The Most Fantastic Finishes in Sports
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SPORTS
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Did any of these teams have any right winning these classic games? No. Did they? Yes. Sometimes, destiny is as undeniable as Julia Roberts' smile. Or her boobies. Same difference.
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Buffalo Bills 41, Houston Oilers 38 (January 3,
1993)
The Bills were having what the French call "un bad day." At the
half, the Oilers were up by 25 and added an early third-quarter touchdown to
make the score 35–3. Then they either stopped trying or decided to have a little
fun with the bookies, as they proceeded to allow Buffalo's backups (hall of
famers Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas were on the shelf) to score four touchdowns
in a seven-minute span. The game went into overtime, but the end result at that
point was more or less preordained. At the time, with Houston cementing its rep
as America's most morbidly obese city and all the oilmen leaving town, things
looked about as dire as they could be…
 Tennessee Titans 22, Buffalo Bills
16 (January 8, 2000)
…But the Oilers-Titans franchise
paid back the favor, sort of, via the "Music City Miracle" seven years later.
With 16 seconds to go, the Bills had taken the lead on a feel-good field goal.
But on the ensuing kickoff—is there any other kind?—lightning struck: In a play
that was likely drawn up on the back of a cocktail napkin, Lorenzo Neal fielded
the kick and handed it off to Frank Wycheck, who threw the ball 20-odd yards
across the field to Kevin Dyson; Dyson promptly juked and jived his way down the
sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. Buffalo fans haven't had a lot to cheer about
since then, except daylight savings time.
New
York Yankees 4, Arizona Diamondbacks 3; Yankees 3, Diamondbacks 2
(October 31 and November 1, 2001)
Here's something we're not likely to
see again: Two-out, game-tying home runs off the same dude, ace closer
Byung-Hyun Kim, on back-to-back nights. Statistically, this was the equivalent
of Halley's Comet and Bigfoot showing up on the same afternoon, or Ann Coulter
making out with Jon Stewart. It had never happened before in the World Series,
and it almost certainly won't happen again. Our hearts collectively break for
poor, sweet Byung-Hyun, last seen testing various gradations of rope at Home
Depot.
Boston College Eagles 47, Miami
Hurricanes 45 (November 23, 1984)
'Twas the
back-and-forth battle to end all back-and-forth battles. Every time Doug Flutie
connected with a jab, Bernie Kosar countered with a hook; the two QBs combined
for 59 completions in 84 attempts, for 919 yards and five touchdowns. Just when
it seemed that the Hurricanes had checkmated the Eagles with a last-minute
touchdown, Flutie led BC to the Miami 48…where, drawing on every iota of
strength in his teensy little Beanie Baby body, he scrambled back to his own 37
and somehow threw the ball nearly 70 yards against a stiff wind. Gerard Phelan
caught it with zero ticks left on the clock, and a legend was born. A short
legend.
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