Two Very Different Minor League Baseball Experiences

I started this year with nine states where I had never seen a sporting event.  I’m down to five now.  I crossed off Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire (leaving just Rhode Island to go in New England).  And I was recently in South Dakota on my way to Minnesota for some minor league baseball.  There aren’t many sports options in South Dakota, but Sioux Falls has an independent league baseball team.  Sioux Falls is the biggest city in South Dakota with a population of 192,517 in the 2020 census.  It was my first time spending a night in South Dakota since my only previous time in South Dakota was driving through the state on my way to North Dakota.

It was an adventure getting to Sioux Falls.  I had to go from New York to Detroit to the Twin Cities to Sioux Falls.  Originally I was scheduled to leave JFK at 8:00 in the morning and get to Sioux Falls at 3:24 in the afternoon.  After I booked my flights, Delta rescheduled them so that I would leave at 7:22 and get to Sioux Falls at 5:36.  I was going to see the Sioux Falls Canaries at 6:35.  I was staying at an airport hotel and I could walk to the stadium in like five minutes so as long as my flight was on time, that wasn’t an issue.  It turned out to be a rough day of travel.  I was on the train to JFK at 5:01 in the morning.  The line to get through security was really long.  I got through before 7:00, but I had a very long walk through the terminal to get to the gate.  I made it there as they were doing the final boarding.  From there things were going smoothly until I got to Minnesota.  I ended up spending more time in Minnesota that day than I did in South Dakota.  My long layover in Minnesota ended up being five hours instead of two hours and 45 minutes and I got to South Dakota around 8:00.  I watched the entire Dodger game that day on my iPad in the airport (Ohtani pitched well and hit a home run, but the Dodgers found a way to lose).

As it became clear that I would be late for the game in Sioux Falls, I was just hoping I could get a hot dog and a beer at the game.  I got to the game in the seventh inning.  I had already bought my ticket, but I could have just walked in without a ticket because nobody was checking them by the time I got there.  I was able to get a hot dog and a beer.  The hot dog was good.  The beer was disappointing.  I figured I didn’t have time to explore the stadium so I just went with the first option I saw.  But I had done my research before the game and it didn’t seem like there were many other options anyway.  The beer was a Bird’s Brew (specially made for the Canaries) from the Take 16 Brewing Company.  The Take 16 Brewing Company is in Luverne, Minnesota (about 40 minutes away from Sioux Falls).  It looked like other than that, it was just cheap beer.  How do you not have some South Dakota beer?

As for the game, it was the Sioux Falls Canaries taking on the Winnipeg Goldeyes.  They play in the American Association of Professional Baseball.  It was my second ever American Association game.  I saw the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks take on the Grand Prairie AirHogs (a team that no longer exists) in 2015.  That was my only trip to North Dakota and it was also part of the trip that was my only previous time in South Dakota.  I was there for the whole game that time, but of course I only saw three innings this time in Sioux Falls.  Winnipeg hit a two run home run in the first and then added runs on RBI singles in the second and fifth to make the score 4-0.  That was the score when I got there.  And that was the score when the game ended.  So I barely saw a sporting event in South Dakota, but I got a hot dog and a beer and saw three innings so I’m counting it.  The game lasted two hours and 26 minutes.  It was 80° and partly cloudy so it was really good baseball weather.  Attendance was 1,442.  Sioux Falls Stadium is going to rank low on my minor league stadium rankings.  The food selection was underwhelming (but the hot dog was good), the beer selection was bad, and the biggest problem was the artificial turf.  The stadium has been around since 1941.  It didn’t seem that old (it was renovated in 2000).  So it could be a good stadium.  The problems are very fixable.  The most costly would be putting grass back in.  Apparently they switched to artificial turf in 2022.  So that was a gigantic waste of money and they probably won’t fix it any time soon.  The scourge of artificial turf in baseball stadiums must be eliminated.

It was getting dark by the time I got there.

The next day I was on my way to the Twin Cities.  After the disaster of getting to Sioux Falls, I had my easiest airport security experience ever in the Sioux Falls airport (I could have taken a bus, but they were not at convenient times and flying was pretty cheap).  There was nobody on the security line when I got there.  And you don’t have to take your shoes off anymore.  And I didn’t have to take my iPad out (that varies whenever I travel and I have no idea what they’re going to tell me any time I go to an airport).  So I got through security very quickly.

I’ll cover most of my time in Minnesota in my next blog post, but I figured it would make sense to finish up my minor league baseball experiences in this blog post.  I was seeing Dennis for the first time since I saw him at Notre Dame in the summer of 2018 (I’ve lost track of how many Notre Dame degrees he has, but I think it’s three or four).  We went to see the St. Paul Saints.  St. Paul was the sixth or seventh state capital I’ve been to this summer (also Atlanta, Montpelier, Concord, Boston, Hartford, and I don’t know if I was ever actually in Raleigh or not when I was in North Carolina).  But for all the other ones, I was just traveling through.  I spent a lot of time in St. Paul.  With a population of 311,527 in 2020, it’s Minnesota’s second biggest city.  The Saints play at CHS Field, which was built in 2015.  I remember seeing the stadium when I visited Dennis in Minnesota in 2015, but we didn’t go to a game.  The stadium is very good.  It’s surprising how good it is because it was built when the Saints were still an independent league team.  They were in the American Association when the stadium was built.  In 2021, they became the triple-A affiliate of the Twins.

