For the fifteenth consecutive year, I am publishing an account of my top 10 best and worst sports moments of the past year.  Scroll through the blog archives from late December of each year if you want to see the previous editions. Keep in mind that these are given from a purely subjective viewpoint.  When I say “best/worst moments” I’m not talking about great or horrible sporting events.  I’m talking about moments that affected me the most positively or negatively.  Overall, this was a fairly average sports year for me with some good and bad moments occurring throughout. Without further ado, here are my best and worst sports moments for the year 2023.

Best Moments:

1

Fairleigh Dickinson upsets Purdue while I attend Kentucky’s win over Providence with Andrew

March 17

This was just a magical confluence of great events, as I got to take my son to his first ever NCAA tournament game to see Kentucky win its first NCAA tournament game in 3 years, while simultaneously seeing Fairleigh Dickinson pull off the greatest upset in NCAA tournament history over Purdue. It will be a night that I never forget!

2

Wake Forest baseball makes first trip to College World Series since 1955!

June 11

Even though Wake’s baseball season ended in unimaginable heartbreak (see worst moment of the year # 1), the Diamond Deacs had a magical season that no Wake Forest fan will soon forget. 

3

UNCW shocks Kentucky basketball in Rupp Arena

December 2

I had conflicting emotions in this game as Kentucky was my beloved home team who I have cheered for since I began watching sports in the early 90’s and UNCW is my current hometown team. Nevertheless, this was “my game” in that it was announced on my birthday and featured the the teams from the two cities I had lived in for most of my life. And the only way to make “my game” truly memorable was for the Seahawks to pull off this astonishing upset, which they absolutely did. In the grand scheme of things, the outcome of the game doesn’t matter much. Kentucky will likely still earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament, and UNCW will still need to win its conference tournament to get a bid to the Bid Dance. However, on one December afternoon, in a game I attended in person with my family, UNCW shocked the entire college basketball world and attained its biggest win in school history aside from its lone NCAA tourney win over USC in 2002. 

4

Wake Forest women’s golf wins national championship

May 24

This program had been knocking on the door of a title for several years, and they finally finished the job by beating Southern Cal in dominant fashion to clinch the first national championship in program history and the school’s first national championship in five years.

5

Princeton advances to Sweet 16 while Kansas and Duke both lose

March 18

The NCAA Tournament is always a roller coaster of emotions. Some days all of your teams win, you get great upsets, and all is right with the world. Other days take you the darkest depths of despair. The first Saturday of the first round this year was one of the good days this year, as Princeton became just the third 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16, while both Duke and Kansas lost their respective second round games. 

6

Homecoming Weekend Miracles: Wake beats Pitt, UVA shocks UNC, Utah upsets USC, Miami beats Clemson

October 21

Much like the NCAA Tournament discussed above, college football Saturdays can range from incredible to horrible depending on the results of my various teams. And even though this season was largely a disappointing one for me in college football, I had one great Saturday on October 28th, as I went to Wake Forest for homecoming and saw them beat Pitt with their third string quarterback in one of the wildest games of the year. Then later that night, I watched Clemson fall out of the ACC championship race with a loss to Miami and USC fall out of the Pac-12 title race with a loss to Utah. Not every result broke my way that weekend, but there were enough big wins there for it to make this list. 

7

Mac McClung wins NBA Slam Dunk Contest in dominant fashion

February 18

I have always been a big fan of the NBA slam dunk contest, so it was awesome to see some little white dude from the G-League completely dominate his NBA opposition. 

8

Florida Atlantic, Kansas State, and Gonzaga all pull off dramatic upsets to advance to Elite 8

March 23

FAU was the story of this year’s NCAA tournament, as they ended up making a Cinderella run all the way to the Final Four as a 9 seed. Their win over Tennessee was the third of their four thrilling victories, and that occurred on the same night that my Zags hit a last second shot to upset UCLA, and Kansas State won an overtime thriller over Michigan State. 

9

Texas Rangers win first World Series Title

November 1

I am not a huge Rangers fan or anything, but I always love to see the teams that have never won a title finally breakthrough. I was especially happy to see Texas win this one because they were robbed of a world series title back in 2011 when they were one strike away from beating St. Louis on two separate occasions and David Freese broke their hearts with a walk off home run. 

10

I win first-ever fantasy baseball title in dramatic fashion

October 1

I always like to put a personal sports moment on this list and this is my 2023 version of that. Just like the Texas Rangers did in my best moment # 9, I broke my own lengthy fantasy baseball title drought this season, as I had played the sport for 18 different seasons before finally winning my first league championship in 2023. I did it in dramatic fashion too, as you can see from the scorecard above in that I won my championship game by a mere single point. In fact, my opponent had the last two players remaining (Max Kelpler from Minnesota and Nolan Jones from Colorado) in the final game on the final day of the regular season and a stolen base or an RBI by either of his guys would cost me the title. The chances of that happening increased greatly as the game went into extra innings and then increased even more when the Minnesota Twins did the unthinkable and brought out a position player, Jordan Luplow, to pitch the 11th inning for them. Fortunately, with Jones on deck, Luplow threw a wild pitch that scored the winning run and allowed me to escape with a 5-4 win in this fantasy championship game. I have never been so happy by the outcome of a meaningless baseball regular season game in my life. 

Worst Moments:

1

LSU baseball beats Wake Forest with extra innings walk off home run in College World Series national semifinal

June 22

This one hurt so bad, as my Deacs were oh so close to making it to the national championship series against Florida. I had my flight and hotel reservations up on my computer and ready to be booked, as I had planned to go out to Omaha with my son for the final series if the Deacs had won this one. Nevertheless, the Deacs squandered their best chance to score in the 8th inning when the Deacon Deacon infield Justin Johnson was tagged out at the plate on an unsuccessful squeeze play. Then, in the 11th inning, LSU’s top slugger Tommy White hit a walk off home run to give the Bayou Bengals the thrilling 2-0 victory. When the game entered extra innings, I said to my Wake friends on our group text that this feels like the Christian Laettner game against Kentucky in baseball form, and sure enough, I was proven right. 

2

San Diego State hits buzzer beater to beat FAU in Final Four to break mine and my son’s hearts

April 1

Of course, the one true buzzer beaten of this year’s NCAA tournament was the one that ended an incredible Cinderella run. FAU was seconds away from becoming the lowest seed ever to play in an NCAA national title game, but it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, Lamont Butler drilled a baseline jumper to give the Aztecs their only lead of the second half as time expired. The one bittersweet moment coming out of this moment was that my 7 year old son, who had little to no interest in sports at this time last year, became so enthralled with this tournament that this buzzer beater sent him into a state of devasted fury. He kicked the coffee table, punched the couch, and cried hysterically. I had never seen anyone with this kind of a passion over a team he didn’t care about, aside from myself. And while seeing him in this state of agony broke my heart, it also made me realize I was going to have a lifelong sports fan to both celebrate and commiserate with for years to come. As my wife said after he finally stopped crying, “I knew he was your son. I didn’t know he was your damn clone.” 

3

UNCW loses second consecutive heartbreaker in CAA title game to Charleston

March 7

For the second straight season, my hometown UNCW team made a surprising run to the conference title game, held the lead in the final minutes of the second half, and then proceeded to collapse down the stretch. In the world of one bid mid-major leagues, there is nothing more heartbreaking than coming within a play or two of punching your ticket to the Big Dance and falling just short. Here’s hoping the Seahawks finally get over the hump in 2024!

4

Black Sunday: Kentucky basketball loses to Kansas State in Second Round of NCAA Tournament, Fairleigh Dickinson’s Cinderella run ends, and Saint Mary’s loses

March 19

As stated in my best moment # 5, the NCAA Tournament is always a roller coaster of emotions filled with many ups and downs. Some days all of your teams win, you get great upsets, and all is right with the world. Other days take you the darkest depths of despair. And even though the first weekend of the NCAA tournament are the four best sports days of the year, there is always one day in there where all the teams I am cheering for seem to lose. This year that day was the last day of the second round, Sunday March 19th. I knew it was going to be a rough day, as after making an awesome trip to Greensboro on Friday night and then having a great time with some new friends on Saturday night, I woke up with the flu on Sunday. Then, while sick in bed, I proceeded to feel even worse as most all the teams I cheered for proceeded to lose that day. The worst loss was Kentucky’s defeat against Kansas State who they should have beaten handily even though they were the lower seeded team. Oscar Tshiebwe and his Cats outrebounded K-State by a 19-4 margin on the offensive glass, yet still managed to lose the game largely due to Antonio Reeves’ dismal 1 for 15 shooting performance. Any rationale coach would have benched Reeves once he saw he was ice cold, but Calipari played him a full 30 minutes as the Cats continued to falter offensively. Just a terrible way to end a promising season.

5

Georgia destroys TCU in College Football National Title Game

January 9

The only reason this game isn’t higher on the worst moments list is that I kinda saw it coming. TCU pulled its shocking upset in their Fiesta Bowl win over Michigan on New Year’s Eve, and you could just sense that was their “one shining moment” so to speak. They then ran into an absolute buzzsaw in top-ranked Georgia, as the Dawgs proceeded to obliterate the Cinderella Frogs by what at the time was the worst postseason loss in college football history. 

6

Andy Murray loses 2nd Round Wimbledon heartbreaker to Stefanos Tsitsipas

July 7

This was one of those huge five set epic matches on Centre Court that Andy Murray has always seemed to find a way to win over the years. Alas, it was not meant to be in 2023 as Murray bowed out in the Second Round of Wimbledon with a loss to fifth-seeded Tsitsipas in a match that Andy led two sets to one and was just a few points away from winning in the fourth set. What makes this moment even worse is that it may have been Murray’s last real chance at a huge Wimbledon win over a top seed, as Andy and his ailing hip draw closer and closer to retirement with each passing season. 

7

Kentucky football loses Gator Bowl heartbreaker to Clemson

December 28

I tried to set aside recency bias here, as this terrible sports moments happened less than 48 hours ago. It just wouldn’t be a worst moments of the year list without an instance of Clemson football ripping my heart out one more time. In 2022, my # 2 worst moment of the year was Clemson breaking the hearts of Wake Forest fans across the country in an overtime victory that I attended in person. I obviously didn’t learn my lesson for that game as I decided to attend another matchup last Friday that pitted one of my favorite teams against Clemson. And as a result, I was rewarded with the same disheartening result. The Wildcats led the Tigers by 11 in the second half until they turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions in their own territory. As a result, the Tigers took the lead early in the fourth quarter, but somehow Kentucky kept responding and scored a go-ahead touchdown with just 2:39 left. Unfortunately, the next few minutes were like watching a tragic movie that you have seen repeatedly over the years as Clemson converted two consecutive third and longs to score the winning touchdown in the game’s final seconds. It was the second straight Gator Bowl that I attended and both matchups were great games that had tragic endings. 

8

Mid-October Meltdown: Oregon, SC, Kentucky, and Wake football teams all lose heartbreakers

October 14

As discussed earlier, there are some college football Saturdays where all my teams are victorious and others where all the teams I am cheering for find ways to lose games they should win. Week 7 of this college football season definitely fell into the latter of these categories, as every game I cared about ended badly. First of all, Kentucky lost a home game to Missouri that they were both favored to him and had a 14 point lead in. This loss ended any hope for a New Year’s Six Bowl for the Cats. Prior to that, South Carolina saw its realistic bowl hopes fall by the way side when Florida converted a fourth and forever in the minutes of the fourth quarter to complete a double digit comeback win over the Cocks. Wake Forest also saw its chances at bowl bid crumble when they collapsed in the second half of a winnable game against Virginal Tech. To top it all off, my favorite national title contender, Oregon, choked its unbeaten season away by inexplicably going for it on fourth down on three separate occasions against Washington and failing to convert each time. It was a rough Saturday to say the least.

9

Bob Knight dies

November 1

Last year, my # 1 worst sports moment was the untimely death of my favorite coach in all of sports, Mike Leach. This year, the death of my second favorite coach in sports history makes the list. Bobby Knight’s death didn’t hit me as hard as Leach’s because Knight lived a significantly longer life than the Pirate and had been declining in health for a several years. Nevertheless, when one of your idols passes, it still hits you hard. I actually grew up disliking Indiana basketball due to the fact that I was a fan of their rival (at the time) Kentucky. Regardless, I loved Knight’s fiery edge, basketball intellect, dry sense of humor, humor, quick wit, generous soul, and “tell it like it is” mentality. I typically love controversial characters in the sports world and no one in college basketball has ever been as controversial as Robert Montgomery Knight. Let’s just hope they buried him upside down just like he famously requested. Rest In Peace, Bob.

10

North Carolina beats South Carolina in college football season opener

September 2

As you read above in my # 1 best moment of 2023, my son and I made a great trip across the state this past March to see my Kentucky Wildcats win their first NCAA tournament game in three seasons. Unfortunately, my son and I did not achieve the same success this past September when we made our second sports trip of year, this time to Charlotte for the college football season opener between South Carolina and North Carolina. It was fun attending College Gameday that morning and doing various activities around Charlotte together, but the game was not very pleasant, as the Tar Heels handled the Gamecocks from start to finish.