top 10 sports moments
sports is a huge part of my life. to be honest, i can't imagine my life without it. i've thought about it, and many of my happiest (and saddest) moments came at the hands of cheering for my favorite teams.

anyhow, for no apparent reason, i've decided to jot down my top 10 sports moments of all time. well, one reason is that this will be something interesting for me to look back on a long time down the road. i can even remember exactly where i was, who i was with, and what i was doing at each moment.

some quick rules, or guidelines, rather, about these sports moments. they are all moments that i personally witnessed (in person or on TV) live. in other words, it can't be just some random game i saw on espn classic, or a summary i caught on sportscenter after the fact. i guess that's the only guideline. well, here goes!

honorable mention: jeff kent's 3-run game-winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in game 5 of the 2004 NLCS against the cardinals


i was leading a sophomore prayer meeting when this happened. i remember i wanted to watch this game SO bad, and it made it even worse that i could hear yells and groans from people watching in the jester TV lounge. weili texted me right after this happened, and my first reaction was pure disappointment that i did not get to see it for myself. but then, i came to my senses, and thanked God for the win.

10. yao's game-winning dunk to beat the lakers in OT (1/17/03)


this was yao's first encounter against shaquille o'neal. prior to the game, o'neal had jokingly made some racist comments towards yao, but the game started with yao scoring 6 points and blocking shaq twice. i remember watching this game at david zhu's house with a bunch of other guys, and with the score tied in the final minute of overtime, francis drove into the lane and dumped it off to yao, who slammed it home for the game-winner. we went absolutely nuts after that point. granted, it was just a regular season game, but c'mon. it was yao's coming out party!

9. biggio's 3-run game-winning home run against the phillies (9/8/05)


this is actually kind of a random memory, but there was this one day my junior year in 151, when we had a few people over and i was just watching the end of the astros game that day. the NL wild card race was real tight, i think we were only up by 1 game, so every game was huge. in this particular game, we had a lead until the bottom of the 8th inning, when our bullpen gave up the lead. so, going into the 9th inning, the astros were down by 1 run. we got 2 men on base, and with 2 outs, craig biggio walked up to the plate. it was the first time he was facing his old teammate, billy wagner, who threw over 100 mph. so here's the random part. i just remember simon and lawrence were also in the room, and we just so happened to have some extra craig biggio posters lying around from when someone went to an astros game. what are the odds, right? so we each grabbed a poster, and started cheering for good old craig to pull us through. then he hits the 3-run game-winning home run while we were holding his posters! naturally, we all went crazy. sigh, good times.

8. eddie johnson's game-winning 3-pointer against the utah jazz in game 4 of the 1997 western conference finals


if you are a rockets fan, there is perhaps no more hated team than the utah jazz. from the dirty play of karl malone and john stockton, and just the annoying look of jeff hornacek, i would rather lose my legs than say anything good about the jazz. so in one of the epic playoff battles between the rockets and jazz, the score was tied going into the final seconds of regulation. the jazz led the series 2-1, so a loss in this game would be devastating. i remember watching this game in my old house, in one of those "i don't want to watch but i have to" stances, just hoping for the best. it ended up being a very broken play, and i was prepared to just fight it out in overtime, when eddie johnson launched a very long 3-pointer, and it goes in! the crowd goes wild, eddie goes wild, and i go wild! i was just yelling and screaming in the living room, with my brother and sister copying me, wondering what the heck was going on.

7. hakeem blocking starks to end game 6 of the 1994 nba finals


ah, the nba finals on NBC. anyone else miss that old school stuff? this was truly an awesome series to watch. i was watching at home with the rest of my family. it was game 6, and the rockets were down 3 games to 2, meaning if the knicks won the game, the championship was theirs. the rockets held a 2-point lead, when john starks (who btw was shooting red hot that night), pulled up for the game-winning 3-pointer. luckily for houston fans everywhere, the dream rose to the occasion and blocked the shot, sending the series to a decisive game 7. and of course, we all know what happened after that. that moment was truly one of the most clutch plays i have ever seen.

6. hakeem's game-winning tip-in to beat the orlando magic in game 1 of the 1995 nba finals


it was a bit tough cheering against the orlando magic in this series because penny hardaway was my favorite player back then. just ask anyone who used to trade basketball cards with me back in pastor tow's office at HCC. i would trade any players away for sam cassell's or penny hardaway's. needless to say, penny hardaway eventually lost me a buttload of money, but that's a whole other story.

anyhow, this game in and of itself was simply amazing. the magic stormed out to a 20 point lead at one point in the game, but the rockets, led by kenny smith's 3-point shooting, gradually clawed back into the game. in the final minutes, in what i see as THE most UNclutch performance of all time, orlando's nick anderson had a chance to seal the game by just making 1 of 4 free throws, but he missed all 4, and the magic's lead remained at 3. on the very next play, kenny smith hit his 7th 3-pointer of the game over my boy penny to tie up the game and send it into overtime.

in the waning seconds of overtime, with the score tied, clyde drexler drove into the lane and flipped up a layup that bounced off the rim to the other side. hakeem was there to tip it up and in off the backboard. at first, i didn't know what to think because i don't think even hakeem knew that he had just won the game. but finally, he raised his arms in triumph, and me and the rest of my family celebrated like there was no tomorrow.

this post is pretty long as it is, and it's taking a lot more time than i anticipated, so i'll split these things up. so here are the bottom 5, the top 5 will be coming soon. any idea what they are? $50 to anyone who can name my top 5.