We saw the Saints take on the Iowa Cubs.  Iowa went up 5-0 in the third inning, scoring on a fielder’s choice, an RBI double, and a three run home run.  Former Dodger James Outman was the leadoff batter for the Saints.  He hit a home run in the bottom of the third to make it 5-1.  I would have applauded him as a former Dodger, but he was the DH and I couldn’t do it because of my moral opposition to the designated hitter.  The Saints tied it in the fourth inning, scoring on a sacrifice fly, a fielder’s choice/throwing error, and a two run home run.  And then they took the lead in the fifth on an RBI triple.  And that was all the scoring as the Saints won 6-5.

The forecast in St. Paul looked a little questionable at one point, but it turned out fine.

CHS Stadium was fantastic.  To eat, I had a chili cheese dog.  It wasn’t great, but I wanted to have a hot dog as it might have been my last hot dog at a baseball game in 2025.  To drink, I had a Mango Blonde from the Lift Bridge Brewing Company in Stillwater, Minnesota.  It sounded like a good summery beer.  I didn’t love it.  It could have been colder.  But I give CHS Stadium credit for having an excellent local beer selection.  Dennis had a very non-summery beer (like an oatmeal stout or something).  We got our beers at a bar down the left field line that probably had about 20 local beers on tap.  There are Major League stadiums that don’t have a beer selection that comes anywhere close to CHS Field.  The game took two hours and 32 minutes.  It was 85° and attendance was 8,059.  That’s close to the biggest crowd I’ve ever been a part of at a minor league game (I think the biggest was 8,500 in Birmingham).

The other really cool thing about the stadium was the little museum about baseball in St. Paul.  I remember first hearing of the St. Paul Saints when Darryl Strawberry was playing for them before the Yankees signed him.  The museum had the letter that Brian Cashman sent to the Saints with a check for $3000 to purchase the contract of Darryl Strawberry.  This version of the Saints started as an independent league team in 1993.  But there was a previous version of the Saints that existed from 1901-1960.  It looks like they ceased to exist when the Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961.  That previous version of the Saints was an affiliate of the Dodgers from 1944-1960 (it looks like they were triple-A from 1946-1960 and double-A before that).  Walter Alston was their manager for two years and Duke Snider and Roy Campanella played for them.  Four-time NBA Champion with the Boston Celtics and Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Sharman also played for the Saints (apparently he got called up to the Dodgers at one point, but never played in a game).  I had no idea about the previous version of the Saints and their connection to the Dodgers.  The current team has uniforms that kind of have a Dodgers look to them so that might be a nod to their history.  So despite not a great food and beverage experience for me personally, I was very impressed by CHS Field.  One thing that would have made it even better would be a better backdrop.  Like if you just rotated the stadium 180°, it would have an excellent backdrop of St. Paul.  But if they did that, you would also have hitters facing west and the setting sun when they’re hitting.  So there’s a good reason why the stadium is oriented the way it is.

Duke Snider ended up being one of the greatest Dodgers ever, but he played for the St. Paul Saints first.  This says that he played for the Saints in 1948, but apparently it was 1947.  He hit .316/.352/.584 with 12 home runs in 66 games for the Saints.

Bill Sharman made eight All Star Teams and seven All NBA teams, won four NBA Championships with the Celtics, and made it to the Basketball Hall of Fame, but during two off seasons he hit .293/.344/.437 with 27 home runs in 270 games with the Saints.

I remembered Darryl Strawberry playing for the Saints and then coming to the Yankees.  What I did not remember was that he played for the Yankees in 1995 and then for the Saints in 1996 before coming back to the Yankees.  He hit .435/.538/1.000 with 18 home runs in 29 games with the Saints.

I’m definitely done for the year going to minor league stadiums that I hadn’t been to yet.  So it’s time to update my minor league stadium rankings.  Really these are non-Major League stadiums.  Some of them aren’t minor league stadiums anymore.  Two are college stadiums.  Three are homes of collegiate summer league teams.  Two are minor league and/or spring training stadiums where I’ve seen Major League games.  I’m adding stadiums that I had been to before this year but I hadn’t included in my previous rankings (a college stadium and two collegiate summer league stadiums).  These rankings are based on my experiences when I’ve been to them.  I haven’t been to a Long Island Ducks game since they replaced wonderful grass with the abomination of artificial turf.  So their stadium is ranked a lot higher than it would be if they had artificial turf when I went there.  Anyway, here we go:

41. Sioux Falls Stadium

40. Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen

39. Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton

38. Walker Stadium in Portland, Oregon (which I did not include in my last rankings)

37. Dehler Park in Billings

36. Arvest Ballpark in Springdale

35. Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage (I never included it in my rankings before)

34. Autozone Park in Memphis

33. TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey

32.  Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls

31. Memorial Stadium in Boise

30. KeySpan Park in Brooklyn

29. Newman Outdoor Field in Fargo

28. Isotopes Park in Albuquerque

27. TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha

26. Daniel S. Frawley Stadium in Wilmington

25.  Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster

24. Centennial Field in Burlington

23. Frank Eck Stadium at Notre Dame- I had never ranked this one before and I have to include a note on it.  Objectively this should rank 41st.  There’s artificial turf, no beer (they’re going to start selling beer at football, basketball, and hockey games this year, but not baseball), and small crowds.  But my rankings are based on my experiences.  And I like being on campus at Notre Dame.  So this is ranked way too high. It was grass when I was a student there, but I’ve been to games before and after the switch to artificial turf.  I wish they would invest a lot more in the baseball program.  I would go back to grass, make the stadium nicer, and start selling beer.  So yes, I have this one very overrated, but I still have 22 stadiums ahead of it.

