Off Wing Opinion

Thanks to Jim Henley for picking up on this latest meme: list your top 10 sports memories with one condition -- you had to see it in person or as it happened, not on videotape.

Well, since this is a sports blog, I'd feel like I was cheating you to give you only 10, so here are 20 moments (in no particular order) plus two.

1) Game Six, 1986 World Series (And I was there in person).
2) USA-USSR Ice Hockey Medal Round Game, 1980 Winter Olympics.
3) Bobby Nystrom scores the Stanley Cup-winning goal in OT of Game Six of the 1980 Finals against Philadelphia.
4) Dale Earnhardt dies on the final lap at the 2001 Daytona 500.
5) Luis Sojo gets game-winning hit as Yankees beat Mets in Game Five of the 2000 World Series, winning the title.
6) Wayne Gretzky says goodbye.
7) Robin Ventura's "grand single" wins Game Five of the 1999 NLCS in extra innings and keeps the Mets alive.
Kenny Rogers walks in the game winning run in Game Six of the 1999 NLCS. He'll never appear in a Mets uniform ever again.
9) Standford Jennings runs back a kickoff for a TD against the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII (I was screaming at the top of my lungs on that play).
10) October 17, 1994: Joe Montana finds willie Davis for a TD reception with 8 seconds remaining to beat John Elway and the Broncos.
11) Jets storm back from 23 points down in the Fourth Quarter to beat Miami at the Meadowlands in 2000.
12) Richard Todd throws 4 INTs against Miami in 1982 AFC Championship game.
13) Doug Brien misses FG against Pittsburgh that would have sent Jets to 2005 AFC Championship game against New England.
14) Canada's Donovan Bailey roasts Team USA alive on the anchor leg of 4x100 relay at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Simply the most overpowering Olympic performance I've ever seen in my life.
15) Nancy Kerrigan disses Oksana Baiul on international television moments after Baiul took the gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
16) Washington crowd rises as one to salute the brain-damaged Vladimir Kostantinov during Game Four of the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals.
17) April 24, 1996: Petr Nedved scores in the fourth OT period to beat the Caps, 3-2 (left before the end, but got home in time to see the game winner).
18) April 18, 1987: Pat LaFontaine scores in the fourth OT period to beat the Caps, 3-2, and take the series 4 games to 3.
19) Mike Bossy scores with only the blade of his stick on the ice against the Canucks in the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals.
20) December 13, 1998: Vikings and Ravens set NFL record for TDs on kickoff returns with three in the first quarter (saw that in person).

And the bonus: Watching the Yankees choke away Game Seven of the 2004 ALCS, completing the greatest baseball playoff collapse of all time. For Yankee haters, there's never been a more glorious moment.

And on the flip side, Mike Scioscia hits a two-run homer off Dwight Gooden in the top of the ninth of Game Four of the 1988 NLCS. Dodgers will eventually win the game in the 12th inning. Still hurts to this day.

UPDATE: The hits keep on coming! How could I forget these:

23) The Borg-McEnroe tiebreaker in the 1980 Wimbledon Final.
24) McEnroe dispatches Borg in four sets in the 1981 U.S. Open Final.
25) Jimmy Connors upends Patrick McEnroe after dark at 1991 U.S. Open.
26) 1977, The Mets Midnight Massacre: Team trades Tom Seaver and Dave Kingman for a cast of nobodies, marking a descent into darkness that wouldn't reverse itself until Davey Johnson and Dwight Gooden arrived in New York in 1984.
27)1981: Tom Seaver strikes out Alex Trevino of the Mets to cap a complete game victory (I was in the stands). The 1981 Baseball Strike begins the next day.
28) 1983: Seaver gets a standing ovation has he walks from the bullpen in a triumphant return to the Mets on Opening Day. Mets win, but Seaver doesn't get the decision.
29) 1985: Seaver gets complete game victory over the Yankees for his 300th career win at Yankee Stadium.
30) 1977: Seaver gets standing ovation during player introductions at 1977 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium, then promptly gets shelled in his pitching appearance.
31) "Fernando-mania" comes to New York, as the Dodgers beat the Mets, 4-1. Dave Kingman strikes out with two outs and the bases loaded as the Mets hardly threaten.
32) 1986: Ken O'Brien hits Wesley Walker with a 23-yard TD pass to tie the Dolphins at 45 with no time remaining. Then, just 2:35 into OT, O'Brien finds Walker on a 43-yard touchdown pass to win the game, 51-45.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 5th, 2005 at 12:50 pm by Eric McErlain and is filed under Misc. Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.