Looking back on the history of professional boxing, you'd be hard pressed to find a sporting moment more controversial than the one that occurred at Lewiston's Central Maine Youth Center on May 25th, 1965. Sonny Liston was set to try and win back his heavyweight championship title from Muhammad Ali, and the atmosphere was electric. Security was amped up due to reported death threats against both fighters, each of whom had found themselves at the wrong side of public opinion in recent weeks. Ali had publicly converted to Islam and been called "a champion of racial segregation" by Martin Luther King, Jr, according to the LA Sentinel. Liston had been arrested multiple times that year, with charges against him ranging from possession of a concealed firearm to driving without a license. Adding to all of this was the discovery that Ali and Liston's managers had organized a shady contract regarding potential future rematches between the two fighters, and the air became thick with speculation that their previous bout had been fixed.

Boxing fans wanted to see the real deal. They wanted an honest-to-God donnybrook between two of the greatest boxers on the planet. A minute and forty four seconds into getting their wish, with some spectators not even seated yet, the fight was over. Liston was on the mat. The problem was that nobody seemed to know how he got there.

The fight took place decades before the dawn of the camera phone, so the available footage is limited. Here's what we know.

Ali definitely threw a right hander. Sonny definitely caught it with the left side of his face. But the punch was staggered and unspectacular, and Liston's fall, nearly sixty years later, still seems borderline unearthly. According to the Guardian, Ali was even heard shouting "Did I hit him?" He stood over his opponent, yelling at him to get up and saying "Nobody will believe this." The damage was done. The finishing blow became known as "the phantom punch," since it almost appeared never to have existed in the first place.

Accusations that the fix was in came almost instantaneously, with audience members screaming and booing at the ring. The theories weren't unfounded. Liston's management wasn't shy about their mob ties, and Liston himself was reportedly deep in debt. On the other side of the ring, Ali had become the unofficial face of the paramilitary group the Fruit of Islam, and Liston had reported receiving death threats from the group. You could fill a cork board with red yarn trying to connect all of the potential conspiracy theory dots.

Or, as sportswriter Larry Merchant stated in a letter to the New Yorker in 2015, Liston took a hit to the medulla oblongata from Muhammad Ali and got knocked unconscious. Which, you know, isn't unreasonable.

The invention of high-definition television and also slow-motion replays have made pausing sports moments an obsolete notion in the 21st century. With that said, video services such as YouTube give us the ability to go back and pause incidents that bewildered our eyes and imaginations and left us scratching our heads. Did that wide receiver make that amazing catch? Who would bite an opponent during a boxing match? How did a referee miss the fact that somebody scored a goal using his hand? These are the types of questions that lead us to pause and review certain sports moments.

Throughout the decades, cameras have unfortunately recorded horrific sports injuries, such as those suffered by former quarterback Joe Theismann and Anderson Silva. But this list only focuses on memories that won't make any visitors squeamish — well unless you had some money on the particular sporting event and the outcome didn't go your way. Like life, a competition, league or championship game can be turned on its head in the blink of an eye, and it's these types of blinks that have led viewers and fans to pause and, in some cases, reflect upon what they just witnessed. 

Decades before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi competed for the right to be known as the greatest footballer on the planet, Diego Maradona wowed supporters with his attacking flair and dribbling abilities. He was at the height of his powers during the 1986 World Cup, when he captained Argentina and scored what has been referred to as the "Goal of the Century." Before that, "The Golden Boy" tallied one of the most controversial goals ever scored, one that would never stand in a world where video assistant referee is available to officials on the pitch. 

During the quarterfinal between Argentina and England, Maradona left his feet to attempt to head the ball past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net. It was his raised left hand that made contact with the ball, however, but the referee missed the foul and allowed the goal to stand. Argentina went on to win the match and, ultimately, the tournament via a 3-2 victory over West Germany in the Final. Fittingly, Maradona won the Golden Ball trophy awarded to the competition's top performer. 

