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It’s a pleasure and pain to write about the five best sporting events you have seen.
It’s a pleasure because I get to wax lyrical on sporting contests I got a birdseye of, as I usually had the best seats in the house – the commentary box.
But there were so many I bore witness to and that’s why it’s a pain as I have to narrow them down to just five.
There are many unlucky events, such as the 2006 AFL elimination final at the MCG when a young Western Bulldogs outfit in their first finals appearance for six years shocked everyone by thrashing Collingwood.
There’s the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics, because it was on home soil and we got the chance as a nation to strut our stuff and show what we are made of and we did it wonderfully well.
There was the Australian men’s hockey team finally breaking the drought in winning that elusive Olympic gold medal in Athens in 2004 after being favourites in the previous eight Olympics.
And who could forget the emotion of the late Kerryn McCann winning gold in the women’s marathon at the MCG in the 2006 Commonwealth Games, when there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
However, I had to choose five, and this is what I have come up with.
5. The last quarter of the 1984 VFL grand final between Essendon and Hawthorn
I was 15 at the time and I still remember it like it was yesterday; the Bombers producing the best quarter of footy I had ever seen up to that stage of my young life, booting nine goals to nil.
It had been a tough grand final for the first three quarters, with the Hawks four goals up. Essendon would have been much closer but for poor kicking.
However, the Dons turned it on straight away in the final term, with Leon Baker, Paul Weston, Billy Duckworth and Tim Watson outstanding to win their first flag since 1965. It was breathtaking to watch.
4. Kieran Perkins at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics
The reigning gold medallist and favourite was poor in the heats of his pet event, the 1500 metres freestyle, and just scraped into the final in lane 8.
He was written off going into the battle for gold, but all eyes were on lane 8 as Perkins blitzed the field and won easily.
Who could forget this line from Dennis Cometti’s commentary, “Perkins! A heart of a lion in the heart of Dixie! Gold!”
3. Cathy Freeman at the 2000 Olympics
Another special Olympic moment. It was Sydney 2000 and that race. Cathy Freeman had the weight of a nation on her shoulders in the women’s 400 metres.
Cathy made a slow start in her racing suit, but had reined the field in with just over 100 metres to go and got the job done with style.
Even if you didn’t like sport, no matter where you were in this great country of ours, everyone was either glued to a TV or radio, or watching Freeman intently if lucky enough to be at Homebush. She more than lived up to expectations.
The top two in my top five both belong to tennis.
2. 2005 Australian Open semi-final between Marat Safin and Roger Federer
Safin, the unpredictable but highly talented Russian taking on the world number one Federer at the peak of his incredible powers.
Federer got on top and had a match point in the fourth set to advance to another final, but was unRoger-like in playing a shot between his legs. He missed it, and Safin fought back and won the fourth and took what was already an epic into a pulsating fifth set.
The Russian was able to prevail as one got away for Federer, when they rarely did in those days.
Safin then took on Leyton Hewitt in the final, the only year the Australian ever had much success at his home Grand Slam, with big Marat winning.
Leyton had had his fair share of epics to get to the final and despite his never-say-die attitude, big Marat was too good.
Talking of Hewitt, he features at the top of the tree for my five best sporting events ever.
1. 2003 Davis Cup semi-final
Australia was playing Switzerland at the Rod Laver Arena – or as it was known then, Melbourne Park.
Going into the reverse singles on Sunday, Australia led the tie 2-1, after a young Federer beat Mark Philippoussis and Hewitt was too good for a very, very youthful Stan Wawrinka. Then on Saturday, Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs came from two sets to one down to beat Marc Rosset and Federer in the doubles.
Roger was 22 at the time and had won his first major singles title Wimbledon, but Hewitt was still world number one. However Federer was superb in the first two sets, dominating Leyton, with the second set from the Swiss superstar almost perfect.
Switzerland was just a set away from taking the tie to a decider, but although Federer through his brilliance would soon overtake Hewitt, the Australian was mentally stronger than Roger, who was still a bit suspect in that area.
Hewitt had to fight hard to get back in the match and being two sets to love behind was just what he needed – he always performs magnificently when his back is cemented to the wall.
In a tight third set he got over the line and you could see Federer was wilting after a long doubles match the previous day, coupled with the first singles encounter on Friday.
Both players took a break as the momentum had shifted, and gee it was a long break for Federer. He seemed to be gone from the court for ages and despite probably having a shower, among other things, to freshen up and change his gear, he still looked spent as Hewitt did what he does best: feasted on the crowd for support, with the noise out of control.
It was edge-of-your-seat stuff as both players went toe to toe in the fourth, with Hewitt again prevailing.
His fitness was too much for Federer, who had to rely on those spectacular winners. The Swiss maestro was playing well enough for Philippoussis to start preparing for the last rubber on an outside court, but again Hewitt found a way to get off the canvas, land the killer blow and take Australia into another Davis Cup final.
For excitement, tension and drama, this match has never been bettered. If it is in my lifetime, I hope I am there to see it, because it will be something!
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