The 50 Most Badass Moments In Sports History
Compiled by Max Schlusselberg & Jack Erwin
There are sports moments that make us cheer, ones that leave us speechless, and even ones that make us cry (a little). But it takes a special kind of athletic feat to make us stand up and say: “That’s badass.” Now “badass” comes in all shapes and sizes, both good and bad, but you know it when you see it: achieving victory in the face of odds that would make a normal man quiver in his pantaloons, risking your career to say what you feel (or just punch the guy who’s been pissing you off all game), playing through injury and dragging the comp, or even doing psychedelic drugs and still playing like a boss.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, but never doubt ‘em: sports badasses are why we’re watching the games in the first place. Listen folks, these ain’t your old man’s greatest sports moments. These are Complex’s 50 Most Badass Moments In Sports History…
50. Randy Johnson Kills A Bird
WHO: Randy Johnson
WHEN: March 24, 2001
WHERE: Tucson Electric Park in Tucson, AZ
• Although the umpire officially called it a “no-pitch,” try telling that to the dove who got vaporized by Johnson’s infamous fastball. Some say the bird getting pulverized was just a crazy coincidence, we say it takes a real badass to kill a sweet, innocent dove.
CLICK NEXT TO SEE THE 49TH MOST BADASS MOMENT IN SPORTS HISTORY!
Disappointed White Guy August 6, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Page after page is fuckin annoying !!! 50 pages come on guys !
Weisberg Slim August 6, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Wait, are you disappointed because of the click-throughs, or because you’re white? Weisberg Slim feels the need to get to the bottom of your ennui.
Rain Calling Dancer August 6, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Long Live Pitch
Andanotherone August 6, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Nice list! worth the click-thrus……..
swizzy August 6, 2009 at 1:00 pm
that bird pitch is crazy. the feather’s blowing up…you only see that in cartoons and stuff lol
riff raff August 6, 2009 at 1:08 pm
sean taylor could have his own badass countdown. go skins!
karlyaphelghmsky August 6, 2009 at 1:25 pm
i don’t mind the click thrus. glad y’all new yorkers could recognize greatness and put reggie in the top 10.
riff raff August 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm
dope list. I can think a few more picks from extreme sports like bmx, skateboarding, and motocross though.
toyotasupra August 6, 2009 at 2:23 pm
great list, i woulda put malice in the palice at number one that shit was so fuckin badass
stereo August 6, 2009 at 2:39 pm
wow! finally finished with this list!#1 was definately badass with what they did
dope list but 50 pages complex?
Inconspicuous August 6, 2009 at 4:44 pm
This is the 50 most badass moments in sports? Not likely, more like the 50 most jackass, dumbass, cheapass, whiney ass, I’m going to throw a tantrum moments.
BenState August 7, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Agreed. Many of these are just violent actions or cheap shots or poor sports. Genearlly, punks. The best ones are the ones where someone showed up the would-be punk in some way or overcame something extraordinary.
Weisberg Slim August 6, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Don’t worry about Inconspicuous, he’s just sad about John Hughes dying.
Coldsteelkv August 6, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Hard to believe a list of BadAsses had no mention of Mike Tyson, either for the Psycho Ear Bite or the way he Road Warrior’ed nearly every man he ever faced until Buster Douglas. Go back and watch some of his knockouts…He made men fall in ways nobody had ever seen. Go back and check out Trevor Berbick.
Having siad all that, My vote would be for the Thrilla in Manila, the greatest fight ever in my opinion.It was a fight that could have ended in death. Both men fighting each other and also the broiling heat.
Ali. If not the actual ‘Greatest’, close enough to argue. He said it was “like Hell”.
Frazier. If you accept Ali as the Greatest, then Joe Frazier fought the greatest fighter who ever lived, with one eye, and still nearly destroyed him. Close your left eye. Now imagine fighting the greatest fighter of all time…Heck, imagine fighting the 100th greatest with one eye.
Greg not Lance August 6, 2009 at 6:06 pm
If you are going to put Lance over coming cancer (with steroids – but not performance enhancing ones) Greg Lemond winning one year after being shot multiple times should be higher. Getting cancer from doing steroids badass……getting shot while trying to kill animals super badass.
14TheoFleury August 7, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Ummmm… He shot himself in the foot. What, exactly, is badass about shooting yourself in the foot while reloading a gun?
Dan August 6, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I’m disappointed with the lack of the Canada Russia brawl from the 1987 world juniors. Both teams got thrown out of the tournament. I guess its absence understandable because nobody outside Canada seems to follow the world juniors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZMEE7tlq6A
toyotasupra August 6, 2009 at 9:03 pm
greg not lance – take the tampon out of your ass. lance never did steroids, both of dudes testicles had cancer and his lungs and his liver and his brain, he went through body traumatizing surgery and chemo that would’ve made shit come out of your mouth you little bitch. i dare you to try winning a tour de france
Lone Ranger August 6, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I cannot believe that a “top fifty badass” moments collection would leave out Julie Moss finishing the Ironman Triathalon in 1982:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRB1p89k7_I
riroon August 6, 2009 at 11:59 pm
No Kyle Turley action?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXEjXVmnAv4
In the clip, a New York Jet facemasks Saints qb Aaron Brooks, twisting his head like the stem of a banana. Turley rushes in, strings a pile of players and refs about 10 yards as he procedes to rip the helmet off the offending Jet and toss the helmet into the stands.
