There’s an unwritten rule as a sports journalist that you never cheer in the media box.
You may be covering the Wallabies in South Africa where Australians are outnumbered 1000-to-one in the stadium or on duty as a cricket writer with a hoodoo on the verge of being shattered on a distant shore.
A big try...a huge wicket. No fist pumps, no yelps. That’s the rule.
It doesn’t stop that inner party because not so deep down every sports journalist loves their sport just like anyone else, the greatest moments and the euphoria of witnessing history.
One thing all sports journos do is cheer for a good story to get up...there’s no use the Test cricket debutant making 99 rather than a century or a fightback from injury or personal tragedy in the NRL ending in a loss when the opposition pinch the win.
Over four decades as a sports writer, I’ve been luckier than most to witness and write about some memorable spectacles and achievements.
It’s hard being prodded to make a definitive list because there’ll always be a moment left out that deserves to be there like a worthy 12th man at a Test match.
Everyone can write a list of the greatest sport they’ve witnessed.
This is a more personal top 10, in no particular order, for the pure vibe, exhilarating impact of one moment, a crescendo of events and the stories attached.
Duncan Armstrong winning the Olympic 200m freestyle gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
Crazy. Beyond the Queenslander upsetting three world record-holders with a world record of his own, this huge swim uncorked incredible scenes.
Armstrong’s delirious coach Laurie Lawrence jumped fully clothed into the warm-up pool and a conga line of world media was buzzing around trying to find out any tidbit about a complete unknown.
Photographer Peter McNamara on the spot to capture the exhilaration of Duncan Armstrong and coach Laurie Lawrence after the Olympic gold in Seoul.
Wallabies beating the All Blacks in the 1991 Rugby World Cup semi-final in Dublin.
The final a week later was for higher stakes but this was the show-stopper. David Campese and the Wallabies ran rings around the All Blacks with an opening 40 minutes (13-0) that may have been the best by any Australian side to that point in history.
The Wallabies had won over the Irish during their weeks based in Dublin while the Kiwis were famously branded “men in black with hearts of stone” for their joyless connection with the locals.
Cracking the West Indian cricket hoodoo...Kingston in 1995
Steve Waugh’s superb 200 at Sabina Park was the final feat that made it possible to beat the mighty West Indies in the Caribbean for the first time in 22 years.
I was lucky enough to be seated in the grandstand near the then-retired Allan Border for the climax and the sheer satisfaction in his face said it all.
This was a crescendo experience over weeks because so many contributed big moments to the end result.
Just a few of the highlights were paceman Brendon Julian’s best Test spell (4-36) on the riveting opening day of the series in Barbados, Glenn McGrath grabbing Brian Lara’s prized wicket there for the first time with a terrific ball, Paul Reiffel’s superb series with the ball, the Steve Waugh-Curtley Ambrose exchange on a green mamba in Trinidad, Mark Waugh’s 126 in tandem with his brother in Kingston and Shane Warne’s combative spirit all the way to the 4-70 that closed the deal at Sabina Park.
That was just the cricket because attending a Ziggy Marley concert in Barbados where he paid tribute to the songs of his late father Bob was supreme.
Best tour...ever.
Fun detour on the 1995 Australian cricket tour of the West Indies
Japan’s epic 2019 upset of Ireland – Rugby World Cop
Everything that is great about sport was summed up by this match...an underdog not just glimpsing victory but actually pulling it off. Delirious scenes and able to enjoy this one with beer in hand with a World Cup tour group in the stands in Shizuoka.
The 19-12 win ignited the whole World Cup for Japanese fans and international visitors.
Irish fans were great sports even on the receiving end of one of rugby’s great upsets in Shizuoka in 2019.
Greg Norman’s 1986 British Open win
You make decisions in life and this was a good one. I was actually flying into Scotland for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.
Norman was leading into the final round when the plane touched down at Heathrow so suddenly any golf-loving Aussie had to find a way to Turnberry. A flight to Edinburgh and a train to Glasgow still meant forking out 40 quid for an hour-long taxi trip to the course.
