Favorite Sports Plays

Nate’s 9: Favorite Plays in Sports

            I did this little piece about 13 years ago, and most things haven’t changed.  I still love just about everything that has to do with sports whether it is the slam dunk, a 40 yard touchdown strike, a home run, or a goal from distance.  Here are the nine that really get my juices flowing...

#9 – A Turkey in bowling. A strike can also be exciting too, but I feel like sometimes we just luck into those.  A pin can wobble for a while, you can get the reverse domino effect, etc.  But to get three in a row... you really have to have a little bit of quality to get them to fall on three consecutive shots. And I love the look on my opponent’s face when they realize that the game might be all but lost at that point.

#8 – Home run. We all love power.  I think it may even be preferred to speed at least in the context of baseball.  A stolen base only gets you 90 feet closer to home.  A home run brings you and all of your friends back home.  It’s especially exciting when it travels six inches over the wall, or when it’s blasted 470 feet into the upper decks.  Either way, one of the most exciting plays in sports.

#7 – Overtime goal in hockey.  I might be one of the few people that like the idea of 4v4 hockey in overtime, just because there is more flow to the game and you get to see some wide open hockey.  It’s even more fun to watch those events when you see a goal that decides the game and gives one of the teams an extra point.  And don’t even get me started on a goal scored in a playoff overtime game...

#6 – 3 pointer to tie.  I love when a team is down by double digits in basketball with about five, six minutes left in the game.  Then you see all the starters come back in and think, “Oh crap, here we go”.  They slowly dwindle the lead down to single digits, then two possessions and finally down by three without about a minute left.  Ball gets passed around the perimeter until the three point specialist become wide open and...

#5 – Two feet in.  It can be anywhere on the football field. One of my favorite plays is when the receiver is able to catch a ball and just drag their feet ever so meticulously on the green right before they go out of bounds.  Especially when it goes for a first down and the defender did everything in their power to make a great play on the ball.  Backbreaking stuff!

#4 – The thunder strike.  All soccer fans know what I mean when I say thunder strike.  It’s that shot from about 30-40 yards outside the box that just catches the foot delightfully and redirects toward the roof of the net giving the goal keeper no chance to even get close to the ball.  Michael Essien is a pro at these.  It swerves around defenders, curls past teammates and then lambastes itself into the top right corner. 

#3 – Nuts on your chin (excuse the terminology).  Michael Jordan. Vince Carter. Dwayne Wade.  Kobe Bryant.  Shawn Kemp. Dominique Wilkins. Dr. Julius Erving.  Just a few of the top notch slam dunkers that have had their private regions land on the faces of a few unfortunate souls.  It’s probably one of the few great plays in sports that I have to turn away from.  Because even I get embarrassed for the players that just got more embarrassed than they’ll ever know.

#2 – Hole in one.  I think I’ve only seen 2 live on television in my life.  I tend to really only watch the four major events in men’s professional golf, so the opportunities to see one of the most random plays in sports are rather rare.  But it’s one of those – I remember where I was when this happened moments – and they are hard to come by.  Game 7 home runs.  David Tyree catches (catch). Robert Horry shots for the win.  This is one of the few athletic feats that can be done by you or me and at any given time.  Still, there’s almost nothing that’s more exciting. 

#1 – The 100 yard pick-6. I love them.  I can’t get enough of these to be honest with you.  One of my favorite things about sports is the loss/gain of momentum that can change a team/player’s season.  Derek Fisher hitting that three with 0.4 seconds on the clock to beat the Spurs in the playoffs. Zidane’s goal in the Champions League final.  The Twins fifteen game win streak in 1991 that jump started their World Series run.  Sometimes it takes a play, sometimes it takes a week.  But you know when you see the momentum shift.  And nothing gets me more excited about momentum shifts than when someone returns a pick six the entire length of the field in a monumental moment.  Right, James Harrison?