Among the best must be Shun Fujimoto for nailing the rings with a broken leg in the 1976 Olympics.
It's an interesting concept, but Stein ruined it for me with this. I don't want to give it all away, but we think Uday Hussein is getting an at large bid for torturing his soccer players ... by making them watch soccer, I think. Oh boy, here come the letters from the soccer fans ... If you know anything about what Uday Hussein did, and clearly Stein does, I don't see how you can see that snippy, gratuitous little swipe at soccer as anything but an utterly dickheaded thing to say. "Oh, that sport that I don't watch or know anything about is booooooring" is stupid and annoying as a comedy line under the most neutral of situations (along the lines saying of, "And how about that inflation? Prices just keep going up and up and up!" and expecting a laugh). When used to refer to a situation where players were tortured for failing to play the game they loved to the expectations of a sadistic madman, to tack on a remark that suggests that the game is stupid and boring and unworthy of playing anyway is adding a lot of insult to a horrible injury. Stein should be ashamed of himself. Still, it's a cool concept (and yeah, Uday Hussein would be in the evil bracket, all right). In the good bracket, I'd put the incident at the Torino Olympics when the Norwegian coach gave a pole to Sara Renner of Canada, whose pole broke in the opening sprint of the sprint relay. The Canadians went on to win the silver, knocking the Norwegians back to fourth and out of the medals.
On the evil list: The New England Patriots bringing work-release prisoner Mark Henderson onto the field at Foxboro Stadium with his snow plow to clear a spot for John Smith to kick a game-winning field goal that got the Pats into the playoffs with a 3 - 0 win over the Miami Dolphins. Flat out cheating, and all it got 'em was a rematch with the Phins one week later in the Orange Bowl, where the Pats got thumped 28 - 13. On the good list: In 1979, after an especially tough game, Mean Joe Greene, Hall of Fame defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was making his way back to the locker room, in obvious pain, when a small child offered him a Coke. Greene accepted the refreshing beverage, then, as a way of saying "Thanks," gave the tyke his jersey. Truly a great moment in American sports history.
Well i'm not sure about all my picks, but one of my evil #1 seeds would be when the Wildcard Colts beat my #1 seeded Chiefs 10-7. We missed THREE FIELDGOALS THAT game. It was bitter cold as well. Thanks Lin Elliot, for ruining my 6th grade Christmas present.
work-release prisoner That factoid seems truly irrelevant.
Well, to you Patriot fans, sure. And/or, you ex-cons, as the case may be.
Willie Horton, tum te tum tum, Willie Horton... Please show me the extent of my denseness and homerism, TBH. What does it matter if the field was cleared by a work-release prisoner with a snow plow, your dear old dad with the family snowblower, or a pack of well-trained St. Bernards?
He also stole Don Shula's wallet. True story.
I grew up in Florida. Dear old Dad never had a snowblower. He did manage an occasional sense of humor, though.
He did manage an occasional sense of humor, though. Yeah, he studied at the knee of that great comedian, George H. W. Bush. Heh heh heh. BTW, I love watching the Dolphins play in the snow.
Worst moment in Sports history? Hard to argue with the Munich Olympics in '72. Other notables would be some of the crushings at soccer stadiums. Best moment in Sports history? No chance there's a consensus here. But I like lbb's suggestion of the Norwegian ski coach. Such a small gesture - truly a groovy moment. There are bigger stories, but maybe none nicer.
Truly a great moment in American sports history. TBH, my "tongue-in-cheek" detector just went off big time. Maybe this was a great moment in TV commercial history? BTW, I love watching the Dolphins play in the snow. Myotis lucifugus, Miami Dolphins playing in the snow is an oxymoron.
I'm not sure I understand Stein's criteria. Then again, I don't believe he understands them either. I don't see how sportsmanship played into 80% of the events he references. I would say Lutz Long's advice to Jesse Owens at the '36 Olympics, or Pee Wee Reese putting his arm around Jackie Robinson would be the top 2 that leap to mind. The Tanya Harding episode, Woody Hayes' punch, and any of a host of cheap shots in any of the major sports that resulted in serious (or potentially serious) injury, many of which have been mentioned above. I don't think anyone has mentioned Latrell Sprewell yet -- I'd go with that one, too.
Myotis lucifugus, Miami Dolphins playing in the snow is an oxymoron. Well, they were doing something in the snow. I'll leave it at that. I'll add an obscure one to "good" -- Bode Miller hiking to finish the slalom at the '02 Olympics. He slid past a gate and, with absolutely no hope of a medal, hiked back up and finished the run. I was watching the race on the television in a ski-town bar, and there was a groan of disappointment as he skied out...and then everyone in the room started cheering like mad as he scrambled back to the missed gate. We knew the victory was out of his reach, but it didn't matter. A lot of us in that bar had raced without any realistic chances of winning or even doing well, and had wondered, "Why do I do this when I'm not going to win?" Bode answered that question in that race. There is no defense in ski racing or in sports like it; you can have the race of your life, and still go home without a medal because somebody else had a better day. The only thing you're sure of going home with is the knowledge that you did your best to the end. And to evil, I'll add Dick Pound. He may be completely well-intentioned, but he's doing more harm than good.
TBH, my "tongue-in-cheek" detector just went off big time. God love ya.
