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20 Greatest Moments In Sports History

Selecting 20 greatest moments in sports history is a bit difficult. Nevertheless, here is an attempt at it.

The Foot Of A Human And The Hand Of God
The quarter final match between Argentina and England in the 1986 Soccer World Cup in Mexico will be forever remembered for the famous "hand of god" goal by Diego Maradona. The match had become chaotic because of the political skirmishes between England and Argentina over Falklands Islands. Argentina won the match 2-1. Maradona scored both the goals for Argentina. The first goal was through a header. But replays showed that Maradona stealthily punched the ball to beat the much taller English goal keeper Peter Shilton. Maradona, ever as adept in churning out quotable phrases as in producing defense-splitting passes, termed it as "the hand of god".

But soccer connoisseurs will always remember the game for the second goal scored by Maradona. He got the ball near the center circle and dribbled past six players, including the goal keeper, to virtually escort the smooth traffic of the ball to the English goal post.

A Boxing Fight Of Races
The second in the 20 greatest moments in sports history is the famous and controversial bout between Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston in 1964. Clay was a budding Black boxer and showman then and Liston was the symbol of White aristocracy. Clay won the fight in six rounds.

When Hitler Was Beaten Even Before The World War II
The Berlin Olympics in 1936 was supposed to be a showpiece event for the infamous Aryan Supremacy theory of Adolph Hitler. But Jesse Owens, the champion Black athlete from the USA, won four gold medals – to the great annoyance of the great dictator.

The Longer Jump
The next in the 20 greatest moments in sports history happened in the Mexico Olympics in 1968, when Bob Beamon created history by bettering the previous long jump record by a whopping two feet. His jump covered 29 feet and 2 ½ inches.

Breaking The Four Minute Barrier
In 1954, Roger Bannister did what was then considered impossible – running a mile in less than four minutes. The British medical student did this in familiar conditions in Oxford, England.

Joe Namath's Super Performance In Super Bowl
The superlative performance of the brashly confident Namath led New York Jets to victory in 1969 Super Bowl.

A Tiger In Golf Course
In 1997, Tiger Woods took the golf world by storm by becoming the youngest player in the history to win a Masters.

Jordan Blues For Jazz
In 1997, Michael Jordan architected his sixth NBA title for Chicago Blues. In the final game against Jazz, he raised the level of his usually breath-taking performance by a notch further and scored 46 points, killing the title hopes of Jazz.

Perfect 10 For The Nymph From Romania
In the Montreal Olympics of 1976, 14-year old Nadia Comaneci waltzed into record books by scoring a perfect 10 in seven different events.

The Birth Of A Rivalry
The next in the 20 greatest moments in sports history is the 1958 NFL final game between Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, which set a trend in many aspects. Colts won the match 23-17.

The Fiery McEnroe Versus The "Ice" Borg In Wimbledon
The 1981 Wimbledon Men's final is considered as one of the greatest title matches in Wimbledon history. Borg managed to outwit his opponent in a see-saw battle that spanned 3 hours and 53 minutes.

A Rare Swiss Miss In Wimbledon
The words "one of" have been added before "the greatest", when describing the 1981 final between McEnroe and Borg, after this epic final between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain in 2008. Against all odds, the Swiss Maestro was beaten in Centre Court by the Spanish tennis gladiator in a five-set master class of high quality tennis.

Cold War In Basketball Ground
The controversial match between USA and USSR in the 1972 Munich Olympics resulted in the surprise defeat of USA.

Battle Of Sexes In 1973
Billie Jean King, the women's tennis champion of that time played against a journeyman tennis player Bobby Riggs. Jean King won the match to prove that the tennis queens are not inferior in anyway.

The Cardiac Pack
In the NCAA Men's Basketball final game in 1983, North Carolina stunned Houston by scoring a last second winner. They won the game 54-52. North Carolina, famous for their last minute heroics, became known as the "Cardiac Pack" after this victory. Kirk Gibson's Incredible Home Run
In the 1988 World Series of Major League Baseball, Kirk Gibson of Los Angeles Dodgers produced an unbelievable performance despite being injured, to eventually help his team to victory.

A Tie-Breaker That Wooed A Reluctant Nation
Women's soccer is one of the less glamorous sports. But the 1985 Word Cup final between the USA and China was watched by a record number of people. The USA won the nail-biting encounter, which was decided on penalty shootout, when Brandi Chastain calmly converted her penalty.

Miracle On Ice
In 1980, the US ice hockey team, comprising a hastily arranged bunch of amateurs, beat the then mighty USSR team to reach the finals of Winter Olympics. They won the finals too. But it was the semifinal match which became known as the "miracle on ice."

Overcoming The Curse Of 1940
New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup of National Hockey League in 1994 after a gap of 54 years.

The Horse Power At Its Best
The last entry in the list of 20 greatest moments in sports history is from an unlikely sport, horse racing. Secretariat, a red hot stallion, won the Belmont Stakes in 1973 by an astonishing 31 lengths, leaving all the competitors far behind. This feat had never been achieved before and never repeated since then.


About The Author
Al writes sports devoted information covering every major team and venue with Tips For Sports Tickets Information using the Internet. The resources include a history of the teams and venues with advice about sports tickets to all games using the Internet.

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