100 Greatest Sports FinishesA buddy of mine loaned me a copy of the book "It Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Sings", a look back at what the author concludes were the 100 greatest sports finishes. For the heck of it, I decided to compile my personal list before reading the book. In no particular order:
1. Joe Montana leads Notre Dame back from a 34-12 deficit with under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to win the 1979 Cotton Bowl, 35-34.
2. Joe Montana hits Dwight Clark in the endzone to beat Dallas in the 1981 NFC Championship game, on the play that will forever be known as "The Catch". Undeniably the play of the 1980s.
3. Franco Harris catches a deflected pass and rumbles for a touchdown in the closing seconds of an 1972 AFC playoff game. The "Immaculate Reception" is the most famous and most important touchdown in the decade of the 1970s.
4. Roger Staubach heaves the "Hail Mary" pass to Drew Pearson to beat the Minnesota Vikings in a 1975 NFC playoff game.
5. John Elway leads the Broncos on a game-tying 98-yard touchdown drive against the Cleveland Browns in a 1986 playoff game.
6. Doug Flutie uncoils a miracle pass to Gerard Phelan as time runs out against Miami, the day after Thanksgiving, 1984.
7. The NY Giants get jobbed by the umpires on Merkle's Boner, 1908. In one of the most famous incidents in baseball history, Fred Merkle, a 19-year-old rookie becomes the goat. He was on first base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, game tied. Al Bridwell hit a clean single into the outfield, scoring the runner from third. Game over, right? Not so fast. Johnny Evers, the savvy shortstop for the Cubs recognizes that Merkle has failed to touch second base, and the force is still on. He yells for the ball, touches the bag, and the umpire, Hank O'Day, calls Merkle out. The game is called because of darkness and when the Cubs and Giants are tied at the end of the season, the game has to be "played off" (this appears to be the origin of the term playoffs). The Cubs win the rematch and go on to win the World Series (ironically, their last).
8. Mazeroski hits a walk-off homer to defeat the NY Yankees in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series.
9. Bobby Thompson rocks the Dodgers with a bottom of the ninth, three-run homer to win the 1951 National League Pennant.
10. Kirk Gibson comes out from the dugout and hits a homer off Dennis Eckersley to shock the heavily favored Oakland A's in the opening game of the 1988 World Series.
11. Ken Stabler hits Clarence Davis in the endzone with no time remaining to defeat the two-time defending World Champion Miami Dolphins in a 1974 playoff game.
12. Georgetown's Freddie Brown throws the ball to North Carolina's James Worthy to cost the Hoyas a shot at the 1982 NCAA Championship.
13. Joe Montana hits John Taylor for a TD in the last minute of Super Bowl XXIII to beat the Bengals.
14. Willis Reed comes out of the locker room to play game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals.
15. The Miracle Mets of 1969.
16. "Little roller up along the bag... and the ball gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight and the Mets win it!" Paul notes rightly in the comments that there's not enough attention paid to Mookie Wilson's at-bat in that inning, which was undeniably the greatest plate appearance in the history of the Mets. Mookie fouled off pitch after pitch, then managed to get out of the way when Schiraldi uncorked the wild one that tied the game.
17. The Arizona Diamondbacks rally for two runs in the bottom of the ninth, game seven of the 2001 World Series, to defeat the greatest closer in the history of postseason baseball. You could nominate several games in that series, particularly the two in New York where the Yanks rallied from two runs down in the bottom of the ninth.
18. Jack Nicklaus charges back to win the 1986 Masters.
19. Phil Michelson birdies three of the last four holes to win the 2004 Masters.
20. Bjorn Borg outlasts John McEnroe in the 1982 Wimbledon finals. The tie-breaker in the fourth set goes to 18-16, with McEnroe surviving five match points there alone.
Olympics:
21. The USA hockey team stuns the world by beating the Russians in the 1980 semifinals, then goes on to win the gold medal.
22. Kerri Strug sticks a vault landing despite a broken ankle to win the team gold for the USA in gymnastics in 1996 for the USA women.
