Best/Favorite Games of 2005

[KingPK 0]

Topic title says it all. Remember, it doesn't have to just be a good, competitive game to be included. Any games that you enjoyed for whatever reason can be in here. My list would be as follows:

 

5. New England def. Pittsburgh, Week 3 - Brady puts the team on his back in the 4th and goes 12/12 to push them towards a victory.

 

4. Red Sox def. Pirates - More of a sentimental pick as this was the only game I actually saw at Fenway this year. Matt Clement pitches a gem and I get to see the World Championship flag fly in person.

 

3. Super Bowl XXXIX - The Dynasty is born as NE beats a very game Philly team (well, for three and a half quarters, at least) to repeat.

 

2. New England def. Indianapolis in the 2005 Divsional Playoffs - Just to see the Pats, who everyone said would be stomped on by Indy, hold them to just three points has to be the sweetest victory of this entire run.

 

1. USC def. Notre Dame - As far as dramatic, close, highly entertaining games go, this was the best one I've seen since the Panthers-Pats Superbowl.

[Guest Leelee]

1. Safin/Federer - Aussie Open SF.

2. Nadal/Coria - Rome Final.

3. Pierce/Mauresmo - WTA Champs Final.

4. Nalbandian/Federer - Masters Cup Final.

5. Agassi/Blake - US Open QF.

[CanadianChris 0]

1. USC/Notre Dame - Words can't do this justice. Certainly the most thrilling game in college football since Miami/OSU, and possibly the biggest in the last 15 years.

 

2. The Masters, final round - Not a game per se, but definitely one of the most exciting sporting events this year. Tiger's chip-in on 16, with the ball pausing on the edge of the cup before falling, will be replayed until the end of time.

 

3. Andre Agassi vs. James Blake, US Open quarterfinal - This was, quite possibly, the most thrilling tennis match I've ever seen.

 

4. Detroit vs. Miami, NBA Eastern Conference final, game 7 - Two great teams trading punches right down to the end.

 

5. Ottawa at Toronto, NHL season opener - Finally, hockey's back.

[the max 0]

4- Cards v. Astros NLCS game 5. Awesome drama, the crowd is fucking rabid, ready for the first world series berth in Houston's history...basehit, walk. Pujols comes up. The crowd is rocking and rolling...BOOM. Pujols hits a homer that lands somewhere in Dallas to give St. Louis the eventual win. Just an unbelievable moment.

 

3- Habs v. Bruins NHL 2005-06 Opening Night. Yeah, the Bruins lost and the fans made themselves look like complete retards at the end of the game, but just seeing the game back after a year away from it was great. It's a sentimental pick.

 

2- Astros v. White Sox World Series game 2. This was the game with the Konerko slam and Podsednik of all people hitting a walk-off homer. I liked the entire series, but this game stood out.

 

1- Braves v. Astros NLDS game 4. The 18 inning game. Surprisingly held the attention of the girlfriend, which is saying something. Great drama with Clemens coming in because there was nobody left and a second year secondbaseman hitting the winning homer to make the place go crazy. A great game.

 

 

 

I could only think of four.

[Guest Leelee]

3. Andre Agassi vs. James Blake, US Open quarterfinal - This was, quite possibly, the most thrilling tennis match I've ever seen.

 

Mark. The quality wasn't high. Blake choked like a bitch. But, that's what happens with those lousy Americans. ***1/2, just because Andre, our Lord and Savior, carried him.

[therealworldschampion 0]

1. USC/Notre Dame - Game of the year considering the hype of this game along with it being a gigantic rivalry.

 

2. Astros/Braves Game 4 - The 18 inning game.

 

3. UNC/Villanova Sweet 16 - Terrific game with Nova not quitting. Had it not been for a very questionable to say the least "traveling" call, Nova is probably in the Final Four.

 

4. Michigan State/Kentucky Elite 8 - Patrick Sparks' buzzer beater to extend the game. Back and forth the whole way through.

 

5. 2005 NFC Championship - Personal favorite. Eagles whip Michael Vick after ESPN spends a whole week attempting to go to new heights of verbal fellatio for him even though he had torched a bad St. Louis team in the divisionals.

