It was yet another historic collapse in the Red Sox franchise.
Now back to room 1324 where I was watching the game. My buddy Reno was devastated. To this day I don't believe I have ever witnessed any single person as crushed as he was when he saw Boone knock that ball into the left field bleachers. Reno slowly pulled his hoodie over his head, walked out to the hallway of our building and sat down on the ground. He did not move or speak for at least the next thirty minutes. Several girls tried talking to him but they had no success. After a while, he got up and walked home without saying goodbye to any of us. On the other hand, our buddy Scottie was pumped, but out of respect he stayed quiet. I think he may have feared that Reno would kill him if he rubbed it in. Reno probably had 5 inches and 100lbs on Scott. Anyways, we all know what happened the following year. Hell, they even made some horrible movie about it.
Astros- Braves 18 inning game
Now, this is what baseball is all about. The playoffs, strong comebacks, a future hall-of-famer and steroid abuser pitching in relief, and a series ending walk-off homerun. With the help of an eighth inning, grand slam by All-Star first basemen Lance Berkman and a ninth inning homer by the weak hitting Brad Ausmus, Houston was able to rally from five runs down to force extra innings.
Once we got to the extra innings, the game was dominated by the bullpens. With each pitch, with each inning the tension grew. 553 total pitches were thrown, players got weary, in fact, so weary, that that future hall-of-famer, pitcher Roger Clemens, was brought in to pinch hit. Clemens would than go on to throw three shutout innings in relief. Going into the 18th inning, the Braves were forced to rely on their only pitcher left. Rookie Joey Devine. One out later, rookie Chris Burke, who came in as a pinch runner, was launching the ball over the left field wall.
The Astros would use the momentum from this series to reach the World Series, where they would fall short to the White Sox. I'm sure my main man Barack Obama enjoyed that Series.
Phelps's 100M Fly
The summer of 2008, featured the drama of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps going for a record 8 gold medals. Mark Spitz, also a swimmer, and I think some Russian gymnast lady had the shared the record at 7. Anyways, we all know the story by now, Phelps would win 8 in Beijing and go on to become the biggest thing in sports for the year.
The 100M Fly was the 7th step in Phelps quest for 8th and proved to be one of the most difficult. Phelps had already survived a close one in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay, thanks to a memorable performance by anchor Jason Lezak. That was the only one of Phelps races that I did not witness live, or else that may have made the list as well. Anyway, by this point all the speculation and hype were really beginning to build up. America, the world was enamored with Phelps and his quest for 8. But after 50 meters, it seemed as it was all but over. Phelps was in 7th place out of 8 with only 50 meters to go, but thats when he simply took over. One by one he started creeping past opposing swimmers and all of the sudden people began to get excited. I was at work, watching the race, cheering loudly, as the race came down to an end. The television prompted up the results, Phelps had finished 1/100 of a second faster than Serbian Mirolad Cavic. It almost seemed like one of those horribly awful sports movies where everything goes in slow motion and the main character just barely wins, but it was real and it was amazing. At work, I gave Creech a high-five and than gave another to some black man who was yelling something about how this nigga made swimming cool to black people. My manager Ted than yelled at me and told me to get back to work. I said " I was relating to the customers and creating a friendly environment that would make them want to come back." He looked at me and said " Good answer," and walked away. Several days later, I watched Phelps easily win his record setting 8th gold medal with Creech at this bar called Flips in Hampden, it was a blowout like many of his races, except it was pretty entertaining cause there was an old drunk guy sipping his spilled beer off the bar and wearing a headband out of caution tape, all while dancing on Creech.
McNair-Dyson 1 Yard Short
It was the Greatest Show on Turf against Steve McNair and the boys from the Music City Miracle. Starring Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Issac Bruce, and Torry Holt the Rams brought forth one of the most prolific offenses ever. They were the heavy favorites against the Titans who needed a miracle to advance past the wildcard round. Buffalo kicker Steve Christie had just nailed a field goal to give the Bills a 16-15 lead with time nearly over. All the Bills had to do was stop the Titans from scoring on the kickoff and they would advance. However, Frank Wyncheck would throw a lateral across the entire field and Kevin Dyson would than take it 75 yards and the Bills would once again suffer a heartbreaking loss. The Titans would ride the momentum from this victory into the superbowl and the Bills, well I don't think any other team in the NFL could lose in that fashion.
