I should also point out that because I am very passionate about sports my own personal leanings weighed heavily in the ranking process. Before we begin, here again is the criteria that was used to compile this list.
- Did I enjoy it? Did the movie/song/moment/etc. resonate with me personally?
- Did the people who's opinions really matter like it? Was the movie/song/moment nominated for an Oscar/Grammy/ESPY?
- How much does it typify the decade? In 20-30 years will people think of it when they think of the 00's?
Bonus Write Up- Central Washington Softball Players carry opponent around the bases
Say what you will, but this was a really nice moment. This was a playoff game and that was the game winning run. The Central Washington Players could easily have said, “Rules are rules,” and not done a thing. A pinch runner would have been put at first base with the game tied and their season would have continued. Instead they realized that they had been beaten fair and square and that this was the right thing to do.
10.) Byron Leftwich carried by his offensive lineman at Marshall (2002)
Continuing right along with the carrying trend, Marshall QB Byron Leftwich broke his shin in a game against Akron (Fuck the Zips), but played through the pain and tried to spark a comeback with a little help from his friends.
The Thundering Herd came up short that day, but Leftwich earned national recognition for his gutsy performance. The image of his linemen carrying him downfield remains an indellible image in college football’s storied past.
9.) Derrick Fisher returns to Utah after his 11 month old daughter has successful eye surgery (2007)
In the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals the Utah Jazz faced the Golden State Warriors. Utah’s starting point guard Derrick Fisher missed Game 1 of the series because his 11-month old daughter had a rare form of eye cancer and was undergoing an emergency surgery and chemotherapy in New York City. It looked like he was going to miss Game 2 as well, but with the doctor’s permission he and his family flew back to Salt Lake City and arrived at the arena with the game already in progress. The Jazz, although they were playing at home, trailed much of the game, but got a huge emotional lift when Fisher entered the game with 3 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter.
After the season Fisher asked the Jazz to release him from his contract so that he could play in Los Angeles where his daughter would have access to the right kind of specialists for her condition. The Jazz, in a classy move, obliged.
8.) The Tiger Slam (I guess this term now has a new connotation) (2001)
In 2000-2001 Tiger Woods became the first golfer in the modern era of the Grand Slam (whatever that means) to be the holder of all four championship titles at the same time.
In the 2000 U.S. Open, Tiger won by an astounding 15 strokes, which broke the record for the largest margin of victory in a major championship. The previous record had stood since 1862. Sports Illustrated called it the greatest performance in golf history.
Tiger then went on to win the 2000 Open Championship at St. Andrews (the British Open) by 8 strokes. He finished at -19, which set a record for the lowest score under par at a major.
Up next was the 2000 PGA Championship which Tiger won in a 3 hole playoff against Bob May. Tiger was 7 under par on his last 12 holes of regulation.
Tiger completed the Slam with a two stroke victory over David Duval in the 2001 Masters. He was 16 under par for the tournament.
Admittedly this moment did not capture the human element of sports at all. In fact, it showed how dominant and almost unhumanlike Tiger was. That being said, this moment will probably be the most memorable from a historic perspective because of the dominance.
7.) Maurice Cheeks helps girl sing the national anthem (2003)
In a 2003 game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers, Blazers head coach Maurice Cheeks came to the rescue as 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert forgot the words to the Star Spangled Banner.
Mo Cheeks may not have been that great of a coach, but he sure was a great guy.
6.) The Saints beat the Falcons in their first game in the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina (2006)
On Monday September 25th, 2006 the New Orleans Saints returned to the building that provided shelter for many of their fans after the unthinkable damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. There was, and probably still is, plenty of recovery work still to be done, but the Monday Night Football game brought a sense of normalcy that the city had been missing for quite some time. As you might imagine, it was a very emotional game influenced heavily by the home crowd. Looking back, the Falcons really didn’t stand much of a chance. On the fourth play from scrimmage the Saints blocked a Falcons punt and returned it for a touchdown. The final score was Saints 23, Falcons 3. After the game Falcons head coach Jim Mora Jr. said, “As hard as it is to lose this game, I'd be lying if I didn't say there was a little, little piece of me that really appreciated what this game meant to this city."
