Hi all,

I'm just borrowing this idea from the post below, but rather than limiting us to our baseball memories, I wanted to open up a discussion to all - what are some of your favourite sporting moments? There are no criteria here; just tell us a little bit about a moment in sporting history and why it's important to you.

The moment I'm going to talk about is what I still think is the single most impressive piece of athleticism I have ever seen in a sporting event; Cristiano Ronaldo's goal for Manchester United vs Porto in the quarter finals of the 2009 Champions League.

Firstly, let's talk physics. The man is fully 40 yards from the goal. You could take any player in the world, put him on a pitch with even an average goalkeeper and even then, they would struggle to score from there. The ball isn't even beginning to fall by the time it hits the net. It should require machinery to hit a ball that hard. I spent many, many years as a goalkeeper and have all too much first hand experience of shots being hit at me, and I cannot comprehend how hard this ball has been struck. It's ludicrous. It's comical.

Secondly, let's talk the situation. The man in goal is named Helton, and he is a considerably better goalkeeper than my useless self. You don't play football for Brazil unless you are a remarkably good footballer, irrespective of position, and he has done exactly that. He sees the shot the entire way and can't even get near the thing. This international level goalkeeper has been made to look like an idiot.

This took place in the largest club competition in the sport. It took place in Porto's stadium - Porto being the biggest rivals of Sporting Lisbon, Ronaldo's club before moving to United, and so the atmosphere was already exceedingly hostile. Consider that also this was a must win game for United, having lost the first leg.

To score a goal that incredible in that intense of a situation boggles my mind to this day.

Anyway, I'd love to hear from you guys - don't feel pressured to write as long a diatribe as I did!

I've been a Cincinnati fan since 1961 and was stationed at NAS Moffett Field with an office full of Oakland A's fans. They were all predicting a sweep, and a sweep it was! But instead of being the sweeper, Oakland was the sweepee! Never had so much fun at the expense of someone else!

World of Outlaws race at Grand Forks ND about three years ago.  Teammates Steve Kinser & Donny Schatz on 1/4 mile track.  Set a record for official lead changes (9) and at least that many unofficial ones.  Won by King Kinser by the way.   bigdell

The Leaders & Best!

Go Blue!

-- Modified on 7/30/2015 10:15:38 PM

The discussion of greatest sports moments begins with what this team did in beating the heavily favored Soviets and then Finland for the gold medal. To me, everything else is a distant second. This team of college kids and minor league pros, led by their fiery head coach Herb Brooks, lifted our entire country and took them for a thrill ride during the 1980 Olympics. No other team or individual player has had such an affect on so many people.

UNLV in the semis and winning the first National Championship in 91-UNLV had slaughtered them by 30 the Championship game the year before-Previously,
 Duke often got their butts kicked in big games dating back to 64 when UCLA got them for Wooden's first Championship-
Nobody hated us then    lol

I could not have said it better myself.  The "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY is my most favorite moment in sports; HANDS DOWN, bar none!!!

I went with one I had witnessed in person.  But others worthy of consideration.  Olympic hockey for sure.  Borg/McEnroe tiebreaker match.  Kirby Pucket's game six in world series.  Jack Morris in game seven of world series.  Franz Klammer (sp?) in Olympic downhill.  Sorry about not knowing the years.  bigdell

As a fellow fan of the Maize & Blue, I too have a soft spot for the two aforementioned championships, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, the miracle on ice is my #1 favorite sports moment.

Four votes, 1980 Team USA!  "Miracle on Ice"

He should have been tossed from the game in the first half.

That ball was in the air forever and the Wildcats just stood there like wooden soldiers instead of batting that ball down and ending the game.

Another oddball thing about that was that the U.S.A. trailed in every single game, and was undefeated in the tourney, tying only Sweden, and doing so with approx. 20 seconds to go.

Miracle, indeed.

Incredible...

You win, pajada. Nothing rivals it.

Coach Rick Pitino opting not to guard the man throwing the ball inbounds certainly aided the play, in fact it gave Grant Hill a clear look (it was still one heck of a heave)... and like you said, the Kentucky players just stood there like wooden soldiers, almost frozen in time.
A few of the Kentucky players from that team stated a couple years back that they were so afraid of fouling--so in those final 2.1 seconds--they made no effort to so much as put a hand in Laettner's face.

... vs. Trinidad and Tobago.  It propelled the U.S. into the World Cup for the first time in 40 years and they've qualified for every World Cup since then.  That goal put U.S. soccer on the map.

Caligiuri was probably 30 yards from the goal.  He didn't hit it as hard as Cristiano Ronaldo but he made a good move to get around the defender and the shot was perfectly placed.

Pitino should have put Andre Riddick on the ball and Hill would have had a hard time with the heave. He's a great coach but that's his biggest coaching blunder ever.

What a fucking great hit that Marshall put on Montana ...one of the best blindside hits ever.

Not only was that a great game but also that hit Marshall put on Montana helped the Giants get to the Super Bowl (..along with Taylor's fumble recovery) but it also ended Montana's 49er career.

I didn't even know what CONCACAF was!!!

After Al Mcguire said in the 80's ,on national TV that UCLA would NEVER win another NC in this century. This bought Dick Engberg to say, "Whoa, Coach..wait a minute there". I remember that game as the camera's scanned the area and caught Sandy Koufax, sitting alone in the cheap seats, all by himself. The game was at the Seattle Super Dome so those seat were really nose bleed.

...game-winning drive against Missouri with 4.8 seconds left to get UCLA into the Sweet 16.  Now THAT was memorable!

-- Modified on 8/1/2015 2:31:38 PM

...significant for the U.S. soccer program.

-- Modified on 8/1/2015 3:00:26 PM

...It certainly impressed Cris Collinsworth, a former All-Pro wide receiver himself.

END OF MESSAGE

the Chicago Cubs missing a chance to go to the 2003 World Series against the Yankees..we will never really know if the curse continued on the Bartman foul ball..

END OF MESSAGE

END OF MESSAGE

My first year in college and the OBC's last game coaching Florida. This game was supposed to happen the weekend following Sept. 11th, but didn't for obvious reasons. So it was the last reg season game before the SEC Champ game. Went to a Hooters in Knoxville with the homies to watch our Vols eek out a close one. Went to an EPIC party later that night thrown by our track team.