[Vern Gagne 0]

1.White Sox vs Twins-Santana outduels Garcia.

 

USC-Notre Dame

Texas-Michigan

Braves-Astros Game 4

Tiger wins the Masters

[CanadianChris 0]

3. Andre Agassi vs. James Blake, US Open quarterfinal - This was, quite possibly, the most thrilling tennis match I've ever seen.

 

Mark. The quality wasn't high. Blake choked like a bitch. But, that's what happens with those lousy Americans. ***1/2, just because Andre, our Lord and Savior, carried him.

Note that I didn't say it was highest-quality tennis. It did entertain the hell out of me, though.

[devo 0]

5. New York Mets def. Arizona Diamondbacks - August (?) - The game where the Mets beat up on the Diamondbacks 16-4. Nothing really special about it, just liked seeing the Mets continue to tack on runs and former prospect Mike Jacobs continue to have one of the best starts in rookie history.

 

4. Columbus Blue Jackets def. Minnesota Wild - Couple months ago - Basically the same as below, except I saw it televised. Didn't carry quite the same weight.

 

3. Columbus Blue Jackets def. New York Islanders - Couple weeks ago - Saw this one live. The best hockey game I've ever seen. Jackets took it in an unbelievably exciting shootout.

 

2. New York Mets def. Anaheim Angels - July (?) - One of the best baseball games I've ever seen televised. I was literally jumping out of my seat and cheering when Marlon Anderson hit is inside the park home run, and did so once again when Floyd hit the walk-off homer to end the game.

 

1. New York Jets def. San Diego - AFC Wild Card Playoffs - Just an amazing game from start to finish. I could have killed the Jets lineman who roughed up Drew Brees to extend the game, and I was on the edge of my seat when SD missed the field goal that would have won them the game.

[Guest]

MLB- Too hard to remember one game seeing as the playoffs were boring, but I'll go with the aforementioned New York Mets- LA Angels game.

 

NBA- Suns-Mavs playoff series as a whole was really awesome.

 

CBB- Illinois-Arizona and Michigan State-Kentucky in the Elite Eight. That round was one of the greatest I've seen in the history of the tournament.

 

NFL- Eagles/Pats in the Super Bowl

 

CFB- USC v Notre Dame. Penn St. v Michigan gets honorable mention.

 

NHL- Kings vs Senators in Ottawa was a great game, great offensive action, great goaltending and lots of fighting. I'll go with Kings vs the Canucks on Monday as my favorite this season, but there's so much hockey to go and the playoffs are going to be really great.

[UZI Suicide 0]

1. USC/Notre Dame - Best college football game I've ever seen

 

2. Gonzaga vs. Michigan State - 3 OT game from earlier this year at the Maui Invitational. If it happened in March instead of November it would go down as an all-time classic. Adam Morrison was on fire, scoring 43 points.

 

3. Houston/St. Louis NLCS Game 5 - Pujols' home run was an awesome moment. I love when a home crowd gets shut up like that.

 

4. USC/Fresno State - An exciting shootout where Reggie Bush went over 500 yards of total offense and put up 2 or 3 plays that you'll be seeing on highlight tapes for the next 50 years.

 

5. The Masters - Tiger Woods.

[cabbageboy 0]

--How could anyone forget U of L vs. West Virginia in the Elite 8? Better than UK/MSU or Zona/Illini (and yes part of that is cause my team won).

 

--Speaking of U of L/WVU, how about the 3 OT football epic as well? It was on at the same time as USC/ND though so no one watched.

 

--USC and ND of course, though the wrong team won here in my view.

 

--Speaking of awesome U of L games, how about the C-USA finals vs. Memphis? Darius Washington missing the FT at the end is one of the indelible moments in college hoops.

 

--And as a tie, both the UK/MSU game and the Zona/IL game.

 

Oh and my brother just reminded me: Wake Forest vs. WVU in the 2nd round, 2 OTs and it was 111-105.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I'll do a college football one, since that's all I could really say I saw a lot of this year.