5.) The 2008 Olympic 4x100M Relay
Michael Phelps might have been the story of the 2008 Olympics for the United States (although I think the Redeem Team deserves some love), but without Jason Lezak he doesn’t break Mark Spitz’s record.
In case you forgot, when asked about the American team a few days before the race Frenchman Alain Bernard said, “The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for.”
Suck it France.
4.) Red Sox come back from a 3-0 deficit and beat the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS
Down 3-0 in the series, The Red Sox trailed the Yankees 4-3 going into the bottom of the 9th in Game 4 and had to face Mariano Rivera, the best closer in the history of baseball. If you’re one for details, Mo had already pitched a scoreless 8th inning that night. Kevin Millar led off the inning with a walk. Immediately every Red Sox fan (and Yankee hater) knew that Dave Roberts was coming in to pinch run. After a few pick off attempts, Roberts stole second on a verrrrry close play. Bill Meuller then singled him home to tie the game and the Red Sox had new life. That stolen base was perhaps the single biggest momentum shift of the decade. The Red Sox went on to win Game 4 on a David Ortiz 2-run home run in the bottom of the 12th inning.
The Red Sox then did the unthinkable and won Games 5, 6 and 7 to become the first team in MLB history to win a series that they trailed 3-0 (2 NHL teams have done it, but no NBA teams have ever pulled it off). The winning didn’t stop there. The Sox then cruised to their first World Series Championship since 1918 by sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in 4 games.
This comeback fulfilled the lifelong dreams of many diehard Irish Catholic drunks in Beantown that had grown accustomed to losing. The fact that it came against their bitter rivals made it that much sweeter. Although I forgot about it when I first compiled this list, this moment speaks volumes about hope, belief, and triumph.
I think the reason that I blocked this moment out (even though at the time I was in full Yankee hater mode, so I was rooting for the Red Sox) is because it was a part of a Boston run on championships in the 3 major sports.
3.) Syracuse wins the 2006 Big East Tournament
After losing 3 straight games to close the regular season Syracuse was squarely on the bubble at 19-10 heading into the Big East Tournament. Most people thought that they needed to win at least 2 games to even have a chance at making it into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. We pick it up on the first day of the tournament.
Wednesday March 8th- Down 73-71 to Cincinnati with 6.2 seconds left, Gerry McNamara hits a running 3-pointer to win it.
Thursday March 9th- Down 74-71 to #1 ranked Connecticut with 11.2 seconds left, McNamara hits a 3-pointer from about 27 feet away to send the game into overtime. The Orange win it in the extra frame by a score of 86-84.
Friday March 10th- Syracuse trails #23 ranked Georgetown by 15 at the half. McNamara leads a spirited comeback effort and hits a 3-pointer to bring the Orange to within 1 at 57-56 with 48 seconds to go in the game. After a Demetris Nichols steal, McNamara leads a 2 on 1 fastbreak and assists Eric Devendorf on the game winning layup with under 10 seconds to play. No team that had won a game in overtime in Big East Tournament history had gone on to win the next day.
Saturday March 11th- McNamara scores 14 points and dishes out 6 assists in Syracuse’s 65-61 win over #16 ranked Pittsburgh. No team had ever won the Big East Tournament by winning 4 straight games in 4 straight days. McNamara’s three 3-pointers give him a Big East Tournament record 16. He is the runaway choice for Tournament MVP.
2.) Syracuse wins the NCAA National Championship (2003)
Led by freshmen forward Carmelo Anthony and freshman guard Gerry McNamara, Syracuse beat Kansas 81-78 on April 7th, 2003 to claim the school’s first ever NCAA National Championship. Carmelo scored 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and had 7 assists in the championship game and was named as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. McNamara hit six 3-pointers to spark the Orange in the first half, but it should be noted that he was held scoreless the rest of the way.
Sophomore forward Hakim Warrick sealed the win with this iconic block of Michael Lee’s 3-point attempt with 1.5 seconds to play.
In case you missed it, both of Warrick’s feet are in the lane when Lee catches the play. Also, during my illustrious 4-year career as a co-ed intramural volleyball player, I had my team warm up to each game by recreating this block. I would pretend to be Michael Lee in the corner and each of my teammates took their turn practicing their spikes by channeling their inner Warrick.
