[National Champion Chris Cole]

We have had an incredible streak of great drama in sports and it is only July. But is it the best ever? I'm sure there are other years out there with awesome highlights. If I'm missing any from this year help me out and if you think another year stacks up let the debates begin.

2008 (so far)
Giants defeat the Undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl on their final TD drive. Many call it the Greatest Super Bowl Ever.

Kansas defeats Memphis in the NCAA Finals in OT. They needed a buzzer beater to force OT.

Tiger Woods defeats Rocco Mediate in a 19 hole playoff for the US Open, on a knee that needed surgery.

Big Brown races for the Triple Crown at Belmont. He ends up in last but the race drew gigantic ratings.

The Celtics faced off against the Lakers in the NBA Finals for the first time in 20 years.

Rafeal Nadal defeats Roger Federer in an Epic Wimbeldon Finals. This was the third year in a row where these two faced off and Nadal finally gets the better and stops Federer's Wimbeldon win streak at 5. This also comes right after Nadal crushed Federer in the finals of the French Open.

Josh Hamilton smacks 28 homers in the first round of the derby. He finishes second to Mourneau but is clearly the star of the night.

The American League defeats the National Leage in the final All Star game at Yankee Stadium. What didn't happen? We had the NL survive bases loaded no outs. They threw a runner out at the plate to keep the game going. Papelbon gets booed out of the building. Francona lifts Yankees mid inning in a classy move. Rivera gets the standing O and promtly gets a strikeout and a caught stealing to end the inning. The game goes 15 innings and the AL wins again.

[Mikey]

Without thinking about it too much, I'm gonna go with 1997 for now...

While the Packers beat the Patriots in a blah Super Bowl, the playoffs were interesting as both expansion teams made a run, and the AFC side of things was particularly good, as the Jags went into Mile High and upset the top seeded Broncos.

Arizona defeated Kentucky in OT to win the NCAA Championship. Dandy of a final, bittersweet for me because my Heels had imploded two days prior and it was Dean Smith's final game as a coach.

Some guy named Woods won the Masters. Probably nothing important.

Jordan and the Bulls won their 5th NBA Title over Utah in the most entertaining of any of their championships. This series had Jordan's winner over Bryon Russell - a year before the famous one - the Stockton to Malone full court pass in Game 4, a highly entertaining deciding Game Six that saw Steve Kerr get the GW bucket with 5 seconds left, and there was THE FLU GAME. Best NBA Finals ever.

World Series went 7 games, and extra innings to boot. Sure, it was the Marlins, but Game Seven extra innings nevertheless.

And the kicker to '97, which I think puts it over the top of everything else: Tyson/Holyfield II, the most insane and ridiculous boxing match of all time that made you think that anything - "anything" being on-air murder, riots, Celebrity Deathmatch breaking out, etc. - could've happened in that ring that evening.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

I think 1997 is in the discussion. Good call.

[Mikey]

You could probably toss 2004 in there, too.

We had the screwy USC/LSU split national title.

New England beats Carolina in the best Super Bowl ever. (Seriously, there was more excitement in that 4th quarter alone than the entire Pats/Giants game from this year.)

Had an EXCELLENT Final Four Saturday with Georgia Tech beating OK State at the horn and UConn getting past Duke in the final minute on a questionable no-call. (This was the year when Duke was practically granted a bye to the Final Four and OK State beat St. Joe's in the Elite Eight in one of the best tournament games in the last 25 years, and Stanford and St. Joe's nearly went unbeaten.)

Phil Mickelson wins the Masters with a 30 on the back 9. Then goes on to blow the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which has been forgotten since he blew the '06 Open in more spectacular fashion two years later.

The Lightning go into Calgary and win Game Six of the SCF in 2 OT, then close it out at home in seven. Todd Bertuzzi also attempted to kill whatshisface in the middle of a game.

Huge underdog Detroit completely obliterates the Lakers in the "five game sweep." And didn't Kobe's rape case break right after that? Minus points for ABC & ESPN's "Let's Get It Started" - "24 Seconds to Live" ad campaign.

