Top Games of 2017

As 2017 comes to a close, it's time for my annual countdown of the year's best games.  This year's list was the hardest yet to compile.  The top choices were easy.  But after that, it's really a bunch of mediocre selections.  This is also the first time that the number in my list doesn't correspond to the year.  We've gotten to the point where the number in the year is just too many.  Although, I was close. 

Here are my top 15.  And, since this is a completely subjective exercise, feel free to disagree...

15. US Open Women's Quarterfinals: September 5, New York-Both women's quarterfinals on Sept. 5 were sensational.  Eventual champion Sloane Stephens defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in the afternoon, then the venerable veteran Venus Williams, the Australian Open and Wimbledon finalist, beat Petra Kvitova by the same score in the first match of the night session, setting up the first half of the all-American semifinals.

14. Sparks 85, Lynx 84 (WNBA Finals, Game 1): September 24, Minneapolis-This marked the second straight WNBA Finals meeting between LA and Minnesota, one of the most under-appreciated rivalries in all of sports.  It was a five-game classic that Minnesota won to clinch its fourth title in seven years, but Game 1 went to LA in spectacular fashion.  The Sparks led 28-2 in the first quarter and were up 12 with five minutes left, but Minnesota came all the way back and actually had the lead with two seconds to play, when LA's Chelsea Gray hit a 14-foot jumper to give her team the victory.  Just the beginning of an incredible back-and-forth series.

13. Masters Final Round: April 9, Augusta, GA-Yes, that's right.  I'm including golf.  Because the Masters had a classic finish.  Sergio Garcia built a three-shot lead, then Justin Rose tied it with three straight birdies.  Rose eventually took the lead, but it was tied again going to 18, where they both missed birdie putts, setting up a playoff.  In the playoff, Garcia birdied and Rose bogeyed 18, giving Garcia his first career major championship.

12. Penguins 3, Senators 2 (2 OT) (Eastern Conference Final, Game 7): May 25, Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh became the first team in 20 years to win consecutive Stanley Cups, but they barely got out of the Eastern Conference Final against a surprising Ottawa team.  Pittsburgh scored first, only to have Ottawa answer 20 seconds later.  The teams traded goals again in the third period, sending the contest into overtime.  After a scoreless overtime period, Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz gave the Penguins a chance to repeat with his series-clinching goal at the 5:09 mark of the second OT.

11. Barcelona 6, Paris Saint-Germain 1 (Champions League, Round of 16): March 8, Barcelona-If not for the Super Bowl, this easily could've gone down as the Comeback of the Year.  PSG won the first leg, 4-0, and had a 5-3 lead on the aggregate late in the second leg.  Enter Neymar (who, ironically enough, is now a member of PSG).  He scored in the 88th minute, then a minute into stoppage time to tie the aggregate at 5-5.  Barca still needed another one because of the away goals rule, though.  Neymar and Sergi Roberto took care of that in the 95th minute, and Barcelona incredibly advanced to the quarterfinals.

10. North Carolina 75, Kentucky 73 (NCAA Elite Eight): March 26, Memphis-North Carolina and Kentucky.  Two of the marquee programs in college basketball.  And they gave us an Elite Eight game for the ages.  Kentucky sank three straight three-pointers to tie it at 73-73 with 7.2 seconds left, but the Tar Heels' Luke May hit a jumper just before the final buzzer to send North Carolina back to the Final Four, where they would eventually go on to win their sixth National title.

9. Ford EcoBoost 400: November 19, Homestead, FL-When NASCAR changed its playoff format to make the season finale a winner-take-all between four drivers, this is what they had in mind.  Martin Truex, Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick were three of the four championship contenders, and they finished 1-2-4 in the race.  Truex just edged Busch for the win...and the championship.

8. Warriors 118, Cavaliers 113 (NBA Finals, Game 3): June 7, Cleveland-Let's not kid ourselves.  The 2017 NBA playoffs were as big of a joke as the NBA regular season.  Even the Cavs-Warriors Finals rubber match was nowhere near as good as the previous two series.  Game 3 was the exception, though.  Down 2-0 in the series, Cleveland led 113-107 with 2:32 left before Kevin Durant pretty much single-handedly brought the Warriors back.  Golden State went on an 11-0 run, with Durnat hitting the go-ahead trey with 45.3 seconds to go.  Andre Igoudala then blocked LeBron's potential tying three, as the Warriors won a ridiculous 15th straight playoff game.