One of my favorite items of sports trivia to know is the starting lineup of NCAA Championship teams, so in case you were wondering, here was who the Orange put on the floor to start the game.
PG- Gerry McNamara
SG- Kueth Duany
SF- Carmelo Anthony
PF- Hakim Warrick
C- Craig Forth
Syracuse went 30-5 that year with losses at Pittsburgh, at UCONN, at Rutgers (everyone knows how tough it is to win at the RAC), and in the garden to Memphis to start the year and to UCONN in the Big East Tournament. That, of course, is the long way of saying that the ‘Cuse went undefeated in the Carrier Dome that season. Haven’t I told you that nobody, and I mean nobody comes into the Loud House and pushes us around?
1.) The Giants win Superbowl XLII (42 for those of you that don’t know your Roman Numerals) (2008)
Superbowl XLII was one for the ages. It pit the undefeated New England Patriots against a gritty New York Giants team that was seeking revenge. The two teams met in Week 17 of the regular season at Giants Stadium (a game that I attended in person). The Patriots were trying to become the first team in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season and because the Giants were already locked into the 5 seed of the NFC playoffs, it appeared like they wouldn’t provide much of a challenge. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin even said that he would most likely only play his starters for the first half. With the Giants leading the game 21-16 at the half their starters decided in the locker room that they wanted to keep playing. The game seesawed back and forth in the second half and the Patriots ultimately came out on top 38-35. Many credit this game, although it was a loss, as a huge momentum builder for the Giants.
The Giants went on to win 3 straight road games (@ Tampa Bay, @ Dallas, and @ Green Bay- Brett Favre’s last game as a Packer) to earn their shot at revenge against the Patriots in the Superbowl. The Patriots were so dominant that year that many prognosticators thought that they would steam roll the Giants in the big game. They argued that Patriots head coach Bill Bellichick would devise a plan to out scheme the Giants with two weeks to prepare for them.
As it turned out there was no schematic advantage. The Giants went toe to toe with the mighty Patriots and got the ball back trailing by 4 with 2:39 to play in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Eli Manning then engineered a 12 play 83 yard drive that culminated in a Plaxico Burress 13 yard TD reception.
The drive featured a 4th and 1 conversion in their own territory and perhaps the greatest play in Superbowl history on a 3rd and 5 from their own 44 yard line.
David Tyree…..From? Syracuse
The Patriots got the ball back with 29 seconds to play, but Tom Brady threw an incomplete pass on first down, was sacked by Jay Alford (the 5th NYG sack of the game) on second down, threw another incomplete pass on 3rd down, and turned the ball back over to the Giants on downs with an incomplete pass on 4th down.
The Giants lined up in victory formation with 1 second left and after Eli Manning took a knee they were Super Bowl Champions.
For the record, earlier in the week Plaxico Burress predicted that the G-Men would win the game 23-17. When told of this prediction Patriots QB Tom Brady scoffed and said, “"We're only going to score 17 points? Is Plax playing defense? I wish he had said 45-42 and gave us a little credit for scoring more points." The final score? Giants 17, Patriots 14.
Best of the rest
'00- Mike Jones tackles Kevin Dyson on the 1 yard as time expires in Superbowl XXXIV
'01- Diamondbacks beat Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series
'02- Brett Favre throws for 399 yards and 4 TDs a on MNF a day after his father dies
'05- Cancer survivor Lance Armstrong wins his 7th consecutive Tour de France
'06- Kobe Bryant scores 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, Vince Young leads Texas past USC in the BCS title game, 11 seed George Mason goes to the Final Four
'07- Boise State beats Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, Joey Chestnut sets a new world record and brings the Mustard Belt back to America by eating 67 hot dogs and buns in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
'08- Jon Lester throws a no-hitter 21 months after being diagnosed with cancer
'09- Syracuse beats UCONN in 6 overtimes in the Big East Tournament, 59-year-old Tom Watson nearly wins the British Open
4 comments:
i know your from 'cuse but as they say at your place of work..."c'mon man"!!!!...you cant honestly put those two events as the greatest ten in the decade..HOMER PICKS
This list sucks
Kyle Korver saying anything sucks is the pot calling the kettle black.....
how did matt kessler winning the 2 beer funnel event at beer olympics not make this list?
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