BEST game you ever saw

I saw CNNSI.com has a list of their writers' favorite games they covered. What's yours?

 

I didn't cover it (still in school at the time), but Game 5 of the 1995 A.L.D.S. between the Yankees and Mariners was insane. I had snuck down to the 100 level in the outfield (thinking I would storm the field if the Mariners won --- I was hammered) and Edgar's double would have gone between my legs if I had been standing at field level.

Then again, Game 4 wasn't bad either.

 

I was there and probably wanted to punch you, since I was rooting for the Yankees.

 

Angola -- I'm sure you did, but to be fair, I'm thinking I "blended in" with the rest of the crowd.

And tell me your ears were still buzzing from the Kingdome weeks later...

I was at all three of those games. They just blended together into one 29-inning survival epic.

Edgar Martinez was...quite frankly I'll never see another playoff hitting performance like that again, and I'm fine with that.

 

Every game of the 1980 World Series. It's the first World Series I can remember. I was 7. I watched with my dad, and he kept pointing out that Tug McGraw tapped his glove on his leg. I saw Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose and Dan Quisenberry. That was all I needed to see. I was hooked. I don't care what happens in any sports event in the future. Nothing compares to sitting with my father for that World Series. The following year, I knew the names of every player in the Yankees-Dodgers series, and there were several notables.

 

Top games I've covered:
2004 World Series, Game 4, Red Sox over Cardinals.
Super Bowl, Rams over Titans
2006 NCAA tournament, Northwestern State over Iowa

 

Didn't cover it, but this is the best game I ever saw live:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200005100.shtml

Cubs had two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth and scored five runs to force extras, then won it in 11. By the time it was tied, there were about 50 of us left in the bleachers at Wrigley.

 

Pettite 1-0 over Smoltz. Not objectively the best, but my favorite.

 

Mine's easy: 1996 Olympics, men's soccer semifinal between Nigeria and Brazil at Sanford Stadium in Athens.
More than 78,000 -- many from outside the U.S. -- watched Brazil take a 2-0 lead in the first half before Nigeria tied it at 3 late in the second and Kanu scored the golden goal in OT.

I was there with my dad, who has little interest in soccer, and he enjoyed it about as much as I did.

 

MLB: Morris over Smoltz 1-0 in 10 in Game 7 of the '91 World Series
NFL: Eric Dickerson 248 rushing yards against the Pokes in '84 playoffs
NHL: Kings over the Oilers 6-5 in OT, the "Miracle on Manchester"
NBA: Too many Lakers games to choose from
NCAA Hoops: Gonzaga over Michigan State in the Maui semifinals
NCAA Football: A lot, but USC's Marinovich-led 91-yard 2-minute drill at Wazzu ('91?)
Tennis: McEnroe-Becker 6-hour saga in the Davis Cup
Soccer: USA win over Portugal in 2002 World Cup

(I watched them on TV, not in person, so not sure if that was the intent of the question).

As for best game I've ever covered? Man, that would be hard to choose just one. But during the drive home from a soccer game a while ago, along the lake with Rush's "Limelight" blaring out my speakers, my mind returned to the Barre Auditorium in March 2000, D-II boys championship hoops game between Bellows Falls and Montpelier, during the night of a blizzard, which went to OT and was won by BF. I'll never forget that game.

There are about 10 other "bests," and one of them is a Goddard-Artesia overtime football game at the Wool Bowl on a night water never stopped falling from the sky. Two other Goddard games from that season would make the top 10, too.

This is the type of thread that brings you back to those special moments.

Edit: the day Compton High's track and field team won the California state title with only 4 athletes -- ending with Ricky Carrigan's final leg of the 4x100. Greatest single moment.

 

jets 51, dolphins 45 in ot in '86

bills come back from down 35-3 at halftime to beat oilers in early '90s afc wild-card card game, with frank reich at qb

oh, and north carolina over georgetown for ncaa title in '82.

 

Of games I've seen in person:

College: My team defeated the eventual NIT champs (back in the early 1970s, when it meant something) 94-93 in double OT. Place went batshit.

On the job: Can't specify because it would out me, but it had everything: rivalry game, last-second TD to tie, come-from-behind score to win in multiple OTs, fans storming the field, crazy weather, etc., etc.

Parent: My kid's first (and on,ly, so far) homer.

Songbird: Marinovich's drive at Wazzu was in 1989. A thing of beauty, he could have been great had he not become a stoner.