OT: Greatest sports moment of all time maybe?

Miracle on Ice is the greatest.

Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics.

Willis Reed coming out for game 7.

Miracle on Ice the greatest game. Willis the greatest moment.

redking said:

Miracle on Ice is the greatest.

Click to expand...

That was a tense time. USSR had invaded Afghanistan just a few weeks before. US was an economic mess with sky high interest rates and people were talking collapse. There were like 25 revolutions around the world. Like Secretariat in 73, the US hockey team was a light in a dark tunnel. The fact it was amateur college kids beating the older Russian dream team at a winter sport is not always recognized by younger folks. Beating Canada was considered hard but beating Russia was not even thinkable before the games

Miracle on Ice without a doubt
Al Michaels' saying "Do you believe in miracles" was spot on because Americas coast to coast were rejoicing over something they didn't think could happen and the win filled all Americans with pride

FWIW - the linked top 10 list (from 2020) doesn't include the game in question, although it does include three 9/11 related events. Here goes:

1. Miracle on Ice
2. Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
3. George Bush throws out first ball in World Series game at Yankee Stadium on 10/28/2001
4. Jesse Owens in 1936 Olympics
5. 1999 FIFA Womens' World Cup
6. 1992 USA Basketball Dream Team (no way would I have included this)
7. Michael Phelps dominates 2008 Olympics
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins 9/28/2001 NASCAR race - first race after 9/11
9. 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics Opening Ceremony
10. Hank Aaron hits #715

TBH I don't know how much of an impact the Mike Piazza game made nationally. It was certainly a big deal around these parts. Baseball had restarted the weekend before. The Mets had played three games in Pittsburgh before returning home for the game in question.

1. Miracle on ice.

2. Valvano and NC State win it all.

3. Red Sox do the improbable and come back from 0-3 for the first and only time ever done in baseball.

for me….

Miracle in ice

Bush throwing out first pitch at yankeees game after 9/11

Mets in ‘86 - mookie Wilson ball under buckner’s legs

RU over Louisville pandemonium in Piscataway

RHJ mid court shot to beat #1 Purdue

USA Hughes goal to beat Canada for Olympic goal

Very subjective. For me, the NY Jets winning Super Bowl lll as a 19 point underdog in Jan 1969. No one of any repute thought they had a chance. It eventually led to the NFL/AFL merger and the ascendency of pro football as the top popular sport in the US, supplanting Major League Baseball.

I think we are conflating two separate questions here:

1) What is MY most meaningful sporting event of all time?
2) What do I think is AMERICA'S most meaningful sporting event of all time? This question will necessarily have socio-political implications. Otherwise, it wouldn't be "most meaningful".

rureadyforsomefootball said:

Valvano over Mike's HR?

Click to expand...

My apologies as in my haste, I was thinking along the lines of the biggest upsets which caused memorable moments. I don't watch much baseball and watch no Mets games. I suppose I could have watched that game given the significance or I probably saw/heard the highlights, but to he honest, I don't even remember Mike hitting a HR right after 9/11. I actually thought the Yanks played the first game after the pause. I didn't even have the right team. So it wasn't memorable to me.

Will never forget that Friday night... Sept 21, 2001. Attended a Black Crowes concert at the Beacon Theater that evening.

After the show, my friend and I arrived at Penn Station to catch our train back to Jersey. Mets fans everywhere still celebrating. Had no idea what happened. No internet on cell phones then. We asked some fans wearing Mets jerseys what happened and they let us know.

One of the most memorable quotes about that game: HOF manager Bobby Cox said it was the only game he didn't mind losing in his long career in baseball. It was a game bigger than baseball.

Doctor Worm said:

FWIW - the linked top 10 list (from 2020) doesn't include the game in question, although it does include three 9/11 related events. Here goes:

1. Miracle on Ice
2. Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
3. George Bush throws out first ball in World Series game at Yankee Stadium on 10/28/2001
4. Jesse Owens in 1936 Olympics
5. 1999 FIFA Womens' World Cup
6. 1992 USA Basketball Dream Team (no way would I have included this)
7. Michael Phelps dominates 2008 Olympics
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins 9/28/2001 NASCAR race - first race after 9/11
9. 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics Opening Ceremony
10. Hank Aaron hits #715

TBH I don't know how much of an impact the Mike Piazza game made nationally. It was certainly a big deal around these parts. Baseball had restarted the weekend before. The Mets had played three games in Pittsburgh before returning home for the game in question.

