ESPN's Top 100 Moments of past 25 years

[alfdogg 0]

John's Stockton's shot to put the Jazz in the Finals should have gotten in earlier considering some of the other NBA stuff that made the list.

[Slayer 0]

Are they saving the top 5 or something? I haven't seen an update in the last couple of days

[Guest Anglesault]

Part of me is getting a sneaking suspicion that the Miracle on Ice is not going to be on this list...

You too?

[the max 0]

Remember how mad you get at the Yankees sometimes?

 

Imagine that times five for me, plus all of the fans that will feel dicked over if it's not in the top 3.

 

Not only is it the most important moment of the last 25 years in the sports world, it's one of the key events that led to the Cold War ending.

[Guest Anglesault]

Remember how mad you get at the Yankees sometimes?

 

Imagine that times five for me, plus all of the fans that will feel dicked over if it's not in the top 3.

Hell, I agree totally. I also agree with your feeling that it will be cut.

[Guest Smues]

I think they'll put it on. I could see them leaving out any other important moment, but not that one.

[Guest Smues]

#5 is Pete Rose being banned. I'm half surprised on the tv spot for it they don't plug their stupid movie about it.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

it's one of the key events that led to the Cold War ending.

That's total nonsense, and a myth perpetuated by the sports media to make it sound like an event that transcends sports and into world history.

[the max 0]

it's one of the key events that led to the Cold War ending.

That's total nonsense, and a myth perpetuated by the sports media to make it sound like an event that transcends sports and into world history.

How so?

 

It basically castrated the Soviets where it counted...in their domination of the Americans. It spread confidence throughout the country, which made the Americans confident elsewhere in the world.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

It's a spurious link to make, at best. The Soviet Union didn't fall due to weak emotions from their citizens.

[Slayer 0]

Well, goddammit, it sure made us feel better

[the max 0]

It's a spurious link to make, at best. The Soviet Union didn't fall due to weak emotions from their citizens.

It castrated them where it counted though. It might not be a solid link, but it's not a myth made up by the sports media.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

It's a spurious link to make, at best.  The Soviet Union didn't fall due to weak emotions from their citizens.

It castrated them where it counted though. It might not be a solid link, but it's not a myth made up by the sports media.

Think about it. A single loss in an Olympic Hockey game causes the Soviet Union to fall eleven years after it occurs? Besides, wouldn't the Soviets' victory in mens basketball in 1988 completely counter-balance that loss?

[the max 0]

Meh.

 

I still think it transcends all lines of sports and goes directly into the political world.

[Slayer 0]

I think we all know what really lead to the downfall of the Soviet Union...

 

 

 

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Meh.

 

I still think it transcends all lines of sports and goes directly into the political world.

Reagan and Gourbachev would have done exactly what they did in the 80s regardless of who won an olympic hockey game..

[the max 0]

Meh.

 

I still think it transcends all lines of sports and goes directly into the political world.

Reagan and Gourbachev would have done exactly what they did in the 80s regardless of who won an olympic hockey game..

And that's your opinion.

[bob_barron 0]

ESPN has #6-#4 posted. Come on Bored- get on it!

[Bored 0]

espn.com has been slow about updating the site with new articles and I was out of town yesterday. What was #4?

 

#6: Dale Earnhardt dies at Daytona 500

Rick Weinberg

Special to ESPN.com

 

The only time Dale Earnhardt had ever been put into an ambulance, he had climbed right back out seconds later and climbed back into his battered black Chevrolet Monte Carlo. That was back in 1997, when he had flipped over on the backstretch at the Daytona 500.

 

Earnhardt could not stand the thought of being in an ambulance. That's not what he was about. He built his record-setting career on courage, toughness, heart and the determination to finish whatever he started.

 

The most serious injury of his illustrious career was a broken collarbone and sternum he suffered in a 1996 race. Two weeks later, taped up and having to be helped in and out of his car, he set a track record and won the pole in Watkins Glen, N.Y.

 

Injuries just didn't happen to Earnhardt. Even at the age of 49. He was too strong, too tough, too invincible, unbreakable and indestructible.

 

Until 2001 at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida.

 

THE MOMENT

It's Sunday, February 18, 2001. There is no race that Earnhardt loves more than the Daytona 500, the premier event in stock car racing. This is the race he looks forward to, every single year, even though this is the race that took him the longest to win, the race that caused him the most emotional pain and heartache. When he finally did win it, in 1998, it was his most memorable victory, the one that stands out among all of his triumphs.