 

5--> Tennessee/Alabama: My personal favorite game that happened to be pretty damn good too, so it gets on the list. Tennessee goes into Tuscaloosa for the first time since Phillip Fulmer because public enemy #1 (that isn't Auburn), and after their last visit resulted in a five overtime game that silenced the 80,000+ at Bryant-Denny when Tennessee pulled off a win that was supposed to be a sure thing. Now Alabama's the juggernaut again, and Tennessee's season was falling apart. Still, the two teams matched up well, too well in fact. In a game that you could have sworn was played in 1930, Alabama wins 6-3 when Tennessee fumbles two sure touchdowns inside the Alabama five yard line. The entire game was a defensive standoff to the letter, hard-hitting and mean-spirited as well. Alabama spent the whole season generally getting revenge on teams that had had their way with them over the last few years, and Tennessee was out to prove they were as good as their #4 preseason ranking said they were. Hell of an old, southern-fried football game.

 

The rest are in no particular order:

3: Fresno State/USC

4: Texas/Ohio State

1: USC/Notre Dame

2: Vanderbilt/Florida (yeah, I said it, and you'd all say it too if Vanderbilt hadn't been robbed)

[Guest Vitamin X]

--USC and ND of course, though the wrong team won here in my view.

 

Same here. And even if you think SC deserved that last-minute win, Notre Dame beating them would have been much bigger, enough to runaway with the title of #1 on anyone's list.

 

In no particular order, I'd also put the Seattle/NY Giants game from earlier this year, the last couple games of the Spurs/Pistons Finals, all of UCLA's incredible comeback wins in football this year (in particular the Cal game), and that's about all I can think of in terms of good games this year. 2005 has been a really shitty year for all sports.

[Urban Warfare 0]

USC/Notre Dame

Texas/Ohio State

Michigan/Penn State

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

1) October 5, 2005. Take your pick.

 

2) Tiger's Final Round of the Masters was remarkably entertaining, even if I was drunk to shit during.

 

3) Agassi-Blake

 

4) Superbowl 39.

 

5) Tied between the finals of the Brier and the 18 inning Jays-Angels marathon in June.

[Just John 0]

1. Astros/Cards Game 6 of the NLCS: After two days of listening to loudmouth Cards fans jerking off to the Pujols homer, it was refreshing to see Oswalt do his thing and shut down the entire lineup. Watching the Stros win the pennant might be my favorite sports moment ever, even if they got swept in the Series.

 

2. Astros/Braves Game 4 of the NLDS: I'm obviously a Stros fan, so this game was definitely fun to watch. I was pretty upset until the Berkman slam, then Brad Ausmus finally did something right, and then the debut of Chris Burke ending the game. Since I don't really like the Braves at all, it was doubly sweet.

 

3. Rockets/Mavs Game 2 of the opening round: Yeah the Rockets lost eventually, but the feeling of hope after going up 2-0 after T-Mac drained the game winner was still one of my top sporting moments of the year. A back and forth 112-110 final makes the game all the better.

 

4. Pistons/Spurs Game 5 of the NBA finals: Surprised more people haven't listed this one. Probably the best game on my list, as it's only #4 due to sentimental homerism. Watching Horry nail clutch shot after shot through the 4th quarter and OT was a sight to see. Expect this to turn up on ESPN Classic someday.

 

5. Colts/Pats AFC divisional playoffs: Even with a ton of people picking the Colts, it was still the same old story. Pats defense really put on a show in this one.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

NFL Week 17: January 2nd, 2005

Giants d. Cowboys 28-24 in the final seconds at Giants Stadium to stop a hideous losing streak (7 or 8), end the season with a victory (Although their final tally was 6-10) and Eli and Tiki continued to emerge. This game gave tons of hope for the '05 campaign.

 

NFL Week 7: Giants d. Broncos 24-23

Entering the 4th quarter, Denver led 20-3 on this late October night. But Eli and the offense roared back, and the defense held their grond in one of the most exciting football games I've watched (Giants especially) in a very long time,

 

World Series Game 2 & 3: White Sox d. Astros

Two more exciting baseball games were not played in 2005. Game 2, the Pale Hose come back from the brink of a tie series, as Paul Konerko hits a 7th inning grand slam to tie, and a walk off home run by Scott Podsednik off Brad Lidge ends the game, after the Stros had tied it once again in the top. Game 3, goes deep into the Houston night, a 14 inning affair with another thrilling finish in favor of Chi-Town.

