Sports Moments That Don't Get the Respect They Deserve

Hello everyone! My Name is Brady Bauer. Normally, you would hear me on my Podcast, Around the Leagues with Brady B, but today, I am stepping over to the Blog side of things. There are many things on my mind to talk about in the sports world, so to combat all of my thoughts, I decided to talk about moments in sports that don't get the respect/ attention that they deserve. Some of these moments are extremely important to the outcome of the game/season, while others are just personal moments that I remember watching through my sports fandom.

1. The Blackhawks could do no wrong in the city of Chicago from 2010-2018. We had the stars, the swagger, and the expertise that put us on a tier above everybody else. Yes, there were some playoff battles with the LA Kings, Nashville Predators, among other teams, but in the end, they couldn't keep up with this Blackhawks team. The reason why this is so high isn't that it is my favorite moment, but because, as the title of the blog says, it is not nearly talked about enough as it should be. The Blackhawks are battling for their second Stanely cup in three years and it is looking like they are going to have to come back to Chicago for a winners take all game 7, but before the fans started making their way out of Boston Stadium and clicking off their TVs in the house, the Hawks did the unthinkable, things you could only see in a really corny movie, the best comeback in hockey ever. With 1:20 left in the game, the Hawks need someone to work their magic. And Bryan Bicke, who would always leave the Hawks in free agency, found his way back on the team and in front of the net to net the tying goal with 1:20 left in the game. They got the goal with Bickel, and most people would think, okay, Bruins, you are one minute away from overtime, just coast to the intermission, but only one team had this intention, and the one that didn't was the Blackhawks, because next thing you know, the Hawks are on the attack again. Dave Bolling a name most people don't remember was the Hero for the Blackhawks and scored with ten seconds left. He went wild, throwing his gloves off like he had just hit an overtime winning goal, but there was still time left to the Bruins to potentially come and tie it, but they didn't even pull their goalie so it was pretty apparent we were going to win another Stanely cup and start to bring the City of Chicago to be the City of champions.

2. "Ball game over, all we need here is a final score." These are the words you hear echoed by the announcer when you open this clip up. No one in the entire stadium was ready for what was about to happen. That something you may ask? TMAC (Tracey McGrady) scoring 13 points in 33 seconds. Just typing that doesn't feel real. Not because of the player himself, which is not the case, because TMAC was one of the first highlight tapes I ever watched. But it did not feel real because in this era of basketball, it was still defensive focused, for him to get into all his spots on the floor in this short amount of time is truly remarkable. This isn't NBA 2k with the sliders turned up, we are talking about one player having that killer instinct and getting everything you could do. If you gave the ball to Steph Curry right now, he wouldn't even be able to get this number of points this fast. It was truly remarkable. Not to mention that the 13th point to cap off this flurry of scoring was a three-pointer to win the game for his teammates.

3. "You will always remember where you were for this." These were the words echoed to me by my father after the Cubs won. And oh boy do I remember, my best friend Brendan lived behind me so literally all I had to do to get to his house was open my back gate walks through my back neighbor's backyard, walk two houses to the left and boom I was at his house. He wasn't the biggest baseball fan, but I still was able to convince him to put on the game. He has one of the beautiful basements with the bar and TV on one side and then a whole sitting area with the TV mounted on the wall. So, we were set for the night, one eye on the Xbox TV and the other on the Cubs game 1 NLCS, while we would mid quick scope round on B02, he heard a crack of the bat and saw the right fielder not even trying to make a play on the ball. Brendan and I were jumping up and down like crazy, his parents were at the game, so right when the homerun was hit, we facetimed them, and we saw the energy of Wrigley busting through the phone. Casual Baseball fans might not even know that Miggy had this hit, or that he was even on the playoff roster, but the seasoned veteran came back when it mattered the most.

4. Okay, for Number four, I am not able to put the clip because the NFL and Rodger Goodell (the Commissioner) are so stingy on what videos you can share without the express written consent of the NFL. SO, I will recall this play for you guys. We are in the AFC Championship game between the New England Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Patriots are the old team with veterans that have been here before, winning Super Bowls and stepping on the necks of everyone in the way. The Jaguars are the new kids on the block, new to the postseason and the pressure of beating the Patriots. On this specific play, we had one swing pass to another, and the second one ended up running the ball up their sideline. Linebacker for the Jags, Myles Jack, came out of nowhere like a bull in a China shop, made contact with Patriots running back Dion Lewis, and was able to dislodge the ball before he went down. After the play, Jack mimetically stood up and started running towards the Jaguars' endzone. After the play, it was reviewed, and it was determined that he was down. All of the Tom Brady haters love to hold on to this and spin zone it into saying that the fumble would have had no impact on the outcome of the game, which obviously it did, because at this point, the whole Jags Stadium wasn't able to be defeated.

5. This Milestone literally came and went. The Warriors won 73 games, breaking the previous record that was set at 72 games by the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. My dad might get mad at me for giving this attention, but it is a crazy accomplishment. Steph, Draymond, and Klay were the big three for the Warriors, and this record was broken before they acquired Kevin Durant. But during this season, I was still just a Bulls fan, so I didn't want the "goat" Michael Jordan to have his best team record stolen from him, so I was actively praying for the Warriors to lose. But Obvi they didn't, and they now have the names in the history books and seem to be set up for whenever they want to break another regular season record. But even now, with the Thunder currently only having lost one 14-game in 14, people aren't even bringing up the 73-9 because it is so hard to accomplish.

6. Unfortunately for number 6 the NFL is preventing me from posting the video again but trust me it is a good one and I recommend watching it on youtube. It is the Minneapolis Miracle from the 2018 Divisional round playoff game, Saints @ Vikings. Just like the Miguel Montero homerun, I was with my best friend, Brendan, who has always been a huge New Orleans Saints fan. It was high school, we were at a party, and the game was on. Brendan, other friends, and I were locked in on my friend Danny's front room television. The vibes were high, the game was great, until that last play. We were all thinking the same, the Saints finally advanced after a couple of years of tough breaks putting a wrench in these plans, but ohhh, were we wrong. Case Kennan who is currently the backup on the Bears was in for the Vikings, he throws a ball to the sideline to Cardi B Baby Daddy Stefon Diggs and he catches it. Most competent NFL defenders would make sure to secure the tackle, but this player on the Saints took a dive tackle at Diggs' Knees and completely missed. Stefon was probably very confused about how this had happened and continued running down the sideline. Nobody to beat except Timmy Turf. My friend Brendan, who is a Saints fan, looked dead. Face buried into the couch, not moving or listening to what anyone had to say. Poor Saints' fans because the next year they were screwed by a non-pass interference call, even that was so outrageously bad that it went to court, and the refs were investigated

Thank you to everybody that took time out of their day to read my first blog for UIC Radio. Next semester, I may look to write more, so keep your eyes open for any updates regarding that, and if you ever need a fix of Sports news, tune into my podcast on the UICRADIO page from 12 PM to 1 PM on Mondays. On the Podcast, we dive into more up-to-date stories from across all of the different sports leagues.