Despite both teams having dominant offenses, the first half was all defense. Rams kicker Jeff Wilkins was perfect on three field goal attempts, and St. Louis went into the half leading 9-0. The Titans got the ball to start the second half and had a nice drive, but an Al Del Greco field goal was blocked and the score remained deadlocked at 9-0. Warner and the Rams responded by adding a touchdown to go up 16-0 and all of the sudden it seemed as if the Titans were all but out of it, than Mr. McNair came to work. A 23 yard scramble by McNair helped set up a short touchdown run by Eddie George, the Titans would go for two and come up short, making the score 16-6. The touchdown sparked a rally and shortly thereafter, George would add another touchdown and Del Greco would actually convert a meaningful field goal and the score was now tied 16-16 with just over two minutes to play.
The Greatest Show on Turf, would than prove its name to be true as Warner needed only one play to connect with Issac Bruce on a 73 yard touchdown pass giving the Rams a 23-16 lead and McNair and the Titans less than two minutes to make another post season miracle happen. Several completions later, and one 12 yard scramble and McNair called his final timeout. The Titans were 10 yards away from the endzone, down by 7, six seconds to go. I was watching the game at my friend Danny Hunters house, everyone was on the edge of their seats. Even the mom's who were simply only their to eat food and watch the commercials seemed to care. McNair hiked the ball, found a streaking Kevin Dyson, Dyson the Miracle Man from Buffalo, made the catch but an alert linebacker named Mike Jones had jumped quickly onto Dyson and wrapped himself around the legs of the receiver. Both players would go into a rolling motion and Dyson's outstretched arm fell one yard short. The game was over. The Rams won 23-16 in one of the greatest and most exciting superbowls ever. The best part was it was snowing heavily that night and they had already canceled school that next morning. All the kids at the party ran out to Danny's front yard and were allowed to play football.
18-1
The 2007 New England Patriots appeared to be the best team ever. They demolished every offensive record in the books. They destroyed every team they played in the regular season but Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. They had the great Tom Brady at quarterback, a manchild in Randy Moss at wideout, and the evil genius calling the shots in Bill Bellicheck. Than they ran into a goofy looking quarterback named Eli, a dominating defensive line, a one-hit, well one-catch wonder, and a big mouthed wide receiver named Plaxico.
One of my sporting claims to fame is all of last season, I defended the Giants. Several of my friends said they were garbage, they wouldn't make the playoffs, blah blah blah. I stuck to my points saying their defensive line is the best in football, Brandon Jacobs is a beast and Eli isn't that bad they are the best team in the NFC. With a late season push, the Giants did make the playoffs as a wild card. Several weeks later they were going up against the almighty Patriots.
Wide receiver Plaxico Burress guaranteed they would win the week before. It seemed like nothing because athletes come up with so many guarantees now a days that its pointless. Hell, earlier in the NFL season Jon Kitna guaranteed the Lions would win 10 games.
So I watched the Giants-Patriots superbowl at my buddy Coreys house. This was just after a roadtrip to Salisbury. Once we returned to Towson, I had one of my most horrifying moments of my life. Townsend shanked me, Corey grabbed my boxers and threw them in a tree and his brother Mike grabbed his aerosoft rifle and I ran around Coreys front yard in late January jumping around holding my balls and screaming for my safety. This has nothing to do with the superbowl, but I felt like adding it to the story.
The game was far from the most exciting Superbowl, as defense dominated until the winding minutes of the 4th quarter. A Tom Brady to Randy Moss touchdown pass gave the Patriots a 14-10 lead with just under 3 minutes left to play. So goofy looking Eli Manning comes out hoping to pull a Tom Brady and lead his team down the field. Following two receptions, the Giants faced a 4th-and-1 and the world's biggest running back, Brandon Jacobs, pounded his way through the New England defenders to give the G-Men a new set of downs. Three plays later, with the Giants facing 3rd-and 11, NFL films would find themselves a play they could replay for years to come. The New England defenders encircled Manning, than from out of the midst, Manning emerged still standing and fired a pass to David Tyree. Tyree somehow managed to hold onto the pass, bracing it against the back of his helmet, despite tough defense from steroid abuser Rodney Harrison. Whenever, I view that catch I think of Justin Timberlakes sketch from the Espy's where he is on the giants sideline and puts his gum on the back of Tyree's helmet. The very next play, Plaxico Burress shot past Ellis Hobbs on a slant play and caught the winning touchdown, pulling off one of the greatest upsets ever. Months later Burress was not shooting past defenders, he was shooting himself in the leg, not that that has anything to do with the game,but either way I felt it deserved mentioning. I mean when else can you say in the course of one year I saw one of the most talented wide receivers make a great play to help his team win the Superbowl and than shoot himself in the leg when he was dancing at a nightclub while he was supposed to be nursing a hamstring injury.