A history-making moment occurring at Super Bowl XLII was in the cards before the New York Giants and New England Patriots took the field that fateful evening. The Giants had notched a trio of road postseason victories, including one versus Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, and the Patriots entered the night with an 18-0 record. New England held a 14-10 advantage with 1:15 left to play when New York quarterback Eli Manning dropped back to pass facing a third-and-five situation. 

Manning managed to remain on his feet as New England's Adalius Thomas attempted to pull him to the ground, and the Big Blue signal-caller then tossed a prayer of a pass down the field for wide receiver David Tyree. Tyree rose off the ground at the New England 24-yard-line, caught the throw and then secured the ball using the right side of his helmet as Patriots defender Rodney Harrison hung on Tyree's arm. Several plays later, Manning connected with Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown in the corner of the end zone, a moment that ended New England's run toward a perfect 19-0 record and cemented both Manning and Tyree as Giants legends. 

In May 2015, The Guardian wrote how the alleged "phantom punch" Muhammad Ali delivered to Sonny Liston in 1965 had us "scratching our heads 50 years on." Just one minute and 44 seconds into the heavyweight championship fight between the two, Ali dodged a Liston jab and then threw a straight right that connected with his opponent's jaw. Ali genuinely seemed shocked as Liston crumpled to the floor, as "The Greatest" attempted to hit a left hook as the former champion went down. 

Even before the referee completed his ten count, some in the arena cried out that the bout had been fixed. Days, months, and years later, skeptics, journalists, and fans paused the pivotal moment of the contest to see if Ali had, in fact, made contact with the knockout blow. Zoomed-in footage showed that Ali nailed Liston with a crushing shot before standing over the fallen challenger to create what some have referred to as the greatest picture in sports history. As the Chicago Tribune pointed out, Liston was lunging forward at the wrong time, which made Ali's punch all that more powerful. Nevertheless, some remain convinced that Liston took a dive to earn a massive payday. 

The Arizona Cardinals rallied from behind to take a 23-20 lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers with under 2:40 to play in Super Bowl XLIII. Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, already a one-time champion as of the start of the subsequent drive, got to work. Big Ben took the Steelers inside the Arizona five-yard line with 52 seconds remaining, and he dropped back to pass facing second-and-goal with a title-winning score on his mind. 

As the protection in front of Roethlisberger provided him with ample time to scan the field, the signal-caller spotted wide receiver Santonio Holmes in the right corner of the end zone. Holmes got behind three Arizona defenders, stretched out as far as his body would allow, caught the pass and then tapped both feet inside of the end zone before Cardinals defensive back Aaron Francisco could force Holmes out of play. The touchdown stood after review, Pittsburgh went on to win the title, and Holmes was named Most Valuable Player for his efforts. That victory made the Steelers the first franchise to win six Super Bowl championships, a feat matched by the New England Patriots in February 2019. 

At the start of the 1990s, Mike Tyson was the baddest man on the planet, the heavyweight champion of the world who could knock opponents out with a single uppercut or hook. By June 1997, however, the former "Dynamite Kid" was a shell of his former self who couldn't hang with elite heavyweights such as Evander Holyfield. That month, "The Real Deal" met Tyson in a rematch of a 1996 bout that Holyfield won via stoppage, a result that surprised many who followed and covered the fight game. Little did those individuals know what they'd see when the combatants faced off a second time.  

Early into the June 1997 fight, Tyson complained he had been headbutted by Holyfield. Tyson then responded by chomping on Holyfield multiple times and even taking a piece of Holyfield's ear. Viewers paused the moment in question because they couldn't at first tell what Tyson had done, but replays showed Tyson's crime. Perhaps the most shocking thing to occur inside of the ring was Holyfield's restraint. Any handful of boxers would've either kicked Tyson or otherwise retaliated. Referee Mills Lane disqualified Tyson, and any invincible aura that once surrounded the former champion disappeared for good. 

