The 7 Best Moments in Sports

Sports, in general, are about moments and memory. Everyone loves a great game, finish to start, but the isolated moments are what we often most remember.

We also fully recall which team/individual won.  Most of the greatest moments in sports are directly related to that evasive thrill of triumph or irony. 

It is difficult to accomplish and does not come often, but when it does there are very few greater joys in life.  Some moments have little to do with victory and are based, rather, on pure emotion and/or adrenaline. 

All are based on the factor of excitement.  Sports are exciting and passion driven—that is the reason we love them and watch them so assiduously.

These are a few of the moments that will not allow us to change the channel, come hell or high water...

7. Penalty Shots in Hockey

There used to be ties in the National Hockey League.  If the Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers were tied after three periods, they had five minutes to decide the outcome.

If nothing happened during that interval, the game ended in a draw.  Sadly, the NHL succumbed to pressure and mandated that all games end with a declared winner after its infamous lockout in the mid '90s.  The reputation of the penalty shot has never been the same since.

It truly used to be a game changer.  Now, it is a foregone conclusion if teams decide that going to a penalty shoot-out is a better strategic option.  While it still involves excitement and drama, the rare and pertinent prevalence of the regulation time penalty shot is almost always a deciding factor in an ice war.

6. "Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"

When an individual calls out this phrase and 43 cars simultaneously crank their engines and let them roar, chills ensue.

That is close to 40,000 horses all neighing at the same time.  Jimmie Johnson can barely be heard.

Though many may opine that what happens after the call to start engines is mostly just a bunch of guys turning left, the moment when the engines all fire in harmony is symphonic euphoria.

5. The President Throws out a Solid First Pitch

Baseball is still the American past time.  When a President is present in the stadium, all eyes are on him (maybe her in the near future) waiting to see how he will deliver the ceremonial first pitch.

It is not necessarily the pitch itself that inspires the crowd, but the manner in which it is delivered.

Current President Barack Obama did a horrible job in chucking the first pitch of the Washington Nationals' season in 2011, much to the disappointment of many.  He threw the ball like a young child, with about the same speed and accuracy.

Former President Bush, despite all of his shortcomings, was actually pretty good at kicking off a Major League Baseball Game.  His first pitch after the September 11th attacks at the World Series in New York is one of the most iconic moments in sports of the last 40 years.

In a weighted down, bullet proof vest, he hurled an admirable strike from the full regulation distance of the pitcher's mound. 

He had planned to perform the pitch from a closer distance until New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter advised him against it, stating that he would be booed if he had done so.

If you did not, or cannot feel the emotion of that simple throw, then you have no emotional blood running through your veins.

4. Fourth and Goal

The tackle and final play of Superbowl XXXIV pictured here was not a fourth and goal.  It might as well have been.

The same emotion is conjured up when your team is going for it on fourth down and failure means a turnover.

This is when all conversation in the bar stops. 

This is when you get out of your most familiar chair, either to cry out in the throes of risky success or be deflated at an opportunity passed by, only to sink back into the unconsoling confines of said comfortable chair.

3. Less Than :05 Left, Down One or Two

Basketball is plagued with too many timeouts and commercials at the end of a game.  It truly can get tedious.

The last five minutes can take an eternity.  No matter, if the game is close and it comes down to one possession and one shot with time expiring, the results can be breathtaking.

The man pictured is named Gordon Hayward.  At the end of the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's basketball tournament, he threw up a shot that almost sank perennial powerhouse Duke University from 50 feet away.

Those combined eight or nine or nine seconds came close to causing cardiac arrest in some viewers.  Even my wife, the most casual of casual basketball fans, let out a shriek that scared my dog.

Sometimes, emotional moments take a person outside of themselves.

2. Penalty Kicks in the World Cup

This is no show of favoritism over soccer/football over hockey, but World Cup penalty shots, either in regular or overtime, are a thing of beauty.

If you are rooting for the team involved, your whole world stops.

It can lead to glory or heartbreak in a matter of seconds. 

The 1994 World Cup was decided on penalty kicks.  Brandi Chastain, pictured here, was so ebullient after her World Cup penalty kick winner that she decided to show the world just how much work she had done in the gym on her abs and biceps.

1. The Best of the Best: Game 7

This is the scene after a Game 7 victory. In this case the Arizona Diamondbacks prevail over the New York Yankees in 2001.  Men hug each other and cry shamelessly.  It is only two words, but Game 7, as it is expressed when flashed on TV screens, is the best moment in sports. 

Most other great events are momentary—you could miss it if you had to to go the bathroom.

Game 7, on the other hand, is an event.  You know its coming.  One team has the momentum coming in because they won game six to even the series, but there is still one final matchup to decide the champion.

The best part about this event is that it encompasses multiple sports.  Game 7 builds up to a climax in baseball, basketball and hockey quite evenly.  There is no greater anticipation in sports than attending or tuning into the TV broadcast and knowing that the winner of the series/league will be crowned that very night—after the theater of six nights has already ensued.