Oh, and there was that whole ALCS thing, too, which was the climax of a really fun year of baseball. The Hot Stove insanity with A-Rod, Unit's perfect game, "we don't throw at .260 hitters," and some really good wild card series, too.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Jul 16, 2008 10:29:35 GMT -5 Mikey said:

You could probably toss 2004 in there, too.

We had the screwy USC/LSU split national title.

This isn't a positive

New England beats Carolina in the best Super Bowl ever. (Seriously, there was more excitement in that 4th quarter alone than the entire Pats/Giants game from this year.)

But the first 3 quarters of this game blew chunks. I'll take undefeated Pats going down.

Had an EXCELLENT Final Four Saturday with Georgia Tech beating OK State at the horn and UConn getting past Duke in the final minute on a questionable no-call. (This was the year when Duke was practically granted a bye to the Final Four and OK State beat St. Joe's in the Elite Eight in one of the best tournament games in the last 25 years, and Stanford and St. Joe's nearly went unbeaten.)

Honestly don't remember too much details from it. Hard to beat 4 number 1s in the Final Four and the finish in the title game we got.

Phil Mickelson wins the Masters with a 30 on the back 9. Then goes on to blow the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, which has been forgotten since he blew the '06 Open in more spectacular fashion two years later.

This is at least close to what we saw from Woods this year.

The Lightning go into Calgary and win Game Six of the SCF in 2 OT, then close it out at home in seven. Todd Bertuzzi also attempted to kill whatshisface in the middle of a game.

Huge underdog Detroit completely obliterates the Lakers in the "five game sweep." And didn't Kobe's rape case break right after that? Minus points for ABC & ESPN's "Let's Get It Started" - "24 Seconds to Live" ad campaign.

Huge negative points for Kobe case for me. Lightning winning was fun but the lockout that followed killed a lot of excitement.

Oh, and there was that whole ALCS thing, too, which was the climax of a really fun year of baseball. The Hot Stove insanity with A-Rod, Unit's perfect game, "we don't throw at .260 hitters," and some really good wild card series, too.

I can admit this is a huge win for 2004. But if the Cubs make a run this year that could matchup.

All in all I'm going to call 2008 > 2004 right now.

[salmonjunkie]

2008 has been a damn good year for sports, and it makes me really sad that I've only been able to follow this years' sports with Sportscenter, clips from ESPN.com and the newspaper. The only thing I saw live (on TV) this year was the Super Bowl and maybe half of 2 of the NBA finals games.

You know one thing I DID get to see live on TV. The Euro Cup. On a network station, no less. Just that alone is cool, as I never thought I'd ever see a championship soccer game that was not World Cup on network television.

The rise of MMA is another good thing about 2008, although I suppose you could put that in 2007, too, although it's not really a sporting moment, persay.

Only black eye so far are the Sonics leaving Seattle and stupid Brett Favre not leaving us fans alone.

[Outback Frito Pendejo]

1986 (I know, but at least some of you were alive then) had its high points.

The MLB post-season obviously ended disappointingly for me, but the playoffs and WS had lots of great moments.

The Celtics capped one of the most dominating seasons ever by winning the title. (Minus points for Len Bias OD'ing.)

Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champ in history, while Marvelous Marvin Hagler was still marvelous.

Lemond wins Tour de France, for those who care.

Bears 46, Patriots 10 wasn't as close as the score would make it seem, but Refrigerator Perry got his 15 minutes of fame out of it.

Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at 46 and Ray Floyd the US Open at 44 ('86 was dubbed the year of the older athlete).

Gretzky won his 6th Ross trophy with 215 points.

Navritolova won Wimbledon at 40.

Bobby Rahal broke 3 hours at the Indy 500.

[The Canadian Content]

Jul 16, 2008 12:23:49 GMT -5 Outback Frito Pendejo said:

Gretzky won his 6th Ross trophy with 215 points.

This might just be the greatest single season that anyone has ever had in any sport.

Jul 16, 2008 12:23:49 GMT -5 Outback Frito Pendejo said:

Bobby Rahal broke 3 hours at the Indy 500.

When interviewd after the race, Rahal was quoted as saying, "I really had to pee."

