I'll Never Forget

Two of the greatest single game performances you’ll ever see took place this weekend.

On Saturday Reggie Bush ran up a ridiculous 513 yards of total offense on Fresno State to lead Southern Cal, the best college football team in my lifetime, to a come from behind win. Then on Sunday, Larry Johnson rushed for 211 yards to carry Kansas City and more importantly, my fantasy team to victory.

Which got me thinking. I may only be 19 years old, but I have seen some unforgettable moments in sports. While I’m sure that I must be missing a lot, I picked out sixteen moments that I’ll be recreating for my grandkids or praying they never ask about

In no particular order…

1. Janet Jackson flashing 140 million people during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII. What a priceless moment in the history of time. Truly amazing. One of the great Super Bowl games ever and all I remember is her right breast.

2. The 1995/96 Chicago Bulls going 72-10. It was a watered down NBA at the time with two brand new teams but no team in any sport will ever be able to achieve this level of dominance again.

3. Mike Tyson losing to Buster Douglas. I was too young to see it live but it’s one of the few sporting events that I can have an actual conversation with my father about. He swears it was fixed.

4. The 1994 baseball strike. I was only eight but I remember it well. What did people do that summer?

5. Juiced. Jose Canseco’s book only came out this year but it exposed what everybody knew but that never said: Baseball was full of cheats.

6. Nancy Kerrigan getting whacked in the leg by a hit man. What drama! One question: If figure skating is so fixed, how come Kerrigan lost the gold medal to that evil Ukrainian Oksana Baiul? Gold would have been perfect for the fallen star.

7. Mike Tyson biting off Evander Holyfield’s ear. What can be said? He bit another man’s ear in the ring!

8. Michael Jordan’s foul, turned classic shot to win the 1998 NBA finals. What a picture perfect way to end a career….. (Washington never happened)

9. The 1995 UCLA basketball national championship. The O’Bannon brothers, Tyus Edney, Cameron Dollar, a great team. I remember this so well because Connecticut almost beat them in the regional final.

10. The 1996 Big East championship game. Ray Allen versus Allen Iverson. This was probably the greatest college game I’ve ever seen. Of course, UConn won and then proceeded to choke and lose to Eric Dampier and Mississippi State in the NCAA tournament.

11. The 1998 homerun race. I never really liked McGwire or Sosa. I was more of a Griffey guy. But not since the 1980 miracle on ice has a sports moment captured the country’s attention like it did that summer.

12. Hulk Hogan going heel. The gang gimmick in wrestling was outstanding. A generation of Hulkamaniacs suddenly started swearing and vandalizing property. Admit it or not, Hogan had an influence over any boy who grew up in the 90’s and every man who never grew out of the 80’s.

13. UConn overcoming a heavily favored Duke team to win the 1999 NCAA championship. I really love Connecticut basketball and this goes down as my favorite moment in its history.

14. Barry Bonds. What Bonds did from 2000-2004 is simply remarkable. As a man, I hate him but in my opinion, he is the best hitter who ever lived.

15. Michael Jordan trying baseball. A terrible idea. It took Bugs Bunny and company to convince him that basketball was his sport.

16. The 2003 and 2004 Red Sox/Yankees matchups. The rivalry dates back much farther but Aaron Boone was my generation’s Bucky Dent and the Yankees catastrophic choke job the following season was simply incredible.