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Monday, February 25, 2008
Greatest Georgia sports highlights ever
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
ESPN has its countdown for the greatest sports highlight of all-time. It’s such a wonderful idea, why don’t we just tweak it a bit?
Let’s spend the rest of this column giving our countdown to the greatest highlight ever regarding a sports moment involving the state of Georgia.
The choices are many.
There were those other splendid times for the University of Georgia, ranging from Herschel Walker running over Bill Bates to the duo of David Greene to Verron Hayes crushing Tennessee’s face after breaking its nose with a “hobnail boot.”
You had Morten Andersen completing the Dirty Birds’ journey from nowhere to the Super Bowl with that field goal in overtime on the road against supposedly invincible Minnesota.
You had Spud Webb forgetting he was maybe 5-foot-7 to twist, soar and gyrate better than the likes of Dominique Wilkins for an NBA Slam Dunk title.
You had David Justice’s homer, and you had Tom Glavine’s one-hitter for eight innings to secure the Braves’ only world championship during their brilliant run of the 1990s.
For Georgia Tech, you had James Forrest nailing his game-winning shot at the buzzer from the ozone during March Madness.
Those were all electric moments, but none surpassed the top five.
No. 5: Hank Aaron’s 715
It was history. It’s still history. After all, even though the artificially enhanced Barry Bonds now has more home runs than Aaron’s final number of 755, Aaron remains the legitimate slugging champion as someone who used adrenaline more than steroids.
Which brings us back to 715, still a magic number. It snapped Babe Ruth’s lengthy record of 714 home runs, and it occurred at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium with the whole world watching. Not only that, here we are 34 years later, and they’re still replaying Aaron’s easy swing that sent baseball history into Chief Noc-A-Homa territory.
No. 4: Run, Lindsay, Run
So what was more famous — Georgia’s play for the ages against Florida or Larry Munson’s call? It’s a tie.
With the Bulldogs trailing inside the final minute and sitting deep in their own territory, Buck Belue found a streaking Lindsay Scott, who caught the ball around Georgia’s 25-yard line. Scott became a blur to Florida defenders. While Scott kept running and running, Munson kept imploring Scott to run some more.
On D Soon, the Bulldogs were running all the way to an undefeated season and the 1980 national championship.
No. 3: It’s Atlanta
Prior to Sept. 18, 1990, this mostly was Losersville, USA. The Falcons were heading to their ninth straight losing season in a non-strike year, and the Braves were heading to their seventh straight losing season, period, and the Hawks were the best pro team in town, only because they weren’t bad. They were just mediocre.
Then, just like that, three years after Billy Payne had some crazy idea about bringing the Olympics to Atlanta, the head of such things was standing before the universe to say: “The International Olympic Committee has awarded the 1996 Olympic Games to the city of … Atlanta.”
No. 2: Vick did what?
I was there, and I still can’t believe what I think I saw in the Metrodome. We’re talking about that game in Minnesota six years ago, when Michael Vick did more for the Falcons than rush for 173 yards on 10 carries. He produced a highlight for the ages.
In overtime, Vick dropped back to pass, scrambled to his left and shifted into three, five, nine extra gears to weave 46 yards through the entire Minnesota defense for the game-winning touchdown.
He broke tackles and defied gravity along the way. At least that’s what I think I saw.
No. 1: Bream did what?
I was there, and I still can’t believe what I think I saw at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium.
You remember. The Braves trailed the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Braves cut their deficit to one with two outs. David Justice was at third and the extremely slow Sid Bream was at second.
Francisco Cabrera slapped a single to left that scored Justice, and there was Bream charging around third in slow motion. Even so, his slide beat Barry Bonds’ throw at home plate to an explosion of noise. It was the loudest I’ve ever heard any baseball stadium. They wouldn’t quit cheering and stomping.
They still haven’t quit.
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