22. Sahlen Field in Buffalo

21. Greater Nevada Field in Reno

20. NBT Bank Stadium in Syracuse

19. Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island

18. Hadlock Field in Portland, Maine

17. Dickey-Stephens Park in Little Rock

16. Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy

15. Bethpage Ballpark in Central Islip

14. Four Winds Field in South Bend

13. Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie

12. Riverfront Stadium in Wichita

11. Louisville Slugger Field

10. George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa 

9. Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester

8. Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City

7. Las Vegas Ballpark

6. Durham Bulls Athletic Park

5. Frontier Field in Rochester

4. Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park in Charleston

3. Dunkin Donuts Park in Hartford

2. Regions Field in Birmingham

1. CHS Field in St. Paul

We’ll see what next year brings as far as minor league games, but these are teams that I might go see play at home:

Sacramento A’s (of course they’re a Major League team, but they’re playing in a minor league stadium)

Charlotte Knights

Indianapolis Indians

Lehigh Valley IronPigs

Norfolk Tides

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (I could do some Office-related stuff in Scranton)

Worcester Red Sox (I’ve heard good things about their stadium)

Salt Lake Bees (Salt Lake City is far away, but easy to fly to)

Altoona Curve

Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Harrisburg Senators

Reading Fightin Phils

Richmond Flying Squirrels (they’re getting a new stadium next year so they’re high on the list)

Biloxi Shuckers (since I haven’t seen a sporting event in Mississippi yet)

Vancouver Canadians (I just got my passport renewed last year so this might be part of a bigger trip out west)

Fredericksburg Nationals

Lynchburg Hillcats

Charleston Dirty Birds (the play in the same league as the Ducks and I’ve never been to a sporting event in West Virginia)

Chicago Dogs (like the Sioux Falls Canaries, they play in the American Association and they play in a fairly new stadium that’s right by O’Hare so it would be easy to get to)

Of course, a lot depends on next year’s schedules, but I’d like to a handful.  This year I got to nine non-Major League Baseball stadiums for the first time.  That was a lot, but it was only five separate trips because all four of my trips this summer included two non-Major League stadiums).  If I got to like 4-8 next year, that would be pretty good.   So I have no idea which ones I’ll get to next year, but hopefully it will be a decent number and hopefully I’ll be able to cross off at least one of West Virginia or Mississippi.

Michigan and Nixon

Last year I compared the state of pitching in baseball to nuclear disarmament.  Now I’m making another analogy between sports and history.  Michigan got their “punishment” from the NCAA today.  Let’s think about this as if it were the Watergate scandal, but slightly altered to make the analogy work.

Scenario 1:  People who worked for Nixon committed crimes.  The crimes had no impact on the election.  Nixon was not involved and when he found out what happened, he immediately cooperated fully with the investigation.

Scenario 2:  Nixon approved the Watergate break in.  The crimes committed helped Nixon win the election.  Nixon tried to cover up the crimes and destroyed evidence.

Of course, neither of those is exactly what happened with Watergate, but I am trying to make the analogy work.  In which scenario should Nixon get the harsher punishment?  Of course, it’s scenario 2.  But if it was up to the NCAA, Nixon would have been removed from office and thrown in prison for scenario 1 and he would have had to pay a fine for scenario 2.

Scenario 1 is Notre Dame.  There are examples with other schools also, but I’m most familiar with the Notre Dame frozen five scandal from 2012-2013.  Notre Dame had some players who were cheating in their classes.  When the university found out about it, the players were immediately suspended and Notre Dame cooperated with the investigation.  This was an academic scandal.  The team gained no competitive advantage on the football field.  The players rightfully faced consequences from the university.  Notre Dame handled the situation correctly.  Notre Dame had to vacate two seasons of wins.  You could argue over whether that was a fair punishment because we did use players who should have been ineligible, but this was an academic scandal where the university acted appropriately.

