Greatest Sports Moments

[Grand-Ranger]

Thre has been many epic, great, memorable sports moments, what is your favorit?

I would say it was 1980 Winter Olypics.

The unebatable Russains plowing through teams left and right.

The rookie US team sturggling to get to the top.

During the cold war of all things!

Then the too teams met, I forget all the names, I rember Craig Patrick, the goaltender.

But man what a great moment when that US Left Winger took advantge of the russains mistake of thinking the game was over.

Also otehr great moments wear:

Ray Borque getting to raise the Stanly Cup

ummmm thats the only 2 I can think of..

Also it will be great when Karl Malone and John Stockton finaly get a chapionship.

[Donut]

Easily my greatest sporting moment. The football season lasts for 9 months in England.

A rearranged fixture at Anfield was fortuitously scheduled to be the very last game of the 1988-9 season. The football league had settled everything except the champions of the First Division. Liverpool had a goal difference that was 4 better than ours. The statisticians had calculated that anything less than a 2-0 victory to Arsenal would see the title head north once again, while 2-0 or more would see the trophy nestling in the Marble Halls for the following season. There could be no more fitting place than Anfield to win the Championship, and on the 26th May 1989 Anfield was a foreboding coliseum filled to the rafters (attendance of 41,783) after Liverpool had won 10 home games straight in '89 and, had the added incentive of completing a second League and F.A. Cup double if the result went their way. All in all, whatever eventuated, the night would indeed be one to remember. Independent Television were also broadcasting the match live around the world and we watched on as Arsenal made history.

A tense first half remained goal-less as Arsenal tried to take control of the game but were unable to make a breakthrough. George Graham told his team not to panic, at least they hadn't conceded anything, he told the players to stick to the game-plan and hopefully the rewards would come. So into the second half. Arsenal needed an early breakthrough, and after 52 minutes it looked like we had done it. Amidst what seemed like huge controversy at the time, Alan Smith set Arsenal on their way when he headed Nigel Winterburn's perfect cross just inside Bruce Grobbelaar's far post after Ronnie Whellan had raised his feet dangerously in the face of an on-the-ball David Rocastle. The Liverpool players besieged the referee claiming that Smith had not got a touch to the ball and that the indirect free-kick had been put straight into the net by Winterburn. The referee consulted with his linesman for what seemed like an eternity before he finally pointed towards the centre-spot to confirm that the goal was indeed fair. The Liverpool supporters chants of, "We're gonna win the league" were silenced as they realised that the game was now on a knife-edge.

The game took on a whole new complexion as Arsenal concentrated almost solely on attack whilst Liverpool seemed to be more concerned with defending and trying to catch us on the break rather than winning. This tactic was indeed to be their downfall. With minutes ticking away Liverpool became more and more assured of defeat by a single goal on the night but victory in the Championship. All seemed lost when Michael Thomas missed a fairly easy chance with about 15 minutes left. The commentators on the television were discussing how Arsenal had played with, "so much passion a drive", and how fitting it was that we had won at Anfield even though we weren't to win the league. I remember Brian Moore's answer to that little comment being that it would probably mean nothing to us, and oh how right he was..... The game continued with Arsenal pressing for the second goal, and as time began to ebb away. After 88 minutes and 43 seconds, the game stopped as Kevin Richardson needed treatment, Gary Lewin ran onto the pitch to tend to him, and the Liverpool players began congratulating each-other. The Liverpool supporters started chanting "CHAMPIONS, CHAMPIONS" as the clock clicked it's way past the 90 minute mark. Steve McMahon got word from the bench that there was only one minute left and informed his players of the fact (chants of "one minute, one minute" continued to be used to daunt him for many a year afterwards). Finally, after 90 minutes and 27 seconds the game resumed. Brian Moore continued to commentate, "Just a few seconds more for Kenny Dalglish unless Arsenal can mount something absolutely spectacular in the few seconds that remain."

Then, with 91 minutes and 22 seconds of the game played, Michael Thomas wrote his name into the history books as the player who scored the winner in the 1988-89 Championship race. Dixon passed the ball upfield to Alan Smith, Smith flicked it on into Thomas' path. The ball bobbled as he ran into the area and calmly, oh so calmly chipped the ball over a diving Grobbelaar as Liverpool lost by two goals at home for the first time since 1986. The Arsenal players, bench and supporters went wild as the the jubilation set in. Arsenal had won their first Championship since 1970-71 and their 9th in all. North London erupted as street parties began and the news media was filled with glorious images of red and white.

