Most Romantic Sports Moments

Valentine's Day is the "Hallmark Holiday" that dislikes you so much you find it irresistible. Even though Valentine's Day becomes less of an ordeal outside of grade school, it's never out of sight—it's always lurking—transforming stores such as CVS into a nightmare of red, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates.

No matter what age or station of life you're in, if you're in a relationship (regardless of the level of commitment), Valentines Day can be a high-pressure event, fraught with opportunities for disappointment or outright failure. There's so much to loathe, but you want to be that person who goes all out or the one who gets five dozen roses.

Adding to our collective trepidation? Reality—especially when highly romantic things happen in highly public spaces. And one consistent source of impressive compare-and-contrast romantic moments that stack the deck for the rest of us is the world of sports.

Passion, confidence, spontaneity and, most importantly, real people make sports a fitting environment for choreographed acts of romance.

Here are some of the most romantic moments in sports history.

Mark Hubbard Pops the Question on Pebble Beach

Chris Condon/Getty Images

Just recently, days ahead of Valentine's Day, PGA pro Mark Hubbard made a Major moment out of an otherwise unremarkable non-Major AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

When Hubbard proposed to girlfriend Meghan McCurley on the 18th green of the famously scenic golf course in Pebble Beach, California, it was a moment that was literally months in the making. The 25-year-old rookie had previously asked her father’s permission and evolved his proposal idea from his initial plan of popping the question via a message on a caddie’s bib, according to The Associated Press (via ESPN.com).

Less was definitely more in this case. Hubbard’s decision to go traditional with the ask in a non-traditional setting was romantic without feeling forced.

Cameron Diaz Feeds Alex Rodriguez Popcorn

At Super Bowl XLV in February 2011, Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez and his girlfriend at the time, actress Cameron Diaz, received a little unexpected airtime when cameras caught the latter lovingly feeding popcorn to the former in their VIP box at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

Apparently, it wasn’t the kind of behavior they regularly engaged in as couple; according to Diaz on the The Late Show with David Letterman (via People), the cameraman just got lucky. Because nobody on Earth likes A-Rod, fans on hand booed loudly and the moment, which the couple had probably presumed would be private, immediately went viral. Diaz had a good laugh over the whole ordeal, but Rodriguez reportedly went “ballistic,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times (via WFAN).

Leave it to A-Rod to turn an otherwise romantic moment into something unpleasant and awful. Of course, he tends to ruin pretty much everything, so what else would you expect from the guy at this point?

Mr. and Mrs. Met's Too Cute Kiss-Cam Moment

In recent years, a lot of teams have invented families for their mascots, having apparently embraced the idea that lots of mascots are better than one mascot.

A lot of the new additions just feel like really creepy afterthoughts, but Mrs. Met has been around almost as long as Mr. Met—over 50 years. The two make for a very cute couple, and they’re still hot for each other after five decades.

In July 2013, Mr. and Mrs. Met proved the magic was still there with a little PDA after getting caught on the kiss cam at Citi Field.

Beyonce & Jay-Z's Halftime Hug

YouTube

Super Bowl XLVII was one of the most memorable championship games ever thanks to a surging second-half comeback and a partial blackout that stopped play for 34 minutes after halftime.

Speaking of halftime, that’s actually when things seemed to turn on a dime, with Beyonce delivering one of the greatest halftime performance of all time, the perfect catalyst to turn what had previously been a very one-sided affair.

Nobody appreciated the performance more than music mogul-turned-sports agent Jay-Z, Bey’s other half for more than a decade. The couple proved they were still “Crazy In Love” when they met up backstage after the show.

Bey and Jay embraced like a couple of lovesick teenagers. It was truly romantic.

An Officer and a Cheerleader

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

In October 2014, Arizona Cardinals cheerleader Claire Thornton got the romantic surprise of a lifetime on the field during a home game against the Redskins. Her boyfriend, 26-year-old Air Force captain Erick Straub, approached her on the sideline and then got down on one knee, proposing to Thornton in front of over 60,000 Arizona fans.

