This year featured a treasure trove of amazing moments from all around the world of sports; WTOP's Noah Frank counts them down, with videos and pictures.
This year included a treasure trove of amazing moments from all around the world of sports. Football had a particularly strong year, with crazy endings helping a trio of both pro and college games into our list. But there were plenty more from the other big four and beyond. Flip through and let us know what you think. Did we miss one? Let us know in the comments.
(AP/Getty)
AP/Getty
15. Rodgers-to-Rodgers Hail Mary
The most recent event on the list, Aaron Rodgers’ game-winning touchdown pass to fellow California Golden Bear Richard Rodgers Dec. 3 is still fresh in our minds. Trailing by 2 as time wound down, Green Bay benefited from a questionable facemask penalty that earned the Pack an untimed down and 15 more yards of field position — just enough to get close enough to attempt a Hail Mary. The first Rodgers got enough air under the ball to allow the second Rodgers to duck underneath the swarm of players waiting in the end zone and pluck the ball out of the air for the game-winning score.
Watch the highlight
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File
14. Jose Bautista’s series clinching home run and bat flip
The Toronto Blue Jays’ playoff run was nearly over before it started, falling into a 2-0 hole at home in their best-of-five series with the Texas Rangers. But they fought back with a pair of road victories and pulled level at home in front of a raucous Game 5 crowd, waiting to explode, as the team looked for its first playoff series win in 22 years. Jose Bautista provided the trigger, a mammoth, go-ahead, three-run home run and the bat flip heard ’round the world to boot.
https://vine.co/v/eEdvmvFOj5A
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
13. Miami, ACC refs beat Duke
This one might be higher if it weren’t for a clearly terrible missed call that allowed it to happen in the first place. Trailing Duke by three points in the final seconds of an already poorly officiated game, Miami pulled its best “band is on the field” impression. Eight laterals, a likely knee down, an almost certain block in the back or three, and a 90 some-odd yard final mad dash later, Miami found the end zone for the game-winning score. The officials dropped a flag, only to pick it back up and leave the touchdown intact.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
12. American Pharoah wins first Triple Crown since 1978
Thankfully, Sports Illustrated did not cave to the whims of #HorseTwitter this week and crown American Pharoah the Sportsman of the Year. But a Triple Crown victory deserves a spot on this list. After watching Kentucky Derby-winning horses fade year after year in the final lengths of the longer Belmont Stakes, American Pharoah left no doubt, leading wire-to-wire to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
11. Daniel Murphy curses, ruins the Cubs
As we discovered during the MLB Postseason, perhaps the Chicago Cubs’ curse of the billy goat is actually, in fact, the curse of Murphy. Even after the Cubs dispatched their longtime rival Cardinals, they were no match for the one-man wrecking crew that Murphy brought to Wrigley Field. After hitting just 14 home runs all year, Murphy blasted six in a four-game sweep to lift the Mets to their first World Series in 15 years.
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
10. Ravens block field goal, return it for a game-winning touchdown
It is telling just how crazy a year it has been in football that this absurd ending barely cracks the Top 10. A frantic finish between two bad teams set up the Browns for a potential game-winning, 51-yard field goal with 3 seconds to play in a 27-27 game. But rookie Travis Coons’ attempt was blocked and the ball spun to the near sideline, where Will Hill picked it up and returned it 64 yards down the sideline, all the way to victory and to a permanent, never-to-be-spoken-of crevasse deep in Cleveland’s heart.
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(Getty Images/Jason Miller)
Getty Images/Jason Miller
9. Georgia Tech blocks field goal, returns for game-winning touchdown
Why does this potentially game-winning blocked field goal returned for a game-winning touchdown beat the one just listed? Because the kicker, Robert Aguayo, is perhaps the most sure-footed in college football. Because Florida State has a history of losing games that come down to their kicker. Because the play-by-play man’s voice cracks mid-call. Because Paul Johnson says so.
https://vine.co/v/eV2UphJlz95
(Getty Images/Jason Miller)
8. Golden State opens season with record-breaking streak
After spending the offseason defending criticism that their dominance last year was somehow not legitimate, the Golden State Warriors took the first two months of the season and ran a Harlem Globetrotter-esque exhibition around the league, making each new opponent into the Washington Generals. Even a 23-point road deficit to their most bitter rival was not too much to overcome, as they reeled off 24 straight wins to open the year, the longest such streak in any major American professional sport. And they did it on the back of some of the most inspired play the league has ever seen from Steph Curry.
