Yahoo Sports AM: Top 20 sports moments of the century
🚨 Headlines
⛳️ JT fires course record: Justin Thomas shot a 10-under 61 to take a three-stroke lead at the RBC Heritage. Now, he'll try to do what no other PGA Tour golfer has this season: go wire-to-wire for the victory.
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🏀 Dame nears return: Damian Lillard has been medically cleared after being sidelined for a month with blood clots in his calf. He'll still miss Game 1 tomorrow, but the Bucks star could be back for Game 2.
🤸 Final Four: Utah, UCLA, Oklahoma and Missouri advanced to the NCAA gymnastics championships, where the Utes are seeking their record-extending ninth title, the Bruins are seeking their eighth, the Sooners are seeking their seventh and the Tigers are seeking their first.
🏈 College football rule change: In an effort to curb players faking injuries, the NCAA has approved a rule change wherein teams will be charged a timeout if training staff enters the field to look at a player who went down after the ball was spotted.
🏒 PWHL expansion: The Professional Women's Hockey League is reportedly set to announce new teams in Vancouver and Seattle, with those two expansion franchises joining the league's original six in New York, Boston, Minnesota, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.
🏆 Top 20 sports moments of the century
David Tyree makes "The Helmet Catch." (Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy's triumph at Augusta was an instant classic, but was it one of the top sports moments of the 21st century? A reader posed that question this week, and I ran with it, starting with my Top 10 before expanding to my Top 20 because 10 was too stressful. Spoiler alert: Rory didn't make the list, but he did get an honorable mention!
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Preface: The definition of "top moment" is something I went back and forth on numerous times. Is it about historic significance? Whether it transcended sports? How vividly it lives in our minds? A famous play is obviously a "moment," but what about an improbable playoff run? Or a cultural phenomenon that plays out over weeks? Are those "moments" or something else?
While revisiting the past 25 years in sports, I quickly realized that even the most significant events don't always translate to "moments," and that some of the best moments lack historical significance. I decided to embrace the nuance and take a case-by-case approach.
After an alarming number of hours spent watching YouTube videos and reliving childhood memories, I landed on a list that includes singular moments (think: iconic plays), sequences of moments (think: unforgettable games) and culminating moments (think: legacy-defining achievements). I hope you enjoy.
Note: I only considered moments that happened during competition, which eliminated seminal events (like "The Decision") and "bigger than sports" displays (like George W. Bush's post-9/11 first pitch) that would have otherwise been included.
Top 20 moments:
List breakdown:
By sport: The NBA leads the way with four moments, followed by the NFL and MLB with three each. The Olympics, College Football, Soccer and Golf have two each, while College Basketball and Tennis have one.
By decade/year: 2016 is the best-represented year with four moments, followed by 2008 with three. In terms of decades, 11 moments are from the 2010s, eight are from the 2000s and one is from the 2020s. No recency bias here!
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Honorable Mention, Tier 1: The Serena Slam (Jan. 25, 2003); App State Stuns Michigan (Sept. 1, 2007); Crosby's Golden Goal (Feb. 28, 2010); Wambach's Equalizer At The Death (July 10, 2011); The OBJ Catch (Nov. 23, 2014); American Pharaoh's Triple Crown (June 6, 2015); The Philly Special (Feb. 4, 2018); UMBC Stuns Virginia (March 16, 2018); Kawhi At The Buzzer (May 12, 2019)
Honorable Mention, Tier 2: The Music City Miracle (Jan. 8, 2000); Luis Gonzalez's Walk-Off (Nov. 4, 2001); The Immaculate Interception (Feb. 1, 2009); The Minneapolis Miracle (Jan. 14, 2018); Clark's Logo 3 Breaks The Record (Feb. 14, 2024); Ovechkin Passes Gretzky (April 6, 2025); Rory's Triumph At Augusta (April 13, 2025)
Go deeper: The 100 Best Sports Moments of the Quarter Century (The Ringer)
🏀🏒 Bring on the postseason
(Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)
The NBA and NHL's concurrent playoffs begin this weekend. All eight NHL matchups are set, while the NBA bracket will be finalized at the conclusion of tonight's play-in games.
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🏀 NBA Playoffs: Six series are set, and our experts have four of them going seven games: Knicks over Pistons, Nuggets over Clippers, Lakers over Timberwolves and Bucks over Pacers. As for the other two? Warriors over Rockets in six and Celtics over Magic in a sweep.
(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)
🏒 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Maple Leafs vs. Senators (Battle of Ontario) and Lightning vs. Panthers (Battle of Florida) offer the most geographic intrigue, but Stars vs. Avalanche (The Mikko Rantanen Bowl) looks like the best first-round matchup on paper.
