This installment of “Top 5” focuses on the sporting events that I have personally witnessed, either live or on TV. Not all are good memories, but they're all stories I tell from time to time.
I know, I cheated and got six onto the list. But they’re all great.
They are:
5. Red Sox vs. Mets, Game 6, 1986 World Series
This was the “Bill Buckner Game”. I was living in Boston, a well-hit 3-wood away from Fenway Park, and was a real band-wagon Red Sox fan. Regardless, I have never seen a collapse like the one we witnessed that night. After that, the Curse of the Bambino was very real for me.
4. Doug Flutie to Gerard Phelan, BC vs. Miami, Thanksgiving weekend 1984
Flutie-mania had gripped Boston for a while before this one, but I don’t know if he was much of a story around the nation. This was a GREAT game prior to the miracle, last-minute heave, but that play will be the one that everyone remembers. I was visiting a friend in Detroit and watching it on TV, and only caught that play out of the corner of my eye.
3. (tie) Troy Aikman to Alvin Harper on a slant, Cowboys vs. 49ers, NFC Championship 1993
The moment that signaled the changing of the guard at the top of the NFC. SF had ruled the late 80s, Dallas was coming on strong. This perfect throw and outstanding run-after-the-catch put the game away for the Cowboys, and turned the 90s into the Cowboys’ decade.
3. (tie) Vince Young turns in the greatest individual performance ever, Texas vs. USC, College Football National Championship 2006
I will be telling my grandkids about this one. Vince Young absolutely ruled the world that night, and the ‘Horns won their first National Championship in 30+ years. The single greatest college football game in history, bar none.
2. The Miracle on Ice, USA vs USSR, Hockey Tournament in the Winter Olympics 1980
It’s hokey, but it’s true – this moment transcended sports like nothing I have ever seen. Whether you knew anything about hockey or not, it didn’t matter. This was “us vs. them” in every sense of the phrase, and it signaled the end of a really crappy decade for the US. Reagan was elected later that year, but this is where the turnaround started. The most exciting live event I have ever seen on TV.
1. Cleon Daskalakis withstands 2 minutes of 5-on-3 hockey to win the Beanpot, 1985
I know. You’re going “huh?” Let me explain: The Beanpot is the college hockey tournament held in Boston every year, pitting Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern, and Harvard against each other in the Fleet Center (it used to be in the old Garden). It’s a nothing outside of Boston, but it’s HUGE there. I was a student at BU, and we had very little to cheer for. Our football program was middle- to bottom-tier 1-AA, and was dropped a few years after I left. Our basketball team was nothing in those days. All we had was hockey. And the Beanpot was the highlight of the season. Our boys were playing our arch-rivals from BC, and the game was a nail-biter. BU had, as best as I can recall, a one goal lead late in the third period when we were saddled with two penalties. Cleon had been the star of the team for the past few years, and this was his senior season. He was a solid wall in goal, stoning close-in shot after close-in shot for the duration of that ridiculous 5-on-3. The BU crowd in the old Boston Garden was going absolutely nuts throughout. It was at that moment that I really envied the kids at Notre Dame or Duke or any other school that had a traditionally great program of one sort or another. It was BU’s shining sports moment in my four years there. I walked out of that game, which we did win, absolutely wrung out. I have never yelled louder, jumped up and down more, or poured more emotion into a sporting event before or since. And it was the greatest sports moment of my life.
Feel free to add your favorites, or to argue any of mine, in comments.
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