 

The 2000 Daytona 500 was forgettable because it was a tedious, single-file race without much passing. But this time around, NASCAR had enacted a series of rule changes to enhance closer racing and ensure plenty of passing. No one was happier than Earnhardt. He was eager to get out onto the track.

 

The 2001 Daytona 500, before a wild crowd of nearly 200,000, turns out to be one of the most exciting in history, with 49 lead changes among 14 drivers -- 40 more lead changes than in 2000, and the most since 1983, when there were 59.

 

Cars hurtle around the infield track, side by side, often three wide, at 190 miles per hour, in this wild scramble for position. Earnhardt, a master of Daytona's dazzling speed, high banks and tricky aerodynamic drafts, leads four times over 17 laps, never lurking far from the front.

 

With one lap to go, Earnhardt finds himself in a mass of cars as he rounds the final turn. He is running third behind his own drivers, Michael Waltrip and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Content to finish third, Earnhardt Sr. blocks onrushing cars from overtaking his son and Waltrip. Earnhardt Sr. relishes the moment, knowing he is just a few seconds away from his first victory as a car owner at Daytona.

 

As Sterling Marlin's Dodge creeps up toward Earnhardt's Chevy, attempting to pass and move toward the leaders, Earnhardt veers slightly and blocks Marlin's path. Marlin's car taps the rear of Earnhardt's Monte Carlo, ever so slightly, but causes it to fishtail.

 

Traveling at more than 170 miles an hour, Earnhardt loses control of his car in the turbulent aerodynamic draft, a rare occurrence, and the car flies up a 31-degree incline, right toward the concrete wall. Earnhardt slams into the wall at 150 mph, at a nearly perpendicular, 75-degree angle. His car is then struck from the side by Ken Schrader's Pontiac.

 

The crowd is mesmerized by the closing duel between Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip, watching them charge to the finish line, neck and neck, oblivious to the crash behind the leaders. As Earnhardt's famous Chevy sits wedged against the wall in a gruesome sight, Waltrip takes the checkered flag, 0.124 seconds ahead of Earnhardt Jr., winning for the first time in 462 races over a 16-year career.

 

As the crowd wildly applauds Waltrip's victory in this epic race, Schrader frantically rushes toward Earnhardt's mangled car. When he arrives at the ugly scene, he immediately and frantically motions for rescue workers.

 

As Waltrip celebrates in Victory Lane, unaware that Earnhardt had crashed, rescue workers speed to Earnhardt's smashed Chevrolet. A paramedic climbs through the passenger window and applies an oxygen mask to Earnhardt's face. He is unconscious. He has no pulse.

 

Alfred Alson, a trauma surgeon, climbs in through the other window and performs CPR. Another paramedic squeezes inside the car to stabilize Earnhardt's spine and to hold his head.

 

Firefighters jump on the roof of the car and begin cutting away the sheet metal so Earnhardt can be removed with the least amount of trauma.

 

Ten agonizing minutes later, the roof is lifted. The medical unit immediately realizes how grave the situation is. As Earnhardt is loaded into the ambulance, Earnhardt Jr. is looking behind him, looking for his dad, wondering where he is. When he realizes what has happened, he runs toward his father's car. Just as he arrives, the ambulance speeds away, leaving Little E to watch in vain, wondering what condition his father is in.

 

As Waltrip is about to meet with the media, Schrader informs him that Earnhardt had been taken to the hospital, that the crash was serious, possibly even fatal. Waltrip began the news conference by saying he doesn't feel right talking about his victory, that it's not appropriate. "The only reason I won this race was Dale Earnhardt," he tells the media. "I just pray that he's okay."

 

In the ambulance, CPR is still being performed on Earnhardt. The ambulance reaches the hospital. Earnhardt never shows any signs of life. He is pronounced dead. Doctors say he died at the point of impact, at 5:16 p.m., just a second or two before Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. crossed the finish line.

 

At the track, a blue tarp covers Earnhardt's twisted black Chevrolet to hide his blood. The death stuns and shocks the sports world and racing community. Millions mourn. They hang black flags with Earnhardt's No. 3 on it. As darkness falls in the evening, a somber pall falls over Daytona's harsh infield. The American flag that fluttered in the wind only hours earlier just outside Victory Lane is now lowered to half-staff.

