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by Eric Fulton, Julian Spivey & Preston Tolliver Auto Racing: 2003 Darlington & 2012 Watkins Glen When it comes to auto racing you can have a fairly good race overall screwed up by a poor finish and you can have a great finish really help out what was a mostly boring event. But, to have an all-time great auto race there almost certainly has to be a great finish. The two greatest finishes I’ve ever seen in a NASCAR Cup Series race were nail-biters down to the very end. The first was the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at the historic Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C. in March of 2003 when Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch battled it out over the race’s last few laps culminating in the closest finish in NASCAR history. With 15 laps to go in the race Busch had a three-second lead, which is quite a lot, over Craven. Craven kept eating into the time and with two laps to go caught Busch. Craven contacted Busch sending Busch’s car up into the wall. Busch was able to repay the favor almost immediately and it looked like he would be able to get away enough from Craven and sail to victory. Craven kept digging. He stalked Busch for almost the entirety of the final lap before putting his No. 32 Pontiac side-by-side with Busch’s No. 97 Ford in the fourth turn. As they neared the finish line Busch and Craven’s cars made contact and simply could not unhook from each other and crossed the finish line with the nose of Craven’s car just slightly ahead of Busch’s for a win of 0.002 seconds ahead of second place. It was Craven’s second and final career win. That was the closest and most exciting finish I’ve ever seen from a NASCAR race, but the final lap at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y. in 2012 was absolutely nuts. Marcos Ambrose was one of the most talented road course racers NASCAR has ever seen and had won the previous year at The Glen. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were simply two of the best drivers in NASCAR period. When the three with Kyle Busch in the lead, Keselowski in second and Ambrose in third took the white flag signifying the final lap of the race they could’ve been covered by a blanket. Kyle Busch had a decent lead just the lap before but may have had his car hiccup on fuel because Keselowski and Ambrose gained on him fast right before the white flag. What happened next was the wildest final lap of a race I’ve ever seen. In the esses portion of the race track Keselowski got into the bumper of Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Toyota with his No. 2 Dodge and sent Busch spinning around. Now the fight was between Keselowski, the new leader, and Ambrose for the win. Both cars would cut the course a bit going through the interloop in the grass throwing up dirt into the air – I’m sure I was screaming in glee the entire time. This was the kind of stuff you wouldn’t have believed if you’d seen it in “Days of Thunder.” Ambrose would put the bumper to Keselowski, push him up the track and tack the lead. Keselowski would try to repay the favor and ended up side-by-side with Ambrose’s No. 9 Ford in the final corner. Ambrose got to the gas first and ended up crossing the finish line for the win. Uniquely, just as Craven’s Darlington win had been the second and final of his career this race would mark the same for Ambrose. by Julian Spivey  Baseball: 2016 World Series - Game 7: Chicago Cubs @ Cleveland Indians Going into this clash, both Chicago and Cleveland had the two longest championship droughts in baseball. Cleveland had a 3-1 series lead, but Chicago won the next two games, and had a 6-3 lead going to the 8th inning. But a dramatic three-run home run by Indians outfielder Rajai Davis tied the game 6-6. Neither team would score in the ninth inning. Just as extra innings were about to start, there was a 17-minute rain delay. The Cubs would take advantage of the extra time by scoring two runs in the 10th to take the lead. Cleveland would score one in the bottom of the tenth, but a groundball to first would end the game, the series, and the Cubs' long awaited championship drought. It would have been cool to witness the game at the stadium, but to watch it at home was just as great. by Eric Fulton  Basketball: 2013 NBA Finals Game 6 - San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat A lot of people think that Marvel’s ‘Infinity War’ was based on a similarly-named comic series from the 1990s. It wasn’t. It was based on Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs were the Avengers, seeking retribution for the fallen Thunder of the year before; the Miami Heat Thanos, with his six Infinity Stones of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Mike Miller (I guess?) and Erik Spoelstra. The Spurs, by all rights, were outmatched from the beginning of the series, but they had fought and clawed their way to a 3-2 lead and were poised to take the Larry O’Brien Trophy out of Miami’s American Airlines Arena and back home to San Antonio. They improbably had the upper hand in the middle of that game. And then they still had