23. Dan Jansen wins a gold medal in speed skating in his last attempt in 1994. Jansen, whose sister had died in 1988 the day of the 500-meter event, had fallen down in five previous attempts at a gold medal.
24. The 2004 Boston Red Sox break the curse of the Bambino by coming back from a 3-0 deficit. This one probably won't be in the book as it's too recent, and it's arguable that it doesn't qualify because the final game wasn't very close.
25. Gar Heard of the Phoenix Suns hits a desperation shot in double overtime of game five of the 1976 NBA finals to send the game into a third OT.
26. Lorenzo Charles catches an errant shot by Dereck Whittenburg and jams it home to give North Carolina State the 1983 NCAA Championship over the heavily favored University of Houston.
27. Villanova misses one shot in the entire second half and still barely holds on to defeat the defending NCAA Champion Georgetown Hoyas in the 1985 finals.
28. Miami runs out to a 28-0 lead in the 1984 Orange Bowl then has to hang on for dear life as Nebraska storms back 31-24 with time running out. Facing fourth and 8, Nebraska seemingly put a dagger in the heart of the Hurricanes as Mike Rozier rumbled for a touchdown. There was no overtime in college football then, and everybody has concluded that had Nebraska made a extra point kick, they would have been crowned as national champs. Tom Osborne elected to go for two. With even God expecting a run, Osborne tried a pass to Irving Fryar that was behind him and dropped. Cited by many as the greatest college football game ever.
29. The Music City Miracle. Frank Wycheck of the Tennessee Titans fields a kickoff, then heaves it backwards across the field to Kevin Dyson who dashes for a touchdown to stun the Buffalo Bills in a 1999 playoff game.
30. A very similar play took place on Thanksgiving, 1982. SMU, which had gone undefeated so far, were losing by seven with almost no time remaining. An SMU player fielded the kickoff, ran to the right, then chucked left to a waiting Eric Dickerson, who galloped down the sidelines to salvage a tie. A terrific play, and one that folks would be talking about for years after had it not had the misfortune of occuring the same day as:
31. John Elway's final game at Stanford. Elway leads his team to an apparent 20-19 victory over Cal with time running out. Stanford kicks off. Moen to Rodgers to Garner to Rodgers to Moen to Trombone Player. Touchdown Cal!
32. The Comeback. The Buffalo Bills are losing a playoff game at home by 35-3 just before the half, with their star quarterback, Jim Kelly, injured. Game over, right? Nope. Frank Reich engineers a 41-38 comeback victory. Amazingly, Reich, who was never a star player, is the quarterback who led his team to the greatest comebacks in both college and pro football history.
33. Kellen Winslow and the 1981 Chargers-Dolphins playoff game. The Chargers took a 28-0 lead early in the game then watched as the Dolphins came storming back. Winslow blocked a field goal attempt near the end of regulation, and another in the overtime period before the Chargers finally won it on a Rolf Benirschke field goal.
34. The Ice Bowl. Bart Starr sneaks across late in the game.
35. The Reach. Kevin Dyson of the Titans comes up a yard short in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Rams as time runs out.
36. Mr Right in the comments suggested a good one; Michael Jordan's game winner against Utah in 1998 for his sixth and final NBA championship.
37. Christian Laettner's miracle shot against Kentucky in the 1990 NCAA's.
38. Joe Carter's walkoff home run to win the 1993 World Series (Prediction: this one doesn't make the book's list).
39. Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes completing the 1973 Triple Crown. The drama in this one was in the scope of the win; a world record time that still stands for that distance, and a staggering victory by 31 lengths.
40. Carlton Fisk waving the ball fair in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
Fisk
41. Southhampton upsets Manchester United in the 1976 FA Cup finals. Southhampton was a second division club in the English League. It was comparable to a minor league team beating the New York Yankees in the World Series.
42. Dale Earnhardt finally wins the Daytona 500.
43. Jack Morris tosses a ten-inning shutout in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series to lead the Minnesota Twins to victory over the Atlanta Braves. The entire series that year was a classic with drama to spare, but that game was truly extraordinary. Good catch, Paul!
This is a work in progress. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments.