(Getty Images/Jason Miller)
7. Holly Holm knocks out Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey transcended her sport over the past couple of years, taking on an aura of invincibility. She was literally unbeaten, usually taking less than a minute to dispose of her opponents. And while Holly Holm had not been beaten in UFC either, the assumption was that this fight was merely another stop along Rousey’s rise to greatness. But she was beaten throughout the fight and bloodied before the coup de grace, a roundhouse to the neck that shattered the legend.
(Getty Images/Jason Miller)
6. Kansas City’s late ALDS comeback in Houston
It can be easy to forget that the Kansas City Royals’ playoff hopes were all but extinguished by the upstart Houston Astros in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. Leading 6-2 with just six outs to go, Houston was in complete command, until it all came unraveled. The Royals dinked and dunked their way with singles and miscues to a five-run frame and never looked back, all the way to a World Series title.
(Getty Images/Jason Miller)
5. Wisconsin ends Kentucky’s perfect season
Kentucky was supposed to be the super team that finally ran the table from wire-to-wire, taking down every opponent in their way en route to a perfect season and a national championship, the first such run since Indiana in 1976. But Wisconsin came to play. Led by now-NBA players Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, the Badgers led much of the way in a hotly contested affair and put the game away late. It was almost an afterthought that the Badgers failed to win the national title two days later.
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(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
4. Serena’s almost-slam
Serena Williams’ return to utter dominance this year was something to behold. She was women’s tennis’ singular star throughout. She won each of the year’s first three major championships and finished the year an astounding 53-3. But her shot at the calendar-year Grand Slam came to an end in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport, as she was beaten by Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals, after which Vinci gave one of the most authentic, endearing press conferences of all time.
https://youtu.be/f_haB1NHIC0?t=16m57s
(AP/Charles Krupa)
AP/Charles Krupa
3. Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl-sealing interception
Why didn’t the Seahawks run the ball? It’s the question that continues to haunt Seattle, who needed just one yard to win their second straight Super Bowl. Instead of handing the ball to star running back Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson tried to squeeze a slant pass into a tight window in the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX. New England Patriots rookie safety Malcolm Butler anticipated the play and broke on the ball, wedging himself in the way and ripping the ball away from Ricardo Lockette to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat.
(AP/Charles Krupa)
2. Carly Lloyd’s World Cup Final
This was the single most transcendent performance by one athlete, on the biggest stage, that we’ve seen in quite a while. After surviving the semifinal round against Germany, the United States women left no doubt in the World Cup Final, thanks to an unbelievable game from Lloyd.
Scoring twice in the first five minutes, Lloyd set the tone early, then watched Lauren Holiday put the U.S. up 3-0 just 14 minutes in. But no sooner had the team celebrated its three-goal advantage than Lloyd took one of the most audacious, absurd goals ever attempted on such a stage, finding the keeper off her line and launching a perfectly placed rainbow from a half-step over the midfield line off an outstretched hand and into the back of the net.
(AP/Charles Krupa)
1. Michigan State blocked punt return touchdown stuns Michigan
There are so many factors that combine to make this the top sports moment of the year. It came on the road, from the little brother in a rivalry game, one that Michigan simply needed to run 10 more seconds off the clock to win. It decided the Big Ten pecking order and, as a result, the College Football Playoff.
And it gave us our greatest sports fan moment of the year, one that brings our list full circle. Remember the Hail Mary that started this countdown and stunned Lions fans? Yep. That’s the same fan, gripping his head with the same disbelief as he ends up on the wrong end of another stunner. Better luck in 2016.