In September 2012, NFL referees were engaged in a labor dispute with the league, and replacement officials were on the field when the Seattle Seahawks hosted the Green Bay Packers for an edition of Monday Night Football. Green Bay held a 12-7 lead with eight seconds remaining when Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back from the Packers 24-yard line for what would be the last play from scrimmage. Wilson rolled away from pressure, planted his feet and tossed a lob toward the left corner of the end zone.  

Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate and Green Bay defensive player M.D. Jennings both came down with the ball, and the refs on the field ruled the play a touchdown. Upon review, fans who paused multiple moments of the play saw Tate was guilty of offensive pass interference that went uncalled, but also that there was no way anybody examining the incident could overturn the touchdown call. Seattle's score stood and the hosts won to the despair of Green Bay fans spread throughout the country. 

The referee lockout ended days later, and Mike Garafolo of USA Today celebrated with the line: "The NFL's long nationally-televised nightmare is over."

Did he or didn't he? It's a question that may never be answered by baseball fans and historians capable of pausing the moment that Babe Ruth pointed or gestured toward somebody during the 1932 World Series. As the National Baseball Hall of Fame explains, the New York Yankees icon made his way to the plate in the top of the fifth inning of Game 3 of the Fall Classic to face Chicago Cubs pitcher Charlie Root. "The Babe" heard jeers coming from the Cubs dugout, and he responded by pointing two fingers in the direction of center field. Ruth then hit his second homer of the game, seemingly delivering on a promise in the process. 

Ever the showman, Ruth later claimed that he called his shot. Doubters said that he was merely showing that two strikes had been called during his at-bat and that he had one remaining. The adage teaches that when the legend becomes fact, print the legend, and Ruth's alleged prognostication became part of baseball history. It has even been spoofed in media, such as at the end of the cult classic movie Major League.

One could argue that Usain Bolt embraced his role as entertainer and showman unlike any sprinter before him when he was known as the fastest man on the planet. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bolt competed in what should have been a routine 100-meter semifinal race. Unsurprisingly, Bolt crossed the finish line first, but he made headlines when he turned toward a camera and flashed his famous smile mid-sprint. Per CNN, Bolt's pearly whites went viral, as viewers found themselves reacting to the moment via Twitter nearly as quickly as it took for the Jamaican speedster to run the 100 meters. 

As explained by the BBC, Bolt went on to make history as the first athlete to win Olympic gold in the event a third time. That August, The Guardian touched upon how Bolt's smiling face became "the defining image of Rio 2016," adding the paused moment "likened to a smug Roadrunner taunting a hapless Wile E Coyote." As Sky Sports reported, Bolt declared in January 2019 his sports life was over after he enjoyed a cup of coffee with Australian soccer club Central Coast Mariners. We wish Bolt would've tried to make it in Major League Soccer. MLS certainly could use the publicity. 

Years before the "Deflategate" scandal and well before Tom Brady won six championships with the New England Patriots, he became a villain in the eyes of Oakland Raiders fans following a controversial call late in a 2002 playoff game. The Raiders held a 13-10 lead with under two minutes remaining at snow-covered Foxboro Stadium when Brady dropped back to pass needing yardage to get into field-goal range. Oakland defensive pass Charles Woodson knocked the ball out of Brady's hand, and the Raiders recovered the fumble to seemingly secure the win. 

After a video review, however, the referee reversed the call and ruled the play dead via an incomplete pass. Many viewers watching were stunned since a glimpse at a paused moment of the play showed Brady had stopped his throwing motion and appeared to be tucking the ball back toward his body when Woodson knocked it to the ground. New England nevertheless retained possession, kicker Adam Vinatieri tied the game with a 45-yard field goal, and Vinatieri then booted a walk-off field goal in overtime. The Patriots went on to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship and then beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

Regardless of when you are reading this sentence, there are probably still some Buffalo Sabres fans who would tell you the 1999 Stanley Cup Final hasn't officially ended. With 5:10 to play in the third overtime of Game 6 of the championship series, Dallas Stars forward Brett Hull appeared to score the title-clinching goal for the visitors. As Hull celebrated with teammates, replays confirmed that one of his skates was inside of the opposing crease as he deposited the puck past the line, a violation of an NHL rule. Officials determined Hull never lost full possession of the puck, however, so his tally stood. 

