2 Recent Sports Videos That Made My Jaw Drop

In the last 2 weeks, there were two sports-related clips that absolutely amazed me. One I watched after after it went viral, and the other I watched in “real time” on the TV.

I’ll start with the latter. The context is that I was watching American Ninja Warrior with a few friends. It’s the first week of the finals, and the course was really, really difficult. Contestants had 2:25 to make it through a course that many athletes failed at midway through.

When you watch this clip, keep in mind that almost every other athlete who even had chance at completing the course had 1:30 remaining when they exited the jumping spider. And those athletes were still wearing shoes.

Just the fact that this a clip on YouTube is a spoiler in itself. I can tell you, watching it “live,” we had absolutely no doubt that Jamie would either fall or run out of time. Especially since he spins around twice on the propeller and is still in shock several obstacles later. By the end of the run, we were cheering, crying, and high fiving. It’s legitimate one of the best sporting moments of my life.

The second clip is just as dramatic. The context is that there was 1 minute remaining in this soccer game, and DC United earned a corner kick in a tied game. They sent all of their players into the box, including their keeper. Then this happens:

I love seeing this type of effort from a player. But to not only save the game with his tackle but also to assist on the winning goal as time expired…that was truly stunning. It could not have been better scripted in a movie.

What do you think of these clips? What’s the most jaw-dropping sporting moment you’ve witnessed (or watched later)?

4 thoughts on “2 Recent Sports Videos That Made My Jaw Drop”

  1. The first clip is inspiring, although I think it’s a little more amazing to people who understand how hard American Ninja Warrior is when unimpeded. Without seeing so many others fail, I think it’s a bit more challenging to understand the magnitude of that feat.

    While the same is probably true for people who haven’t watched much soccer, I (who have watched much soccer and already respected Rooney) instantly fell in love with Wayne Rooney while watching that clip. While many European stars have come to the MLS in recent years as a swansong to great careers, this is the first year it’s felt different for me – primarily because of Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In the past I’ve felt that players have come over to the states to cash in on a last big paycheck and make a few plays while they wave to the fans. The way both Rooney & Ibra have competed this year though feels much more like “I’m still here. I’m still relevant. I’m still a badass m*th@rf&@k*r who is determined to show the world how dominant I can be.” For the first time since the dawn of the MLS, I feel like the league truly sits on par with some of the mid-level European leagues (Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Greece, Austria, etc – I’d pit the field of the MLS against the breadth of any of these leagues and expect at least parity). I digress, however. After watching the Rooney video (which isn’t the first effort clip I’ve seen from him), one of my first thoughts was that I should invest in a Rooney jersey to show my support for him joining DC United. I’d love to be able to explain to my kids that I bought this jersey because of Rooney’s tremendous effort as a lead in to how important effort can be in life!

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  2. Total homer pick but I don’t care! 🙂 Still to this day one of the craziest plays I’ve seen live.

    Start at the 1:00 mark:

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