My Top 5 "Where Were You" Moments in Sports

5. Tiger Woods winning the 2019 Masters

I'm not an avid golf watcher, but I know when the Masters are on, you got to have it on, even if it's just for the background. I distinctly remember when the masters started, I had just started my shift at work, and when I turned on ESPN, of course, they made their featured group with Tiger Woods. And I remember watching him tee off on the first day, and I thought, "How wild would it be if he won it all." He wasn't great, but he managed to hang around a little throughout the weekend, and somehow it all worked in his favor to contend and win on the final day. The moment he walked up to the green on the 18, I was sitting in church with the masters on my phone, and they were about to say a prayer, so you're kind of supposed to have your head down, and eyes closed during the prayer. Who am I kidding? I couldn't keep them closed; I had to see the putt go in. And let's be honest; God likely paid a little visit to Augusta to see that putt go in too. I remember thinking; I can't believe he won it after having such a chaotic decade since the drama started in 2009. I'm not locked into golf much at all, but even I knew this was one of the biggest moments in golf history. Now if he ever wins, I'm neutral about it, but to see him win it back in 2019 while a prayer was going on in the background, was pretty cool.  

4. Caleb Love's shot over Mark Williams in the Final Four

This was the biggest game in UNC history. As much as it sucked to not win the national championship against Kansas, to end Coach K's career the way UNC did, felt like a storybook. UNC had a rough regular season but ended it poetically, beating Duke at Coach K's last home game. I was ecstatic about winning and thought at the moment we got the last laugh on Coach K in his arena. Then all of a sudden, March Madness started, and everything started creeping closer and closer to UNC and Duke matching up in the Final Four. I thought Coach K would get back at us for that loss in Cameron Indoor. I was sitting with my wife and in-laws for this game. I don't have a special or funny story to go along with this one, but that game will be etched into my memory forever. UNC and Duke put on a show; it was anyone's game until the final minute. Then Caleb Love threw up a prayer over Mark Williams that pretty much clinched the win. I freaked out so hard and could not believe we had ended Coach K's coaching career. It felt so good to end that ego maniac's career as we did. But if anyone watched that game and were asked where they were, they would likely remember, including the Duke fans that try to block that memory out of their heads.  

3. Chicago Cubs Cleveland Indians Game 7

I genuinely feel bad for anyone who didn't see this game. If you've read my articles, it's apparent I don't care for baseball (except I've gotten more into it since the implementation of the pitch clock), but it's game 7 of the world series, you have to watch. And if you weren't aware then, Cubs hadn't won a world series since 1908, and the Indians hadn't won since 1948, so somebody's suffering was finally ending. Personally, I wanted the Cubs because I think Cleveland is a hellhole, and there is nothing redeeming about that city in any way. Don't believe me? Joakim Noah would like a word. I hadn't kept up with the playoffs until the world series, but I watched every game of that series. Game 7 was by far the greatest game I have ever watched, and anyone who did watch it would probably agree as well. There was so much drama and theater behind that game, with the Cubs taking and maintaining a lead but then totally blowing it with Chapman giving up a two-run homer in the 8th inning, then going into extra innings, then a rain delay. This game had EVERYTHING you want in a game seven baseball game. I was all alone in a basement in Provo, Utah, watching this game. I was watching a replay of Steve Bartman on my phone and wondered if the Cubs were cursed for this incident and would lose after that 8th. Ultimately, the Cubs rallied, and when Rizzo caught that ball at first base, I audibly cheered. It was the perfect game to end a curse on a suffering fanbase. If I had something like that happen to the Charlotte Hornets, Panthers, or any of my teams, I would be content with never winning again, having won the greatest game ever played.  

2. 16 seed UMBC Upsetting 1 seed Virginia

Because of the insane record of 1 seeds vs 16 seeds being 135-0 at the time, I genuinely thought I'd never see a 16 seed beat a 1 seed; otherwise, it would've happened already. I remember they were the last 1 seed to play in the first round, but I didn't think anything of UMBC other than noticing the head coach being Dave Odom's son. Somehow throughout the game, UMBC just dominated, and Virginia could never keep up. In the 1st half, UMBC hit their stride early and managed to maintain it very well, but I thought by the 2nd half, Tony Bennett would get his guys motivated enough to prove their seed position. I was in the same house in Provo, Utah, except this time upstairs, watching with a couple of brothers and not believing what we saw. Yeah, there were other march madness games on, but this was history being made. I kept thinking in the back of my head that, at some point, Virginia would close this out and win this game, but as soon as Arkel Lamar made that dunk with 2 minutes left, it set in that they were going to win it. I may have spent the next 3-4 hours that night scrolling through Twitter, articles, whatever I could find on this game. The only way this would have made the upset even better is if it was Kansas or Kentucky, but it being Virginia still makes it satisfying.  

1. Landon Donovan's World Cup Goal

This might be the moment the US finally started to adopt soccer as a legitimate sport. It's not where it should be, but after this moment and quality FIFA video games, soccer became much more popular than before the 2010 World Cup. I didn't care about soccer or the world cup in the slightest when I was 17 at the time this happened, but after seeing USA tie with England, and USA get royally screwed by that ref in the Slovenia match, I was so gravitated to the sport. I nervously anticipated the next match with Algeria, knowing we had to win to advance. Somehow I was also in that same basement in Provo, Utah, watching with 5-6 other college-aged guys. As time went on with no score, we all pretty much accepted that USA was not going to win, then all of a sudden, after Tim Howard passed the ball and Altidore made a run next to Clint Dempsey, Altidore made a solid pass to Dempsey for a great shot but got blocked. Fortunately, Landon Donovan was right there to put it in after the deflection, and it genuinely felt like the country erupted. We were all cheering and freaking out more than I ever did in a sporting event. To this day, I still go back and watch that goal and reactions videos to the goal reminiscing how awesome that moment was. Shortly after that, it felt like most of the US became soccer fans and that it had finally become accepted. Two years later, I watched the Euro Cup and didn't miss a match; I never even knew the Euro Cup existed and would've never watched it before that goal by Landon Donovan. Now I consider soccer a superior sport to most others here in the US. Hopefully, some magic like in South Africa in 2010 can be recaptured when the World Cup comes here in the US in 2026.    

I would have added the 2013 Iron Bowl Kick Six, but I was on an LDS mission and couldn't watch sports during that time, so yeah, I missed what was probably the biggest moment in college football.