Scenario 2 is Michigan.  They were cheating to win football games.  Did they have to vacate any of those illegitimate wins?  No.  The NCAA said that there were grounds for a multiyear postseason ban, but they didn’t want to punish players who weren’t involved in the scandal.  I can live with that (although the players could easily transfer these days).  But if that’s the case, why not punish the team that actually benefited from the cheating?  All those wins were tainted.  Sure, Michigan would have won a lot of those games anyway, but that doesn’t change the fact that they cheated.  Notre Dame didn’t say, “Well, those players probably would have passed their classes if they weren’t cheating so we’re not going to punish them.”  It doesn’t matter what might have happened if the cheating didn’t happen.  The cheating did happen and it taints everything.  All the wins should be vacated.  Instead, they got fines and punishments for coaches.  Jim Harbaugh got a show-cause order for ten years, which doesn’t start until 2028 because he already had another show-cause order.  Michigan is so dirty.  Sherrone Moore got a three game suspension.  I don’t really care how many games he got, but the structure of the suspension is a complete joke.  Michigan had already suspended Moore for two games so the NCAA just added another game.  But Michigan’s suspension was for weeks 3 and 4.  Why weeks 3 and 4?  Because they didn’t want to suspend him for the Oklahoma game in week 2.  So he’s suspended for Central Michigan and Nebraska.  The NCAA allowed that absurdity and added one extra game to the suspension.  When is that game?  The first game of 2026, which is Western Michigan.  If three games is the right number, it should be the first three games of 2025, not three games whenever it’s convenient for Michigan.

Michigan’s national championship is as legitimate as the Houston Astros’ 2017 World Series championship.  The Astros absolutely should have had that championship stripped.  Of course, the Dodgers were the last team to be wronged in that cheating scandal, but not the only team.  I didn’t want the championship to be given to the Dodgers, but the Astros definitely shouldn’t have been allowed to keep it.  It should just have been that there was no World Series champion in 2017.  And that’s the way it should have been for the 2023 college football season.  Despite the uselessness of Rob Manfred and the NCAA, anybody who knows what happened knows that the Astros and Michigan do not deserve their championships.

Barry Bonds has the single season and all time home run records (at least Bonds had to pay the price of not making the Hall of Fame).  The Astros won the 2017 World Series.  Michigan won the national championship for the 2023 college football season.  All of those “accomplishments” are completely meaningless.

My Top 25 Sports Moments

Back in May, the Dodgers played the Mets and Yankees in consecutive weeks on Apple TV.  I went to the game against the Mets, but then they played the Yankees in Los Angeles so I had to get Apple TV for that.  I was able to do a free trial and cancel it, but it remains annoying that Major League Baseball makes it more difficult to watch games.  The one good thing about getting Apple TV for a week was watching the documentary they made about the 2024 World Series.  That was the inspiration for this blog post.  I thought about the top sports moments of my lifetime.  I have some rules.  They are my favorite moments, not an objective list of sports moments.  So Ray Allen is going to be on this list, but not for his three to save the Heat in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals.  They have to be moments that I can remember experiencing.  I remember hearing about Kirk Gibson’s home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and I’ve watched that game several times over the years, but I almost certainly did not see it live when I was four years old.  So that won’t be on the list.  I’m going with specific moments, not entire games or sequences.  So I’m not just going to pick the Dodgers’ comeback in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.  Speaking of Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, I’m limiting the list to one moment per game for the top 25 (there will be some honorable mentions that were in the same game as a top 25 moment).  If I didn’t do that, 40% of this list might be that game and the 2025 Orange Bowl.  If I was in attendance, that definitely helps.  I was in attendance for some of these, but most of them I watched on TV.  And finally, context matters.  Like if I was a Met fan, the Endy Chavez catch in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS was amazing, but the Mets ended up losing that game.  So a play like that might make the list, but it wouldn’t rank as high as it would if the Mets ended up winning that game and winning the World Series.

Between the top 25 and honorable mentions, I have a lot of moments.  And it’s entirely possible that I’m just forgetting something.  If I forget something, that might be evidence that it wasn’t a great moment.  But I think it’s more likely that my memory isn’t great.  Like I almost forgot Charlie Culberson’s home run in 2016.  It didn’t make the top 25, but it definitely deserved consideration.  The list is going to be mostly Notre Dame football, the Dodgers, and Celtics, but not entirely.  Before I get to the list, let’s get to some honorable mentions that I considered.  I’ll break it down by team or sport and go in chronological order.

Notre Dame Football

2005- Darius Walker 51 yard touchdown on a screen pass against Pittsburgh (this was Notre Dame’s first touchdown when I was a student), Tom Zbikowski 60 yard punt return touchdown against USC (I was there), Tom Zbikowski 78 yard punt return touchdown against Tennessee, Darius Walker direct snap two point conversion against Stanford (I was there for all of these except for the Stanford game)

2006- Terrail Lambert completes the comeback against Michigan State with a 27 yard interception return, Brady Quinn 45 yard touchdown pass to Jeff Samardzija to beat UCLA (I was there)

2012- Stephon Tuitt 77 yard fumble return for a touchdown against Navy (I was there), Tommy Rees 38 yard pass to Tyler Eifert to seal the win against Michigan (I was there), Stopping Stanford on 4th and goal in overtime to win, Manti Te’o interception against Oklahoma, Everett Golson two point conversion to tie Pittsburgh

2014- Everett Golson 23 yard touchdown pass on 4th and 11 to Ben Koyack to beat Stanford (I was there)

2018- Brandon Wimbush 43 yard touchdown pass to Chris Finke against Michigan, Tony Jones 51 yard touchdown on a swing pass against USC

2020- Daelin Hayes sack in overtime against Clemson

2024- Xavier Watts 100 yard interception return against USC, Jeremiyah Love 98 yard touchdown against Indiana, Jayden Harrison 98 yard kick return touchdown in the Sugar Bowl, Love 2 yard touchdown in the Orange Bowl, Riley Leonard 54 yard touchdown pass to Jaden Greathouse in the Orange Bowl, Mitch Jeter 41 yard field goal to take the lead with seven seconds left in the Orange Bowl

Dodgers

2013- Juan Uribe home run in Game 4 of the NLDS

2016- Charlie Culberson game winning home run in Vin Scully’s last game at Dodger Stadium to clinch the NL West, Clayton Kershaw strikes out Wilmer Difo to get the save in Game 5 of the NLDS

2017- Justin Turner home run to win Game 2 of the NLCS, Chris Taylor leads off Game 1 of the World Series with a home run

2018- Cody Bellinger catch in Game 4 of the NLCS, Chris Taylor catch in Game 7 of the NLCS, Kershaw strikes out Mike Moustakas to finish Game 7 of the NLCS

2020- Cody Bellinger catch in Game 2 of the NLDS, Will Smith home run against Will Smith in Game 5 of the NLCS, Mookie Betts catches in Games 5, 6, and 7, Justin Turner double play in Game 7 of the NLCS, Kershaw catching Manuel Margot trying to steal home in Game 5 of the World Series, Austin Barnes hit to knock Blake Snell out of Game 6, Corey Seager drives in Betts to take the lead in Game 6, Mookie Betts home run in Game 6

2021- Chris Taylor home run to win the Wild Card Game, Cody Bellinger RBI single in the top of the 9th in Game 5 of the NLDS

2024- Kiké Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez home runs in Game 5 of the NLDS, Teoscar Hernandez double to tie Game 5 of the World Series, Mookie Betts sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers the lead in Game 5

Celtics

2008- PJ Brown shot to give the Celtics a three point lead late in the fourth quarter in Game 7 against the Cavaliers, Paul Pierce back to back 3s after getting hurt in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Any Leon Powe dunk in Game 2, Eddie House gives the Celtics the lead in Game 4 of the NBA Finals

2022- Jayson Tatum spinning around Kyrie Irving to make the game winning layup at the buzzer in Game 1 against the Nets

2024- Jaylen Brown 3 to tie Game 1 against the Pacers, Jrue Holiday steal to seal Game against the Pacers, Xavier Tillman 3 in Game 3 against the Mavericks, Jaylen Brown shot to give the Celtics a four-point lead with a minute to play Game 3 against the Mavericks

Jets/NFL (the years are the season, not necessarily the actual calendar year when the game was played)

1998- Keyshawn Johnson intercepts a pass to seal the Jets’ playoff win against the Jaguars

2000- Curtis Martin game winning touchdown pass to Wayne Chrebet against the Buccaneers

2001- John Hall game winning 53 yard field goal against the Raiders to send the Jets to the playoffs

2009- Shonn Greene 53 yard touchdown run against the Chargers in the playoffs

2010- David Harris intercepts Tom Brady and returns in 58 yards in the playoffs

Any of the four times Justin Tuck sacked Tom Brady in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI or the time he got held in the end zone for a safety in Super Bowl XLVI

Hockey

1994- Final face off of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals (if I had been older than 10, this would probably make the top 25; also Stephane Matteau’s overtime goal in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals would get consideration, but I don’t think I watched that live)

2014- USA beats Russia in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia on T.J. Oshie’s fourth goal of the shootout

Toughest omissions:  Quinn to Samardzija against UCLA, Golson to Koyack, Kershaw striking out Wilmer Difo, Chris Taylor’s catch, one of the Mookie Betts catches from the 2020 NLCS (the fact that there were three of them in three straight games makes it tough to pick just one, I think the one in Game 6 was the best, but they’re all really good), Justin Turner’s double play, Tatum’s layup at the buzzer against the Nets, Brown’s three against the Pacers, David Harris intercepting Tom Brady, Justin Tuck getting held for a safety in Super Bowl XLVI (because it put points on the board), Justin Tuck’s second sack in Super Bowl XLVI (because it sealed the game), the final face off in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals

Anyway, let's get to the top 25:

25. Tim Kenny fumble against Army in 2006- A Notre Dame fumble recovered by the opponent gets the 25th spot on the list.  Why?  It was my last home game as a student and we were up 41-3 and if he didn’t fumble, it would have been the last play of the game (or we might have had to kneel down one time depending on when the clock started after the first down).  Instead Army recovered the fumble and the game continued for four more plays.  That meant that my former roommate Kyle got to get on the field.  We were hoping he would get to play on Senior Day, but he came very close to not getting the chance.  Another walk-on fumbling gave him that chance.