Vince Young beats USC
The USC Trojans seemed all but destined to be repeating as National Champions for the third straight year, holding on to a 12 point lead with less than seven minutes to go, than Vince Young took charge. In fact, I was almost ready to turn the television off, I remember I was about to go somewhere with my friend Sarah, when I decided to give Young just a few more minutes.
Young, came through with one of the greatest performances in Rose Bowl history, rushing for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns, while throwing for another 267 against zero interceptions. He outshined Heisman trophy winner, Reggie Bush and was simply a man amongst children. He did have some help though, thanks to the ever cocky Pete Carroll who went for it on 4th and 2 with the lead and only two minutes to go at their 45 yard line. They were denied and Carroll had just put the ball back in the hands of the best athlete on the field with a short field.
Several players later, the Longhorns were looking at a 4th and 5 from the 8 yard line with under one minute to go. I remember at the time, thinking their gonna do a quarterback draw. USC has to know their going to run a quarterback draw. But it didn't matter, Young was a man on a mission and couldn't be stopped. He avoided the Trojan defenders, than did the same exact thing on the 2 point conversion to give Texas the 3point lead. It was possibly the most dominating football performance by a single player, I've ever witnessed, plus I won a 20$bet with DahDah on the game and taking money from that kid is a good enough reason alone to make it on this list.
Years later, Vince Young lost his job to a 38year old Kerry Collins and his mother was doing his interviews for him. Chunky soup really should give him and his mother a call for their ads, it be so much more suiting than the McNabb or LT mother/son commercials. The quarterback on the other side of the field, Matt Leinart, well he sucks too. Although he goes to parties and does beer bongs with hot girls.
Baltimore Orioles vs. Cleveland Indians, Game 6, 1997 A.L.C.S.
Remember up at the top of this list, when I said I would probably cringe when writing about some of these moments. This is the one I was referring too. The Orioles had just gone wire-to-wire. They were the best team in baseball and they seemed poised to make the World Series. Mike Mussina, Scott Erickson, and Jimmy Key gave them one of the best starting rotations in baseball and with Arthur Rhodes, Alan Mills, Armando Benitez, and Randy Myers our bullpen was equally adequate. The lineup was solid from 1-9, and we had plenty of talent on the bench. However, that bullpen was falling apart in the A.L.C.S. having blown leads in three of the first four games. Game 6 proved to be the same. I went to the game live with my father. The two of us did not have any tickets and were looking to buy some off scalpers. The scalpers were charging absurd prices and we were about to just go watch the game somewhere, when my Dad saw his buddy from high school. Well, this guy runs Oasis and gave us two employee cards and snuck us in the backdoor and told us to go sit with a couple other guys my Dad knew from back in the day. Next thing I know, I'm three rows behind third base and couldn't be happier. Eventually that would change. Mike "Moose" Mussina delivered another postseason gem in Game 6, by throwing seven scoreless ininings. He finished the A.L.C.S. with 15 scoreless innings and 25 strikeouts. Despite this strong performance he was 0-0 and the team was 0-2 in his starts. Anyway, after the seventh inning, manager Davey Johnson put in the team closer Randy Myers, who would keep the game scoreless for another two innings. Than they handed the ball over to Armando Benitez. In the 11th, Tony Fernandez, who was only playing the game cause he had injured the starting second baseman during batting practice, hit a solo shot and that was that. Benitez was 0-2 for the series with an E.R.A. of 12. When Fernandez hit the homerun my Dad's buddy said " I hope 1,000 camels shit on your head while you sleep tonight."
Terrapins win the National Championship
After surviving a late scare and putting fear in the hearts of many Terp fans, who had seen their team lose in the Final Four the previous year, the Terrapins were able to hold on and beat All-American Drew Gooden and his Kansas squad to advance to the Championship. In the Championship, they would play the Hoosiers of Indiana, who were on a miracle run of their own. They had the pesty point guard Tom Coverdale, who the media outlet's loved, but in reality was a picture perfect red-headed step child if there's ever been one. They also had the freshman phenom in Jared Jefferies and several athletes who could light up from beyond the arc. Maryland, on the other side, was loaded. They had Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Byron Mouton, Chris Wilcox, and Lonny Baxter. They were a number one seed, and played the best team possible all the way up to the championship game. They lead virtually the whole game and with a late run, Terrapin fans every where knew that they were winning it all. Calvert Hall Grad Juan Dixon, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Four of the five starters, went onto the NBA.
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1 comment:
too bad Gary is being shown the door this season.
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