Best Games of 2024

For a while, my last post of the year was always a countdown of the best games of the year.  I had the number of games correspond to the year, which was easy in 2010 & 2011, but got incrementally harder as a game needed to be added to the list each year.  Then 2020 happened and I moved away from it in the COVID-impacted year.  So, it's been a while since I've gone my year-end top games list.

When I started thinking about how I wanted to end 2024, though, I couldn't help but immediately think of all the incredible games that we saw this year.  It started on literally the first day of 2024 when Michigan and Alabama met in that epic Rose Bowl.  There was the longest Super Bowl ever, Catlin Clark vs. Paige Bueckers in the Women's Final Four, more moments in Paris than I can count, and so much more!  (As well as some not-so-memorable games.  NBA All-Star Game, anyone?)

As a result, I made a decision to bring the year-end "Games of the Year" list back.  Although, for my own sanity, I'm limiting it to 10.  I've also decided not to rank them 1-10.  Instead, I'll list them chronologically and choose only a top game at the end.  I'm also sure that there are some games I missed, but if I can't immediately remember them, they probably weren't all that memorable, were they?

January 1: Rose Bowl (Michigan vs. Alabama)-Alabama's selection over Florida State as the final team in the last four-team College Football Playoff was controversial, but sure proved to be the right call.  The back-and-forth affair was an absolute classic, with each team matching the other after every score.  Michigan tied it with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter, then scored a touchdown in overtime before stopping Alabama on 4th & Goal from the Michigan 3 to win, 27-20, before defeating Washington for the National Championship a week later.  These two ended 2024 the same way they began it...by facing each other in a bowl game.

January 28: Australian Open Men's Final (Jannik Sinner vs. Daniil Medvedev)-In the semifinals, Sinner beat Novak Djokovic, snapping Djokovic's 33-match winning streak in Australia.  In the final, he dropped the first two sets before rallying to win, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 after three hours and 45 minutes.  It was Sinner's first Grand Slam title and just the start of an incredible 2024 that would also see him win the US Open and ATP Finals, lead Italy to the Davis Cup, and finish as the year-end No. 1.

February 11: Super Bowl LVIII (Chiefs vs. 49ers)-The Chiefs played the 49ers in the Super Bowl for the second time in four years.  And for the second time in four years, Kansas City won a classic.  San Francisco took a 19-16 lead with 1:53 left.  The Chiefs kicked the game-tying field goal with three seconds remaining, sending the Super Bowl into overtime for just the second time in history.  The 49ers got the ball first in OT and kicked a field goal, then with three seconds left in the fifth quarter, Patrick Mahomes connected with Mecole Hardman for a 3-yard TD pass to give the Chiefs their second consecutive Lombardi Trophy, 25-22.

February 18: NHL Stadium Series (Rangers vs. Islanders)-I'm a little biased here since I was at this one, but it was still legitimately a great game.  Of course, I didn't think so at first when the Islanders jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the second period.  It was 5-3 with five minutes left when my man Scott Mayfield took two penalties, the Rangers scored on both power plays to tie it, then Artemi Panarin scored 10 seconds into overtime to win it, 6-5.  My brother-in-law and nephew didn't agree, but I found the final five minutes much more enjoyable than the first 55.

April 5: Women's Final Four (Iowa vs. UConn)-This game set a record (that would be broken two days later in the Championship Game) with 14.2 million TV viewers (which was double that of the first semifinal between South Carolina and NC State).  They tuned in to see Caitlin Clark vs. Paige Bueckers, the two biggest stars in women's college basketball last season, and they ended up seeing a great game that Clark sealed with a free throw to send Iowa into its second straight National Championship Game, 71-69.

August 3: Olympic Mixed 4x400 Relay Final-If you haven't seen this race, do yourself a favor and go watch it on YouTube (or I think it's still on Peacock, too).  The United States set a world record in the prelims and had the lead with 100 meters left in the final.  The Netherlands had Femke Bol, though.  The star 400-meter hurdler ran a blistering anchor leg to go from fourth place to the gold medal.  For all the thrilling track races there were in Paris, this one might've been the most exciting.

August 11: Olympic Women's Basketball Gold Medal Game (USA vs. France)-What a way to bring down the curtain on the Paris Games!  In literally the last event of the Olympics, the United States and France played an outstanding women's basketball gold medal game!  The U.S. hasn't lost an Olympic women's basketball game in 32 years, but France gave them everything they could handle and then some!  In front of a partisan sellout crowd, they played an absolute classic that featured 11 ties and six lead changes.  It was 65-64 when Kahleah Copper made two free throws with three seconds left.  Gabby Williams drove down and made a jumper for France as time expired, but her foot was clearly inside the three-point line and the U.S. held on, 67-66.

August 25: Little League World Series Championship Game (Florida vs. Chinese Taipei)-Chinese Taipei had a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the sixth in the six-inning game.  Florida tied it on a two-out single when the Taiwanese pitcher inexplicably cut off the throw from left and tried to get the out at third, letting the tying run score without a throw.  (I know these kids are 12, but, still, poor baseball IQ.)  Then in the bottom of the eighth, there was the bunt heard round the world.  Florida tried bunting the automatic runner over, the pitcher and first baseman both charged, so there was no one at first to receive the throw.  The winning run scored on the error.

September 30: Mets-Braves Doubleheader, Game 1-All of the circumstances leading to this doubleheader being played the day after the regular season ended were crazy enough.  Then the two games were played!  The teams knew that they'd both make the playoffs with a split, and the Braves took a 3-0 lead into the eighth inning of Game 1.  The Mets put up a six-spot, only for Atlanta to get four in the bottom of the eighth!  In the top of the ninth, Francisco Lindor hit a two-run homer before Edwin Diaz (who had already blown the save) closed out the 8-7 win that sent the Mets back to Milwaukee (where they had just been!) for the Wild Card Series.

October 20: WNBA Finals, Game 5 (Liberty vs. Lynx)-One of the biggest sports stories of 2024 was how the WNBA, in its 28th season of existence, finally was accepted by mainstream America.  The league's newfound fans enjoyed an excellent WNBA Finals, capped by an outstanding winner-take-all Game 5.  Minnesota led by as many as 12 points in the first half and was up by seven at halftime.  The Liberty battled back and took the lead, but the Lynx went back in front late.  A controversial foul sent Breanna Stewart to the line with 5.2 seconds left and she made both free throws to send the game to overtime, where the Liberty pulled away for a 67-62 victory and their first-ever WNBA championship.

See why I didn't rank them from 1-10?  All of these games were incredible!  If I had to select just one to be the 2024 Game of the Year, though, I think it would have to be the Rose Bowl.  It was a very close call, and it came on literally the first day of the year.  But it set the stage for the tremendous sports year that was to come!