Examples of Near Perfection in Sports
- Thread starter LemonEars
- Start date
This run by Carter, especially the angle on the replay which shows much better than the live shot 3 Oregon defenders diving for him after he breaks initial contact and landing flat on their faces.
Who’s the guy that pitched a perfect game a few years back until the umpire incorrectly called a guy safe on a close play at first in the ninth inning?
Team USA tied Sweden in the opener and then won 6 straight. They had to beat Finland in the final for the gold. If they lost, the Russians would have won gold, in spite of beating them two days earlier. The medal round back then was round robin, not single elimination.
IIRC,
It was round robin, but counted the game against the other team from our group —Sweden. So beginning the medal rounds it looked like this:
USSR - 2
USA - 1
Sweden - 1
Finland - 0
We beat USSR and Sweden tied Finland making the standings:
USA - 3
USSR - 2
Sweden - 2
Finland - 1
If Finland beat us and Sweden tied USSR, all teams would have had 3 points. Tiebreaker was goal differential. We beat the Soviets by 1 and tied Sweden. Soviets beat Finland 4-2 and with the Sweden/Finland tie, goal differential was:
USSR +2
USA +1
Sweden 0
Finland -2
If Finland beat us by two and Sweden / USSR tie, we don’t get a medal.
As it turned out, the Soviets curb stomped Sweden 9-2, so we had to beat Finland for gold. A tie gets us Silver and a loss the bronze.
But we won.
Jesse Owens... ‘36 Olympics In Berlin and showing Nazi Germany that the Aryan race wasn’t all that.
Yes, Danny Harris in 1987. Saw Mike Shine run at Franklin Field in the post Olympics meet in 1976. Dwight Stones set the world record that night in the high jump.
New York Islanders from 1980 right up until losing to the Oilers in the ‘84 Cup finals. 4 straight Stanley Cups, 19 straight series wins. A hockey team that could truly do it all.
Renaldo Nehemiah first guy to go sub 13 seconds in the 110HH.
in the NFL, not so much.
Near perfect golf course (sorry Augusta) - Royal Dornoch - where Donald Ross grew up. It gave us so much.
Closest thing to this in the USA is probably the 6 courses at Bandon Dunes.
Perfection!
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Love to see it some day. Some of my peeps have been there and rave. PSU PGM just went there because their spring break trip to St. Andrews got scrubbed. Back to dornoch - If anyone goes to Scotland and doesn't make the trek there (It's almost in the arctic circle), you haven't completed your mission
I'
Love to see it some day. Some of my peeps have been there and rave. PSU PGM just went there because their spring break trip to St. Andrews got scrubbed. Back to dornoch - If anyone goes to Scotland and doesn't make the trek there (It's almost in the arctic circle), you haven't completed your mission
Here is a pic of Bandon Dunes.
If perfection and dominance are synonymous here, then
1992 Dream Team (men's basketball)
1992 Dream Team (men's basketball)
May 26, 1959: Pittsburgh Pirates Harvey Haddix pitches 12 perfect innings, loses in the 13th inning, 1-0 to the Milwaukee Braves
On a warm and muggy Tuesday evening at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, Harvey Haddix--who was 20-9 as a rookie in 1953, would win two games in the 1960 World Series, and 136 games in his 14-year major league career--was pitching the game of his life. The 33-year-old southpaw’s performance on May 26, 1959, would immortalize him as the game’s greatest loser.
In the years afterward, that game--the near-perfect, 13-inning loss--always came up: at old-timer games, reunions with teammates, banquets. Seemed wherever Haddix went, that’s all people wanted to talk about. The game had defined him and in no small part by the way he always talked about it graciously
“Yeah, I know,” Haddix replied. “But we were on the wrong end.”
Quote from Hank Aaron:
Still, 50 years later, baseball purists consider Haddix’s performance--no-hitter or not, loss and all--the greatest pitching display ever. “I don’t think enough credit has been given to Harvey for that game,” Aaron says. “Had it been pitched in New York, it would have been different, but I don’t know of anybody who has pitched a better game.”
On a warm and muggy Tuesday evening at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, Harvey Haddix--who was 20-9 as a rookie in 1953, would win two games in the 1960 World Series, and 136 games in his 14-year major league career--was pitching the game of his life. The 33-year-old southpaw’s performance on May 26, 1959, would immortalize him as the game’s greatest loser.
In the years afterward, that game--the near-perfect, 13-inning loss--always came up: at old-timer games, reunions with teammates, banquets. Seemed wherever Haddix went, that’s all people wanted to talk about. The game had defined him and in no small part by the way he always talked about it graciously
“Yeah, I know,” Haddix replied. “But we were on the wrong end.”
Quote from Hank Aaron:
Still, 50 years later, baseball purists consider Haddix’s performance--no-hitter or not, loss and all--the greatest pitching display ever. “I don’t think enough credit has been given to Harvey for that game,” Aaron says. “Had it been pitched in New York, it would have been different, but I don’t know of anybody who has pitched a better game.”
This. The differential to the prior, the duration of the record, showed that it was just one of those moments where everything was...perfect.
Chicago Bears 73, Washington Redskins 0.
(A game my great uncle played in and kicked a PAT or two)
(A game my great uncle played in and kicked a PAT or two)
I am not sure it it's been mentioned but Villanova's national championship game against Georgetown in 1985. They hit on 22 or 28 shots for a 78.6 percentage. This with three of their starters playing the entire 40 minutes (legs typically go making you miss shots short) and one playing 37 minutes. Not a single Georgetown player played all 40 minutes. Also, have to mention that four G-town players ended up being good NBA players (Patrick Ewing, Michael Jackson, David Wingate and Reggie Williams). https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/boxscores/1985-04-01-georgetown.html
You had to go there. I used to cringe when I thought about that Super Bowl. A chance to stamp yourself as the greatest team ever. But, Pats should have lost to Baltimore and could have lost to Philly. We’re losing steam by end of season. Didn’t exactly roll Jacksonville and SD in playoffs.
Winning 3 more has helped too
You had to go there. I used to cringe when I thought about that Super Bowl. A chance to stamp yourself as the greatest team ever. But, Pats should have lost to Baltimore and could have lost to Philly. We’re losing steam by end of season. Didn’t exactly roll Jacksonville and SD in playoffs.
Winning 3 more has helped too
You know what is funny. I didn’t even think about the Patriots. I thought the 18-1 was in reference to the record that Elroy Face had in 1959. I still say that one guy who SHOULD be in the Hall is Face and I am a Phillies lifer. Face was as good a reliever I saw until Fingers and Goose started the train.