7. IAAF World Championships, Men's 4x100 Relay: August 12, London-There were plenty of races to choose from at a memorable Track & Field World Championships.  But the men's 4x100 final will go down as the one the hosts will remember the most.  Great Britain hadn't had a great World Championships to that point, but it all came together in the marquee relay, as they earned an upset win over a U.S. team that had been dominating the meet.  This was also the last race of Usain Bolt's career, and many people expected to see a Jamaican victory.  Instead, they saw the greatest star in track & field history pull up injured at the start of the anchor leg, as the Brits sprinted to the gold.

6. Mississippi State 66, Connecticut 64 (OT) (Women's Final Four): March 31, Dallas-UConn's incredible winning streak was at 111 games, and the Huskies were considered a virtual lock to win their fifth straight National title.  Except somebody forgot to tell Mississippi State that was the plan.  The Bulldogs led by as many as 16 points before UConn rallied to force overtime (thanks to a last-second block).  It was 64-64 in overtime when Mississippi State's Morgan William's buzzer-beater finished off perhaps the greatest upset in women's basketball history.

5. United States 6, Dominican Republic 3 (World Baseball Classic, Pool F): March 18, San Diego-In perhaps the most anticipated game of the World Baseball Classic, the United States advanced to the semifinals by knocking off the Dominican Republic in a winner-take-all contest.  The DR had come back from a 5-0 deficit to beat the USA in Miami a week earlier, but this one was different on a number of levels.  The DR scored two in the first, but the USA scored two in the third to tie it, then took the lead on Giancarlo Stanton's two-run bomb that (I think) broke a window in left field.  But that wasn't even the most memorable play in this game.  That would be Adam Jones robbing Orioles teammate Manny Machado of a home run with his ridiculous over-the-wall catch in the seventh inning.  That play changed the entire tournament for the Americans, who won the game, 6-3, then beat Japan and Puerto Rico for the title.

4. Australian Open Men's Final: January 29, Melbourne-We should've known that this was going to be a special year when we were treated to Roger vs. Rafa in the Australian Open final.  What made it better was how unexpected it was.  Federer was seeded 17th after missing the last half of 2016.  Nadal was seeded ninth.  But, they both marched their way to the finals, then, in typical Roger vs. Rafa fashion, produced another classic.  Nadal was up 3-1 in the fifth set and it sure looked like he'd narrow the Grand Slam gap to 17-15.  But...Roger won the last five games to win the match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, and his first Grand Slam title in five years.

3. Clemson 35, Alabama 31 (CFP National Championship): January 9, Tampa-Clemson-Alabama II was just as compelling as the first installment.  Alabama took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter and was up 24-14 after three.  Clemson took the lead, 28-24, with 4:38 left, but Alabama drove right down and went back in front, 31-28, with 2:04 remaining.  Clemson got the ball back at the two-minute mark and marched down the field.  DeShaun Watson threw a touchdown pass with one second left to put Clemson ahead, then they recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock on a National Championship.

2. Astros 13, Dodgers 12 (10 innings) (World Series, Game 5): October 29, Houston-Of the seven games in that incredible World Series, there are probably about four that could've been on the list.  But I'm picking Game 5 because it was the craziest one of them all.  With aces Clayton Kershaw and Dallas Keuchel starting, the game took over five hours and there were 25 runs scored.  The Dodgers had a 4-0 lead in the third, but Houston got it all back on the strength of three three-run homers.  It was 12-9 Astros in the ninth, when the Dodgers put up a three-spot to tie it.  Finally, in the 10th, Kenley Jansen got the first two outs before a hit batter and a walk set up Alex Bregman's walk-off single that ended one of the most memorable World Series games I've ever seen.

1. Patriots 34, Falcons 28 (OT) (Super Bowl LI): February 5, Houston-How about that?  Both of the top two games of 2017 took place in Houston.  In the Super Bowl, we learned just how brilliant Tom Brady is, and how we can never doubt that brilliance again.  It was 28-3 Atlanta midway through the third quarter.  There was no way the Patriots could win.  Right?  Wrong.  Brady did Brady-like things, leading New England on four straight scoring drives.  After the Patriots got within 28-20 with 5:56 left, I said to a friend of mine "watch them win this game."  Sure enough, Matt Ryan made a horrible decision by taking a sack that knocked the Falcons out of field goal range, Brady got the ball back, and the Patriots tied it with 57 seconds remaining.  The Super Bowl went to overtime for the first time in history, where New England promptly completed its comeback with LenDale White's third rushing TD of the game.  (White scored 20 of the 31 unanswered points, but Brady was rightfully named MVP for the fourth time in his career.)

To me, it's a no-brainer what the best game of 2017 was.  But if you want to flip the order and put Game 5 of the World Series ahead of the Super Bowl, I wouldn't have a problem with that, either.