Naturally, she accepted, because what woman is going to refuse a cute and ridiculously thoughtful man in uniform trying to give her a diamond? Well, assuming there’s proper context behind it and he’s not just a total stranger with access to surplus military uniforms.

Bills Receiver Celebrates TD with Cowboys Cheerleader

In a November 2011 Cowboys home game against the Bills, then-Buffalo wide receiver David Nelson caught a touchdown pass and decided he wanted to celebrate with his girlfriend.

Normally, there are a number of barriers put in place that prevent that sort of thing on NFL sidelines, but not when an opposing player is dating a home cheerleader, which happened to be the case for Nelson, who was dating then-Dallas cheerleader Kelsi Reich.

Following the score, Nelson took off from the end zone in pursuit of Reich, whom he hugged enthusiastically and gifted a game ball to. Apparently, he told her in advance he’d have “something special in store if he scores a touchdown,” as paraphrased by NFL.com's Dan Hanzus. Let’s just hope she wasn’t expecting a proposal!

Their moment was still surprisingly romantic and didn’t feel overly scripted.

Dodgers-Giants Couple Kiss Cam

The kiss cam is supposed to be romantic, but it’s usually as awkward and uncomfortable as you’d expect something that demands random strangers kiss in front of tens of thousands of strangers would be.

It’d be difficult to create a random romantic moment on demand like that, but one couple was able to do just that in September 2014. Proving themselves the Montagues and Capulets of California, a Giants-Dodgers couple became a viral sensation when they responded to the pressure of the kiss cam by simultaneously dumping beers on each other.

Planned in advance or not, the moment was absolutely perfect, and you get the sense these two are going to last longer than couples who reluctantly plant one on each other after being caught unawares by some random cameraman.

Ian Johnson's Fiesta Bowl Proposal

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Following a 43-42 overtime upset win over Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State running back Ian Johnson dropped to one knee and proposed to girlfriend Chrissy Popadics, a Broncos cheerleader. It was a romantic moment made especially so by the fact that it was planned yet not planned.

According to Johnson, he had a ring in his room at the time and was planning to pop the question to Popadics when they returned to their hometown in California following the game. “The moment just hit,” Johnson told reporters. “There was no better time.”

Gisele Bundchen Comforts Tom Brady After Super Bowl Loss

Rob Carr/Getty Images

In February 2012, the Patriots were coming off a second Super Bowl loss to the Giants in as many tries. Though it was surely tough for all of New England, few seemed to take it harder in the immediate aftermath of the game than Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, the wife of Pats quarterback Tom Brady.

She had reportedly ignored a fair bit of heckling from opposing fans but eventually broke down while waiting for an elevator, infamously blasting what she perceived as a lack of help from her husband’s supporting cast, according to the New York Daily News' Joyce Chen and Janon Fisher. Bundchen caught some criticism from people in sports who make it their business to tell women they should be seen and not heard, but Brady himself has never apologized for his passionate and outspoken wife.

Bundchen’s comments definitely didn’t do much to dissuade a media pile on following the gut-wrenching loss, which probably sucked a bit for Brady in the moment. Looking back, however, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t appreciate how romantic the whole thing was.

Vancouver Riot Couple Kiss

Rich Lam/Getty Images

When the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, the city of Vancouver briefly descended into anarchy, as frustrated hockey fans took to the streets to riot.

It was an unusually ugly scene in Canada, whose people haven’t historically embraced arson and generalized destruction (in times of both celebration and sorrow) in the same way for which Americans have been known.

But from the middle of that madness emerged one of the most iconic photographs and romantic moments in sports history. The "kissing couple" became an immediate viral sensation after their surprisingly intimate moment surrounded by riot police on a Vancouver street was captured by a Getty photographer.