The Best Games of the Last 10 Years
4 Feb 2008Last night we were all graced with one of the great football games in recent memory. It surely goes down as one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen. If I had to choose the five greatest games in all sports in the last ten years without spending a bunch of time thinking about it or researching, they would go as follows:
5 - 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State over Oklahoma, 43-42 (OT). This makes the list for me because (A) I hate Oklahoma - see sidebar, (B) Nobody thought Boise State would stick it to OU for three and half quarters, much less pull the upset, and (C) Those last couple of plays - The Hook and Lateral and The Statue of Liberty. Instant classic.
4 - Super Bowl XLII, New York Giants over New England, 17-14. Not many people predicted a low-scoring game, much less a close one. The three lead changes in the 4th quarter plus Eli Manning’s escape/David Tyree’s catch (Do we have a name for that yet?) made it a great game anyway. The storyline behind the game (destroying the perfect season, etc.) put it on the list.
3 - 2004 AL Championship Series, Games 4 & 5, Boston over New York. Game 4: 6-4 (12 innings). Game 5: 5-4 (14 innings). I think it’s fair to lump these two together because it was really the series that was impressive. Also, Game 5 started 16 hours after Game 4 ended. These games were great not only because nobody had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit before, but because the Yankees had so thoroughly dominated the series up until that point. The way they won those games was just fantastic.
2 - 2006 Rose Bowl, Texas over USC, 41-38. This one was just like last night’s game, except with 4 times the scoring. USC were the overwhelming favorites, and Texas overcame the odds in the Championship Game, with Vince Young scoring the winning touchdown on 4th down.
1 - 1998 NBA Finals, Game 6, Chicago over Utah, 87-86. Michael Jordan hits "The Shot" (Does that play have a name? What is it?) in his last game in a Bulls uniform to cap off a 45-point performance and the Bulls 6th Championship.
There are some others that perhaps mean more to me than the greater sports world:
1999 Stanley Cup Finals, Game 6, Dallas over Buffalo, 2-1 (Triple OT). Creasegate. Modano plays 55 minutes with a cast on his arm.
June 29, 2007, Chicago Cubs over Milwaukee, 6-5. The Cubs rally from a 5-0 deficit to win on Aramis’ walkoff home run. This game also turned the tide in the division race.
2007 NL Wild Card Tiebreaker Game, Colorado over San Diego, 9-8 (13 innings). This was a great game even before the 13th inning. Plenty of offense early, followed by dominant pitching and stellar defense. There was a grand slam and a killer error that allowed the game to go into extras in the first place. The Padres got 2 in the 13th, and the game was thought over. But the Cinderella Rockies beat the odds and killed Trevor Hoffman. The play at the plate, which is consistently the best play in sports, capped it all off.
2006 NL Championship, Game 6, Florida over Chicago Cubs, 8-3. I hate this game, but for the Marlins, this was a GREAT game. Cubs fans, please don’t blame Bartman. Blame Baker.
2007 AFC Championship Game, Indianapolis over New England, 38-34. If this game was the Super Bowl, it might have made the list. The Colts looked dead in the water, behind 21-3, then rallied to beat the team that had been keeping them down in dramatic fashion.
Feel free to disagree or suggest some other games.
I’m too dumb to embed YouTube videos, so here’s a couple of links:
