We're on our quest to definitively name the greatest announcing call in the history of sports. We started with a list of 64 (the top 32 of which were seeded) that will be narrowed down to one at the end of the month that will earn the greatest of all-time title thanks to your votes. This week we will crown a winner. Today voting opens in the semifinals. Voting will end Thursday night at midnight. The final voting will happen Friday through the weekend.
Here's your Quarterfinal Results:
Gowdy Bracket: 1) Miracle on Ice 86% vs Abby Wambach saves the USA's life 14%
McKay Bracket: 1) Jack Buck calls Kirk Gibson's home run 60% vs Good ol' JR 40%
Summerall Bracket: 1) Go Go USA 43% vs 2) The band is on the field! 57%
Allen Bracket: 1) The shot heard round the world 46% vs 2) Down goes Frazier! 54%
Time for you to decide who advances to the Final in the Greatest Call Tournament…
Semifinal #1
1) "Do you believe in miracles?"
Al Michaels delivered one of the most iconic lines in sports at the 1980 Olympics as the USA Men's Hockey Team defeated the heavily favored Soviet Union in one of the greatest upsets ever seen. The call from Michaels lends its name to this iconic moment – the Miracle on Ice.
1) "I don't believe what I just saw!"
Kirk Gibson's home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is such a famous moment it has the top two seeds in the McKay bracket, and with all-time great announcers like Jack Buck and Vin Scully it should be no surprise. Buck's call of the remarkable moment earned a 1 seed with one of the most famous lines in sports. "I don't believe what I just saw."
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jdpImFSHhDA
Semifinal #2
2) "The band is out on the field!"
It's a play that's been seen so many times, it has come to be known simply as "The Play." Cal versus Stanford in 1982. On a miraculous, last-second return featuring laterals and an ill-timed marching band performance, the Bears upset John Elway and Stanford. But, would this play be as legendary without Joe Starkey's amazing call?
2) "Down goes Frazier!"
There is no more legendary name in broadcasting than Howard Cosell. And there's no more famous call in the history of boxing than George Foreman's domination of Heavyweight Champ Joe Frazier. You know, back when the Heavyweight Championship meant something and boxing was the sport of kings. Although Cosell's mere 3 words became famous, the entirety of his rabid call is something to behold.