24.  Derrick White game winning put back at the buzzer of Game 6 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals

23. Max Muncy game winning home run in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the World Series

22.  Brady Quinn five yard touchdown run to give Notre Dame the lead 31-28 in 2005

These three plays are in their own category.  They could all rank much higher.  Each one would be a top five moment, but what happened next hurt their ranking.  Derrick White saved the Celtics from elimination when he got the offensive rebound on Marcus Smart’s missed three and scored at the buzzer to give the Celtics a 104-103 win in Game 6 against the Heat.  Unfortunately, Jayson Tatum sprained his ankle early in Game 7 and the Celtics lost.  Max Muncy Muncy’s home run in the bottom of the 18th inning gave the Dodgers a chance in the World Series after losing the first two games.  It looked like the Dodgers were going to win Game 4 and have all the momentum on their side, but the Red Sox came back and won Game 4 and Game 5 to win the series.  And Brady Quinn gave Notre Dame the lead with 2:04 left to play against USC in 2005.  I was there and this was the most hyped game of my time as a Notre Dame student.  Because of the college football playoff, there will never be another game at Notre Dame stadium of this magnitude.  Brady Quinn scrambled and scored on second and goal.  He might have been down short of the goal line, but they weren’t using instant replay to review calls in that game.  If he was marked short, the clock would have kept running and we could have taken the lead on third down and left USC with less time.  Of course, we still had a pretty good chance to win the game.  We had USC with a third and 20 on their own 15.  But then they had an 11 yard pass and a 61 yard pass.  Then they benefitted from fumbling.  After getting another first down to make it first and goal, Matt Leinart scrambled and fumbled out of bounds at the 1 with seven seconds left.  If he was tackled in bounds or if he fumbled in bounds and USC recovered, the clock would keep running.  If he fumbled in bounds and we recovered, it’s game over.  If it was a fumble that went through the end zone and out of bounds, it would be a touchback and the game would be over.  But because the fumble went out of bounds, the clock stopped and then Reggie Bush pushed Matt Leinart into the end zone (when that was illegal, also Reggie Bush was a professional football player playing college football when that was illegal) on a quarterback sneak on first and goal.  I think all three of these moments could be number 2 on this list if things had turned out better.

21.  Vinny Testaverde touchdown pass to Jumbo Elliot with 42 seconds left to tie the game against the Dolphins in 2000- The Jets trailed the Dolphins 30-7 going into the fourth quarter.  They tied the game at 30, but then the Dolphins retook the lead 37-30.  On second and goal, offensive lineman Jumbo Elliot caught the touchdown to tie the game and the Jets went on to win 40-37 in overtime.

20. Pat Connaughton blocks a shot to send the game against Butler to overtime in the NCAA Tournament- This was back when the second round of the NCAA tournament was called “the third round.”  The game was tied at 55 with two seconds left with Butler inbounding the ball in the front court.  Connaughton blocked a three from the corner to send the game to overtime and we ended up winning 67-64.  I needed a Notre Dame men’s basketball moment.  The best game was the five overtime game against Louisville in 2013.  Jerian Grant scored 12 points in the last 44 seconds to get the game to overtime, but that was a sequence, not one specific moment.  And there’s not one overtime moment that stands out.  Louisville had the ball with a chance to win to end the first four overtimes and didn’t score.  And in the fifth overtime, we took the lead with 1:20 left and led for the rest of the game.

19.  Arike Ogunbolwale game winner for the National Championship against Mississippi State- She also made the game winner in the semifinal against UConn with one second left.  This would definitely rank higher if I cared more about women’s basketball.  It also might rank higher if the championship game was against UConn instead of Mississippi State.  And the fact that they had to review it and put a tenth of the second back on the clock hurts it a little bit.

18.  Clayton Kershaw strikes out Corey Dickerson to finish a no hitter- There are some great pitchers who never threw a no-hitter, but I believed that Clayton Kershaw would do it.  He was absolutely dominant in this game and he finished it off with a strikeout on a slider.  It should have been a perfect game.  Don Mattingly left Hanley Ramirez in the game too long and he made an error.  If I made a list of my least favorite moments, that error would be on the list.  It wouldn’t be as high as the Bush Push, Ron Artest’s three in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals or Juan Soto’s home run in Game 5 of the NLDS, but it would be on the list.

17.  John Shuster double for 5 in the eighth end to put us up 10-5 and lock up the gold medal

16.  Jason Lezak comes back to win against France by 8 hundredths of a second

We’ve reached the greatest moments in US Olympic History in my lifetime.  Of course, curling is my favorite Winter Olympic sport.  And the US was terrible in Olympic curling.  Then in 2018, we made it to the Gold Medal Game and we were locked in a tight matchup against Sweden.  John Shuster’s double made it 10-5 with only two ends to play and we were on our way to our first gold medal in curling.  And I view swimming as the main event of the Summer Olympics.  In 2008 Michael Phelps won eight medals and they were all gold medals.  But it looked like he would have to settle for a silver medal in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.  France had the lead and Jason Lezak chased down Alain Bernard on the last lap to give the US the gold medal.

15.  Robert Hughes five yard touchdown run against USC in 2010- We weren’t very good and neither were they.  But they had beaten us eight straight years (but it should be pointed out that one of those was vacated for cheating).  We hadn’t beaten USC since I was in high school.  Robert Hughes gave us a 20-16 lead with 2:23 left to play and we held on to win.  Hughes had four carries for 36 yards on that drive.  They couldn’t tackle him.  It was beautiful.  It gave me hope that things were changing for Notre Dame football.  Starting with that game, we’re 10-4 against USC (that includes two wins vacated because of NCAA ridiculousness, not for using professional players when that was illegal like USC did) and we made it to a BCS Championship Game and the College Football Playoff three times while USC has not played a postseason game with a chance to win a National Championship since then.  I don’t think a lot of Notre Dame fans would put this in their top ten Notre Dame football moments of this century, but we absolutely needed to start beating USC again and the way Robert Hughes ran them over to win the game was beautiful.

