Was this the greatest sporting moment you've ever witnessed?

[p8ryts]

I'm genuinely curious to know whether you all consider SB 51 to be the greatest moment in sports that you have had the pleasure of viewing?

I guess it's pretty dependent on who you root for; I'm trying to rack my brain but nothing comes close. ALCS '04 along with some of the other SB wins would likely fall in my top 5 but most of my other memories are Australian/NZ sport related and they don't come close. I don't think I've ever experienced such a range of emotions culminating in pure satisfaction and reward so for me this takes the cake.

One of them, but the Flutie pass, the BC win over NC in NCAA Tournament, Super Bowl III, and all other Pats SB games. Forgot Olympic hockey game.

 

[Raymond]

Such a tough question. I think this was the best game I've ever seen in any sport, as far the outcome. This comeback was legendary, absolutely legendary. A game they will talk about for 100 years. Just the odds, after being down 28-3 was the Pats had a 0.5 percent chance of winning. Let that soak in. Teams were 4 wins 1057 losses when being down 25 points. That's just insane. Such incredible odds against the Pats, yet they complete an improbable, unprecedented comeback on the biggest stage in sports. I think for me, yes, this is the greatest sporting event I've ever witnessed. And I'm old, I've witnessed a lot.

Lake Placid, it meant more to me because of the talent level difference than US vs USSR, countries hating each other, blah blah blah. Sure it added to the intrigue, but I am a hockey fanatic, so the fact that a bunch of college kids beat an allstar team of professionals is what amazed me. Don't get me wrong, I was into beating the USSR at everything lol. But the hockey angle is what hooked me to that game.

Nice post, I agree completely, but fixed ..........4 wins 1157 losses

 

[PatriotSpy]

I would put this #2 behind the red sox coming back from 3 games down against the Yankees. I mean at that time, we had the curse, we lost a devastating game 7 to the yankees the year before and that offseason we picked up schilling to help us win it all. That's #1 and always will be fore me. But that game sunday night is the stuff of legends. It's elevated Brady to that next level. That mythical level that only a handful get to.

3rd would be Bird against the Pacers. Chuck Person was in his grill all series long, talking **** to Larry Legend. Bird hits his head and you think that's it, celtics are done. He then comes back with the Boston Garden chanting his name and leads the celtics to a comeback win. I'll never forget that. Huge Larry Bird fan growing up.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Yes. I am die hard Pats/Bs (Bs are ****** cowards) So yes..for me...unreal

 

[robbomango]

Hard for me to compare football PO's to other sports that have 5 and 7 games series.

For football PO's and SB's that was unreal, the game was over dead and buried then, TD, FG, TD, 2pts, TD, 2pts, TD game over!!!

For me the drama of that game surpassed any of the others by a long shot.

 

[Pats Fanatic]

Really nothing can match the 2002 Super Bowl for me.
I am a big Celtics fan also, and there are many from them but I would say Gerald Henderson stealing the ball in game 2 of the 1984 Finals.

 

[tigerjohn]

I was at the Miracle on Ice. Doubt anything will top that. This was close, along with 01.

 

[deroc5050]

I would say the Pats beating the Rams was my favorite moment. This past game ended amazing but for 3 quarters there wasn't much to cheer about. Best 4th quarter come back yes definitely.

 

[HeadHunter]

Nah, the 1980 Olympic hockey game is still it for me. When USSR was our enemy and it was basically our small amateurs against their pros. Nothing will ever top that for me.

I wasn't even born yet but I am definitely going to have to find a video of that. But I can imagine it was much more fun to see not knowing the outcome.

To the OP's question. Yes for me, absolutely.

 

[Pats1989]

Most Boston fans will say 2004 Red Sox. They hadn't won in 86 years. Down 3-0 to hated Yankees. Boston is a baseball town.

 

[resdubwhite]

Ugh, as a Liverpool fan I will never forgive Bayern for choking in that final against the plastic United (Leeds is the real United ).

At least Milan made up for it two years later

 

[DarrylS]

The Bobby Orr Goal sold me on being a NE Sports fan early on(after a several fandom lowlights), the Red Sox Comeback for 0-3, the snowbowl and first SB and now this...