According to the New York Times, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sided with the referees after the game. "It was a non-issue. Everyone understands it was the right call," Bettman said. In June 2019, The Buffalo News explained how some conspiracy theorists believed the NHL didn't want to remove the goal from the scoreboard after Dallas players stormed the ice to celebrate winning the Cup. Meanwhile, the "Hockey Night in Canada" broadcast explained why it was a "perfectly legal goal." 

As of the start of the 2019-20 NHL season, the Sabres still had never won the Cup a single time. 

The New York Yankees were trailing division rivals the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 1 of the American League Divisional Series when a 12-year-old boy stepped in to save the day. New York shortstop Derek Jeter hit a deep drive to right field, and Jeffrey Maier attempted to catch what he and those sitting around him believed was a game-tying home run. Replays showed Maier had interfered with the play by sticking his glove over the wall and into play, though, so Jeter should have been ruled out. 

Unlike in the modern Major Leagues, in 1996, the umpires on the field weren't afforded the luxury of replay review, and they believed Maier was not in the wrong. The Yankees won the game in extra innings and went on to win the club's first World Series since 1981, and Maier became a hero among Yankees fans and many within the New York media. In April 2014, Maier penned a piece for Bleacher Report and explained how that famous bobble and the celebrity lifestyle that came with it changed his life forever. "There have been ups and downs along the way, but that day in 1996 helped shape who I am today—so I will never look back on it with any regrets," he wrote. 

All Steve Bartman wanted to do in October 2003 was hopefully watch his beloved Chicago Cubs defeat the Florida Marlins in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series and maybe catch a foul ball. His moment to retrieve a souvenir came in the top of the eighth inning when Florida's Luis Castillo hit a ball down the third-base line. Bartman interfered with Chicago outfielder Moises Alou while attempting to catch the ball, but umpires determined the fan did not reach over the wall and interfere with the play. Castillo's at-bat continued, the Marlins scored eight runs in the top of the frame and Florida won the game, the series, and that year's Fall Classic. 

Bartman became a hated figure among devastated Cubs fans, but many finally forgave him after Chicago won the franchise's first World Series since 1908 in the fall of 2016. According to USA Today, Bartman released a statement after Chicago's victory over the Cleveland Indians in November 2016, explaining that he was "overjoyed" his favorite team had won the championship, but also that he was not going to attend the club's celebratory parade. 

In July 2017, WGN reported the Cubs awarded Bartman with a World Series ring. 

One has to wonder how many times fans of the Tennessee Titans have paused the Super Bowl XXXIV highlight with three seconds remaining in the game over the years. The Titans trailed the St. Louis Rams 23-16 when Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair dropped back from the opposing 10-yard line. McNair connected with Kevin Dyson over the middle at the five-yard line, and Dyson carried the ball to the three before linebacker Mike Jones brought him down. Dyson attempted to stretch the ball toward the goal line, but he came up a yard shy of the painted portion of the field. 

Unlike many of the other moments spotlighted in this piece, there was no need for review here, nor was there any controversy with the call made on the field. If anything, some wondered why McNair didn't throw the ball closer to the end zone. They failed to account for the handful of St. Louis defensive players in the end zone. 

Jones made one of the greatest tackles in football history, and the Rams won the franchise's first Super Bowl. The Titans, meanwhile, never returned to the Big Game through the completion of the 2018-19 season. 

The average sports game is pretty exciting. Sure, you get a boring dud from time to time, but in general people watch sports for the hit of adrenaline. And nothing is more enjoyable than a great comeback. Seeing a team come from behind when it seems like it's all over is a rush. It doesn't even have to be the team you support; a rival faction can still give you some of the best sports you have ever seen.

