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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Duke Blue Devils 104, Kentucky
Wildcats 103 (March 28, 1992)
After something like 13
lead changes in the final minute, Duke's Grant Hill inbounded the ball from
under his own basket and winged it way the hell down to the other end of the
court. With 1.8 seconds left, Christian Laettner caught it at the top of the
key, juked, and threw up a 15-foot prayer that was answered, unlike our one
about Laettner and his smug Duke cronies being smacked in the face with a
shovel. On the other hand, watching Rick Pitino lose in such a gut-ripping
fashion isn't a bad consolation prize.
 Boise State Broncos 43, Oklahoma Sooners
42 (January 1, 2007)
Ten months after the fact, the 2007
Fiesta Bowl still has an "are you kidding me?" sheen to it. Oklahoma came back
from 18 down in the second half, tied it with less than two minutes to go, and
took the lead on an interception return a few ticks later. Then Boise State drew
even with a hook-and-ladder play that was previously thought to be illegal
outside the backyard. In OT, Oklahoma held serve with a touchdown… But on
fourth-and-two from the five-yard line, Boise State called a play that somehow
ended with the wide receiver throwing a touchdown to a tight end… Then they went
for the two-point conversion, calling for the "Statue of Liberty" (that's right,
a TRICK FUCKING PLAY) and somehow nudged the ball into the end zone. Bedlam
erupted and one of the players proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on the
sidelines. We're exhausted just remembering it, frankly.
 New York Mets 6, Boston Red Sox
5 (October 25, 1986)
Say what you want about Boston's
comeback from three games down to defeat the Yankees in the 2004 American League
Championship Series. What the Mets pulled off in what has become known simply as
Game Six was a much, much more improbable feat. Down two runs with two outs in
the bottom of the tenth inning, and with "congratulations Red Sox" beaming from
the Shea scoreboard, the Mets rallied for three on a series of clutch hits; the
Sox helped them along with a pair of stomach-punch miscues (the Bob Stanley wild
pitch, the Bill Buckner error). Random trivia: Buckner attempted to kill himself
after the game by jumping in front of a bus. Alas, it went through his legs.
Hoy-o!
Milan High School 32, Muncie Central
30 (March 20, 1954)
The game upon which
Hoosiers is based. Yes, those liberal Hollywood blue-state
freedom-haters took a few liberties: They changed Milan's name to Hickory High
and Muncie Central's to South Bend Central; the team that Milan downed in the
final game was mostly comprised of white players; and the town drunk didn't help
coach the team (he was out, you know, drinking). That said, Milan was a serious,
serious underdog and the final shot went down just like the movie said, er,
except that a kid named Bobby Plump hit it, not Jimmy Chitwood. For the record,
Muncie officials have since admitted that they never employed a teacher quite as
fetching as the circa-1984 Barbara Hershey. In short, everything in
Hoosiers is a lie. A dirty, filthy lie.
 New York Jets 40, Miami Dolphins
37 (October 23, 2000)
Yes, it's always jarring to see
the Jets on the winning side of the ledger, especially in a game that prompts
beat writers to use the adjective "catastrophic" in the opening paragraph of
their recaps. In what was probably the most astonishing 60 minutes in the
history of Monday Night Football, the Jetsies rallied from a
23-point fourth-quarter deficit behind an I-am-possessed-by-the-spirit-of-Unitas
effort from Vinny Testaverde (18 of 26 for 235 yards and four TDs in the fourth
quarter alone). The tying TD came on a triple-bobbled catch by offensive tackle
John "Jumbo" Elliot, whose hands are as big and flexible as frying pans. Good
thing the Dolphins had Miami's Latino sizzle and art deco cityscapes to ease
their pain.
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