What is the greatest sporting event of all time?
I commented on the blog yesterday that if Tom Watson had won the British Open at age 59, the 2009 Open at Turnberry would have been the greatest sporting event of all time. Which got me to wondering. What is the greatest of all time?
Lots of stuff goes into that. Great drama. Great heroes. Historical impact. Flat out fun. Events that make you stand up and cheer. Events that, decades after the fact, make your heart still jump at the memory.
Here are a few nominations, just to get us started.
* Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff. The 1951 Giants-Dodgers playoff, capped by Bobby Thomson’s home run. Still the greatest event in baseball history.
* The Colts-Giants NFL title game of 1958. An overtime thriller that jettisoned pro football into the national consciousness.
* Game 5, 1976 NBA Finals. Celtics-Suns. Three-overtime classic. Still the greatest NBA game ever played.
* Game 5, 1986 American League Championship Series. Angels-Red Sox. Eleven innings. Still the greatest baseball game ever played.
* Miracle on Ice.
* The Thrilla in Manilla. Ali-Frazier III.
* Super Bowl 42. Giants-Patriots.
* Jesse Owens’ four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
* USC-Texas title game, Vince Young vs. Matt Leinart.
* Nadia Comaneci’s string of perfect 10s at the Montreal Olympics.
* Duke-Kentucky 1992, East Regional final.
* Tiger Woods at Augusta 1997, winning the Masters by 12 shots.
I’ll do some more research, add to the list and rank the events later in the week. But I stand by what I said. Watson would be No. 1 on this list had he won at Turnberry.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Mr. Tramel – You are one of my favorites, and I agree with
every single one of your ‘greatest moments’ picks. Except
for one, and that is the first one. Since it is now known
that the Giants cheated (several team members have come
forward, but I don’t remember which ones) by picking off
signs from the outfield scoreboard and relaying them to
the bench, I think this game should be expunged. The Giants
started winning in September because they were cheating.
ron hullet
Even though it hasn’t happened yet, I think the opening game of the 2010 World Cup will be on that greatest sports list some day. It marks a significant moment for world sports – the first World Cup game on African soil and a time when South Africa will take center stage after being banned from world sports for so many years because of apartheid. Regardless of who South Africa plays in that opening game and the final score, it will be a historical moment.
This Comment has nothing to do with the content of the column.
It has to do with the word “jettisoned”–which means to cast off, discard, or otherwise get rid of.
In regards to the the ‘58 OT Giants/Colts classic, I think “rocketed” would be a better fit for the sentence. C’mon Berry, you’re a better writer than that! Perhaps it’s the vacation taking effect.
The fact that Tom Watson at 59 years could have won at Turnberry just goes to show how little athletic ability it takes to win at the professional level in the “sport” of golf. If it wasn’t for golf 95 percent of pro golfers would be pushing papers for a living because they couldn’t cut it in any other sport.
No Olympic event should be included due to the fact that for numerous reasons the Olympics do not count. The list is good, but perhaps should include the NCSt-GU NCAA final. I should also say that any and all championships won by the Sooners or Yankees should count as the great sporting event ever (yes I realize there would be a lot of them) -
I remember that Giant-Dodger game. I think I was listening to it in my 9th grade English class. It was a good event but I’m not sure the greatest ever in any sport. How about adding Freckles Brown and Tornado to that list?
OSU/St Joe NJ Regional Finals 2005