These teams (and one individual) did it the best of them all. Some of them had such epic comebacks they are officially in the record books. Others were simply some of the most exhilarating television ever to grace a screen. Whether it was in individual games or over the course of a series, if you were lucky enough to watch these comebacks, they are probably seared in your mind forever. If you missed them, don't worry, now you'll be up to speed.

Sometimes a game is so epic it earns a nickname, so fans can easily reference it for the rest of time. When a game becomes known simply as "The Comeback," you know exactly what it must be famous for. And since comebacks happen rather frequently in sports, this one must be king of them all.

It happened on January 3, 1993, during the AFC Wild Card game. The Buffalo Bills were on their home turf playing the Houston Oilers. And they were losing. Badly. According to a contemporary New York Times article, it may have been because they were playing without their starting quarterback and one of their key linebackers. At halftime the Bills were already down 28-3. Thousands of fans took the opportunity to leave the stadium. Their defensive coordinator was pissed. A player who was there said he "exploded" in the locker room, saying stuff that can't be repeated here.

The string of profanity was so inspirational to the players that the Bills went right out and threw an interception that was returned for a 58-yard touchdown. Then they lost their star running back to injury. They were down 35-3 and looking bad.

Then the Bills started "scaling Mount Everest with a 50-pound rock strapped to [their] back." They scored a ridiculous 28 points in the third quarter, then another seven in the fourth (with Houston tacking on three of their own.) A field goal in overtime won the game 41-38 and put it in the record books.

Liverpool FC's Champions League Final win over AC Milan on May 25, 2005, would go down as the "Miracle of Istanbul." (That's where they were playing; they didn't just pick a random name.) The Champions League is where all the European clubs play each other, and since that continent has most of the best soccer teams in the world, it produces some great matches. But few ever came close to this.

According to the BBC, the Reds came into the game as underdogs. Milan wasted no time proving their dominance, scoring within the first minute. Then they added another two goals by halftime. To be down 3-0 at that point of the game in soccer is seen as basically insurmountable. It was set to be "the most one-sided final of all time." The bookies adjusted their odds and had Liverpool as a 100-1 longshot to win.

Then the second half started, and the miracle happened. Ten minutes in, Liverpool scored. And they would score another two times within six minutes. Their goalie suddenly remembered how to play and made some amazing saves. It was tied 3-3 at 90 minutes and went to extra time. Since this is soccer, no one scored. So it went to penalties. Liverpool would triumph 3-2 in the shootout and lift the trophy, shocking everyone.

One journalist gushed "from agony to ecstasy, the zeroes became heroes," and said that the match was "incredible. Amazing. Unbelievable," and "the greatest Cup final ever."

The New England Patriots divide people fiercely. If you are from New England, you probably named your firstborn child either Tom or Brady. If you are from anywhere else, you probably hate them with the fire of a thousand burning suns. Which is what made their insane comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI all the more notable. Everyone was either rooting for the Patriots or watching in horror as they did the impossible.

It was "one of the greatest big games of all-time" and "the most historic Super Bowl" according to the NFL, in part because of the 30 records that were broken or tied. It was also the first Super Bowl to be decided in overtime. And that was necessary because Tom Brady led his team to the biggest comeback the final had ever seen.

At halftime it seemed that the Patriots, who had won the Super Bowl four times in the past 15 years, were headed for a big loss. The Falcons led 21-3. Despite whatever speech Bill Belichick gave in the locker room, the second half looked to be even worse, with the Falcons scoring a touchdown and making it 28-3. It was, said the Bleacher Report, "a write-off."

The Falcons would not score for the rest of the game, and the Patriots surged. They clawed back 25 points to make it 28-28 at the end of the fourth quarter. A touchdown in overtime sealed it, and the nation was in shock.

Not to get too sports technical, but the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors were very, very good. They had won the NBA Finals the previous season and looked to be about to do it again.