#5: Pete Rose banned from baseball

Rick Weinberg

Special to ESPN.com

 

The evidence was so staggering that it was difficult to fathom. Records of phone call after phone call made to bookies, sometimes just minutes before the national anthem. Records of bets, one after another, day after day, on virtually every team, including the team he managed, along with the amount of the bet. Nearly $20,000 a day being waged on bets.

 

The baseball world -- and the world in general -- was staggered by the amount of evidence, leaving little doubt that Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader and one of history's greatest and celebrated players, had gambled on baseball and bet on his own team.

 

Rose was known as a huge gambler, often seen at race tracks. But then rumors began swirling in early 1989 that he had gone too far, that he had actually gambled on baseball.

 

On Feb. 20, 1989, Rose and his attorneys were summoned to New York to meet with then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth. The next day, word was out that the meeting concerned gambling allegations against Rose. One month later, on March 20, the commissioner's office released a statement that it was investigating "serious gambling allegations against Rose."

 

On April 1, the IRS seized betting slips with Rose's name, writing and prints on them. The next day, it was reported that Rose had bet $8,000 to $16,000 daily on baseball games during the 1987 season. Then, on May 9, the avalanche fell when baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti received a 225-page report from investigator John Dowd that contained depositions, documents, reports, transcripts and other materials illustrating that Rose had gambled on baseball. A handwriting expert determined that Rose's writing was on betting slips, as well as his fingerprints.

 

Rose was cornered. Finally, after a series of motions were filed by attorneys from both parties, and a series of phone calls between Giamatti and Rose's attorney's, it was Judgment Day for Rose.

 

THE MOMENT

August 24, 1989, Thursday, 9 a.m. Giamatti, the commissioner of baseball, steps up to a microphone in New York City.

 

"One of the game's greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts," he tells a packed room of reporters.

 

With that, Giamatti announces that Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader and one of history's greatest players, has been banned from baseball for life for gambling on baseball.

 

"There had not been such grave allegations since the time of Landis," Giamatti says, referring to Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner who suspended for life the Chicago White Sox players involved in the Black Sox scandal after the 1919 World Series.

 

The previous evening, Rose had signed a document stating that he would neither admit or deny he had gambled on baseball, that he would be banned from the game for life, but that he would be given the opportunity to apply for reinstatement.

 

Shortly after Giamatti holds his press conference in New York, Rose and the Reds hold theirs in Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, announcing that Rose is no longer the Reds manager because of his banishment from the game, and that one of his coaches, Tommy Helms, will be taking over.

 

At the news conference, Rose continues to deny he gambled on baseball, despite the enormous amount of incriminating evidence.

 

"Despite what the commissioner said today, I didn't bet on baseball," he tells the media. He does, however, admit that he bet on other sports. "I made some mistakes and I'm being punished for mistakes," he says.

 

Back in New York, Giamatti is convinced that Rose has gambled on the game that has made him rich and famous. "In absence of evidence to the contrary . . . yes, I have concluded that he bet on baseball," Giamatti says. He is asked directly if he has concluded that Rose bet on his own team, Giamatti says, "Yes."

 

Back in Cincinnati, Rose, holder of 19 major league records and now the 15th person banned for life in baseball history and the first since 1943, insists "I don't think I have a gambling problem at all."

 

The city of Cincinnati is in mourning. The streets are empty. Everyone is watching the live broadcast of Rose's press conference. Big TVs, small TVs, every home, every office, every store. Rose's words echo through hallways, buildings, the entire city.

 

He is asked to explain why he regards Giamatti's penalty as "fair" if he did not bet on Reds games. "I could get a year's suspension for betting on anything," he would say. "I've already admitted I've bet on other things."

 

"My life is baseball," Rose would say. "I hope to get back in baseball as soon as I possibly can. I've been in baseball for three decades, and to think I'm going to be out of baseball for a very short period of time hurts.

 

"I made some mistakes, and I'm being punished for them," he would continue. "However, the settlement is fair. One of the mistakes wasn't betting on baseball. I have too much respect for the game, too much love for the game."

[the max 0]

#4 is McGwire breaking Maris' record.

