My 15 Most Important Sports Moments

Throughout my 17 years on this planet, my life has been influenced by a variety of different factors in this world. From incredible achievements to sorrow, I have seen how the world around me has influenced myself and everyone else around me.

But one of the most important factors of my life have been the incredible world of sports, where I have gotten to see athletes put together incredible performances and have made a world of difference.

After watching some of these great moments again during shows that recapped the last decade, I decided to create a slideshow of what are the 15 most important sports moments of my lifetime.

15. Edwin Van der Sar's Penalty Save of Nicolas Anelka in the 2008 Champions League Final

The 2008 Champions League final was the first-ever Champions League final that contained two English sides, as Manchester United faced Chelsea at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.

In the final, Man United and Chelsea played to a 1-1 draw as United got their goal from Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea got their goal from Frank Lampard and extra time was required.

In extra time, no one scored but Chelsea's Didier Drogba hit Man United defender Nemanja Vidić in the face, causing Drogba to be sent off with a Red Card and the game went to a penalty shootout.

During the shootout, Ronaldo missed for United, and Chelsea captain John Terry slipped on his penalty kick that could have won the title for Chelsea, and two shooters later, Man United keeper Edwin Van der Sar stopped Nicolas Anelka and Man United won their third Champions League title.

This game showed the dramatic effect that sports could have on people's lives (Drogba and Terry in particular) and that even the best could miss with all the pressure on them.

14. Shawn Bates' Penalty Shot Goal in the 2002 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

In the 2002 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the New York Islanders played in their first playoff series since 1994 when they faced the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the first two games in Toronto, the Islanders lost by 3-1 and 2-0 scores to the Maple Leafs, and the series went to the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island for Games Three and Four.

In Game Three, the Islanders unleashed a 6-1 beatdown on the Maple Leafs to win their first postseason game since 1993, and make the series 2-1.

In Game Four, the Islanders got goals by Alexei Yashin, Kip Miller and Roman Hamrlík, while Toronto got goals by Alexander Mogilny, Tomas Kaberle and Shayne Corson and the game appeared to be headed to overtime. But with 2:30 left in the game, Shawn Bates of the Islanders got tripped while going in on a breakaway, and a penalty shot was awarded to Bates. On the Penalty shot, Bates was able to beat goalie Curtis Joseph to his right and give the Islanders a dramatic 4-3 lead, which they went on to win the game by.

Bates' penalty shot showed me that even a player such as Shawn Bates (who had one playoff goal going into the game) can win a game like that, and his goal was a huge reason why I became an Islanders fan.

13. The USA Beating Spain in the Confederations Cup Semifinal

In the 2009 Confederations Cup, the United States were paired with Italy, Brazil and Egypt in their group and few expected them to advance out of the group stage. To make matters worse for the United States, they lost 3-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Brazil, and needed to beat Egypt by three goals and have Italy lose by three goals to Brazil.

But the impossible happened, as the United States were able to get into the semifinal after beating Egypt 3-0 and Italy lost to Brazil 3-0. But in the semifinal, the United States faced Spain, who were at the time the number one team in the world, and had not lost in 35 straight matches.

But the United States were not afraid, and were able to get goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, plus an incredible game by keeper Tim Howard and the US defense to stun Spain and go onto the Confederations Cup final.

This moment was significant to me because it was one of the greatest moments for a sport that has grown significantly since I was born is now able to beat a power such as Spain and go to their first ever FIFA final.

12. Tiger Woods' Performance in the 2008 US Open

Going into the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines, Tiger Woods had very little practice time and had just come off of arthroscopic surgery on his left knee for the third time in his life.

But despite this and a +1 on his opening day, Woods rebounded and was up going into the final day of the tournament. But after a Double-Bogey on his first hole, Woods found himself trailing Rocco Mediate going into the 72nd and final hole.

However, Woods was able to nail down a dramatic birdie putt to force an 18 hole playoff the next day. During the playoff, Woods nearly lost to Mediate before hitting a birdie putt on his 90th hole to force a sudden death playoff hole.

On the 91st hole, Woods was able to par it while Mediate missed his par putt and ended up with a Bogey, giving Woods the US Open title.

