My Favourite Moment in Sports History
Sports Editor Amanda Barden writes about the enduring power of sport and her favourite moments in sports history
There are so many moment in sports that take your breath away, that make you marvel at the human ability, that make you want to jump in and be a part of, and that make you completely overwhelmed, sometimes without even knowing why. Any fantastic sports moment is appreciated by all people, regardless if they play the sport or if they even know about sports. I have many moments that I have admired, that I remember watching and feeling so happy that I got the opportunity to even be a part of. But one that always comes to mind is in basketball, game 6, NBA final, 2013: Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs. As a little back story, I started supporting Miami Heat in 2010, when I was lucky enough to watch a live game when traveling to the US. It was a completely surreal experience for 10 year old me who had started playing basketball that year. These people were huge! They could reach the net like it was no effort and could cross the court in seconds when it felt never-ending to me. They had these insane tricks that they made look so easy. The Heat at that time also had the “triple threat” – Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and Lebron James. Every year since then, I’ve supported them whole heartedly, and was one of the designated Heat fans among Lakers and Celtics fans in my school. I was living in Ukraine at the time of the game, so I had to wake up at 5am to go into my living room and set up ESPN. My family friends stay the night, who were also Heat fans, and who, luckily, had the ESPN subscription. We had set up the couch to turn into a pull out bed and we all huddled on it with bowls of cereal (eventually, we would have to go to school). I was so nervous, the Spurs had been up the entire time, always at least a 1 game lead, and they were predicted to win this game, but we had hope. By the start of the fourth quarter, however, we had lost that hope. The Spurs were up a few points and it just didn’t look possible for Miami Heat to keep going. We were all packed and getting ready for school, disappointed that this will be a loss for Miami and preparing to hear all my friends give their “condolences”. The moment came with about 8 seconds left on the clock. Miami Heat had managed to get quite close, scoring many points throughout the 4th quarter. With 8 seconds left, they were down 92-95. This basically meant they needed one three pointer to tie the game and put them into over-time. This was the last play of the game, and Lebron James was going to take the 3-point shot. We all held our breath as Lebron went up for the shot. The second it hit the rim and missed, we all accepted defeat. Somehow, out of nowhere, Chris Bosh had gotten the rebound in a sea of Spurs players and passed it out to Ray Allen. Ray Allen took a step back and sunk a three-pointer to tie the game. The buzzer rang seconds after and the game went into overtime. We, and the crowd, went absolutely crazy! At this point, we still didn’t know if Miami were going to win the game in overtime, but we knew that was one of the best basketball plays we had ever seen. The dread of seeing Lebron James miss the shot followed by the completely shock of Ray Allen making it felt completely surreal. It was a one-in-a-million chance that it would have ended like that. In the end, Miami had managed to win in overtime and went on to game 7, where they managed to beat the Spurs and become the 2013 Champions. We all think the thrill and adrenaline from that shot is what led them to win overtime and Game 7. It feels amazing to have been able to watch a moment in basketball that is still considered one of the most memorable events in NBA history.
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