Top ten greatest moments in sports

This archived article was written by: David Osborne Jr.

As you may know I am a complete sports nut. I have decided to compile my top ten list of the greatest moments in sports. These moments include events from baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, track, and even swimming. So enough introduction, let’s kickoff my top ten greatest moments in sports history.
Number Ten- Hail Flutie
The day was Nov. 23, 1984 and Boston College was playing the Miami Hurricanes. BC was down with a few seconds left in the fourth quarter. Doug Flutie, the quarterback for Boston College called for a “Hail Mary.”. From his 48-yard line Flutie took the snap and dropped back to pass. He narrowly avoided getting sacked by the Miami defense and threw the ball from his 37-yard line all the way to the end zone, with his receiver Gerard Phelan catching the ball for the last second touchdown. The five-foot-nine Flutie threw the football 63 yards in 30-mile-an-hour winds.
Number Nine- Jones gets the Grand Slam
In 1930 an amateur golfer from Georgia became a legend. Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones did the unimaginable by winning all four major golf tournaments in a single calendar year. He won both the amateur and pro open golf tournaments in the United States and Britain, which at the time were the only major tournaments. After winning the grand slam, Jones retired from golf at 28. This feat has never occurred since. Only Tiger Woods has come close by winning all four major tournaments in two calendar years.
Number Eight – BCS Busted Wide Open
Only three teams have ever accomplished this feat. The BCS is the acronym for Bowl Championship Series, which is the system in charge of deciding which teams go to BCS bowl games at the end of the college football season. The University of Utah was the first to break into the BCS during their undefeated 2004-2005 season. The Ute’s demolised the Pitt Panthers 35-7. The Boise State Broncos crashed the BCS next after an undefeated 2005-2006 season. The Broncos defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 43-42 in overtime. The Boise St. Broncos have been the posterchild for BCS busters since then. The third and final team to bust into the BCS was Hawaii in the 2007-2008 season, but were defeated by the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl.
Number Seven- Heavyweights Clash
Probably the most anticipated fight of all time pitted “Smokin” Joe Frazier against Muhammad Ali. They met in Madison Square garden on March 8, 1971. The fight was the first meeting between both undefeated heavyweight boxers, and it was dubbed “the fight of the century.” Both Ali and Frazier came out strong, with Frazier losing in the first few rounds. In the middle rounds Ali started slowing down while Frazier kept coming out strong. With a unanimous 15-round decision, Frazier won, luckily for the rest of the world there were two more fights between these heavyweights in which Ali won both.
Number Six- Four Minutes, Impossible?
In 1954, Sir Roger Bannister did the unthinkable, and he ran a mile in under four minutes. On May 6, Bannister was scheduled to compete in a track meet between Oxford University and British AAA. Bannister was not actually going to run at this meet because the wind was to strong and unfavorable with gusts up to 25 miles an hour. Right before the race, the winds died down and Bannister ran. After the race the announcer called out the time, he had broken the four-minute mile with a time of three minutes and 59 seconds and four-tenths of a second.
Number Five- Taking the Open on One Leg
At the beginning of the 2008 golf season, Tiger Woods had surgery on his left knee, which had been a problem for him before. Woods was able to recover enough to participate in the 2008 U.S. Open. Woods started the week off with a double bogey, but worked his way back slowly into the final pairing for the last day of the tournament. On Sunday June 15, Woods was clearly in pain as he grimance after his tee shots, and even avoiding to put weight on it while standing. With one hole left in the final round Woods was down by one stroke, he forced an eighteen-hole playoff by making a birdie putt. During the playoff round, Woods led by as many as three stokes, but Rocco Mediate came back and ended up taking a one stroke lead with one hole left. Woods birdied the last hole to force sudden death. Mediate missed his par putt on the first playoff hole, while Woods made his. Tiger Woods won the US Open with an injured knee, after the loss Mediate said “This guy [Tiger Woods] does things that are just not normal by any stretch of the imagination.”
Number Four- Warrior Scores 100 Points On March 2, 1962 Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, a member of the Philadelphia Warriors scored one hundred points in a single game. Chamberlain and the Warriors beat the New York Knicks 169 to 147. This was not Chamberlain’s only amazing feat, in the 1962 All-Star game Chamberlain scored forty-two points which is still the record, and pulled down twenty-four rebounds. Chamberlain’s 100 game has never been contested and still stands strong today.
Number Three- Phelps Takes All Eight
The 2008 Olympics were nothing short of miraculous. Michael Phelps took the gold medal in every swimming event that he participated in. This has never been done before, and the closest person to accomplish this was Mark Spitz who won seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics. Some of Phelps’ races were won by fractions of a second and last second efforts. Not only did Phelps win all of the races that he participated in but also set seven out of eight new world records for those events. After these last Olympics Phelps has the most gold medals by any Olympian, with fourteen total.
Number Two- Can Anyone say Miracle?
In 1980 a team of collegiate ice hockey players from the United States faced off against the Soviet Union. The young United States team was down early but stayed in the game by matching the Soviets goal for goal. US goalkeeper Jim Craig blocked countless goals for the US and kept his team in the game. With ten minutes left team captain Mike Eruzione, scored giving the US a four to three lead. Al Michaels who was broadcasting the game for ABC finished off his broadcast with “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” The United States ended up beating Finland to win the gold medal.
Number One- Dodgers Tear Down Barrier
In 1945 Branch Rickey the Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson to the team. By doing this Robinson became the first player not passed off as Hispanic, Cuban or Native American. On April 15, 1947 Robinson made his debut in the major leagues. The nation was divided saying that he should not be allowed to play; many of those saying he shouldn’t be allowed to play were his own teammates. Sports today owe a lot to the courage of a young Jackie Robinson who was courageous enough to just take what was thrown at him rather then fight back. We also owe a lot to Branch Rickey the manager of the Dodgers to take a chance and see what would happen.
There you have it my top ten greatest moments in the history of sports. There were literally thousands of great passes, last minute buzzer beaters, and ninth inning heroics that could have made it but eventually had to be weeded out. You could almost comprise a top 100 list for each individual sport but the paper wouldn’t be able to fit it all in there. So until next time keep watching for the next greatest moment cause you know that I will.