There are a lot of Celtics hightlights there as well, but they are somewhat muddled. "John Havlicek stole the ball" in 1965....

When Bobby Orr scored the game winning goal in 1970, was living in Newport and despite my best configuration of clothes hangers and aluminum foil could not get channel 38, so we all went to a local pub that had an antenna the picked up the game..

I am a very lucky sports fan to be part of all of this..

 

[Ivan]

Yes

 

[Anteros]

1980 Lake Placid "Miracle on Ice."

I can close my eyes and still hear Al Michaels call "Do you believe in Miracles?! Yes!!" I can still see Jim Craig skating around the rink with the American flag draped over his shoulders as the camera caught him looking into the crowd mouthing the question "where's my father?"

Those memories and all the other reasons others have mentioned here make that the greatest sporting moment I've ever witnessed, with the 2004 ALCS a close second.

 

[1960Pats]

yes it is. it was the greatest comeback i'll ever see in my life time.

we beat a better football team. i really believe that. yes they were top to bottom better. they were so fast and physical. our Oline just wasn't ready. i wished we had a guy like freeman. dude was strong and bouncy. all game i said to myself 'we have to get better'.


i don't know how we did it. we won with our guts and will to win. it really is inexplicable.

It was Freeman's missed block that gave Hightower a free run at Ryan for the fumble that turned the game around. He might be good on some teams but not this team.

 

[Bill Lee]

I would put this #2 behind the red sox coming back from 3 games down against the Yankees. I mean at that time, we had the curse, we lost a devastating game 7 to the yankees the year before and that offseason we picked up schilling to help us win it all. That's #1 and always will be fore me.

Yep. SB51 is a fabulous comeback win, but the circumstances are so different. We were favorites going in to SB51 and had four recent SBs in hand. Totally different to the feel of the 2004 Sox who hadn't won since 1918 and had just lost in tragic fashion the previous season to the hated Yankees and had '74 and '86 and the whole curse nonsense to deal with.

That means SB36 was a bigger win than SB51 as well. We went in a big underdog to the 'greatest show on turf' circus. That win legitimized the Patriots. SB51 just confirmed the greatness.

Most Boston fans will say 2004 Red Sox. They hadn't won in 86 years. Down 3-0 to hated Yankees. Boston is a baseball town.

I'm not sure Boston is a baseball town or not, but it really doesn't matter to me. Despite my Bill Lee handle I'm not a baseball fan these days. The games are too long and there are too many of them and they don't mean much given that there's wildcards and more divisions than the old days. The lack of a salary cap means that we pretty much know half the teams or more aren't going to be in it on day 1, and most of the other half are going to be in the playoffs so the regular season has very little meaning despite being so long. It's nothing like the Bill Lee era of my youth.

Personally I think Boston is now a Patriots town rather than a Red Sox town, but I'm not even sure how to define it. The crowds we saw yesterday are a pretty good argument in favor of the Patriots.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Yes, this was. If you take into account the WHOLE context of the game, including brady's mom and deflategate, as well as the 25 point comeback, it is by far.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Still have to put The Miracle on Ice over this.

 

[Galeb]

yes it is. it was the greatest comeback i'll ever see in my life time.

we beat a better football team. i really believe that. yes they were top to bottom better. they were so fast and physical. our Oline just wasn't ready. i wished we had a guy like freeman. dude was strong and bouncy. all game i said to myself 'we have to get better'.


i don't know how we did it. we won with our guts and will to win. it really is inexplicable.

The reason you don't know how they did it is evident in your own post. You lament the Pats not having a guy like Freeman. If Freeman did his job and even got a semblance of a block on Hightower, the Falcons almost certainly would have won. It wasn't superior athleticism that won the game, it was 46 guys all doing their job regardless of the long odds.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Seen: Miracle on Ice and the Sox comeback in ALCS - as great as this Superbowl was, it didn't surprise me......and by the time they hit 28-12, I EXPECTED it......at 28-20, I KNEW it was going to happen


Been at in person: the last Celtics game in the Garden - Shaq knocked them out with Orlando.....spontaneous singing of Auld Lang Syne, because no one really knew what to do, and simply leaving wasn't an option