Best sports stuff of the 00's

[Sport]

worst moment:

Miami getting called for the worst pass interference call to send the Natl Champ Game into overtime.

And then Ohio State winning

You realize there was both a holding call and pass interference call available, the refs just decided to call pass interference. Either way it would have resulted in an Ohio State first down. BTW you're not allowed to hold a receivers facemask while the ball is still live.

To believe that Miami got screwed in that game then you have to ignore several just as questionable calls that went against Ohio State in regulation. Dustin Fox blatantly being held keeping him from making a key interception in the 4th quarter. No call. Chris Gamble was clearly inbounds on a reception in the 4th quarter that would've given the Buckeyes a key first down with just over 2 minutes remaining. Ruled, out of bounds. It only got to overtime because of poor officiating in Miami's favor. People also conveniently forget that OSU converted a 4th and 14 three plays before that. Miami had their chances.

[infrared41]

worst moment:

Miami getting called for the worst pass interference call to send the Natl Champ Game into overtime.

And then Ohio State winning

You realize there was both a holding call and pass interference call available, the refs just decided to call pass interference. Either way it would have resulted in an Ohio State first down. BTW you're not allowed to hold a receivers facemask while the ball is still live.

To believe that Miami got screwed in that game then you have to ignore several just as questionable calls that went against Ohio State in regulation. Dustin Fox blatantly being held keeping him from making a key interception in the 4th quarter. No call. Chris Gamble was clearly inbounds on a reception in the 4th quarter that would've given the Buckeyes a key first down with just over 2 minutes remaining. Ruled, out of bounds. It only got to overtime because of poor officiating in Miami's favor. People also conveniently forget that OSU converted a 4th and 14 three plays before that. Miami had their chances.

Here's the thing about that game; Miami was a HUGE favorite. It was just a matter of pounding The Buckeyes for 60 minutes and then picking up the trophy for Miami. My argument has always been that if Miami was so -ing good then why was it ever that close in the first place? Miami didn't get screwed. They got beat. A great team doesn't lose because of one call that goes against them. If anyone screwed Miami it was Miami themselves. They were probably over confident.

I have always believed that what kept The Buckeyes in that game was the fact that up to that point in the season no one had come out and just busted Miami in the mouth for a few plays. Ohio State wasn't as talented as The Canes were. I won't even argue that. The one thing Ohio State had going for them is that they were not intimidated. I don't think Miami knew how to handle a team that wasn't afraid of them.

Good call? Bad call? Who cares? Scoreboard bitches!

[illwauk]

This probably won't mean much to more than a handful of people here, but my favorite 00's sports moment is BY FAR the Milwaukee Panthers defeating Alabama, then Boston College en route to the Sweet 16 in 2005. Unlike most Milwaukee students who can't name a single player from before they began attending the school, I'd been following the Panthers since the days of Marc Mitchell, a local hoops legend whom I would later follow down the same Washington H.S. to UWM pipeline (as a student, not a hooper). There's no doubt in my mind that we could've MASSACRED Marquette that year had they not punked out and dodged us until Bruce Pearl left and all of his recruits graduated. Even so, it still felt good to for once not be "that OTHER Milwaukee" school or "that OTHER Wisconsin school" (UW).

[OnWis97]

Homer moments:

• Wisconsin wins 2006 NCAA Hockey National Title
  
• Wisconsin makes improbable run to 2000 Final Four (bonus: they ride the three pointers of Region MVP Jon Bryant, from my high school)
  
• Twins make 2002 postseason. They're all nice, but to see them there after 11 years was just great.
  
• Twins win game 163 to make 2009 postseason. That's a highly ranked game, homer or not.
  
• T-Wolves relevant for one year, 2004.
  
• Wild improbable playoff run of 2003.
  
• Wisconsin wins Rose Bowl (first day of 2000s)
  

Others:

• The incredible 2001 World Series
  
• The 2009 Super Bowl
  
• Boise State / Oklahoma. The most exciting meaningless bowl game ever.
  
• Ohio State beats Miami (and as addressed above, that game only made OT because of bad calls)
  
• Texas/USC
  

[Red Wolf]

I'll try to avoid stuff that's been mentioned.

Great homer moments for me were the back-to-back miracle victories for Arkansas State over Memphis in football with a hail mary in 2006 and coming back from a 31-3 deficit to win 35-31 the following season.

The Hail Mary (Made all the better by our amazing announcing team):

Another great homer moment was during Arkansas State's final football game as Indians where we won on a last-minute pass after being down big at the half. I was one of those idiots at the game without a shirt and it was cold (by Arkansas standards) and the pain from the cold suddenly went away the moment we scored.

Arkansas State winning at Texas A&M last year was another great moment. Winning that game made it look like Arkansas State was finally on its way to being a respectable program. We finished the season 6-6 with a dreadful performance at Troy with a New Orleans Bowl berth on the line followed by a 4-8 campaign this season.

Despite being the most penalized team in the nation and getting blown out by Army and Middle Tennessee and participating in a 3-0 overtime victory (first ever game to go to OT 0-0) against FAU, Arkansas State wins a share of the Sun Belt and getting the New Orleans Bowl berth (held in Lafayette due to Katrina) to go to our first D-1A bowl game. We lost, and though it wasn't played in New Orleans, the entire experience was a lot of fun.

Okay, no more homer moments.

2004 Liberty Bowl between 11-0 Boise State and 10-1 Louisville. Boise State replaced Utah who was BCS busting and Louisville was playing in its final season of Conference USA play. The game was tons of fun to watch. A classic shootout with the Cards coming out on top.

Rutgers beating Louisville in Jersey by coming back from a 25-7 deficit winning 25-28 and seeing the students rush the field. Thought this was the moment Rutgers truly went big time but, well, yeah.

2008 Red River Shootout with Texas winning a great game

2008 Texas vs. Texas Tech. Great game. The way the Red Raiders came out dominating the Horns, then Texas' amazing comeback only to be topped by Crabtree's touchdown with almost no time left. Just amazing.

2007 Auburn vs. LSU. Les Miles' batty coaching manages to give LSU the win with no time left.

Three straight years of a 163rd game for MLB teams and they were all great games.

Jamal Lewis saying he would break the single-game rushing record against the Browns and then doing it

Adrian Peterson later breaking that record

New York Giants beating the Pack in the NFC Championship. Awesome game

[CDixonDesign]

My favorite moment was seeing the Sox win the Series in 04. It has a great story, and worth a laugh to read: A friend and I went to Hooters to see the game, it was great, there were actually a few Sox fans in the place, considering it was in Charlotte. We ate, had drinks, had an awesome time laughing and watching the game, the 8th inning came and went, top of the 9th went by, and then the Bottom of the Ninth came. The first out came by, then the second out. Everybody was going nuts, Renteria comes up to bat, Faulk throws the first pitch, and BOOM! Power Outage! Pitch black....Hooters....biggest Sox Moment of the past century....and I missed it. A guy called his buddy and we heard the end of the game by his commentary via a cell phone. On the way home, I heard a tractor trailer hit a telephone poll a few miles down the road, killing the power to the entire Boulevard.

On top of that, my buddy was so drunk and excited, he left the waitress a 100$ tip....

Great memories, great memories....