sporting events are always going to be a central part of the American experience
in the fall Americans tuned in to watch their favorite sports be at the NFL MLB
NHL and even the NBA every two years we come together as a nation to support
Team USA in the winter or summer olympics we even sometimes come together
to watch the United States compete in World Cup play it's happened from the
yellow ribbon tied around the Superdome during Super Bowl 15 to remember
hostages taken in Iran to chants of USA USA when a crowd in Philadelphia learned
about the death of Osama bin Laden American sports fans and players wear
their American hearts on their sleeves so let's check out the top 10 most
patriotic moments in sports history number 10 Team USA carries the World
Trade Center flag to the Olympics rarely does a flag presentation at the Olympic
Games happen to a quiet crowd but as eight members of Team USA flanked by
members of the New York Police Department and New York Fire Department
marched the flag of the host country into the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt
Lake City you could hear a pin drop the flag they carried was found in the
rubble of Ground Zero and had flown atop the World Trade Center in New York when
the buildings were attacked on September 11th 2001 that flag was under the debris
for three days before being found and given to the National Guard it took some
time to convince the International Olympic Committee who is responsible for
keeping politics out of the games to approve the display of the torn and
tattered banner but on opening night the World Trade Centers Old Glory flew
proudly once more number nine ruling Gardner defeats the undefeated
for a decade Aleksandr Karelin was the world's dominant super heavyweight
wrestler by the time the 2000 Olympics world around Karelin aka the Russian
bear aka Alexander the Great hadn't been defeated
in a match since Russia was still called the Soviet Union Lehmann then that was
his only loss until he faced off with a dairy farmer from
in six years Karelin hadn't even given up a single point to an opponent his
American opponent ruling Gardner hadn't placed higher than fifth in the world up
into this point and even lost a Karelin five to nothing before but Karelin lost
his grip and a point to Gardner in the second period number eight Mary Lou
Retton wins a gymnastic first a little girl from West Virginia dealt a stunning
blow to the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War when Mary Lou Retton brought home
Olympic gold in 1984 before Retton Team USA was never able to wrest Olympic gold
from the Eastern Europe in the individual all-around gymnastics event
she came into the event trailing Romania's Ekaterina Sabo and she even
had undergone a knee operation just five weeks before competing in retton's own
words she believes her performance showed that American born and trained
athletes can do anything no matter what the odds are 1999 Women's World Cup
final the 1999 Women's World Cup came down to a shootout tiebreaker against
the Chinese with the score tied 0 to 0 in extra time the US team would end up
winning base on penalties it wasn't so much the gameplay that mattered
it was the drop with 90 thousand spectators it was the largest turnout
for a women's sporting event ever the lasting image of the US win would be
brandi chastain x' post penalty kicks celebration of the victory or she fell
to her knees and took off her Jersey revealing the sports bra seen around the
world that image became one of Sports Illustrated's most iconic covers ever
number six Joe Lewis knocks out a Nazi in 1938 Hitler was still touting the
Germans as a master race while German athletes competed the world over for top
honours on June 22nd Max Schmeling met American champion the brown bomber Joe
Lewis the first time the two met in 1936 Schmeling took advantage of a moment
when Lewis dropped his left hand after jab allowing Schmeling to give Lewis his
first loss in the 12th round of that that would not happen again with the
world listening via radio and more than 70-thousand watching in Yankee Stadium
Lewis unloaded on Schmeling knocking him down three times in just two minutes
smelling was only able to throw two punches in the hole one round match
number five the champ lights the Olympic torch lighting the Olympic flame at the
end of the torch relay is an honor reserved for a legendary olympic athlete
from the host country does it get more legendary than the greatest Muhammad Ali
except in 1996 the identity of the one who would light the flame was a close
kept secret even swimmer Janet Evans who was handing the torch off didn't know to
whom she was handing it Holly was stricken with Parkinson's disease and
had long since retired by this point when Ali emerged to take the Olympic
torch and light the flame the sound in Atlanta was less a roar of applause and
more of the collective gasp of elated surprise as the once great boxer shaking
lit the torch number four Rick Monday saves the flag remember the MLB
outfielder Rick Monday he might be before most of our audience's time but
Monday was with the Los Angeles Dodgers 1981 World Series winning team before
that he was the top prospect in the 1965 Major League Baseball Draft somewhere in
between he saved Old Glory from public
degradation in 1976 Monday was with the Chicago Cubs visiting the Dodgers with
Monday in centerfield during the fourth inning two protestors jumped the
outfield fence and tried to burn a flag on live television Monday seeing what
was about to transpire ran over and snatch the lighter fluid soaked flag the
protestors were arrested and Monday was able to keep the flag ever since that
day Monday used the actual flag to raise money for military families number three
the president's post 9-11 opening pitch it might be hard to imagine the leader
of the free world facing a new global war on terrorism being psyched out by
throwing the first pitch in Yankee Stadium
in his own words he absolutely was thousands of New Yorkers came to the
stadium to watch President George W Bush throw the pitch to open Game three of
the 2001 World Series it was also just weeks after 9/11 he didn't want
Americans to think the president was incapable of finding the plate but as he
practiced Yankee Derek Jeter told him that he needed to both throw from the
mound and not in front as originally planned and not bouncing
they'll boo you he told the President Bush shaken but loose walked onto the
field and threw a strike to an eruption of applause number two the Buckeye
bullet burns Hitler before he ever arrived in Berlin for the 1936 Olympic
Games Jesse Owens had already set three World Records and tied another at Ohio
State he won eight individual NCAA championships which was a record in its
own right when he arrived in Berlin he knew Nazi Germany was using the games as
a showcase for its racial policies but he was determined to compete anyway
Owens went on to win four gold medals in 1936 and unrivaled achievement until
some fifty years later when Carl Lewis did the same in 1984 when Owens won gold
in the long jump the Olympic Committee told Hitler he had to greet all the
winners or none at all Hitler opted for none as Owens won other events
Hitler would leave early Nazi minister Albert Speer would later write that
Hitler was quote highly annoyed by the series of triumphs by the marvelous
colored American runner and Jesse Owens end quote
number one The Miracle on Ice would you bet money on a bunch of college amateurs
taking on the world's greatest hockey team in a competition for Olympic gold
not many would and not many did as it turns out that was the situation Team
USA faced in the 1980 Winter Olympics it was a tough time for the United States
with hostages in Iran and energy crisis and runaway inflation it looked like the
American Dream was coming to an end but no words echoed through the ages like Al
Michaels do you believe in miracles as Team USA topped the Soviet Union four to
three one of the biggest upsets in sports
history that's our list we hope it made you as proud as it made us leave us a
comment and tell us your favorite patriotic moments in sports history