14.  Kevin Garnett throw in basket and the foul in Game 6 of the NBA Finals- This was at the end of the first half.  Garnett went up for a shot in the paint, got fouled, and just threw the ball with one hand off the backboard into the basket.  He made the free throw to make it 56-35.  The celebration was starting as the Celtics were blowing out the Lakers to win the championship.

13.  Cody Bellinger home run in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS- The Braves led this series 3-1.  They led Game 7 2-0.  Bellinger’s home run made it 4-3 in the seventh to give the Dodgers their first lead of the game.  That ended up being the final score and after losing the World Series in 2017 and 2018 and perhaps the most disappointing elimination for the Dodgers of my lifetime in 2019, the Dodgers were on their way back to the World Series.

12.  Paul Pierce outhustles LeBron James to a jump ball with a minute left in Game 7 in the second round in 2008- This was the one moment when the Celtics could have been kept from winning the championship in 2008.  They were up 91-88 with a jump ball between Zydrunas Ilgauskas and James Posey.  Ilgauskas tipped it back and Pierce boxed out LeBron James, tipped the ball, and went to the floor to get the ball and call time out right in front of LeBron James.  The Celtics ended up winning 97-92.  The other thing with Pierce that stands out was coming back from a seemingly serious injury in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and hitting back to back threes.  That was more of a sequence than a single moment so this is the Paul Pierce moment that makes the list.

11.  Christian Gray 99 yard interception return for a touchdown against USC in 2024- USC’s next drive ended with a Xavier Watts 100 yard interception return for a touchdown, but Christian Gray’s came first and it pretty much sealed our victory.  We had dominated most of the game, but USC was showing some life late in the game.  USC was moving the ball with a chance to tie it, but instead we were up 42-28 with 3:39 left and the game was pretty much over.  It also clinched our spot in the playoff.

10.  Ian Book to Avery Davis for 53 yards to set up first and goal at the Clemson 4 with just over a minute left in regulation in 2020- This play led to Avery Davis catching a four yard pass on third and goal and then the extra point to tie the game with 22 seconds left.  Kyren Williams gave Notre Dame the lead with a three yard touchdown run in the second overtime.  The 53 yard completion was much more exciting than a four yard touchdown catch or a three yard touchdown run so that’s why I’m going with the play that didn’t tie it or take the lead.  Daelin Hayes sacked DJ Uiagalelei on second down to make it third and 24 and that’s when I knew we were going to win.  If that play had been the last play of the game, I would put it ahead of the Avery Davis catch, but Clemson still had two more plays to try to get a first down and keep the game going.  The game ended with a completion and Clemson attempting to lateral with the ball eventually being fumbled.  So the ending was a little anticlimactic.  But this was the best regular season win for Notre Dame since at least 1993 so it deserves a moment in the top 10.

9.  Clayton Kershaw home run on Opening Day- This would probably be on the list no matter what, but it makes the top 10 because I was there for it.  I always wanted to go to Opening Day.  I just happened to pick the one where Clayton Kershaw threw a shutout and hit the only home run of his career.  And it was a really significant home run.  Kershaw had completed eight scoreless innings and was due to lead off the bottom of the eighth in a scoreless tie.  I figured that they would pinch hit for him, but Don Mattingly let him hit and he hit a home run to center to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead.  The Dodgers tacked on three more runs and beat the Giants (their biggest rival) 4-0 with Kershaw finishing the shutout in the ninth.

8.  Kristaps Porzingis blocks Kyrie Irving in Game 1 of the NBA Finals- It was the last minute of the first quarter.  Porzinigis, who loved being a Celtic, blocked Kyrie Irving, the most dislikable guy who used to play for the Celtics (I refuse to call Kyrie Irving a Celtic, he was just a guy who played for the Celtics).  After blocking the shot, Porzingis got the ball to Jrue Holiday, who brought the ball down the floor and found Sam Hauser in the corner for a three to make it 37-20.  When Porzingis blocked the shot, I knew the Celtics were winning the series.

7.  Max Wittek throws incomplete on fourth and goal at the one and a half to clinch Notre Dame’s win against USC in 2012- I could probably come up with a list of 25 moments from the 2012 Notre Dame football season.  This one gets the top spot because it clinched a spot in the championship game.  We finished off a magical regular season undefeated and ranked number 1.  The goal line stand against Stanford was more impressive because Stanford was much better than USC, but this was the moment where we were going to the championship game and it was against our biggest rival.  Also, it was a terrible decision by Lane Kiffin.  They were down by nine and a field goal could have helped them, but he went for a touchdown and didn’t get it.  Also, I don’t get why everybody has decided that they like Lane Kiffin now.  I still don’t like him, but I do like him a lot more than Pete Carroll or Lincoln Riley.