I only got there to see the final two holes but there’s a souvenir for life still in a Turnberry golf towel in the garage.
The Shark’s final divot has shrivelled somewhat but I still have it or rather half of it.
Norman’s caddie Pete Bender had a similar idea and walked back down the fairway with an empty bottle of Moet Chandon to stuff bunker sand and the other half of the divot in his celebratory momento.
The Shark gave one of his first interviews to a Brisbane radio reporter because he spied his XXXX rainjacket...way to go Benny Pike.
Jim Tucker with Greg Norman's last divot from his 1986 British Open victory at Turnberry.
Brisbane Bullets – 1985 Championship win
This was entertainment with balls in the mid-1980s when the Bullets were a magnet for fun, fast-paced excitement and the rise of basketball.
Coach Brian Kerle took the Bullets from a tin shed and a few hundred fans to a sellout at Chandler for the 1985 NBL grand final and 10,000-plus fans at the 1987 grand final at Boondall.
The final quarter blitz for the 1985 grand final win (121-95), with left-handed dunks from Leroy Loggins and three-point bombs from Cal Bruton and Ron Radliff, was the euphoric start to an all-night party.
The party room at the old Crest International Hotel was so well stocked it had cartons of Southern Comfort, Foster’s Lager and assorted other drinks from the floor to the ceiling.
Steve Larkham’s field goal from nowhere – 1999 World Cop
Try banging over a field goal from 48 metres out in the rain to break a 21-all deadlock against South Africa in extra time of a World Cup semi-final.
Did we say Steve Larkham had never kicked a field goal in his 28 previous Tests or for the Brumbies?
A one-off miracle moment at Twickenham that set up the World Cup triumph a week later.
Bubba Golf – the shot that won the 2012 Masters
Augusta National is on every sports’ lover’s bucket list. Everything about the home of the Masters is better than its billing.
The "Magic Masters Shots" tour had another stop after Bubba Watson’s impossible spot from deep in the trees on the right side of the 10th fairway to win a play-off in 2012.
I stood on Bubba's patch in the pine straw a day later. The only obvious shots were punching it too long into a leaderboard, sculling it right into a TV tower or getting the ball up too early and hitting a branch.
Only a left-hander could dream of playing this shot.
Bubba's equation was the perfect hook, a crazy 12-outta-10 curve ball to reach the green. Impossible but he did it.
Will Genia’s try – Queensland’s 2011 Super Rugby triumph
You had to live life as a Reds’ rugby follower through all the dead ends and defeats between 2004-09 to truly understand the ecstasy of the 2011 Super Rugby final win in front of a packed house at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium.
The showstopper against the Crusaders to decide the final summed up halfback Will Genia’s superb opportunism.
Genia took off from his own half on turnover ball. He darted inside Dan Carter and Richie McCaw and set sail on a 65m run.
Genia seemingly floated on a chorus of 50,000 roaring voices which built into an ever-louder din over the final 15m as the tryline and cover defence converged. TRY!
The John Eales Kick
After the miracle to beat the All Blacks with that last-gasp John Eales kick in 2000, I got to drink from the Bledisloe Cup for the only time when it was doing a lap of a crowded Wellington bar.
A dirty Kiwi spat in it five seconds before it reached me so I figured it was still safe to swig beer from the other edge... quickly.
New Zealand’s mobile phone network had a sense of humour. Every screen flashed the message “BUGGER” after that kick.
Well, there’s a top 10 for today. What it has mostly done is stir the memory bank to start another list.
How can you leave out Cathy Freeman’s night of nights in 2000, Ian Healy’s six to win a gripping Test in Port Elizabeth in 1997, the drama of Damien Fleming’s final over to win the Miracle in Mohali at cricket’s one-day World Cup in 1996, Greg Norman’s 1993 British Open, rugby’s Test of the Century, three Australian centuries to open the 1993 Test at Lord’s, John McEnroe’s run at the 1992 Australian Open or Debbie Flintoff-King winning the 400m hurdles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics?
Like I said, very lucky.
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