The 2016 NBA finale was a rematch between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James had come home to his local club specifically to get them a title. Fans had been waiting a long time, and not just fans of basketball: No Cleveland-based pro team had won a championship of any kind since 1964. The Cavaliers had never won the NBA Finals, period. Now they'd had two chances in a row and it looked like they were going to blow them both.

Over the years, Cleveland teams had such famous losses they got names. "The Drive," "The Fumble," and Michael Jordan's "The Shot" had all crushed their dreams. They'd lost the 2015 NBA Finals 4-2. And now they were down 3-1 to the Warriors in Game 4. As Fox 8 Cleveland pointed out, no team in Finals history had ever overcome that deficit.

But the Cavaliers mounted a comeback to win Games 5 and 6 in "convincing fashion." At the end of the third quarter in Game 7 the Warriors were barely ahead. A nail-biting fourth quarter saw Lebron injure his wrist, but in the end the Cavaliers won 93-89, putting them in the record books. It's considered one of the most exciting finals in history, and for Cleveland especially it was "a night to remember."

It had been "8 decades of torment and torture" according to Boston.com. The Red Sox hadn't won the World Series since 1918. It was all supposed to be down to a curse from when they traded Babe Ruth. They hadn't even been to the World Series at all since 1986. In 2003, they lost the American League pennant to their hated enemies, the "Evil Empire," the New York Yankees.

In 2004, it was horrible deja vu. In the ALCS, the Red Sox were playing the Yankees again. And they were losing. The Yankees took the first three games in the best of seven series and were three outs from triumphing in the fourth game and sealing the series again.

Then something amazing happened: The Sox clawed back a win. But they would still need to dominate all the remaining games, a seemingly impossible feat since no team in baseball had ever come back from 0-3 down to take a seven-game series.

But they kept winning. The games stretched on forever, to a record-breaking 25 hours 36 minutes of baseball over six games. In Game 7, the Yankees did everything they could, but it wasn't enough. The Sox dominated from the first inning. Anxious fans held their breath. By the end of nine innings they had spanked the Yankees soundly, 10-3. They are, to this day, the only team to come back from a 0-3 deficit. The Red Sox would go on to win the World Series that year, ending the 86-year curse.

Tiger Woods had a hell of a decade. Before 2009, his life seemed virtually perfect. He was well on his way to being the greatest golfer ever. He had made so much money from his dozens of tour wins and sponsorships that he was obscenely rich. He had a beautiful wife and two lovely children.

Then it all came crashing down in one of the most epic falls from grace ever. He was revealed to be a serial adulterer. His wife left him. Sponsors didn't want to be associated with that kind of scandal, so they dropped him in droves. Fans abandoned him. He entered rehab. It would be enough to affect any player's game badly, and it did.

But according to the Tampa Bay Times, this wasn't the end of the poo storm. In 2017, Woods got a DUI. And he had started having knee and back problems. This led to so many surgeries that Woods "couldn't walk, couldn't stand, [and] couldn't sit."

Despite having to change his swing and dealing with a fused lower spine, Woods managed what USA Today called a "remarkable" comeback in September 2018. That month he won the Tour Championship, his first PGA Tour success in over five years and his 80th career win. The 18th green was swarmed by thousands of his fans, showing the golf world was ready and willing to forgive Woods his many, many mistakes.

The Toronto Maple Leafs met the Boston Bruins during the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2013. Whoever lost the best of seven series was going home, their dreams of competing for the trophy that year dashed. And while it came down to the final game, it looked like the Maple Leafs were going to walk away with it. They had come back from a 3-1 game deficit, their greatest success since the 1942 finals. Nine minutes into the third quarter of Game 7, the Leafs had a commanding 4-1 lead. They just had to hope the Bruins didn't pull off one of the greatest comebacks of all time. They would be disappointed.

