What are some of the most exciting, awe inspiring, amazing things that 
have happened in sports?  What has made you stand up from you chair and 
practically shout in amazement?  Anything hyperbole-worthy can go in 
here.  Finishes, personal accomplishments, records, etc

7 responses total.

I still remember how overwhelming the excitement was at the 1989 NCAA 
finals.  My parents let me stay up and see it, and I couldnt' even stay 
in the room.  I was pacing madly while Rumeal lined up for those free 
throws... It was amazing.  

Quite possibly the greatest play in the history of sports was the Cal-
Stanford showdown in 1982.  John Elway drove his team for the "winning" 
field goal with 3 seconds left.  They squibbed the kickoff to Cal, 
which had ten men on the field.  Kevin Moen picked up the ball, ran 
into trouble, and lateralled it.  A heart stopping series of laterals 
later, Moen got the ball back and ran through the Stanford band and 
into the endzone.  

I'll never forget the 1979 NCAA Final, with Indiana State vs. Michigan 
State.  Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson; quite possibly the most 
interesting game ever played in college basketball.

Some of the details are fuzzy, but I still remember the 1968 World 
Series, with the Tigers beating the St Louis Cardinals.  Al Kaline (my 
favorite baseball player ever), Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan vs. Bob 
Feller and Lou Brock.  I remember the 1984 World Series much more 
clearly, since I was 23 instead of 7; Alan Trammell, Kirk Gibson, 
Willie Hernandez, Jack Morris.  And the greatest moment in sports in my 
lifetime; the home run in the 1988 World Series by Kirk Gibson, batting 
against Dennis Eckersley, which turned the momentum and resulted in the 
Los Angelos Dodgers winning the series that year.

Some Olympic moments come to mind:  The "let's keep giving the Russians the
basketball out of bounds until they defeat the US" caper; the 1980 (?) defeat
of the Soviets in ice hockey by the ameteur US team and their gold medal. 
A tension-filled game from yesteryear was the 5-0 NFL playoff defeat of the
Lions by Dallas.

I'm sorry to be too young to miss things like that final.  I never got a 
chance to get into the Bird-Johnson rivalry.  I was a child of the 
Pistons.  That was a *team*.  I can't even remember the starting lineup, 
because it was practically irrelevant.

1991.  Notre Dame vs Michigan.  Fourth down and one.  I stand up as 
Grbac *drops to pass*.  He pumps once, lets it go.  It meets Desmond 
Howard flying parallel to the ground.  Touchdown.  Game.  Heisman.

Reggie Jackson's three home runs in the 1977 series.  The
eye-popping dives and catches of shortstop Bucky Dent in
the same series.

Don't know if horse racing counts, but the single most
astonishing thing I have ever seen in sports was Secretariat
pulling farther and farther away from the rest of the pack
with that long graceful stride, finally ending up all alone,
as if in a different race.

Crozier shot, Muckalt ... Rebound .. Morrison SCORES! - 1996 NCAA Hockey 
Championship.  The puck just sat there for what seemed like forever, 
then along comes Brendan Morrison, and taps it home over Ryan Bach.

Second favorite is a tie between the one game I saw Michael Jordan play 
in live, and the 1998 NCAA hockey Championship game.

Third would be Jan 1, 1998 when Michigan won the Rose Bowl.

I was 7 years old when Michigan won the basketball title in '89, and I 
have no recollection of that game, although I know I watched it.

Forgot about the Olympics.  That 1980 hockey team
tops everything. A close second is Janet Evans in
Seoul in 1988.  Not exactly awe-inspiring, but 
definitely brought a tear to my eye to see this
short scrawny little American teenager surrounded, 
or so it seemed, by steroid-pumped East German 
amazons, 6'+ tall, and she still won the gold medal.

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