6.  Julio Urias strikes out Willy Adames to win the World Series- There were a lot of really good moments in Game 6 in 2020.  Austin Barnes got a hit to knock Blake Snell out of the game when he was dominating (just an absolutely terrible decision by Kevin Cash), Corey Seager driving in Mookie Betts to give the Dodgers the lead, and Mookie Betts hitting a home run to give the Dodgers an insurance run.  But this was the moment when the wait was over.  The 1988 World Series was the first sporting event that I remember happening, but I was four years old.  I went to my first ever baseball game the year after the Dodgers won the World Series in 1988 (although one of my first memories is being in Shea Stadium for a Dodgers-Mets game that never happened in 1988 because it got rained out).  I had waited 32 years to see the Dodgers win the World Series and they finally did it.  Now I wish it had been Kenley Jansen or Blake Treinen who finished it off instead of Julio Urias, but it was great to finally win the World Series.

5.  Payton Pritchard half court three in Game 5- The Celtics were almost certainly going to win this game, but when Pritchard made that shot going into halftime to give them a 21-point lead going into halftime, I knew the game was over and the Celtics were winning their 18th NBA Championship

4.  Christian Gray intercepts Drew Allar in the Orange Bowl- There are so many good choices from the Orange Bowl.  One of them had to be in the top 5 on this list.  The Jeremiyah Love touchdown is my favorite Notre Dame touchdown ever, but so much happened after that (Penn State tied it and retook the lead and then we tied it again).  We still needed to make a 41 yard field goal after that to win the game, but I’m putting the interception as my top moment from that game.  Penn State had the ball with less than a minute left with a chance to win the game.  Gray intercepted Allar on a first down play and gave us very good field position with 33 seconds left to set up the winning field goal.  And as awesome as the winning field goal was, it was a 41 yard field goal.  You expect a good kicker to make that kick (calling our kicker good last season is a little bit of a stretch, but that was just him doing what he was on the team for, it wasn’t a special play).  The interception meant that instead of hoping for overtime, I expected that we would win it in regulation.  If this happened in the Championship Game, it would be number 1 on the list.  If we had won the Championship Game, I would at least consider it for number 1.

3.  Ray Allen drive to seal Game 4 of the 2008 NBA Finals- There are two moments that stand out in this game.  The Celtics trailed by 24 points.  Eddie House made a jumper to give the Celtics the lead for the first time with 4:07 left.  That one was good, but the game was still up for grabs.  But when Ray Allen drove around Sasha Vujacic and made a layup over Pau Gasol to make the score 96-91 with 16.4 seconds left, the game was over.  The Celtics led 3-1 and the series was pretty much over and the Celtics were going to win their 17th NBA Championship.  The Celtics won the championship when I was five months old and when I was two and a half.  Now they were finally on their way to winning one that I could remember.  And it was against the Lakers.  If this had been the game where they actually won the championship, it would be number two on this list.

2.  Walker Buehler strikes out Alex Verdugo to win the World Series- This capped off a great comeback to win Game 5.  If the Dodgers had gotten a great start from Jack Flaherty and they won the game by a score of 4-2 or something with Blake Treinen finishing the game with a one-inning save, that moment wouldn’t rank as high.  But Flaherty was terrible in Game 5 (after being good in Game 1) and the Dodgers had to make a crazy comeback while burning through all their reliable relievers.  Walker Buehler’s heroics were necessary after Blake Treinen threw 42 pitches in two and a third innings and the Dodgers were out of relievers.  Also, the Dodgers probably would have won the World Series if they had lost Game 5 with the last two games at Dodger Stadium, but the Yankees would have had some momentum and with the Dodgers questionable pitching, anything could have happened.  So this is getting the number 2 spot on the list.

1.  Freddie Freeman Game 1 Grand Slam- This has to be number 1.  It’s the closest thing to the Kirk Gibson home run since the Kirk Gibson home run.  The difference was that nobody expected Kirk Gibson to play and that was his only at bat of the World Series, but this comes very close.  Of course, Freddie Freeman kept playing and had an amazing series to win World Series MVP as the Dodgers won the World Series in five games.  After the Freeman home run, the Dodgers had to win the series.  The Dodgers were the better team, but I didn’t feel confident that they were going to win the series.  Weird things happen in baseball and the Dodgers only had two and a half starting pitchers.  But after the Freeman grand slam, I felt confident that they would win.

So that’s my top 25 sports moments of all time.  Six of the top 11 were from the last year and a half.  It was a good year and half of sports.  I’m hoping I’ll get some more that will move into the top 25 this fall/winter.  My ideal scenario would be Notre Dame winning the National Championship with as little stress as the Celtics had in winning the 2024 NBA Championship.  Like if we could win the Championship Game (and all the playoff games before that) the way we beat Indiana in the first round of the playoff last year, that would be beautiful.  The 2024 Dodgers got the top two moments on this list because they both came in high stress situations (even though the series only went five games).  I don’t want a Notre Dame football moment to replace the Freddie Freeman home run as number 1 because I don’t want to deal with stress like that.  If we won the Championship Game by like four touchdowns, there wouldn’t be a moment that would take the number 1 spot, but I’m sure I could find a moment that would be in the top 5.  We are just a few weeks away from football season.  Go Irish!