Top 10 Craziest Moments In Sports History
imagine what our life would be like if we didn't have sports in it a great deal more violence perhaps and definitely a lot more boredom maybe even lethargy sports have a way of unlocking and letting loose emotions and feelings that don't otherwise get expressed not just for those who are playing but also for those fans who watch and follow a sport a huge part of the Russian playing or following a sport is the ups and downs that are part and parcel of a sport but sometimes there's a bit of crazy that creeps into the experience, today we bring you our list of the craziest moments in sports history.
10- The Play 1982
Next up on our list of the craziest moments in sports is this ending of the 1982 matchup between college football rivals California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinals since 1892 these teams have competed in what is traditionally known as the big game and the build-up to this year was no different with a packed Stadium and thrill-a-minute atmosphere it was the last college game for all-american quarterback and Stanford captain John Elway and he lived up to his billing in the last minute of the game setting up a field goal that put his team ahead 20 to 19 with four seconds left in the game there were wild celebrations beginning for the Cardinals and this became the setting for what is today called the play the Golden Bears picked up the ball from the ensuing kickoff and put in five lateral passes in quick succession the Stanford band had already entered the end zone and were beginning their victory song but before they knew it their trombone player had been knocked down by Kevin Moen who scored a touchdown that gave the Golden Bears the win 25 to 20 the drama was incomplete without the match referees who took a few minutes among the mayhem to consult each other and finally awarded the touchdown and to this day this remains one of the most memorable moments in American college football.
9-Hank Gathers Hank 1988
Gathers was one of the most promising basketball stars in the country playing for Loyola Marymount University in the 1988 to 1989 season he became just the second player in NCAA Division one history to lead the nation in both scoring and rebounding, he was an even stronger player as a senior in the next season and was projected as an NBA lottery pick his health had started becoming an issue though after he collapsed during a game in December 1989 he was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat and was prescribed medication he felt that the medication was making him sluggish and his performance was enough to his usual high standards as his dosage was gradually cut back he made a recovery scoring 48 points and 13 rebounds in a February third game being guarded by future first-round draft picks Stanley Roberts and Shaquille O'Neal, a month later he was playing in the West Coast Conference semifinals and with 1334 left on the clock scored an amazing dunk of an alley-oop pass he jogged a few steps up the court and collapsed and shortly after that stopped breathing he was pronounced dead in a local hospital in an autopsy showed that he had suffered from a heart muscle disorder it's not known whether he was still taking the medication since he had missed the medical tests that had been scheduled the basketball fraternity was saddened and shocked by this death.
8-Clint Malarchuk 1989
March 22nd, 1989 Clint Malarchuk was a regular NHL goaltender playing a regular game for the Buffalo Sabres against the st. Louis Blues his team were one goal up with five minutes left on the clock in the first period and he hadn't had any saves to make thus far little did he know that his life was about to change in the next few seconds an opposing player was pulled down right in front of him and banged into him skates-first and suddenly there was blood everywhere the skate had severed his carotid artery and there was a fountain of blood with every heartbeat Malarchuk lost over 1 and a half liters of blood on the ice before he was taken off fortunately for him his team's trainer Jim Pizza telly was a Vietnam War veteran who'd seen severe injuries before and he was able to immediately stabilize the injury it took more than 300 stitches to seal the seven-inch wound and Malarchuk miraculously returned to the ice less than two weeks later but despite all appearances all was not well he struggled with psychological trauma for almost 20 years following the incident.
7-Monica Seles 1993
In 1993 19-year-old Monica Seles had the tennis world at her feet in the past three years she had reached the finals in 33 of the 34 WTA tournament she had played winning 22 of them including eight Grand Slams she was unquestionably the number one player in the world consistently defeating her other rivals including Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf whom she had dethroned after a record 186 weeks at the top of the world rankings all seemed set for one of Tennessee's greatest rivalries to unfold until the horrifying events of April 30th happened Celes was playing in the quarterfinals of a tournament in Hamburg Germany when during the changeover between games an insane fan of Steffi Graf jumped onto the court and stabbed Seles between her shoulder blades because he wanted to help Graf regain the number1 ranking fortunately for Seles the injury was not life-threatening but it seriously affected her mental health and she stayed away from professional tennis for the next two years and never recovered her brilliant form of her pre attack days what happened to the crazy fan you wonder German authorities sentenced him to two years of probation and psychological treatment and Steffi Graf went on to set the record for the highest number of weeks spent at the top of the world rankings.
6-Nancy Kerrigan 1994
In the early 90s two of the great rivals in the US Figure Skating world were Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding who had finished right behind each other in the 1992 Winter Olympics as well as the World Figure Skating Championships but in the run-up to the 1994 Winter Olympics just one day before the u.s. national team was to be chosen Nancy Kerrigan was attacked as she left her practice session her assailant whacked her with a police baton right above her knee trying to break her leg but fortunately for her it only resulted in a bruising swelling what shocked the world was the revelation that the attacker was hired by Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly and her bodyguard Shawn Eckardt Harden continuously denied the allegation that she was involved in planning the attack and threatened legal action against the US Figure Skating Association when they wanted to cancel her selection to the Winter Olympics both Kerrigan and Harding competed in the Olympics and Kerrigan went on to win the silver medal but Tonya Harding's skating career came to a quick end with the US Association stripping her of her 1994 title and banning her for life American courts convicted the attacker her ex-husband and bodyguard for the attack and also convicted Harding for interfering with the prosecution to this day she denies her involvement in the attack and the drama that followed it has been the subject of much media speculation many Broadway plays as well as the Hollywood blockbuster I Tonya.