A few years back, I was watching a cup game, sitting in the stadium, supporting my favourite soccer team. It was an awful match, it was the 88th minute (soccer game has 90 minutes), we were 1-0 behind, so I decided I'd seen enough. Just as I was out of the stadium, a huge roar went up from the crowd, my team had equalised in the 90th minute. I saw the game later that day on the TV, and the goal had been scored out of a corner, by a header from my team's goalkeeper, who had come all the way to the opposite end of the field for the last corner. His header went straight into the top corner of the net. I was furious that I'd missed it

[Djinn Raffo]

Canada vs. Russia 1972 Summit on Ice

Vancouver making it to game 7 in 1994.

Me, the only league player to be named mvp twice in soccer. I was 12.

[Grand-Ranger]

quote:

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Originally posted by Djinn Raffo:
Canada vs. Russia 1972 Summit on Ice

Vancouver making it to game 7 in 1994.

Me, the only league player to be named mvp twice in soccer. I was 12.

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haha, oh yes I forgot to add my own

I was named the MVP of my team about 3 years ago. We lost everygame I was the catcher and missed jsut about ever ball thrown at me...But I had like a .867 batting average

[Campino]

Michael Johnson,200metres,Atlanta olympics 1996.The best sporting moment i ever saw.What an amazing,incredible,fantastic race that was.Running in his golden shoes,the time 19.32,a fabulous new world record.Don't think it will be broken the next ten years.

[Davros]

Aaahhhhh Donut, masterfully composed, and this victory still brings a tear to the eye. I watched that game on live telecast, and my flat mate was a Liverpool supporter with the same name as the left back that played for them that day (teaser for you). How vividly I remember the chants coming through - particularly

quote:

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Originally posted by Donut:
The Liverpool supporters chants of, "We're gonna win the league" were silenced as they realised that the game was now on a knife-edge.

AND

The Liverpool supporters started chanting "CHAMPIONS, CHAMPIONS" as the clock clicked it's way past the 90 minute mark. Steve McMahon got word from the bench that there was only one minute left and informed his players of the fact (chants of "one minute, one minute" continued to be used to daunt him for many a year afterwards). .

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Oh what fond memories.

Um, best sporting moment - how about Australia II taking the America's Cup and breaking the many decades of stranglehold by the New York Yacht Club .

[huma]

Canada vs russia 1972,so I wasn,t even born yet,so what!
Ben johnson winning the 100m dash and breaking the world record.I was filled with pride...for a little while at least.

[Gazza]

When the Newcastle Knights rugby league team won there first Grand Final. Im not ashamed to admit it brought a tear of joy to my eye.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

My personal favorite occurred in the 1983 NCAA Tournament. For those who are unfamiliar with this event, it is a 3-week long series of games to determine the best college basketball team in America.

In 1983, no basketball team could match Houston University. They had such stellar stars as Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and Akeem "The Dream" Olajuwan. This team trampled any and all opponents.

They ended up playing against N.C. State in the championship game of the tournament. N.C. State was given NO chance to win. They had played so poorly that season that they shouldn't have even been in the tournament. But - against amazing odds - they won their Conference Tournament, which automatically put them in the National Tournament (nicknamed "The Big Dance"). Out of the 5 games N.C. State had to win to reach the championship game, they were behind in 3 of them....and only won in the last minutes of the ball game.

The same scenario was true for the championsip game. Houston was expected to absolutely squash this upstart team, but N.C. State stayed with them and neither team ever had a lead of more than 4 points.

Finally, it came down to the final minute of the game. The scored was tied 52-52 and N.C. State had gained possession of the ball. They called a time-out to discuss their strategy. They only had enough time to take 1 shot for the championship. They brought the ball back into play...and their composure began to crack. A long pass to Derek Whittenburg (the team's "star") almost got away from him. He had to grab the ball and make a desperately long shot. He threw the ball up, but it was obvious that it wouldn't make it to the basket. Houston relaxed a bit, getting ready to advance to Overtime. Suddenly, an N.C. State player appeared right under the basket. He jumped and grabbed the ball in mid-air and SLAMMED it through the basket as the game-ending buzzer sounded.

The entire arena stared in stunned disbelief. Lorenzo Charles had just helped N.C. State pull off one of the biggest - and most exciting - upsets in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

It was even more special for me because I had been just been accepted to attend classes at N.C. State. What a thrill it was to walk on that campus just a few months after they were the National Champions.