Most Exciting Plays You've Ever Seen in Person

[The Bearded One]

As sports fan, we live for the excitement that sports bring. Whether it is a 75 yard touchdown pass or a suicide squeeze, we love those moments during games that make us jump up and down and scream about what we just saw. You can watch Sportscenter for 10 minutes and catch all of the exciting plays, but it's so much more special when you see the plays as they unfold. It's even better when you're there for the plays.

What are the most exciting plays you have seen in person?

I have two, and they both come from last football season.

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The Jaguars always play the Colts close, but almost always lose to them. Nobody thought the Jags had a chance in this game, but they kept it close and were in the game the entire time. The game came down to this last second kick by Josh Scobee. Scobee has beaten the Colts with a last second field goal before, but this kick was almost 60 yards and while he does have a big leg, this seemed like too much. I remember being so nervous before he kicked the ball and it seemed to take an eternity for the ball to make its way through the uprights. I, like almost everyone else in the stadium, lost my mind celebrating after Scobee made the kick. Scobee took a lap around the field and at the end of the broadcast you can hear the fans chanting his name. It was just an awesome moment.

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You know the phrase it's better to be lucky than good? Well it applies here. The Jags should have never had this chance. The Texans were driving with the ball late in the game and were setting up for a game winning field goal. A receiver ended up fumbling and the Jags recovered. Garrard completed a pass to Marcedes Lewis, who is a great tight end, and an offsides call put the Jags in this position. As for the play itself, I didn't think the Jags had a chance in hell of completing it. I was getting prepared to go into overtime. I saw Garrard throw it, but I couldn't see what happened to well since it was on the other side of the stadium. I didn't see the ball hit the ground and I heard the north end zone erupt, and I knew the Jags completed the pass. I saw the replay on the jumbotron and the celebration on the field did not come close to matching the celebration in the crowd. It's one of my favorite sports memories.

What are the most exciting plays you have ever seen in person?

 

[Big Sexy]

I haven't been to a large abundance of games in any sport but one game always stands out and that was a 1997 game between the Detroit Lions and NY Jets. Both teams were 8-7 going into the game. If the Lions won they made the playoffs in the NFC, if the Jets won they made it in the AFC. It was win or season over for both teams. This game was big for other reasons as well. Going into the game Barry Sanders had 1,869 yards rushing, 131 away from 2,000. On a slightly sadder note 2nd year linebacker Reggie Brown who was starting for the Lions suffered a scary neck injury during the game. He was motionless on the field and an ambulance came onto the field to take him to the hospital. The injury ended his young promising career. I also remember the game for the officials. The crowd was so loud that the refs actually threatened to take away a time out from the Lions if we didn't quiet down. Now that I'm done rambling about my trip down memory lane I'll get back on topic.

The two most exciting plays happened back to back in the game. The first was just a one or two yard run by Barry but it got him to 2,000 yards which was amazing to see live at the Pontiac Silverdome. The very next play was his last run of the regular season as he took the hand off and went 53 yards down to the Jets three yard line. That run clinched the 13-10 victory for the Lions and sent them to the playoffs. After just 20 yards in the first half of that game, Barry exploded for 164 yards and a td on 15 carries in the second half. The back to back plays of him getting to 2,000 and then obliterating the mark with a 53 yard run are the two most exciting plays I've ever seen in person.

 

[The Best]

I've seen a good amount of nice plays/ moments in person so far, but I'll name 2 really nice ones.

First is one June 18th 2005, it was the Yankees playing the Cubs, and the Yanks were already up by a good amount, but Derek Jeter stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. I remember the Cub's starting pitcher was a dick, so it was fun to root against him (it was Glendon Rusch in case you were wondering). Jeter steps up to the plate with the bases loaded, and he belted one, it went over the fence, and the crowd exploded! It was Jeter's first and only grand slam to this date, and for the next full inning, all you could here was Jeter chants (it was in the old Yankee stadium), Jeter also hit another home-run that game which was pretty cool as well, as the Yankee's destroyed the Cubs. 2005 ended up as a disappointing season foor the Yankees (well in their terms), as they lost to the Los Angeles Angles in 5 games in the ALDS. I'm a Yankees fan.