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Jul 16, 2008 12:32:13 GMT -5 The Canadian Content said:

When interviewd after the race, Rahal was quoted as saying, "I really had to pee."

I believe he said he had to go pee[/JFK]

[The Jewish Cunthead]

I was thinking '86 but I'm glad OBJ mentioned it first since I didn't want come off as a typical Mets honk... that being said, 2008 will trump any other year if the Cubs win the WS.

[Habs]

1986 seems like a pretty good year, but what might help 2008 is the fact that we will have summer Olympics... Always some good stories during the Olympics. Although 1986 was a wolrd cup year and Maradona (probably coked out of his mind) won the MVP.

[BFG]

The Stanley Cup playoffs this year, were pretty sweet. Add in Russia/Canada in the gold medal game @ the Worlds, & it has been a good year for hockey.

[Habs]

Yea, but remember BFG, Montreal won the cup in 1986 with a rookie goaltender named Roy.

[Pun]

Cole, please tell me you left off the second greatest sports upset ever (after the Miracle on Ice) because it happened in 2007, even though it was part of the 2007-2008 NCAA Football season.

[Outback Frito Pendejo]

Jul 16, 2008 16:38:56 GMT -5 Habs said:

Yea, but remember BFG, Montreal won the cup in 1986 with a rookie goaltender named Roy.

I took the high road with giving props to the Mets and the Bears, but I must admit I repressed memories of the "Ru-ahhh!" chants by Les Habitants (which I think is French for The Homos)

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Jul 16, 2008 22:11:06 GMT -5 Outback Frito Pendejo said:

Les Habitants (which I think is French for The Homos)

*BELCH* - That's Australian for EXALT.

[Habs]

Jul 16, 2008 22:11:06 GMT -5 Outback Frito Pendejo said:

Jul 16, 2008 16:38:56 GMT -5 Habs said:

Yea, but remember BFG, Montreal won the cup in 1986 with a rookie goaltender named Roy.

I took the high road with giving props to the Mets and the Bears, but I must admit I repressed memories of the "Ru-ahhh!" chants by Les Habitants (which I think is French for The Homos)

Although you did make me smile, I have to pretend to be offended (being a french-canadian from Montreal). You know, we have been called many things in our lives... Frogs, pea-soup, frenchie... but the way I see it, it's simply because you're jealous because we have the nicest looking girls in North America (I was about the say the world, but Spanish girls are hot!)

Now calling Les Habitants homos, does that make you a Leaf fan (it's a typical Leaf insult)? In that case I guess you also think that 1967 is the greatest year of al time.

[Outback Frito Pendejo]

Back in the days of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito I was a huge Bruins fan. I still like the sport, but the ownership/management has sucked for so long I'm very lukewarm about the B's. Back in the 70's, though, the rivalry with Montreal was important, and the Canadiens were a Yankees-like dynasty who the Bruins could finally match up with thanks to #4.

[National Champion Chris Cole]

Jul 16, 2008 16:46:28 GMT -5 Pun said:

Cole, please tell me you left off the second greatest sports upset ever (after the Miracle on Ice) because it happened in 2007, even though it was part of the 2007-2008 NCAA Football season.

If you refer to App State then I clearly left it off because it was 2007. I'm talking about calender year. I would include Bowl Games on or after Jan 1st but nothing else.

[Habs]

Jul 17, 2008 13:34:06 GMT -5 Outback Frito Pendejo said:

Back in the days of Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito I was a huge Bruins fan. I still like the sport, but the ownership/management has sucked for so long I'm very lukewarm about the B's. Back in the 70's, though, the rivalry with Montreal was important, and the Canadiens were a Yankees-like dynasty who the Bruins could finally match up with thanks to #4.

The rivalry lives on... Montreal-Boston games are usally very good. Also in the late 80, early to mid 90, with Bourque and Nelly, the Bruins often had the better of the Habs. And talking about a Yankees like dynasty, we use to say in Montreal that the Cup belonged to us, we just lent it to the other teams once in a while.

[Tommy]

Fuck the Bruins. Fuck Les Homotants. Go Whale!