Tuesday, March 10, 2009

10 best in Philly sports

After last week's downer, it's time to move on and look at the positive. So here are the 10 greatest moments in Philly sports history over the last 20 years.

Moments that just missed the cut:
Aug 2004: T.O.'s 81-yard TD on first pre-season play at home
Jan 1995: Eagles beat Lomas, Lions 58-37
Sep 2000: The Pickle Juice game; Dallas loses 41-14
May 1996: Pat Croce high-fives suits after winning draft lottery
July 1995: Schmidt, Ashburn admitted to HOF

10 -- Jul 2007: Phils lose 10,000th game
As great as seeing two Phils greats inducted in the Hall of Fame on the same day, this moment beats it. A sell-out crowd gives a standing ovation as the losingest franchise in all American sports drops the big 1-0-0-0-0 to the Cardinals. They might be losers, but they’re our losers.

9 -- Dec 1995: The Groundhog Day game
Also known as “They stopped him again!” Barry Switzer sends Emmitt Smith into the Eagles D-line on fourth-and-one, but the refs claim the two-minute warning occurred before the men in green stoned him. After the break, Switzer calls the same play, and Smith picks up even fewer yards. The Eagles kick a FG on the next possession and win 20-17.

8 -- Sep 2007: Phils win NL East on final day
The Mets and Phils entered the day tied atop the NL East. By the time the Phils first inning against the Nads started, the Mets were already down 4-0 to the Marlins. By the time the day was over, Jimmy Rollins had his 20th triple of the year and the Phils were headed to the post-season.

7 -- Jan 2003: Eagles beat Packers in OT 4th and 26
With the Eagles losing by a FG late in the fourth, all the Packers had to do to get to the NFC Championship game was stop Freddie Mitchell from catching a ridiculous last-chance heave down the middle of the field. They couldn’t.

6 -- Dec 2008: Eagles thump Cowboys in finale
For the Eagles to make the playoffs, all they needed were two conference upsets and a home win against the Cowboys on the last day of the season. After the first two improbable games went the right way, the Eagles hung up 27 points in the first half, and embarrassed Tony Romo with two defensive TDs in the second half to win 44-6.

5 -- Oct 1993: Phils beat Braves in NLCS
All-World pitcher Greg Maddux wasn’t a match for Tommy Greene this day. A Darren Daulton double, a Mickey Morandini triple and a Dave Hollins HR gave the Phils a 6-1 lead that even Mitch Williams couldn’t blow, and the team made their first trip to the World Series in a decade.

4 -- May 2000: Flyers down the Pens in fifth OT
In the eighth period of the game, at 2:35 am, Keith Primeau fired a slapshot past Pens goalie Ron Tugnutt to end the third-longest game in NHL history and tie up the Flyers playoff series at 2-2. The loss was a backbreaker for the rival Pens, who went on to lose the series in six games.

3 -- Jun 2001: Iverson steps over Tyrone Lue
You knew the Sixers weren’t going to beat the heavily-favored Lakers. But in overtime of the first game of the Finals, Allen Iverson drained a three, then disgustedly stepped over the Lakers pesky PG as he marched backed down the court. The Sixers stole game one and for a moment you thought it could actually happen.

2 -- Jan 2005: Eagles win the NFC championship
We were beginning to think this would never happen – after three consecutive championship game losses, the Eagles faced the Falcons in Philly for their fourth try at the Super Bowl. TE Chad Lewis broke his foot in the fourth quarter catching the clinching TD. Best moment within the moment: Seeing Dawkins in tears holding up the NFC trophy.

1 -- Oct 2008: Phils win World Series, have a parade
Billy Penn provided a little rain delay to remind us he’s in charge, but the curse was finally lifted when Brad Lidge blew a fastball by Eric Hinske to win the championship at home. The parade on Broad Street took three times longer than it should have because the crowd kept spilling over in front of the floats. WFC. Unbelievable.

In fact, let's relive that last one again.

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