 

Michigan d. Penn State & USC d. Notre Dame

Two more thrilling finishes to a college football game might never be found again, let alone they happened within minutes of eachother on opposite channels.

 

Yankees d. Pirates

A walkoff upper-deck moonshot by Jason Giambi in late June that started his comeback to shades of the MVP he had been-and the player the Yanks had signed before 2002. I usually like to pick one game that stands out from the Yankees season, and this early summer thriller, is it.

[Gert T 0]

Michigan d. Penn State & USC d. Notre Dame

Two more thrilling finishes to a college football game might never be found again, let alone they happened within minutes of eachother on opposite channels.

 

 

And as a Cards fan watching them try to get to Lidge with the tying run at the plate in Game 4 made it for horrendous channel flipping, you're right unreal how they all finished within about 1 minute of each other.

Edited December 22, 2005 by Gert T

[Robert 0]

My five favorite football games of 2005:

 

5. Green Bay vs Carolina: Monday Night Football

4. Pittsburgh Steelers vs San Diego: Monday Night Football

3. UCLA vs Stanford

2. Notre Dame vs USC

2. Notre Dame vs Stanford

1. San Diego vs Indy: The Streak is killed

[the pinjockey 0]

-USC/Notre Dame - obvious

-Michigan/PSU - obvious

-Forrest Griffin/Stefan Bonnar

-Phillies/Dodgers (Aug. 10th) - Just a personal favorite. My first game as a fan in an enemy stadium. Won on a monster Ryan Howard GS.

-F1 San Marino Grand Prix - Terrific battle between the past and the present in Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso at the end of the race.

 

Along the same line, my worst game/event of the year goes to the US Grand Prix. The event that likely killed US interest in F1.

Edited December 22, 2005 by the pinjockey

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

1. NLDS Game 4, Astros defeat Braves in 18 innings.

 

2. Phillies 11, Reds 10. (Sept. 23). Phillies' 5 run ninth inning keeps them in the playoff chase.

 

3. World Series game 2. Podsednik wins with walk-off home run.

 

4. Phillies 5, Dodgers 4 (July 19). Ryan Howard wins with walk-off home run.

 

5. Red Barons 11, Indianapolis 8 (June 10). Gavin Floyd surrenders seven runs in two innings. Pirates' prospect Ian Snell proceeds to perform his own amazing act of implosion, giving up the lead in the fourth. Ryan Howard hits the go-ahead home run in the fifth.

[Fökai 0]

5. USC v. Fresno State - OHMYGODREGGIEBUSH.

 

4. Rockets @ Warriors, overtime, 12/14/05 (last Wednesday) - Trailing by 3, Luther Head at the end of regulation sinks a three to say "fuck you" to the Oakland crowd. Yao jumping up and down like an idiot, along with the lone Rockets fan in the arena going bananas, put the exclaimation point on that shot.

 

3. Giants @ Seahawks, Week 12 - I've never had so much fun watching a game where I hated both teams.

 

2. Louisville/West Virginia, Sweet Sixteen - I don't remember much about the game anymore besides Pitsnoggle and Dean's seven treys despite being dead from the waist down.

 

1. USC @ Notre Dame - You don't find many games anymore when you're jumping up and down yelling at the screen, yet not cheering for one team in particular. I switched allegiances about ten times in the fourth quarter.

[Brett Favre 0]

1. Jets/Chargers - Wild Card - The Jets, playing on Penningtons torn rotator cuff, have the lead in SD, with like 30 seconds left, and are about to have a goal line stand. On 4th down, Brees throws it away and Barton clocks him to give the Chargers second life. They score, head to OT, and are about to win the game. Nate Kaeding misses the FG, we come back, a pass to Santana for a first. Pass to McCariens for a first. Jordan breaks out a 30 yard run, setting up Doug Brien for the win.