Top 10 Greatest U.S. Sports Moments

Sports have been a crucial part of the United States for well over the past 100 years. They provide so much for so many people. Some use sports as an escape while others use sports as a profession whether that is being an athlete on the field or the vendor selling hot dogs in the...

theimpactnews.com

Click to expand...

Strange list IMO - The Dream Team were super talented pros and in Olympics it was kind of like Indiana playing Bosco in football. 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup is not "great" for most sports fans. The first FIFA cup for women was in 1991 so there had only been two lady cups before 1999. Ladies figure skating is #1 in Olympics and other lady sports just dont scale well and that includes World Cup.

Jackie Robinson is big in culture but baseball was the barrier. NFL had black black players in 20s and 30s and Paul Robeson played for an early NFL team while at Columbia., Robinson had also played football on UCLA team and his teammate Kenny Washington was playing for the Rams a year before Robinson was with Dodgers. Woody Strode Marion Motley and Bill Willis, were also in NFL before Robinson. A lot of colleges had black players and before Robeson (and Ohio St had Frederick Patterson 24 years before RU had Robenson).

Nothat I care about list that much but college and pro football get hidden in the closet for the Robinson chapter, Personally I have Jesse owns Olympics over Robinson. After his 1947 rookie season, an Associated Press poll ranked Jackie Robinson as the second-most admired man in the United States - ahead of Eisenhower and Truman. Most Americans were not like the certain demographic in the South. The problem with sports mostly revolved around problems with southern fans, owners, hotels etc. Robinson was not going into old South Africa

Robinson's UCLA teammate Woody Strode highlighted the differences

"When out on the road with the team, Strode had his first experience with racism, something he wasn't aware of growing up in Los Angeles. "We were unconscious of color. We used to sit in the best seats at the Coconut Grove (a nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel) listening to Donald Novis sing. If someone said, 'there's a Negro over there,' I was just as apt as anyone to turn around and say 'Where?..On the Pacific Coast there wasn't anything we couldn't do. As we got out of the L.A. area we found these racial tensions. Hell, we thought we were white." Wiki

One of my top 12

UK 400m record holder Derek Redmond tore his hammy in 92 Olympics. He was plagued by injuries a lot in career but he was feeling great for Olympics. He heard a "POP!" and thought a gun went off but it was his hammy (in my tack days I was told a ripped hammy sounded like a gun). Derek wanted to finish race but he was making his injury worse. His engineer father went out to help him. Surgeons told Derek he would never sprint again. He would need surgery and 17 months of rehab to heal.

RUGuitarMan1 said:

Very subjective. For me, the NY Jets winning Super Bowl lll as a 19 point underdog in Jan 1969. No one of any repute thought they had a chance. It eventually led to the NFL/AFL merger and the ascendency of pro football as the top popular sport in the US, supplanting Major League Baseball.

Click to expand...

It was a great upset, but not only no one of any repute, no one of no repute thought the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team had a chance. And it changed the NHL, turning it into international playing pool.

maybe a different category or interesting sports debate could be ... most captivating stretch/storyline in sports

such as ...
The Mark Macguire/Sosa HR record chase
Jeremy Lin takeover

There's many more but just a different and interesting debate, because moments often come unexpected. But the captivating stretches bring in people and unite with a level of sustained excitement and engagement.

Jesse Owens 1936 Olympics in Berlin tops the list by a mile. 1980 hockey had no juice outside the US and either did Jackie Robinson.

ScarletKid2008 said:

But the captivating stretches bring in people and unite with a level of sustained excitement and engagement.

Click to expand...

Mcquire/Sosa, Lin all worthwhile, great stories but I think nothing compares to mass uniting in the name of the USA, especially in the Olympics. Add the massive underdog, 1980 Hockey team and that takes the cake as most memorable moment.