Afterwards, it was revealed that Woods was playing with one leg after a double stress fracture on his left tibia and had torn his ACL.

From this, I learned that even with injuries and the odds completely against you, you can still do whatever you have set yourself out to accomplish whatever task you may have.

11. The Boston Red Sox Breaking their 86 Year Curse and Winning the 2004 World Series

One of the most cursed teams in the history of sports, the Boston Red Sox, had gone 86 years since they beat the Chicago Cubs four games to two to win the 1918 World Series.

Since that time, the Red Sox found themselves extremely close to winning the World Series (in 1986, they were one out away from winning the World Series), but were never able to finish the job.

Also, their arch rivals, the New York Yankees, had won 26 World Series during this time, and they continued to make the World Series almost every year.

In 2004, the Red Sox were able to make the playoff again and after sweeping the Angels 3-0 in the ALDS, the Red Sox went to the ALCS, where they played the hated Yankees.

Despite being down 3-0 in a best of seven series, the Red Sox defied the odds and came back to win the series 4-3 to go to the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

In the World Series, the Red Sox were able to sweep the Cardinals 4-0 to win the 2004 World Series and end the "Curse of the Bambino."

This moment showed me that even with the odds stacked against you against a superpower such as the Yankees, the Red Sox were able to fight back and win dramatically, and they rode that momentum to win the World Series.

10. Lance Armstrong Winning His First Tour de France

After competing for various parts of the last four Tours de France, American cyclist Lance Armstrong was diagnosed in 1996 with stage three testicular cancer, which had also spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain, and he was given less than a 40 percent chance of survival.

But thanks to advancements in medicine and chemotherapy, Armstrong completely recovered and was able to race in the 1999 Tour de France.

In the Tour de France, Armstrong was able to take an early lead before falling to Estonian Jaan Kirsipuu for six stages before winning stages eight and nine to take the lead again, which Armstrong was able to hold onto as he became the first American since Greg LeMond in 1990 to win the Tour de France.

In the years following, Armstrong was able to win the Tour for the next six years before retiring from professional cycling in 2005.

Throughout all of this, there have been many allegations that Armstrong is a cheat and is using drugs to enhance his riding, but he has never tested positive for any drugs and his story is truly one of the greatest sports stories of all time.

From Lance Armstrong's incredible feats, I have learned that even with cancer and with all of the odds against you surviving, you can survive and become one of the greatest cyclists of all time.

9. Roger Clemens' Bat Throw at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series

In Game Two of the 2000 World Series, the Yankees faced the Mets with a 1-0 lead in the series, and had their ace Roger Clemens on the mound for Game Two.

In the top of the first inning, the Mets had their slugging catcher Mike Piazza batting third, and was going to face Clemens for the first time since July 8, when Clemens beaned Piazza in the head, giving Piazza a concussion and forcing him to miss the All Star Game.

But on a 1-2 pitch, Piazza hit a foul ball that broke his bat into three separate pieces, with the barrel of the bat coming right to Clemens.

When Clemens got the bat, he threw the broken bat into the ground and right at Piazza, who was disoriented due to Piazza not knowing where the ball was.

After the bat was thrown at him, Piazza walked to the mound asking Clemens why he threw the bat and the benches cleared before order was resolved and Piazza grounded out to second to end the inning.

From this incident, I learned that their isn't always justice from these incidents in sports, as I truly believed then (and now) that Clemens deserved a lengthy suspension for his actions; instead Clemens only got a $50,000 fine.

And with the Mitchell Report's release in 2007 that implicated Clemens of steroid use during that same time, I believe that Clemens threw the bat at Piazza in an incident of "'roid rage."

8. New York Giants' Incredible Playoff Run in 2008

Going into the 2007 season, the New York Giants were a team that made the playoffs the last two years, but were major underachievers.

But during the season, the Giants once again made the playoffs as a Wild Card team with a 10-6 record and faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the playoffs.

In that game, the Giants won 24-14 to go to the Divisional playoff against their rivals, the Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants were able to beat the Cowboys 24-14 to go onto the Conference Championship against the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay.