CBC described what happened as an "18-wheeler going right off a cliff," but really, it was an astonishing piece of work by the Bruins. Thanks to injuries they were playing with some novices, and initially it showed. But then they remembered scoring is an important part of hockey and started sinking goals. As the clock ticked down they torture-thrilled fans by mounting a comeback. With two minutes left, with the score 4-2, they pulled their goalie. Astonishingly, they scored twice in the final 90 seconds to tie the game. The home crowd went insane. A goal in overtime saw the Bruins advance to the semifinals.

Boston defenseman Johnny Boychuk described the game as "unbelievable," and when asked what he would say to someone who missed it replied, "Too bad for them."

Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals on May 7, 1995, was a comeback in miniature. According to ESPN, the game between the New York Knicks and their "hated rivals" the Indiana Pacers, was over. The Knicks were leading 105-99, and while that's not the biggest lead ever, with just 18.7 seconds left it would take some crazy feat to claw back a win for Indiana. Cue the crazy feat.

The Pacers' Reggie Miller got the ball and made a 3-pointer with 16.4 seconds to go. Then, somehow, he managed to steal the Knicks' inbound pass and had the presence of mind not to go for two but to step back and sink another 3-pointer, all in 3.1 seconds. Suddenly, amazingly, the game was tied.

The Knicks players were "shell-shocked," "numb," and "disoriented." For good reason, since the seemingly impossible had just happened. And it showed in their actions. A Knicks player was fouled, giving them the win on a platter again, but he missed both free-throws. They got another chance when they got the rebound off the second shot, but then legend Patrick Ewing drilled a 10-footer. Someone stupidly fouled Reggie Miller, who did not miss his free throws, and within nine seconds, the Pacers had gone from six behind to two ahead, with 7.5 seconds left in the game. A Knicks player then fell down on the way back up the court with the ball, ending the game and placing it among the most "spectacular" wins in basketball.

In 1942, a writer for the Detroit Free Press wrote, "Generations of hockey players yet unborn will hear time and again the story of the 1942 playoffs — the most exciting in the 50-year history of the Stanley Cup." The reaction of one of the players involved was a bit more subdued, crying, "By jiminy!"

It was the middle of World War II, and fans could use some exciting and distracting sports. That year the Stanley Cup gave it to them in spades when the Toronto Maple Leafs "roared back" against the Detroit Red Wings to lift the trophy.

It started terribly. They lost Game 1 in front of the largest ever Detroit crowd. The Ottawa City Council let out early just to watch Game 2, but the Maple Leafs lost that, and lost again in Game 3. No professional hockey team had ever come back from 3-0 down. One reporter said, "You couldn't get a wager that the surprising Red Wings would be halted in their mad dash for the cup." But in Game 4 the Leafs coach took a crazy chance, benching veteran players for complete unknowns. It worked, and the Detroit manager was so angry about his team's loss that he almost started a riot.

The wins continued. The Leafs played Game 7 in front of a record home crowd. After dominating 3-1 they were "stunned." Their former coach was "rendered speechless." To this day, no one else has come back from such a deficit in the final.

Sailing isn't a sport most non-yacht-owning people pay attention to, which is a shame, because in 2013 it saw what one reporter for the Mercury News called "the greatest comeback in the history of sports." The Oracle Team USA's America's Cup win was also "pretty damn amazing," "remarkable," and "unprecedented."

The America's Cup is the Super Bowl of sailing. It takes place over three weeks and is a best-of-17 series. Since the fancy boats involved cost a ton of money to buy, maintain, and crew, the owners tend to be people like billionaire Larry Ellison, who in 2013 was watching his team head toward an epic loss. The USA was down 8-1 against Emirates Team New Zealand. When the USA managed to claw back a race making it 8-2, people thought it was cute since "there was still no way the Oracle boat would win because the USA comeback effort was totally, utterly doomed."

You know where this is going by now. In a story that the sailing community will "recite ... over drinks for years to come," the USA team won an incredible eight races in a row. The crowd for the last one was so huge that officials had to turn people away. Larry Ellison got his win, and an epic place in the history books, but he did spend $100 million to do it, so it's debatable if it was worth it.