my favorite sports moment of all time

on october 15th, in game 1 of the 1988 world series, the los angeles dodgers were trailing the oakland atheletics 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th with two outs and the tying run on base. the dodgers were considered the underdogs to the A's, who went 104-58 that year and had in their line up, names like jose canseco and mark mcgwire. outfielder kirk gibson injured both legs in the national league championship series and was sick with a stomach virus, so he didn't start in game 1. Throughout most of the game, gibson was in the locker room undergoing physical therapy, watching the game on television. when he heard the broadcast comment that he was no where to be found, he notified manager tommy lasorda that he could pitch hit. keeping this a secret, lasorda sent dave anderson to the on deck circle, causing closer dennis eckersley to walk pitch hitter mike davis. when it was time for anderson to come up to bat, lasorda inserted gibson to pitch it, causing the fans to go insane. gibson limped up to the plate and found himself quickly behind with an 0-2 count. after recieving 3 balls, gibson stepped out of the batters box and focused on the backdoor slider that was about to come. he stepped back in, and when eckersley wound up and pitched, gibson hit a home run over the right field wall, giving the dodgers the win over the A's, 5-4. the dodgers went on to win the series that year, 4-1.


this was exactly 11 months and two days prior to to the day i was born. after watching this clip randomly today, i realized exactly why i love sports. it really has nothing to do with the fact that this was the greatest moment in dodgers history (besides Jackie Robinson). it has nothing to do with the fact that this is a story i grew up hearing from my dad, who did not witness this live because he was so pissed going into the 9th inning, he made my mother turn off the tv and the two went to bed figuring it was over (my mom still gives him crap for it to this day). it is simply because of the unpredictability that comes with sports. well, i lied. its also the fact that the dodgers won the world series that year. someday i hope to witness them win another.

so far their record is 5-6. they better beat the giants today.

S