Miami’s football miracle, Butler’s Super Bowl pick lead Plays of the Year

LOOKING BACK AT 2015 IN SPORTS

Miami’s football miracle, Butler’s Super Bowl pick lead Plays of the Year

By Tins Reynolds

APSportsWriter

CORAL GABLES. Ma.

(AP) — Sometimes, games, seasons and championships were at sliike. Sometimes, ordinary moments turned extraordinary in an instant.

They were the kind of moments that made tans leap from their seats in disbelief and grab their phones to share the excitement.

The plays of the year.

An arbitrary list, for certain, bin «his much is not in dispute 2015 was laden with spectacular moments that will be talked about for a long time to eome.

l ake American Pharoah, opening his lead with every stride down the stretch of the Belmont Stakes on the way to becoming the Triple Crown winner that horse racing had waited nearly lour decades to see.

Or Georgia Tech winning only one football game in the Atlantic Coast Conference all season, that win coming on a blocked field goal return for a touchdown as time expired against Honda Stale.

Or Michigan State keeping its national-title hopes afloat when rival Michigan fumbled a punt snap in the final moments and the Spartans ran it in for a score as lime expired.

Or even Matt Kenselh driving Joey Logano into the wall at Martinsville during NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, clear retaliation for a I jogano move that Kenseth blamed for knocking him oul of contention. All scintillating moments — and they didn’t even make I Ins list. Here, the (op 5 plays in

sports for 2015: S. JOEY BATS' BAT FLIP

Game 5 of the American League Division Series, tie game, seventh inning. Who belter than a guy who goes by 'Joey Bats” — real name, Jose Bautista — to deliver?

Bautista connected on a nodoubt, three-run home run that would eventually lift Toronto lo a series-clinching victory over Texas, punctuating the hit by admiring the drive from (he plate fora moment before Hipping his bat in celebration.

4. CARLI FROM MIDFIELD

Have a World Cup. Carli Lloyd. With the U.S. women’s national team already up 3-0 early against Japan in the World Cup final, Lloyd got her hat Iriek in absurd fashion.

She collected a ball around the center circle, took two dribbles and saw Japan’s goalkeeper was inexplicably about 12 yards off the end line, Lloyd booled the ball high, getting just enough oil it to reach the goal over (lie outstretched goalie's arm.

3. STEPH OFF THE DRIBBLE CTWICE)

Poor Chris Paul. As if Stephen Curry didn't do enough on his way to winning the MVP and leading Golden Stale loan NBA title Iasi season, he victimized Paul twice on the way to those achievements. The lirsi comes when Curry is dribbling under ihe basket toward ihe comer, then goes behind his back twice as Paul falls lo Ole lloor a victim lo the misdirection. The other comes with Ctirry going between the legs and bellind-the-baek on the dribble, weaving around three Clippers, And in holh cases, Curry made the ensuing jumper.

2. BUTLER'S SUPER BOWL MOMENT Seattle was a yard away from a touchdown that would have almost certainly given ihe Seahawks a Super Bowl win.

New ling land’s Malcolm Butler — an undrafled rookie signed as a tree agent — changed all that. With the Seahawks electing to not give the hall to Marsha wn Lynch and trying to score through the air Bullcr perfectly read a slant pass from Russell Wilson, and made the interception that clinched the lille for the Patriots

1. THE MIAMI MIRACLE,

Did it count? Yes. Should il have? No. And did Duke score on the previous play1.' Miami says no, which only adds to the fun of this one, Duke gels a debated touchdown with 6 seconds left lo lake a 27-24 lead, then kicks the ball deep.

After eight laterals, one knee down lhat would have ended die game but wasn't called and ions of controversy. Com Hlder lakes the ball 9) yards into Ihe end zone for a Miami victory.

The Atlantic Coast Conference said a day later lhat il was suspending the officiating crew for I wo games, ihen later told Miami that some of the 23 penalties against ihe Hurricanes — including ones lhat led lo Duke's debaled go-ahead touchdown — shouldn’t have heen called. They’ll talk about thisgame forever,I guess' Klder said. “And they’ll always say we won,”