Despite battling sub-zero temperatures (-18˚C) and missing several game-winning field goals, the Giants were able to beat Brett Favre in his final game as a Packer on a 47-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes to go to the Super Bowl against the undefeated New England Patriots.

Despite being overwhelming underdogs, the Giants were able to stick with the Patriots but with just under two minutes remaining, the Giants found themselves trailing by a 14-10 score.

But Giants quarterback Eli Manning was incredible, and thanks to a great play in which he avoided the Patriots defense to throw a 32-yard pass to David Tyree at the Patriots 30-yard line, who caught the pass with the ball between his hand and his helmet to get the Giants within the range for a touchdown.

With 25 seconds left, Eli was able to find Plaxico Burress with the game-winning touchdown to give the Giants a 17-14 lead, which they won by to win Super Bowl 42.

This moment showed me that anybody can win a championship and defeat an undefeated team in the biggest event of that sport.

7. Zinedine Zidane's Headbutt of Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final

In the 2006 World Cup final, Italy and France faced off against each other in the premier world football competition.

In the first half of the final, French legend Zinedine Zidane, in his final professional football match, scored on a penalty, but Marco Materazzi's goal off a corner by Andrea Pirlo evened the match at 1-1. After the game went without any more goals, extra time was needed.

In the 110th minute, the entire football world experienced one of it's biggest moments ever when Zidane went up to Materazzi and headbutted him in the chest, causing the Italian to fall to the ground. After discussions with his fellow referees, Horacio Elizondo sent Zidane off in the superstar's final match. After the headbutt, France lost to Italy in a penalty shootout and Italy won the World Cup.

This moment showed me that even the best athletes in the world can choke if their emotions take over their body, and that in the world of sports, anything could happen at any given time.

6. Usain Bolt Becomes the Fastest Man in the World During the 2008 Olympics

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Usain Bolt proved himself to be one of the greatest sprinters of all time, as he was able to win three Gold Medals in the 100 meters, the 200 meters and the 4x100 meters relay, all of which broke world records.

For Bolt, he was able to dominate the races in a way that no one else has been able to do in sprinting, as he was able to completely destroy the field that he was able to jog out the ending of his first two races, and has become one of the greatest sprinters in history.

This moment showed me that a sprinter such as Bolt can accomplish these records with such ease and the fact that he did not use performance enhancing drugs to accomplish these feats.

5. Michael Phelps Winning Eight Gold Medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Going into the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Michael Phelps was expected by many to break Mark Spitz 1972 Olympic record of Seven Gold Medals during the Olympics. With the lofty expectations put on him, Phelps was able to deliver, as he was able to win his first six competitions which were the 400m individual medley, the 4×100m freestyle relay (thanks to an incredible final lap by Jason Lezak to edge out France's Alain Bernard by eight hundredths of a second), the 200m freestyle, the 200m butterfly, the 4×200m freestyle relay and the 200m individual medley, all of which in world record time.

In Phelps' seventh race, he competed in the 100m butterfly, where after falling behind Serbian Milorad Čavić, Phelps had an incredible run to the finish and beat Čavić by 1/100 of a second to win his seventh gold medal.

In his eighth and final race, Phelps won the 4×100 m medley relay and he set an Olympic record for eight gold medals won in a single Olympiad, and also a record 14 gold medals overall in an Olympic career.

What Michael Phelps did was extremely significant to me as it showed that even with incredible pressure to win something, you could always do it with hard work and dedication.

4. Tino Martinez's and Scott Brosius' Game-Tying Home Runs in Games Four and Five in the 2001 World Series

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City, the New York Yankees started an incredible run in the playoffs after being down two games to none to the Oakland Athletics to win the next three games to advance onto the ALCS.

In the ALCS, the Yankees deposited the Seattle Mariners (who achieved 116 regular season wins that season, which tied a major league record) in five games to go onto the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Despite going down 2-0 in Arizona during the first two games, the Yankees were able to win Game Three by a 2-1 score, but their backs were against the wall in Game Four, as they were down to their final out against Arizona, who had their closer Byung-Hyun Kim on the mound against Yankee First Baseman Tino Martinez.

