Sports Moments That Made Me Cry

If you’ve been a sports player or fan for any extended period of time, it is almost a certainty that something has made you cry. Whether it is something bad, sad, positive, or amazing; in the sports world it is a when, not an if that something will eventually get to you. I could come up with so many of these types of scenarios considering I’ve been a player most of my life and a fan for all of it. I narrowed it down to eight for the sake of you not having to read a novel.

• Tiger Woods Returns To Glory – Watching him be the best in the world, the reason I got into golf, and then watch him fall hard from grace, it took all the emotion out of me when he let out that Tiger roar after sinking the final putt to win the 2019 Maters.

• Cleveland Cavs Win NBA Title – LeBron James returns to Cleveland and orchestrated the greatest comeback in NBA playoff history against the best team, record wise in league history, made most Northeast Ohioans shed tears. It was the first Cleveland major sports title in my lifetime and it will probably be the last. So of course it made me cry tears of joy knowing what I just got to witness. We were all witnesses.

• Mariano Rivera’s Goodbye – I was watching this game on TV when it happened. Although I’ve never been a Yankees fan, you can’t hate on history, on greatness, and it always hurts to watch it come to an end, no matter who it is. When teammates Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte came out of the dugout to pull Rivera for the final time having played so many games, and won the World Series together, with Mariano breaking down, it got me for sure. Especially being a baseball guy and understanding that bond.

• 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes Win Natty Over the Miami Hurricanes – I had friends on this team. Our state and our city had brothers, sons, and family members on this team. The U was supposed to be the unbeatable force. Then we broke them. When Cie Grant got to Dorsey and made him throw a duck to nowhere, and the confetti started raining down, it was almost like we all got to win a national championship. It is a moment I’ll never forget.

• Cal Ripken Jr Takes A Lap – I was watching this moment with my mother, who loved baseball, and with his blue eyes and ability, she liked Cal. After the Iron Man broke baseball’s record for most consecutive games played by surpassing Lou Gehrig with an astounding 2,130 consecutive games. Watching him take that lap to share it with as many people as possible at Camden yards was one of my first true memories of having a sporting moment get my emotions that I didn’t have a hand in.

• Kerri Strug Wins On 1-Leg – None of us will be Olympians. None of us are as good at our craft as Kerri was at Gymnastics. All that work and all that pain wasn’t going to keep her from doing what less than 1% can. Some won’t remember this, but I’ll never forget watching her secure gold in the 1996 Summer Olympics as a member of the Magnificent Seven by performing one last run at the Vault on an injured ankle. So much so she had to be carried off. You only get one shot at this life and the work she put in for her whole life, nothing was going to stop her, and on that day in Atlanta, she made me cry tears of triumph, where she showed the world a love for her country, her teammates, the sport, the Olympics, and her perseverance through anything that was going to stand in her way of accomplishing what she came there for.

• Dee Gordon’s Homerun – Gordon is a smaller guy known for his speed and defense, but not much for power hitting. His friend and teammate Jose Fernandez had just died in tragic boating accident. Himself and his Miami Marlins teammates took the field on September 16, 2016 with all of that weighing on their minds. Jose’s number was painted on the field that day. Every player wore a jersey with his number on it and his name stamped across the back. On the third pitch of his at-bat against Bartolo Colon, the speedster had the power of prayer and a friends loss behind him and smashed a homer over the right field wall, and as he rounded the bases he bawled his eyes out for the world to see his pain in triumph, and subsequently, he made us cry. One of the most emotional moments on a baseball field I can remember.

• Kobe Bryant’s Farewell – From the news story breaking early in the day, to the farewell gathering that included so many. RIP Mamba and Gianna!