the upper hand at the end of the third quarter. And then with two minutes left in the game. The Spurs had plunged an axe into the chest of the Miami Heat, but they should have gone for the head, because Miami still had the gauntlet. The Spurs had a Hulk in Tim Duncan, sure, but Miami had a LeBron, and – more importantly, in the last minute of regulation and the five of overtime – they had a Bosh. The Spurs were up two with a minute left. Then LeBron tried powering his way to the rim but had the ball stripped by San Antonio, and the Heat would send Manu Ginobili to the foul line after wrapping him up on the fast break. With 37.2 seconds left, the Spurs led by four. LeBron took a wild shot, missing wildly (but also sort of predictably for a LeBron who was known then to choke in the Finals), and Manu was back at the line with 28.2 seconds left. He hit one of two to give the Spurs a five point cushion, constructing a mountain that was seemingly impossible for the Heat to climb in half a minute. But they inbound the ball and Bron catches it and throws up a shot immediately, missing again, but the Heat get the rebound and kick it back out. He hits it this time, and the Spurs lead is cut to two with 20.1 seconds left. Kawhi Leonard is fouled and hits one of two for the three point lead. James goes for another three and misses, but Chris Bosh – the perfect, delicate human being that he is – tips the rebound out to Ray Allen, who shuffles backwards past the three-point line and tosses it up. Allen’s 3 snapped the net with the quickness and sudden devastation as Thanos snapping his fingers, Spurs’ championship dreams turned to ash and blew away in the wind. With less than six seconds left in regulation, Tony Parker ran the ball to the basket and took a falling shot, missing and sending the game into overtime. The two teams continued trading blows and were in an almost complete opposite situation with seconds left in overtime: the Spurs were down two, and had a look at a 3 to win the game. But then, Bosh – Finals MVP-snub Chris Bosh – blocked Danny Green’s shot, and the game was over. And so was the series – the Heat won Game 7 95-88 – and the war was over, too. At least until ‘Endgame’ in 2014. by Preston Tolliver  College Football: 2017 National Championship - Alabama Crimson Tide v. Clemson Tigers Clemson and Alabama have been the two best college football programs over the past five years. They have met every year in the College Football Playoff with three of those games deciding a national champion. It was perhaps the second time they met in Tampa, Fla. in which it could be the greatest college football game of all time. The game was back and forth throughout with the Crimson Tide leading 24-14 going to the fourth quarter. However, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson led the Tigers comeback with the final play being decided on a goal line touchdown with one second left lifting Clemson to a 35-31 win. by Eric Fulton  Pro Football: Super Bowl LI - Atlanta Falcons v. New England Patriots Now most people who read this will think this game shouldn't be on the list. I disagree because first, the Atlanta Falcons blew a big lead against a New England Patriots team that had Bill Bellichick as head coach and Tom Brady at quarterback. Personally, I thought Atlanta was going to end up winning this game. However, Brady would find a way to tie the score and later went on to lead the Patriots for the winning touchdown in the first overtime in Super Bowl history. I feel as though the Falcons did lose the game, but you can never count Tom Brady out. by Eric Fulton  Golf: 2016 British Open @ Royal Troon - Final Round I’ve seen some incredible rounds of golf in major tournaments over the last 20 years, included Tiger Woods’ first ever come-from-behind victory to win the Masters just a bit over a week ago for his first major win in more than a decade, but I don’t think anything can top the mano-a-mano match for the British Open title between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson in 2016 at Royal Troon. Before I get to that, though, it’s important to note that one of the single greatest rounds of major golf I’d ever seen was by Mickelson in the final round of the British Open in 2013 at Muirfield Golf Links where he shot a 5-under 66 and beat Stenson by three strokes. It would be Mickelson’s first British Open title. The two would go back to battle again three years later exchanging terrific shot after terrific shot. If Mickelson hit an amazing shot Stenson would out do it. It seemed to go on like this the entire final round. In one of the craziest low scoring final rounds in the history of any golf major Mickelson would shoot a 6-under 65 and still lose the tournament by three strokes to Stenson (the same amount he had defeated him by three years prior). Stenson simply had the greatest final round I’d ever seen in a major tournament with an 8-under 63, which matched Johnny Miller’s 1973 U.S. Open final round for the lowest in golf history by a major champion. The Open championship would be Stenson’s first of his career. by Julian Spivey 
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