Dwayne Carter August 7, 2009 at 12:32 am
and yeaaaa i might be tripping……but i feel terrific
arseface August 7, 2009 at 5:01 am
Slight correction – Eric Cantona (no. 43) got a nine-month ban from world football, a £10,000 fine and was sentenced to 120 hours of community service. A bit more than a “slap on the wrist”.
suckitmarshall August 7, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Goddamn, my fuckin’ boss is gonna fire me. I could look at this shit all day.
sheesh August 7, 2009 at 12:59 pm
didnt want to spend an hour on this — crappy a$$ cant load the pages fast enough — make sure you can support the load if you are going to post items like this
ace August 7, 2009 at 1:11 pm
you missed: Greg Louganis finishing off the gold medal after hitting his head on the board (and being HIV positive at the time). now THAT is badass.
donjohnson August 7, 2009 at 1:33 pm
riroon – “no kyle turley action?” really?
you ignant ass comment posters callin’ here for my daddy suck a dick.. like that mama?
Huff August 7, 2009 at 1:36 pm
2 that should be added over the Schilling bloody sock, Ronnie Lott finger, Jack Youngblood playing 2 playoff games with a break in his leg, I get so tired of the sock eww it was a stich that leaked some blood, Lott had his finger severed off and still played Jack got shot up with some numbing stuff and played 2 games thats tough
14TheoFleury August 7, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Where’s Kermit Washington?
mike August 7, 2009 at 3:15 pm
#6 should be #1 in my opinion
Josh August 7, 2009 at 3:40 pm
What about Babe Ruth calling his shot? That has got to be one if not the most badass moments in sports and yet didn’t even make the list.
dan August 7, 2009 at 3:42 pm
didn’t see the following (althought i might have missed a few, clicking thru 50 links is a pain in the ,,,)
- Douglas ko’ing Tyson
- Tyson biting off Holyfields ear
- LT snapping Theismann’s leg break
- Jack Lambert body slamming a cowboy
- Any of the Micky Ward/Arturro Gatti fights
- Vinnie Pazienza coming back to box after a broken neck
Dale August 7, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I agree… no babe ruth. also, what about tedy bruschi… the guy had a stroke and came back to play football.
BustaBoost August 7, 2009 at 3:55 pm
No Muhammad Ali? What about the Rope-a-Dope? Yelling at one of his opponents “What’s my name?” while he beat his ass. Or talking shit to Sonny Liston after he knocked him out?
What about Babe Ruth calling his shot?
suckitmarshall August 7, 2009 at 5:03 pm
good call on both of those. Not sure what I’d lose, but definitely badass moments.
NickyD August 7, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Ali pummelling former world champion Floyd Patterson for 12 rounds while yelling “What’s My Name!” at him the entire time (because Floyd kept calling him Cassius leading up to the fight) is THE most badass moment in history. Period.
Matt August 7, 2009 at 5:35 pm
You are missing a couple pretty bad ass moments.
Bobby Baun scoring the overtime winner in Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup finals after breaking his ankle earlier in the game.
Ted Williams at 34 putting his baseball career on hold a second time to go be a fighter pilot in the Korean War.
Colin August 7, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Can’t say I’m surprised everything but a few soccer moments are American, but you’d think if you’re going to put sports history in the title you’d include some rugby moments.
Such as Buck Shelford?
“Roughly 20 minutes into the match, he was caught at the bottom of a rather aggressive ruck, and an errant French boot found its way into Shelford’s groin, somehow ripping his scrotum and leaving one testicle hanging free. He also lost four teeth in the process. Incredibly, after discovering the injury to his scrotum, he calmly asked the physio to stitch up the tear and returned to the field before a blow to his head left him concussed.” Wiki
WHAT??? August 7, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Delman Young throwing the bat at the ump was the farthest thing from badass. In fact, it should have landed him on the “Top 50 Galactically Pussy Sports Moments”.
Robert August 8, 2009 at 10:44 am
Not much love for boxing here. Top 50 and no Iron Mike? Ali? Frazier? Jack Johnson? You can pick at least 10 episodes from those guys who could make this list.
Joe August 8, 2009 at 12:43 pm
this is the most annoying article I have EVER TRIED to read. 50 pages and IMPOSSIBLE to navigate. are you kidding??
Todd August 8, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Jose Luis Castillo v. Diego Corrales (any of their fights) deserve to be on this list.
Warren August 8, 2009 at 8:40 pm
the Dale Hunter Cheap shot is not bad ass. It was cowardly.
Come on August 8, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Come on – a lot of these are gutless douchebaggery, not bad-ass. What’s bad about taking a bat to an innocent competitor in a sausage competition? Gillies/O’Reilly is bad-ass. Dale Hunter cross-checking Pierre Turgeon is chickenshit.
al August 8, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Jackie Robinson – considering the circumstances he had to overcome, every play he made was badass.
Ben Bohn August 9, 2009 at 10:31 am
#36. Tim Belcher was a PITCHER, and NOT a first baseman!
Eddierex August 10, 2009 at 10:52 am
Where is Ronnie Lott cutting off his finger???? It should at least be top 5!!!!