Bobby Orr: The Goal.
Posted on 06/09/2013 6:33:03 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz
self ping for later
This is tough because there are so many sports, and most of them have more than one defining moment. Some to consider that may not have been listed upthread yet:
Olympic Gymnastics: Nadia’s perfect 10 (1st ever), Mary Lou Retton’s perfect 10 to win US gold, Keri Strug’s vault on a bad leg to secure gold
Olympic Swimming: Spitz’s 7 gold medals, Phillips’ 8
College basketball: NC State buzzer-beater airball (pass?) tip-in win over Houston, Villanova beating Georgetown
World Cup Soccer: Maradonna’s “hand of God” goal
Professional Golf: Tiger Woods destroying the competition by 10+ strokes at Augusta (Masters) and Pebble Beach (US Open)
Olympic Track: Breaking the 4-minute mile
Bobby Orr: The Goal.
That would be my number 2. An incredible hockey player.
I was flipping channels and happened upon the game just as Kirk got to the plate. I had a feeling something magical was about to happen when I saw that it was two out in the Ninth :-) It still makes me smile.
The 1985 Chicago Bears -- arguably the best team of that decade -- ran through the playoffs and Super Bowl by a combined score of 91-10 in three games. They went 15-1 in the regular season that year. Their only loss was to the Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins. In that game, Chicago's vaunted defense gave up 31 points in the first half of the game.
Of all Marino's records, perhaps the one that stands out the most to me is one that doesn't get a lot of attention. In 1988 he led the NFL with 606 pass attempts and was only sacked 6 times during the entire season. That's an astonishing number.
That game-winning goal came in sudden-death overtime, but it was Game 4 of a four-game sweep over the St. Louis Blues in a Stanley Cup final whose outcome was pretty much inevitable. In fact, it was the third straight year the Blues were swept in the finals, which was the natural consequence of the NHL's 1967 expansion when the "Original Six" teams were put together in the East Division and the six new expansion teams -- with their aging veterans and other second-rate players who were castoffs from the Original Six teams during the expansion draft -- were put in the West Division.
It wasn't until the 1970-71 expansion -- when Buffalo and Vancouver joined the NHL and the teams were re-shuffled with a mix of Original Six and "new" teams in both divisions -- that the West division was even competitive in the Stanley Cup finals. Even then, the West division teams that made it to the finals were Original Six teams. The 1973-74 Philadelphia Flyers were the first post-1967 expansion team to even make it to the Stanley Cup finals.
It is. Part of it was his quick release and his willingness to throw the ball away. The other part was Shula would have your hide if you let Marino get sacked. But if you were terrible at run blocking, he didn't care as long as you protected Marino. The reliance on the pass also led to poor possession time and that wore out the defense. Shula sacrificed everything for Marino, and that worked up to a point. He could always get you into the playoffs with his Marino strategy, but never win it all. Marino was allowed to be a prima donna. I once saw him stand next to a fumbled ball, pointing at it, waiting for someone else to recover. He spent a good portion of his sideline time screaming at other players.
I don't think Marino would have done nearly as well under any other coach. Shula got the best out of his QB's. Earl Morrall got the majority of starts during the perfect season. Griese did well in spite of not having the greatest passing statistics. Shula got David Woodley to the Super Bowl, too.
Marino may have been the greatest passer early in his career, but he couldn't or wouldn't run and scramble. Later in his career he couldn't throw deep, and it's a good thing he didn't play for Jimmy Johnson early in his career rather than the end.
I've never been one to hold it against a QB if he couldn't scramble. That's a bit of a "bonus" skill in football ... sort of like a pitcher who has a great pick-off move to first base and doesn't give up a lot of stolen bases. It's a good skill to have, but nobody is going to complain about a Nolan Ryan or a Sandy Koufax or a Walter Johnson if they don't hold runners on base very well. Just look at how totally immobile some of the top QBs in NFL history have been (Dan Fouts and Troy Aikmen are great examples of this).
Secretariat winning the derby in a track record time of 1:59.25...winning the Preakness by 7 lengths in a track record, then winning the Belmont in track record time by 31 lengths.....hence 31 2:24. How badass was that...in Saturday’s Belmont, out of the 14 horses running....9 had Secretariat in their blood line.
You're right about that. And one of Shula's skills was to make the best of what he had. But I got to thinking. Shula was 2 and 4 in Super Bowls, and the two times he won was when he had a great running back, Larry Csonka, and Csonka was already in Miami when Shula got there. Csonka was a human bulldozer. He didn't require many resources from the coaches or his team mates. He was so tough and dominating that he got unnecessary roughness penalties when he carried the ball.
I don't think Shula ever put much emphasis on the running game except when he inherited one. Once he had Marino, I think any interest he had in a running game was gone, and he wasn't going to take away any of the resources that protected and supported Marino. That got Shula a lot of wins, but he wasn't so great in the post season. And I don't think Marino's stats would have been as good under any other coach.
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