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SALT LAKE CITY — Football fans, ever heard of a 1-point safety?
Well, we got one of the rarest plays in sports in Thursday night's Fiesta Bowl between the Oregon Ducks and Kansas State Wildcats.
Following a touchdown run by Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota to put the Ducks ahead 31-10 in the third quarter, Kansas State's Allen Chapman was tackled in his own end zone after the blocked kick was recovered in the field of play.
I'll let referee Ron Cherry explain it, but essentially the Wildcats were responsible for a backward run and lateral that resulted in Chapman being tackled behind the line, hence 1 point for the Ducks.
Bizarre, but apparently it has happened before. In fact, Brad Nessler who was calling the game for ESPN, saw it in 2004 in a Texas win over Texas A&M.
"If I see another one," Nessler said, "I'm retiring. I'm sorry."
Hopefully he didn't say that in 2004 too.
Bizarre injury
In you ever go to an NBA game and get to sit on the sideline, you'll soon realize you are sitting on the sideline.
Fans with front row seats are extremely close to the action, evident by Spike Lee's frequent confrontations with opposing players.
In Thursday night's Knicks-Spurs game in Madison Square Garden, Spurs forward Stephen Jackson learned the hard way just how close they really are.
After attempting a 3-pointer from the corner, Jackson took a step back and twisted his ankle on a courtside waitress serving New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
I'm sure the waitress felt horrible... until she realized it was a Spurs player.
Blown buzzer-beater
It'll forever be known as the "buzzer-beater that should have been."
Thursday night, Colorado's Sabatino Chen hit a bank shot buzzer-beating three pointer to beat conference rival and 3rd-ranked Arizona, but for some bizarre reason the Buffs win total stayed the same.
That's because the refs waived off the basket, even though they reviewed the shot and although it is extremely close, it certainly looks like Chen got off his game-winner before the clock struck 0.00.
And, these aren't replacement refs. Pac-12 refs, yes, but not replacement refs.
But the game must go on and in overtime the Wildcats blew out the deflated Buffaloes.
Maybe next time guys.
Living on a prayerThis is arguably the best shot I have ever seen and I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional.
Sophomore Gabrielle Gary of Lafayette, Indiana's McCutcheon High School was simply trying to save a loose ball from going out of bounds.
As she reached the ball, she flings it toward the hoop before falling out of bounds. The ball clips the front of the rim, bounces off the backboard and through the hoop.
While a lot of luck was involved here, Gary's a pretty talented player. She went on to lead the team with 7 3-pointers and a career-high 24 points in her team's 20-point win.
Elbow-high dunk
Vince Carter is credited with arguably the greatest collection of dunks from his high flying show at the 2000 NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
One of his most memorable of those dunks, was his elbow-high slam, which has now been matched by a sophomore in Jonesboro, Ark.
But, Nettleton High's Victor Dukes' dunk came while being double-teamed.
Dukes dribbles past one defender then takes off over another defender who falls to the floor apparently in pain.
Was that a foot to the chest?
I swear his chest hits the rim too.
Coast-to-coast alley-oop dunk to self
Here's another crazy jaw-dropping dunk.
Over the holiday break at the Pete & Jameer Nelson Holiday Classic in Pennsylvania, Chester High School's Rondae Jefferson took matters into his own hands.
The Arizona-bound player grabbed the rebound, weaved through three defenders, tossed the ball off the backboard, grabbed the ball and slammed it home with his left hand.
Talk about improv. This guy should do stand-up.