[Slayer 0]

Thanks for using that sig, Bored

[Slayer 0]

#3 is Gibson's homer

[Bored 0]

#4: Mark McGwire hits home run No. 62

Rick Weinberg

Special to ESPN.com

 

THE MOMENT

September 8, 1998, Busch Stadium, St. Louis.

 

There is a unique buzz as Busch Stadium fills. Mark McGwire is antsy, overanxious as he prepares to face the Cubs' Steve Trachsel in the second inning. The world seems to stop as McGwire steps in. The crowd rises and roars, waiting, hoping, praying for this to be The Moment. Camera lights flash continuously, thousands at a time. He needs one home run to pass Roger Maris' single-season record of 61.

 

Trachsel, determined not to become the answer to one of the sports' great trivia questions, works McGwire carefully and falls behind 3-0. But McGwire, anxious, goes against a philosophy he lived by all season and hacks at Trachsel's next pitch, grounding out weakly. The crowd moans and sits.

 

McGwire steps in again in the fourth inning. He digs in, his feet in his trademark pigeon-toed position, crouching, as Traschel winds and unleashes a fastball, about 88 mph. As the pitch spins toward the plate, McGwire, his eyes big, uncoils and takes a vicious cut. He connects.

 

The ball soars toward left field, a low laser. The crowd roars, the flashes of cameras light up the stadium. McGwire sprints toward first, eyeing the flight ball, wondering if this is the one. "I was sure it was going off the wall," he says.

 

Just as McGwire reaches first, the savagely struck ball disappears over the wall and bedlam erupts. No. 62, a magical figure no one thought anyone would or could reach, becomes reality.

 

McGwire is so excited that when he leaps in jubilation he misses first base, forcing coach Dave McKay to pull him back to touch it. "That never happened to me before," McGwire says. As he rounds the bases with his arm and fist raised, the Cardinals come pouring out of the dugout. Everyone's flushed, including the Cubs infielders, who give Big Mac a high five as he goes around. When McGwire reaches the plate, his son Matt is there waiting, and McGwire lifts him high in the air.

 

Sosa, who is battling McGwire for the home run lead and has 58 homers himself, runs in from right field and gives McGwire a huge hug, and they both perform Sosa's trademark celebration gesture in unison.

 

McGwire then goes beyond the Cardinal dugout to climb into the stands and hug Maris' five children.

 

"I touched your father's bat today; I touched it with my heart," he tells them. Maris' children begin weeping.

 

Later, after St. Louis' 6-3 victory, the Cardinals present McGwire with, fittingly, a '62 red corvette, which he drives around the stadium amid a roaring standing ovation.

 

"You can't use enough adjectives to describe being there that night," Cardinals outfielder Brian Jordan would say later. "I'm sure the people watching it on TV can't even find the right words to accurately describe it. That's how great it was. People talk about the Ripken game, and that was great, but this was truly the most amazing thing I've ever seen in sports. I've been involved in many great moments myself, and I've seen a lot of great, historic moments involving other sports Super Bowls, NBA games but Mac's 62nd home run is unquestionably at the top of the list."

[mike546 0]

How is 3 Gibson's home run?

 

It was fucking game ONE!!

[Guest Anglesault]

Today is the important day. If Miracle on Ice is two, ESPN is 1.

[Bored 0]

No because Buckner's play is still there. Buckner will be #2, Miracle will be #1.

How is 3 Gibson's home run?

 

It was fucking game ONE!!

I think for it being so shocking as Gibson was a gimp going up there against the best reliever in the game.

[Guest Anglesault]

How is 3 Gibson's home run?

 

It was fucking game ONE!!

It was one of those "feel good story of the year" deals. You know, the ones that never make anyone feel good.

[JHawk 0]

How is 3 Gibson's home run?

 

It was fucking game ONE!!

It was one of those "feel good story of the year" deals. You know, the ones that never make anyone feel good.

I know some Dodger fans that felt pretty fucking good about it.

 

Well, they did!

[Guest Anglesault]

How is 3 Gibson's home run?

 

It was fucking game ONE!!

It was one of those "feel good story of the year" deals. You know, the ones that never make anyone feel good.

I know some Dodger fans that felt pretty fucking good about it.

 

Well, they did!

But certainly not because it was a "feel good story" They loved it because they won a game.

[JHawk 0]

But it still made somebody feel good, didn't it?