 

2. Gonzaga/Michigan State - Probably a top 5 college game of all time. Triple OT, nuff said.

 

3. Knicks/Sixers - Knicks down for like the 1st half, then explode in the 2nd half, and end up taking the lead. Up 2 in the 4th, and Webber gets a putback to tie the game and send it to OT. In OT, the Knicks are up 3, and Iverson hits a 3 pointer to tie the game with like 5 seconds. This sets the stage for Marbury getting the ball to Nate Robinson who hits the game winning 3 pointer at the buzzer.

 

4. Knicks Bulls - Knicks down the whole game, start the 4th quarter off with like a 13-0 run to take the lead, which included one of the better dunks of the year by Trevor Ariza.

 

5. Giants/Broncos, the ending was pretty exciting.

[megaadvice 0]

1) England vs Australia, 2nd Test Match, The greatest cricket match ever and one of the top 5 sporting matches in history.

 

2) Liverpool vs AC Milan, Champions League Final, Liverpool come back from 3-0 down at half time to tie it at 3-3 and win on pens

 

3) Chelsea vs Barcalona, Champions League last 16, fast flowing football, world class players, supurb goals, amazing drama, just a brilliant game

 

4) England vs Austraila, 3rd Test Match, although this game was drawn the drama was incredible

[gWIL 0]

USC/ND was the game of the decade, period. I still cried though.

 

EDIT: Before any one makes fun of me, I live in Notre Dame, Indiana aka South Bend.

Edited December 23, 2005 by gWIL

[Lando Griffin 0]

I remember the day os Notre Dame/USC and PSU/Michigan. I'm a Notre Dame fan living in Penn State country. I was watching both games at a Penn State friend's house. First Penn State loses and he gets pissed, then minutes later Notre Dame loses and I get pissed. What a lousy day that was.

 

I've seen that 4th and 9 pass by Leinart a hundred times, and I still don't know how he fit that ball into Jarrett's hands. Unbelievable.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

- Notre Dame/USC - Reasons already explained.

 

- Ottawa/Toronto, October 9, 2005 - The game in Ottawa that went back and forth with each team coming back from 2 goal deficits and the Sens winning in a shootout.

 

- Colts/Benglas - Balls out fun as two great offences trade knock out blows but eventually Peyton outlasts Carson.

 

- NY Jets/Pittsburgh - Game of the year in the NFL playoffs this year, just to see the Jets tease their fans endlessly with a win but then...what else is new?

 

- Agassi/Blake, US Open - Most fun I've had watching tennis since...

 

- Federer/Safin, Aussie Open - Purely awesome battle between the two best in mens tennis. And a honorable mention goes to the, almost, equally great Hewitt/Roddick semi that was opposite to this one.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

ND/USC was easily the best. I was going berzerk just listening to it on the radio. On that goal-line play prior to the Bush-Push to get into the endzone, the announcer (who thought the game was over on the fumble) screamed out "THE IRISH HAVE DONE IT!" and I went batshit, only to have my soul yanked out a minute later.

 

My favorite had to be the Colts beating the tar out of New England on Monday Night.

[Guest Wart]

1. Braves/Astros NLDS Game 4

I was at the game, and there's no way to describe the energy and tension from the 9th inning and on. Braves were getting runners on virtually every inning, while the Astros couldn't do anything offensively for the 2nd half of the game. Seeing Roger Clemens run out from the pen to pinch hit and then pitch in relief was fun as well.

 

2. Cardinals/Astros NLCS Game 4

I only saw the last couple innings of this game, but I was listening to it on the radio the entire time. Great double play to end the game and take a 3-1 lead in the series.

 

3. Astros/Phillies

I don't remember the date off the top of my head, but it was late in the season and I remember feeling pretty discouraged until Biggio hit a home run off Billy Wagner in the top of the 9th to take the lead.

 

4. Red Sox/Twins

I was at this game as well in early August, and the Red Sox had a big lead going into the 9th. The Twins almost came back before Curt Schilling came in to finish the game. What was most memorable though was Shannon Stewart throwing a ball into the stands with 2 outs and runners on base because he thought the inning was over. I also remember David Ortiz hitting a huge shot in batting practice that bounced off the banner of Kirby Puckett above the upper deck in RF.