The second would be Jerricho Cotchery's amazing catch vs. The New England Patriots week 2 of the 2006-2007 NFL season. It was 24-0 New England in the third, but what happened was Chad Pennington dropped back, and threw a bomb to Jerricho Cotchery, Cotchery leaped up and caught it, and seemed to be tackled by Chad Smith, but as he tackled him, Cotchery fell on Eugene Wilson, and got up and ran in the end zone for the touchdown! The Patriots challenged the call saying that he was down, but replays showed that he only had one hand on the ground, and the rest of his body was in the air. That sparked a mini comeback for the Jets, as they scored 17 unanswered points, only to fall short 24-17, before getting revenge, and beating the Patriots 17-14 8 weeks later in week 10. That was probably the most exciting play I've ever seen live, and I'm a Giants fan.

 

[The Brain]

Even though I’m a Cubs fan and have been to countless Cubs games (tempted to red rep you Best) the most exciting thing I’ve seen came at a Sox game. It was September 2007 and Jim Thome was sitting on 499 home runs. The Sox were trailing the Angels in the bottom of the ninth when Thome stepped up. He hit a home run that was not only his milestone 500th but also a walk off to win the game for the Sox. To be honest I couldn’t have cared less if the Sox won or lost but to see a walk off home run, a huge milestone no less, was very exciting. And of course it was Jim Thome bobble head day.

 

[Goliath Uterus]

There are about 4 plays that stand out... The first is a dunk I saw at a KU preseason (or early season) game, it was Thomas Robinson who had gotten a block on the previous end, and then he got the ball on a pick and roll just banged it as hard as he could. It was easily the most forceful dunk I've ever seen live, and I've been to NBA games.

Another is when Joe Mays (Bronco LB/special teams) absolutely murdered some random KC Chiefs player on a punt return, Mays caught him full stride and just layed into him.

Another is at a preaseason OKC/Miami NBA game, I saw LeBrons signature dunk, it was damn impressive.

My favorite moment however, comes from a Nuggets/76ers regular season game sometime in early-mid '00. AI and Melo were going back and forth all throughout the 4th and Melo drilled a 3 to put em up 1 with about 13 seconds left, but AI pulled up with about 2 seconds left and drilled the buzzer beating game winning shot.

 

[RKGO2SLEEP]

honestly, best play ive ever seen in person (and ive been to over 100 pro games) was at my towns high school basketball game, my school was the favorite but they were down by 3 with seconds left, they inbounded the ball from their baseline, the pointguard dribbled to half court. was double teamed so the shot was heavily contested, squared up(no didnt fire up a shot, but actually squared up and took a jump shot) and hit a half court shot to send the game to overtime, the whole gym went crazy and everybody stormed the court as it was a state playoff game

 

[loucar86]

my favorite moment live was the first rangers game i went to against the boston bruins. they played like crap and were loosing 2-0 with 2 min left and tied it up and the garden went crazy! then no goals were scored in OT and then went to a shoot out and not one but two goals for the rangers had to reviewed latter i found out that it was the first time a single shootout OT goal had to get reviewed never the less two of them. so we waited to see if the goal counted and it didnt and the place went nuts. NY vs BOS is always intense

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[Father Uncle Oscar]

I don't think this really counts as a play, but whatever.

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This entire night was amazing. We're in the nosebleeds in December, but they're season tickets so we don't care.Of course, the drunk that sits two rows in front of us has season tickets too so we have to listen to him yell something that sounds like "DEFENSE," but nobody really knows. Apparently it worked. Anyway, this game was the most important game of the year for both teams at the time. The fact that we beat the shit out of them early made it so much better. Everybody was jumping and screaming and shitting on Jets fans the entire night, it was a great time. We even saw some New Yorkers leave before the end of the 2nd quarter. Halftime. BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. I grew up watching this guy. You should have seen my face when I found out it was his tribute night. You could barely hear what he was saying because the chants were so passionate and heartwarming. It's easily in my top 2 favorite moments as a New England sports fan (I can't decide whether it comes before or after being at the Bruins parade). Oh yeah, then we scored and scored like someone broke the off switch. Let's just say 'twas a great day at school the next morning.