5-Andres escobar 1994
Andres escobar was the captain of the hudley acclaimed Colombian team that went to the 1994 football World Cup in the USA this was at the height of the narco-terrorism that had troubled this nation and he was an ambassador of goodwill working to promote a positive image of his country after losing their first game there was much pressure on Colombia to win their match against their host nation but in the first half Escobar accidentally deflected a cross from u.s. midfielder John Harkes into the Colombian goal and they went on to lose the match two to one and were eliminated from the tournament ten days later in his hometown of met Ian Escobar was leaving a bar late at night when he got into an argument with three men one of whom pulled out a gun and shot him six times Escobar died in a hospital 45 minutes later it was later revealed that the shooter was a henchman of one of the drug lords who had betted heavily on the outcome of the game and that Escobar was murdered as a punishment for scoring the own goal the incident sent shockwaves through the footballing world into this day colombian fans still carry photographs of andre escobar two football games that they attend.
4-Dale Earnhardt 2001
Dale Earnhardt is widely regarded as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time racing for over 25 years in winning the championship a record seven times but his story had a tragic ending he was racing the Daytona 500 in his trademark number three black car and had spent the final few laps preventing an overtaking maneuver by Sterling Marlin thus ensuring that his teammates Richard Waltrip and son Dale Earnhardt jr. would win first in second place in the race at turn four on the final lap of the race Earnhardt's car brushed against Marlins and slid off course crossing in front of Ken Schrader's number 36 car and having a head-on collision with the side wall at a speed over 150 miles an hour the car slid into the infield and Schrader who had minor injuries was the first to reach Earnhardt's car paramedics pulled him out of the car and took him immediately to the Halifax Medical Center but all attempts to revive him failed it is conjectured that he died immediately on impact due to a skull fracture many new safety measures have been incorporated into NASCAR racing following this accident including better seat belts head and neck support and safety walls and Earnhardt's death in February 2001 was the last such fatality on a NASCAR racetrack.
3-Ron Artest 2004
The ugly incidents of the malice at the palace will forever remain in the minds of basketball fans the Indiana Pacers were playing the Detroit Pistons in their home arena at Auburn Hills Michigan there were 45 seconds left on the clock and the Pacers were leading by double digits when there was a brawl that broke out amongst the players after a foul on sub pushing officials and other players quickly intervened and run our tests a Pacers player involved in the beginning of the fight lay down on the scores table as the altercation was being resolved a spectator from the stands threw a plastic cup of Diet Coke that hit our tests in his chest and he jumped off the table and ran into the stands and started fighting with the person who he thought had thrown the cup at him other players and spectators quickly joined the fight that spread like wildfire across the stadium ranging from the court into the stands with chairs bottles punches and kicks being thrown about there was absolute chaos and security personnel could do nothing about it the rest of the match was called off and awarded to the Pacers 97 to 82 their players were escorted by police off the court and onto their bus which was also escorted by police cruisers the NBA Commissioner was quick to react and the next day there were total bans of 146 matches imposed on various players involved in the scuffle with over eleven million dollars in player salary being lost because of the suspensions.
2-zinedine zidane 2006
One of the most honored European footballers of all time is zinedine zidane hero of france's 1998 World Cup in 2000 euro cup triumphs but the way his playing career ended is one of the most preposterous stories in football history his last match was against Italy in the final of the 2006 World Cup and he scored a penalty in the seventh minute of the game Italy soon equalized and no more goals were scored in the regulation 90 minutes Zidane was at the heart of the action during extra time almost scoring with a header that the Italian goalkeeper just tipped over the bar and when he was jogging back out the pitch there appeared to be an exchange of words with Italian defender Marco Materazzi and out of nowhere Zidane felled matter Rossi with a powerful headbutt there was intense media speculation about what led to this and many years later madirasi admitted to having said something insulting about Zidane sister following the headbutt Zidane was red-carded out of the game and France lost the World Cup in the penalty shootout after extra time he had already announced his retirement from international football after the tournament so his last moments on the field were far from the rest of his glorious career.
1-Kevin ware 2013
One of the goriest injuries in sports history is the broken leg of basketball player Kevin ware on Easter Sunday of 2013 he was playing guard for the Louisville Cardinals against Duke University in the NCAA tournament with under seven minutes left to play in the first half where jumped out of the key to attempt to block a three-pointer and turned his head to watch the ball travel to the basket he landed awkwardly and fell to the ground and horror of Horrors his shin bone was sticking out of his leg the players and referees were traumatized and shocked as medical professionals arrived and took over but where's thoughts and words were with his team urging them to go on and win the game he suffered a compound fracture of his tibia requiring intensive surgery at the hospital he was taken to fortunately for where he recovered fully and after completing his college career is currently pursuing a promising career as a professional in the Greek basket Le.
That's our list of the craziest moments in sports history do you agree disagree are there any other crazy moments that you'd like to add let us know in the comments section we love hearing from you.