📊 By the numbers
Corso on the set of "College GameDay" in 2016. ()
🎙️ 1 more show
Lee Corso, 89, will retire after Week 1 of the college football season, when he joins "College GameDay" for one final show after 38 years with ESPN. The location hasn't been announced yet, but Tallahassee would be a good bet: The former Seminoles QB picked his alma mater during GameDay's first road show in 1993, and FSU hosts Alabama in a marquee Week 1 matchup.
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⚾️ 31st time
The Pirates beat the Nationals, 1-0, on Oneil Cruz's leadoff blast — the 31st time in MLB's modern era (since 1900) that a leadoff homer accounted for a game's only run.
🏈 2.5 QBs
How many QBs will go in the first round of next week's NFL draft? BetMGM's odds indicate that the betting market expects at least three. Over 2.5 QBs to be picked is -450 (bet $450 to win $100), which is implied odds of 81.8%. The under is +310.
🏒 24 in a row
The USA and Canada have now made the semifinals in all 24 Women's Hockey World Championships dating back to 1990. If they both win tomorrow, they'll meet in the championship game, just as they have in 22 of the previous 23 editions.
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⚽️ £12.75
Idiot of the week: A 62-year-old Everton fan has been slapped with a lifetime ban from the club's new stadium — before it officially opened. His crime: Stealing £12.75 ($14.50) worth of chicken strips during a U18 friendly test event. C'mon, man!
📺 Watchlist: Playoffs?? Playoffs!!
(Giphy)
The NBA Play-In Tournament concludes tonight, with Heat at Hawks (7pm ET, TNT) followed by Mavericks at Grizzlies (9:30pm, ESPN). Then it's off to the races in the NBA and NHL playoffs, with six games on Saturday and seven more on Sunday.
Saturday: Bucks at Pacers (1pm, ESPN); Clippers at Nuggets (3:30pm, ESPN); Pistons at Knicks (6pm, ESPN); Blues at Jets (6pm, TNT); Timberwolves at Lakers (8:30pm, ABC); Avalanche at Stars (8:30pm, TNT)
Sunday: TBD at Thunder (1pm, ABC); Devils at Hurricanes (3pm, ESPN); Magic at Celtics (3:30pm, ABC); TBD at Cavaliers (7pm, TNT); Senators at Maple Leafs (7pm, ESPN2); Warriors at Rockets (9:30pm, TNT); Wild at Golden Knights (10pm, ESPN)
More to watch:
🤸 NCAA Gymnastics: National Championships (Fri-Sat, ESPN2/ABC) … The men's tournament begins today in Ann Arbor, while the women's concludes tomorrow in Fort Worth.
⚾️ MLB: Mariners at Blue Jays (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Twins at Braves (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Padres at Astros (Sat. 7pm, FS1; Sun. 7pm, ESPN)
⛳️ Golf: PGA's RBC Heritage (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS); LPGA's LA Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf) … Justin Thomas (-10) and Ashleigh Buhai/Yan Liu (-9) are the Round 1 leaders.
⚽️ Premier League: Ipswich Town vs. Arsenal (Sun. 9am, Peacock); Leicester vs. Liverpool (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … If Arsenal lose and Liverpool win, they win the league.
⚽️ Women's Champions League: Arsenal vs. Lyon (Sat. 7:30am, YouTube); Barcelona vs. Chelsea (Sun. 12pm, YouTube) … Semifinals, first leg.
🏁 F1: Saudi Arabian GP (1pm, ESPN2) … McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris have won three of the season's first four races.
🏒 Women's Hockey Worlds: USA vs. Czech Republic (Sat. 9am, NHL); Canada vs. Finland (Sat. 1pm, NHL) … Winners meet in Sunday's championship.
Plus… UFL Week 4 (Fri-Sun, Fox/ABC); Pro Fighters League (Fri. 5pm, ESPN); 15 MLS games (Sat, Apple/Fox/FS1); Seven NWSL games (Fri-Sat, Ion/Prime/Paramount+); ATP's BMW Open and WTA's Stuttgart Open (Fri-Sun, Tennis)
⚾️ MLB trivia
()
Seattle's Cal Raleigh hit his 100th career home run this week in his 482nd career game, making him the fourth-fastest catcher to reach the century mark.
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Question: Which catcher got there the fastest?
Hint: Active player in the AL.
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
A greenskeeper tends to the eighth green at Puntacana Resort & Club in the Dominican Republic, host of this week's Corales Puntacana Championship. (Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)
Golden hour.
Trivia answer: Gary Sánchez (355 games)
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
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