State of Arizona prominently featured on ESPN.com’s list of top 20 moments of the last 20 years
Apr 1, 2015, 10:43 PM | Updated: Apr 2, 2015, 3:03 pm
ESPN.com rolled out a newly redesigned website Wednesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the launch of their online portal.
In conjunction with the release, they’ve also compiled their list of the top moments since ESPN.com launched on April 1, 1995.
Four moments featuring the state of Arizona in one way or another were listed.
At no. 20, was the Arizona Diamondbacks’ ninth-inning rally against Mariano Rivera in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series to give them their first and only world title.
This is the story of a baseball game that made hearts pound.
That made a 42-year-old baseball player pray.
That turned a 6-foot-10 starting pitcher into the world’s tallest closer.
That somehow ended with the team that always wins trudging off the field while somebody else celebrated.
This is the story of a World Series that reminded the planet why there is no better sport on earth.
At no. 18, Malcolm Butler’s interception of Russell Wilson with :20 left that lifted the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl XLIX victory at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
Now just seconds were left in the Super Bowl, and as Butler sprinted onto the field, he said he was thinking, “We’re in goal-line corner 3. Why 3 corner on the goal line when they have Marshawn Lynch?”
At no. 12, ESPN listed the 1996 Summer Olympic heroics of American gymnast and Tucson native Kerri Strug.
Her 9.712 clinches the gold medal for the U.S. as it wipes out the team’s low score (Dominique Moceanu’s 9.2). The U.S. wins by 0.821, meaning Strug could have forgone her second vault and the Americans still would have won on the strength of Moceanu’s mark.
And the last, and highest-ranking moment on the network’s list, was Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, in which the New York Giants upset the Patriots to spoil their quest for a perfect championship season. The New York win came in at no. 7 on the pecking order.
The Patriots’ season is history, but not historic. They didn’t choke, but they definitely suffered from a lack of oxygen. Pinching the air tube shut was a New York Giants team with just enough nerve, just enough composure to leave this Jiffy Pop-looking stadium with a 17-14 win and the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