However, Martinez was able to blast a home run on the first pitch by Kim over the right-center field wall, tying the game at three before Derek Jeter's walk-off home run in the tenth inning.

In Game Five, the Diamondbacks once again had a two run lead with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Yankees were once again able to tie the game with a two run home run, as this time it was Scott Brosius who was able to take Kim deep to tie the game, which was won in the 12th inning by an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano.

These moments showed me that even with your back against the wall, you can still deliver to win the game in such dramatic fashion.

3. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's Battle at the 2008 Wimbledon Final

In the 2008 Wimbledon final, five time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer faced rival Rafael Nadal in the Gentleman's Singles final.

In the first two sets, Nadal was able to win the sets 6-4, 6-4 to take a two sets to none lead, but Mother Nature stepped in in the final match at Centre Court before a retractable roof was put into use in 2009 with a one hour, 21 minute delay, and was able to help Federer win the third set tiebreak 7-5 to force a fourth set.

In the fourth set, Federer was able to survive two match points to win the tiebreak 10-8, and force a fifth and final set.

In the middle of the fifth set, rain once again caused a 30 minute delay during deuce with the fifth set tied at two, causing the match continue on as darkness started to creep in on Centre Court. With an 8-7 lead in what probably would have been the final set of the day, Nadal was able to win when Federer's forehand went into the net, causing a change in the guard as Rafael Nadal became the winner of the 2008 Gentleman's singles final in what is considered by many to be the greatest tennis match of all time.

This moment showed me a changing of the guard in sports as arguably the best tennis player in Federer lost to Nadal, who appeared at the time to be headed to greatness in 2009, but Federer was able to win the French Open and Wimbledon in 2009.

2. Al Arbour Night at the Nassau Coliseum

After an incredible coaching career in which he won 739 games with the New York Islanders in 1,499 career games, Al Arbour had an incredible coaching career that lasted from 1973-1994, it appeared that the coaching career of the greatest coach in Islanders' history was over.

But in 2007, Ted Nolan (who was the Islanders head coach at the time) decided to approach Arbour with an opportunity to coach one final game to get to 1,500 career games, which Arbour accepted. On November 3, 2007, the Islanders hosted the Pittsburgh Penquins at the Nassau Coliseum in what would be Arbour's final game to coach, and despite being down 2-0, the Islanders were able to get a goal by Trent Hunter and two third period goals by Miroslav Satan to beat the Penquins 3-2.

Afterwards, Arbour's 739 (wins entering the game) was replaced with a 1500 (for career games coaching the Islanders).

This moment was extremely special to me as this game has been the greatest sporting event that I ever went to in my life, and the atmosphere inside the Coliseum that night was just plain and simply special.

1. Mike Piazza's Home Run Against the Atlanta Braves in the First Sporting Event in New York City after 9-11

After the September 11th terrorist attacks on New York City that killed nearly 3,000 people, the entire United States went into mourning as the entire country became united after the terrorist attacks on New York, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 crash. During this time, all of the sports leagues in the United States took a week of absence due to the terrorist attacks and after all the sports teams returned, baseball became the sport that was able to unite Americans together more than any other sport.

On September 21, the New York Mets became the first New York sports team to play a game in New York City since the terrorist attacks, as the Mets hosted the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium. During the game, both Bruce Chen and Jason Marquis pitched gems and the score was 1-1 until the top of the eighth inning when Brian Jordan gave the Braves a 2-1 lead off of Mets closer Armando Benitez.

But in the bottom of the eighth, Edgardo Alfonzo was walked on a close 3-2 pitch, and in came Mets catcher Mike Piazza. On an 0-1 fastball, Piazza crushed a fastball from Braves reliever Steve Karsay well over the Center Field wall to give the Mets a 3-2 lead, and cause a tremendous roar from the Shea Stadium crowd. In the ninth inning, Benitez was able to seal the deal and the Mets were able to win 3-2.

To me, this is the greatest sports moment of my life as it was able to unite New York after the terrorist attacks, and it is a perfect example of why Mike Piazza is my all-time favorite athlete.