Let me start by saying this list was nearly impossible to put together.
2016 was, without question, the toughtest year I’ve ever had ranking top plays. The year was full of the most clutch performances we’ve likely ever seen. Toss in a few of the most random, eye-popping plays from around the world, and we have ourselves one of the most memorable sports years in decades.
Again, this is a very tough list to quantify. So feel free to tell us what we missed. Just be gentle.
Brady Bowen, minor league pitcher in the Cardinals organization, proved he has a bionic hand.
(Watch after the jump)
The Cubs third baseman felt no pressure while making the final out of the World Series to break the team’s 108-year-old curse.
Not only did this play solidify the Cavs’ amazing 1-3 come-from-behind series victory, it capped off an amazing fourth quarter that held one of the NBA’s all-time best teams scoreless. This block will also go down as one of the best defensive plays in NBA history and will define LeBron’s career.
You know who didn’t look impressed the slightest? The opposing manager.
(Watch after the jump)
The newest play on this list comes from a Pennsylvania high school state championship game.
Steel Valley running back Najheir West collapses into the endzone after an exhausting 60-yard TD run that mandated multiple spin moves, countless twists and turns through a wall of defenders and more timely footwork than a Dean Martin special.
(Watch after the jump)
Unless you live in the midwest or are an absolute college football fanatic, you’ve never even heard of Northwest Missouri State. But the team pulled off the best lateral play since the Music City Miracle this fall against Pittsburg State.
(Watch after the jump)
So it was a practice shot, but still one purposely attempted by the master-craftman. It doesn’t matter the shot looks like the Zapruder film. It blew our minds.
Paul Jesperson sounds like the name of your local handy-man, but this kid will be forever ingrained in every major March Madness highlight reel until the end of time. You just don’t see buzzer beaters like this every March Madness, especially from half court. It’s the most impressive NCAA buzzer beater of the decade.
Now we’re looking at a buzzer beater from down-undAH. Two prep teams, one-point ball game, then a buzzer beater to end all buzzer beaters. It’s a shot only seen in H-O-R-S-E … until now.
Although the two previous buzzer beaters may have been slightly more impressive, this was by-far the most notable.
Villanova won their first title in three decades after upsetting Roy Williams’ Tar Heels with an unreal dish-and-swish from behind the arc as time expired. Kris Jenkins and 2016 Villanova are now immortalized. This will go down as one of the best clutch plays in college basketball history.
Honorable Mention:
New world record basketball shot from top of dam
ETSU players knock down consecutive half court shots for students’ free tuition
Ryder Cup heckler sinks $100 putt
Billy Hamilton sprints 123 feet to make amazing diving catch
Buster Posey’s magic toss to Jake Peavy
Mike Hucker Clark’s insane BMX trick – best ever?
Max Scherzer’s record-tying 20 Ks
Pat Dickert, 6-foot-2, dunks from free throw line
The greatest comeback in 4×400 history
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.
Photo Credit: Getty
