ESPNTheMag.Com Presents: All-World Power Rankings

What's the best comeback game in sports history?

by Ted Bauer

BEST COMEBACK (GAME) IN SPORTS? WE'LL TAKE FRANK REICH IN THE PLAYOFFS

Want to see more "All-World Power Rankings?"

Was thinking this morning: two of the top-grossing movies this past weekend involved Nic Cage and Julia Roberts. Nic Cage works pretty consistently (and his movies, somehow, always make money) and is also part of this ridiculous Wikipedia page but Roberts has been away from "the game" for awhile doing the motherhood thing. Thing is: we didn't see either of those flicks, because we were locked in with the NCAA Tournament. (It's quite possible Duplicity had more drama than Days 1-4 of the NCAA Tournament.) We decided to combine themes: "individual comebacks" (Roberts) + "NCAA Tournament" = let's talk all-time team comebacks. Should be fun. One note: since this is a single-game team-driven list, there's no real place for the 2004 ALCS. We realize this. As far as comebacks go overall, that might be one of the most impressive things you'll ever see.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (4)	BILLS OVER OILERS IN 1993 PLAYOFFS	Every list of "all-time sports comebacks" has this No. 1 or close to it, so we won't belabor the point. Here's video from the contest. If you're wondering where Frank Reich is today, he's apparently a motivational speaker and medium-size business owner.
	2 (6)	ILLINOIS OVER ARIZONA IN THE 2005 ELITE EIGHT	Since Obama vs. McCain basically ended up a blowout, you could call this game the most relevant Illinois vs. Arizona battle in history, eh? Some people like to argue the refs were in Illinois' pocket because the game was in Lincoln's state, but c'mon!
	3 (7)	REGGIE MILLER AND THE PACERS IN THE 1995 PLAYOFFS	From an individual standpoint, this is probably more impressive than what Reich is associated with. They were down six with under 30 seconds and won by two in Game 1 of the 1995 ECF, because of this series of plays. Fil-fee.
	4 (9)	2005 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL: LIVERPOOL AND AC MILAN	Liverpool went down 3-0 in the contest, and ultimately won it. Three goals: quite a bit to make up at the highest levels of international soccer. Here's some "vid" entitled "The Miracle of Istanbul."
	5 (11)	COLTS OVER BUCS IN OCTOBER '03	In terms of epic Monday Night Football games, we'd put this one (Colts came back from down 35-14) over the Dolphins/Jets finish. Both of those games can be found on this link, which is a generally helpful resource and a good time-waster at work. Watch it!

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	19 (180)	THE MIRACLE ON MANCHESTER IN 1982	Los Angeles Kings were down 5-0 to Mr. Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers, and won the game 6-5. Here's "vid." The fact that this happened against a 1980s Oilers team probably makes it cooler, but watch the clip. If you need another argument for why the NHL has one of the most underrated postseasons, that YouTube will do it for you.
	138 (1,651)	BLUE JAYS OVER RED SOX IN JUNE 1989	You can find video of this on this link, at the No. 2 slot. Basic story of the game: Sox go up 10-0, Blue Jays win 13-11 in extra innings. Think about that for one sec. In your little league days, what happened when it was 10-0? People were crying and the coach was promising Fuddrucker's afterwards. No one was thinking comeback.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		UCLA/GONZAGA IN 2006 (If for no other reason than the Gus Johnson call.)
		LOUISVILLE/SIENA, MARQUETTE/MISSOURI THIS WEEKEND (Comebacks FAIL. Well, Louisville won, but it's cool to root against No. 1 seeds, right?)

For more All-World Power Rankings, CLICK HERE

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine