The Super Bowl blackout; Big Papi's Grand Slam; Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup; Ray Allen saves NBA championship; Auburn shocks Alabama
If it can't be reduced to a meme, tweet, GIF, YouTube clip, blogpost or listicle item it might as well not have happened in 2013. It's no surprise then that so many of the biggest stories in US sports this year revolved around a single play or event, clips that could easily be shared, liked, favorited, retweeted and reblogged. Here is one writer's take on the biggest moments of the year: Feel free to nominate your own candidates in the comments section below.
5. The Super Bowl Blackout
The Super Bowl is the biggest television event in America, which means that it's also the most pre-planned event of the year, something theoretically immune to the unexpected. So it was almost unbelievable when, just minutes into the second half of Super Bowl XLVII the game was delayed for more than 30 minutes for something as mundane as an electrical failure.
When the game finally resumed, the 49ers, down 28-6 when the lights went out, mounted an impressive near-comeback, which only ended when the Baltimore Ravens held on to a 34-31 lead by making a fourth-down stop to prevent San Francisco from scoring a game-winning touchdown. This was evidence enough to get Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis to later float out the conspiracy theory that the NFL plotted the blackout in order to encourage a San Francisco comeback and thus ensure a closer game. Maybe it was easier for Lewis to believe that than the perhaps more unsettling truth that not even an event as well-coordinated as the Super Bowl could escape Murphy's Law.
4. David Ortiz grand slam
The Detroit Tigers had already won game one of the American League Championship Series, and had a 5-1 lead over the Boston Red Sox in the eighth inning of game two. The Red Sox were in danger of heading to Detroit down 0-2. But with Game two starter Max Scherzer out of the game, the Boston bats finally came alive as three Tigers relievers combined to load the bases for Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz. With one swing of the bat, Ortiz changed the entire complexion of the MLB playoffs, hitting a flyball that went over the wall of the Boston bullpen, out of the range of a diving Torii Hunter, for a game-tying grand slam. The Red Sox would complete the comeback in the 9th inning to win the game 6-5.
While it's not a guarantee that the Tigers would have won the ALCS had they started Game Three at home leading 2-0 rather than tied 1-1, Ortiz's grand slam altered the entire feel of a series which began with the Red Sox looking utterly overmatched by the Detroit Tigers pitchers. Boston went on to defeat Detroit in six games, winning the American League pennant and advancing to the World Series to take on the St Louis Cardinals. While the 2013 World Series provided memorable – or at the very least, ridiculous – moments of its own (the Cardinals won game two on a controversial obstruction call and the Red Sox won game three on a walk-off pick-off) but those moments would never have happened if not for Papi's slam.
3. Chicago Blackhawks' 17 seconds to Stanley Cup
Some Boston sports fans could feel sympathy for Tigers fans, as they knew first-hand how shocking it is when a surefire win somehow turns into a tied game situation, and then, even quicker, becomes a season-killing loss. In Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Boston Bruins held a 2-1 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks with 77 seconds remaining in regulation and looked poised to force a Game Seven in Chicago. Then Jonathan Toews stunned the Boston crowd by pushing the puck past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, tying the game up at 2-2 with little more than a minute left.
While Boston began mentally preparing itself for the inevitability of having to win in overtime, Chicago, perhaps already exhausted by memories of their triple overtime win over Boston earlier in the series, made those preparations unnecessary. Just 17 seconds after the Blackhawks tied the game, Dave Bolland stunned the crowd with a goal to put Chicago ahead 3-2. There would be no Game Seven. There would not even be any overtime. In 17 seconds, the Chicago Blackhawks had won the Stanley Cup.
2. Ray Allen saves the Heat's season
The San Antonio Spurs, leading the Miami Heat 94-86 and the series 3-2, were 30 seconds away from clinching the NBA championship. Miami fans were exiting American Airlines Arena, the yellow rope was already up, and b'ball fans thought they were about to witness the San Antonio Spurs win their fifth NBA Championship by knocking out a Miami Heat team that was almost unbeatable during the regular season.
Except Ray Allen was having none of it.
The Heat, aided by a missed free throw from San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard, managed to cut the Spurs lead down to three points with 19 seconds to go, giving them a chance to force overtime on their last possession. LeBron James's attempt at a three-pointer didn't go in, but Chris Bosh was able to grab the rebound and pass it to the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history, Ray Allen. Allen hit his three-pointer that tied the game 95-95. The game improbably was headed to overtime, much to the chagrin of desperate Heat fans who, realizing they had missed history in their attempt to beat traffic, tried in vain to get back into the arena. Had they stayed they would have seen their team just barely get by the stunned Spurs and win the game 103-100. In the now necessary Game Seven, Miami went on to defeat San Antonio 95-88 giving them back-to-back championships. (All of this was a tough break for San Antonio's Tony Parker, who otherwise would have made this list for his crazy shot-clock-draining game winner in Game One.)
1. Auburn shocks Alabama in the Iron Bowl
Without question, 2013 was the biggest year in unrestrained hyperbole in the entire history of the known universe. Still, on this one occasion when writers and broadcasters and college sports fanatics were talking about witnessing one of the greatest endings they had ever seen in sports, period, they may not have been overselling the end to the 2013 Iron Bowl, the rivalry game between the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn University Tigers.
With the score tied at 28-28, Alabama, who had possession of the ball, fought with officials to convince them that they had one second remaining in regulation. Rather than going for a Hail Mary pass, Alabama head coach Nick Saban decided to go for a 57-yard field goal. Freshman kicker Cade Foster missed the attempt which fell into the arms of Auburn's Chris Davis who returned it from 109 yards for the game winning touchdown. Auburn had defeated Alabama, somehow, 34-28.
It was a memorable ending, one certainly that will be remembered alongside historic images of college football past like Doug Flutie's Hail Mary or "the band is on the field!". It also counted in the big picture, as Alabama came in undefeated as the number one ranked team in the country, while 4th ranked Auburn was 10-1, and the return effectively ended Alabama's chances of winning a third straight national title. Instead second-ranked Auburn will go on to face first-ranked Florida State in the 2014 BCS National Championship Game. Given its context, this might be one of the few ends to any sporting event that may have even bettered its pre-internet predecessors and, heck, if anyone wants to debate that, well that's as good an excuse to go and watch it again. And again. And again.
US sports
Super Bowl XLVII
NFL
MLB
World Series
NHL
NBA
NBA finals
Stanley Cup
College football
Baltimore Ravens
San Francisco 49ers
Boston Red Sox
Detroit Tigers
Boston Bruins
Chicago Blackhawks
Miami Heat
San Antonio Spurs
Hunter Felt
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