...here are my own Top 78 moments of my first 30 years as a Mizzou fan. (Why 78? Because I was born in 1978, naturally. And because I couldn't quite come up with 100.) Most of them take place after August 1997, when I entered Mizzou as a freshman. But there are a few pre-'97 stragglers.
I'm sure I've forgotten some, so feel free to leave your own in the comments...if you make it through all 78, anyway.
- The safety that ended the MU-KU game in 2007.
- The fake field goal (Nebraska, 2003).
- Eddie Brooks' go-ahead TD against NU in 1997.
- James Kinney erases Jammal Lord from existence in Q4 of the 2003 Nebraska game.
- The Thrust Nunchuk Upward touchdown against Colorado in 2007. You know the one.
- Tony Temple's final carry as a Mizzou Tiger, breaking the Cotton Bowl rushing record and scoring a TD with one good hamstring.
- Rickey Paulding's thunder dunk that punctuates the 2002 win over Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament in Albuquerque.
- The rest of that trip to Albuquerque. A shining moment for The Beef and myself.
- Brad Smith's long run that sets up the game-winning TD in the 2005 Independence Bowl.
- I almost break my hand on the low ceiling in my bedroom watching Corey Tate's game-winning shot against Kansas in 1997.
- Seeing Chase Daniel on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
- Eric Piatkowski's 3-pointer somehow rims out, and Mizzou finishes the 1993-94 conference season undefeated.
- Brad Smith scores the go-ahead TD in Q4 against OU in 2002. The Beef and I high-five each other and say simultaneously, "We're still going to lose!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!"
- The Cookie Belcher/Monte Hardge game.
- Brad Smith's 80-yard TD run against Nebraska in 2005. The entire NU defense was lined up within a yard of the line of scrimmage. God bless Kevin Cosgrove.
- Chase Daniel saves the 2005 season by directing a Q4 comeback against Iowa State. And consequently...
- Adam Crossett makes the game-winning FG in OT and runs to the 25-yard line in tribute to Aaron O'Neal.
- Mizzou beats Oklahoma, 104-94, at Lloyd Noble Center in 1994. It's my first ever Mizzou basketball game, and my favorite players (Mark Atkins, Melvin Booker) both go off.
- Mike Kelly and John Kadlec call the Mizzou-Illinois 2002 game. Kelly: "Missouri fans, you've got yourself a quarterback." Kadlec (voice cracking): "We've got a quarterback."
- William Moore erases Marlon Lucky from existence at the beginning of the 2007 Nebraska game.
- Mizzou furiously comes back to beat UCLA in the 2002 Sweet Sixteen.
- John Woods steals the ball from Paul Pierce, and Mizzou wins my first ever MU-KU basketball game (1998). Also: my first M-I-Z-f***-K-U chant.
- Tate "Flying Aardvark" Decker's shining moment: he makes the game-tying FT to send the 1998 Iowa-Mizzou basketball game into OT less than a week after the KU game.
- Mizzou-Kansas Basketball, 2000: the game where Clarence Gilbert made a 3-pointer with Jeff Boschee in his shirt.
- I eat 12 different kinds of meat in Shreveport the day of the Independence Bowl in 2003.
- Mizzou's home crowds during the 2005 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. Greatest Mizzou crowds I think I've ever seen in any sport, sans any Mizzou-Nebraska game at Faurot or Mizzou-Kansas game at Hearnes/Mizzou Arena.
- Mizzou beats Hawaii in 4 games to advance to the 2005 Volleyball Elite Eight, and I think Mizzou might actually win a national title in something.
- Julian Winfield makes the go-ahead jumper against UCLA in the 1995 NCAA Tournament. SURELY they can't go the length of the floor and score in under 5 seconds, right?
- Those two seconds where I actually thought Al Sterling intercepted the ball with 0:45 left against Nebraska, 1997. Actually, I still think he intercepted the ball.
- Those two seconds where I actually thought John Dausman caught the game-tying TD pass in Lincoln, 1998. He didn't, but those two seconds were awesome.
- Those two seconds where I actually thought Rickey Paulding's end-of-regulation jumper was going to go in and we were going to beat Dwayne Wade and Marquette in the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
- Those two seconds where I actually thought Corby Jones was going to unleash a really long run against Ohio State at home in 1997...before Andy Katzenmoyer unleashed the hardest hit I've ever seen in person.
- Those two seconds (okay, one second) before the Royal Ivey shot that Arthur Johnson blocked to turn around Mizzou's 2003-04 basketball season landed in the hands of a wide-open Brian Boddicker for the biggest gut-punch 3-pointer I've ever seen.
- Marcus James becomes the first Tiger in about 174 years to return a punt for a TD (Iowa State, 2002). We fall all over ourselves celebrating in the Mizzou section at Jack Trice Stadium, and a friend of ours ends up accidentally getting punched in the face...by another Mizzou fan, of course.
- Jeremy Maclin becomes the first Tiger in about 174 years to return a kickoff for a TD (Kansas State, 2007). I wasn't in attendance for this one, and nobody I know got punched in the face.
- Mizzou's furious comeback to beat Iowa in the finals of the 2001-02 Guardian's Classic. This would rank higher if a) I'd been there, and b) I'd been able to watch it on TV instead of catching updates on a really slow internet connection at a girlfriend's mom's house in Arkansas.
