The 10 Greatest Sports Events Not on DVD

Lately I’ve noticed lots of lists being posted by fellow Bleacher writers so I thought I’d compose one of my own.

Everybody has sports events that they want to relive or legendary ones they would like to see so in this age of DVD, where such events are becoming the permanent treasures of the average sports fan, I thought about a list of events I would like to keep for my own collection.

Some sports events I would have included in my top ten are already out, like the complete 1972 Canada-USSR hockey series, the Joe Carter home run, or the 1976 Canada Cup, so what I am going to list below is a wish list of the games I have either seen or would like to see that have never been issued on DVD or video tape.

This is a subjective list so it cannot be the "10 greatest of all time." Obviously lots of sports that could have been mentioned are not here.

It just is a subjective list of my favourites and does NOT make it right or wrong for anyone else.

In fact, what I hope is that everyone thinks about what they would like to see and maybe we can all petition the appropriate bodies to go through their vaults and issue these classics so that everyone can enjoy them.

I have limited my list to 10, but actually, I could probably have come up with 20-30. But if I had to pick my favourite ten, this is what I would take.

In no particular order:

1. Montreal Canadians vs Boston Bruins, second game of the first playoff round, April 8, 1971.

I’m surprised this game wasn’t included in the recent Montreal Canadiens box set. This may have been the greatest upset in Stanley Cup history.

Boston had set a record for points with 121 and were overwhelming choices to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

In this second game, against Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito, Montreal was down and then scored five straight goals and won the game 7-5. Boston became so unnerved that they lost the series in seven games.

2. I don’t think any CFL Grey Cups have been issued on DVD, but the 1989 game between Hamilton and Saskatchewan has to be on the top.

3. I’d also like to see the 1962 Grey Cup fog bowl which had to be split into two days.

4. The 1987 Canada Cup Complete Series. Gretzky playing with Lemieux.

5. 1990-91 Edmonton vs Calgary complete first-round series. Neither of these teams reached the Stanley Cup finals, but this seven game series has gone down in my memory as the hardest hitting Stanley Cup playoff round I’ve ever seen.

6. 1919 Complete World Series. Probably no footage of this exists and it would be silent if it was, but ever since I’ve seen "Eight Men Out," I would like to make up my own mind about the only known instance of a team deliberately throwing a major professional championship. Were Shoeless Joe and Buck really guilty?

7. 1932 World Series, Game 3. Probably no footage of this exists either, but supposedly Babe Ruth hit his last World Series home run against the Chicago Cubs by responding to taunting fans by pointing to where he was going to hit it and then doing it.

8. 1974 NFL Oakland vs Miami. This game featured the "sea of hands" catch that ended the Miami dynasty.

9. 1971 NFL Kansas City vs Miami. The start of the Miami legend, though they lost the Super Bowl that year. Ed Podolak did everything including setting records to win the game for Kansas City, but somehow they lost the game in sudden-death overtime.

10. There are no DVDs about ten pin bowling ,but this has to be the most legendary match of all time. In 1970, in the final game of the PBA tour’s greatest tournament, the Firestone Tournament of Champions, with the then-greatest prize of $25,000, and the added pressure of winning $10,000 (probably over $1 million in today’s currency) if someone should bowl a perfect game in the final game.

Don Johnson bowled 299, leaving a ten-pin stuck up on the final ball. His opponent, Dick Ritger bowled 268, a score that would normally cream most opponents, and still lost.