- Mizzou stuffs the swinging gate and beats OSU, 51-50, in double-OT in Stillwater, 1997. Hoo boy. Bill Teegins with the greatest call of all-time. "Lindsay takes the snap out of the swinging gate...(lower volume) he's gonna be stuffed...(unintelligible) Mizzou wins the game..." God I miss Bill Teegins.
- Adam Crossett booms a 50-yard FG in the 2005 Independence Bowl, and I start to believe that we're going to win.
- Rickey Paulding's crotch dunk in Manhattan, 2004. If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about.
- OSU-MU Basketball, 2000. The "Let's Go Tigers" chant. See this post for further elaboration.
- Carlos Posey (I think) returns a fumble for a TD against Ohio State in Columbus, 1998. I start to believe we're actually going to win the game (we don't).
- Jeremy Maclin erases all Illinois momentum with a kick return TD in 2008.
- Michael Crabtree's alligator arms, 2007.
- Devin West's record-setting performance against Kansas, 1998.
- The all-night tailgate before Nebraska, 2001. (This would also go on a "worst moments" list.)
- Justin Smith gets confused as West Virginia runs the Statue of Liberty play in the Insight.com Bowl, 1998. He doesn't know what's going on, so he shoves Marc Bulger into Amos Zeroueue (sp?), and they both go down. Problem solved.
- Chase Daniel scrambles for about 23 seconds before finding Danario Alexander for a touchdown against KU at Arrowhead, 2007.
- The back-to-back Pick Sixes against Texas Tech in 2006.
- Mizzou beats Iowa State at Hearnes in 4 OTs, 2001.
- The wave against Nebraska in 2007. "Boooooooooooo....YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY...boooooooooooo....YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY."
- Two friends and I attend the 1998 Texas Tech-Mizzou game in Lubbock. We spend an hour under the bleachers during a lightning delay, and Mizzou almost blows a decent-sized lead before Harold Piersey breaks up a 2-point conversion and Mizzou wins, 28-26.
- Mizzou beats OSU in double-OT at Hearnes, 2004. We've turned the season around!!! (Or not.)
- I have to lean against the left-field wall for an entire game (Mizzou-Louisville, 2007) because of the size of the crowd at Simmons Field.
- Watching on ESPN as Ben Askren becomes Mizzou's first national champion in any sport in about 7 centuries.
- Jimmy Jackson scores the go-ahead TD in Q4 against OU in 2007.
- Clarence Gilbert makes the game-winning jumper against Georgia in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
- Brad Smith's final TD against Texas Tech in 2003. He rushed for approximately 678 yards that day.
- Brad Hammerich kicks the game-winning FG to beat OSU in OT in Stillwater, 2001. Gary Pinkel's first conference win.
- Jared Perry torches Aqib Talib, 2006.
- Mizzou beats Oklahoma State, 41-7, in 1991...my first ever Mizzou game.
- Mizzou beats Oklahoma State, 42-9, in 1993...my second ever Mizzou game. Freshman Rashetnu Jenkins makes the most amazing catch I've ever seen--a diving, one-handed catch reaching around a defender. I predict then and there that Jenkins will be an All-American one day. Whoops.
- Will Franklin's absurd sideline catch in Q2 against Colorado in 2007.
- Chase Daniel runs over a Texas Tech defender on the way to a first down in 2006.
- Brad Smith tiptoes the sidelines in his patented "you think I'm going out of bounds...NO I'M NOT" move, Troy State 2002.
- Hearing Arkansas State's fight song for the first time, Arrowhead 2005. 'CAUSE I-N-D-I-A-N-S SPELLS VIC...TOR...YYYYYYYY." No, no it doesn't.
- We beat KU in Lawrence in 2001, and I retire from ever going there for a game again. That retirement seems like a ridiculously good move after debacles in 2003 and 2005 that I did not attend.
- Every Sooner Poops Nuggets. Again, see this post.
- Mizzou upsets Iowa State in OT in 2004, ruining ISU's chance at a North title and creating the first and only truly good moment from the 2004 season.
- Students tear down the goal posts after beating Baylor in 1997...simply because they couldn't the week before against Nebraska.
- I eat the "Filthy Diablo" with a large tray of chili cheese fries at Dyer's Burgers on Beale Street after the Mizzou-Memphis football game in 1999. What's a Filthy Diablo? A triple cheeseburger. With two whole kielbasa sausages on it.
- Mizzou finally beats OU on a basketball court, Hearnes Center 2003.
- With a bunch of a--holes suspended and on the bench, a depleted Mizzou basketball team beats Michael Beasley and K-State at home, 2008.
- Wesley Stokes drains a jumper to beat SLU and move Mizzou to 8-0 in 2001-02.
- Mizzou beats Arkansas, 89-88, in Fayetteville, 1990. Don't know why I remember this game and not others from that season (other than the losses to Colorado and Northern Iowa that ended it), but I do.
- Charlie Batch throws for about 850 yards, but Mizzou beats Eastern Michigan, 44-24, in my first official home game as a Mizzou student.
- Brad Smith scores a late TD to send the Middle Tennessee game to OT, saving Mizzou from an embarrassing loss.
- Mizzou beats Texas, 54-47, in Austin to clinch 2nd in the Big 12, 1999. (Norm's last win.)
- Being told not to s--- on the grass by a cop before the 2002 Mizzou-Bowling Green game. The only good moment of that entire trip.