The Loop
May 7th is the most magical day in sports history
Denis Poroy
Take Super Bowl Sunday and shove it. Tell Masters Sunday to go pound sand. On the long, stirring list of great days in sports, everything and everyone bows to May 7th. An innocuous date perched on the precipice of the summer sports chasm, May 7th may not seem like much on the ol' Google calendar, but dig a little deeper and you will quickly find it's holier than Christmas, the theatrical release date of Die Hard, Yom Kippur, and Tom Brady's birthday combined. Join as we pay tribute to our one true master.
May 7th, 1989: Michael Jordan hits "The Shot"
The Famous Original Michael Jordan Signature Moment™. Trailing by one and facing elimination in the Bulls' first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1989, MJ got the ball off the in-bounds with three seconds remaining, dragged Craig Ehlo to the top of the key, and falling to his left, nailed one of the most iconic jumpers in NBA lore. May 7th was officially on the map.
May 7th, 1995: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks
After gestating for six years, gathering its strength for the years to come, the May 7th mojo returned in 1995, when Reggie Miller pulled off one of the most unlikely comebacks of all time, scoring eight unanswered in nine seconds to down the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Sure, it was the Knicks, but clearly greater, more mysterious forces were at work.
May 7th, 2002: Allen Iverson talks about practice
The press conference by which all others will be from henceforth judged. Nicolas Cage is plotting to steal the transcript from the Library of Congress as we speak:
"We sittin' in here, I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talkin' about practice. I mean listen, we talkin' 'bout practice. Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin' about practice. Not a game, not a, not a, not the game that I go out there and die for, and play every game like it's my last. Not the game. We talkin' bout practice, man. I mean how silly is that? We talkin' bout practice. I know I'm supposed to be there, I know I'm supposed to lead by example. I know that, and I'm not shovin' it aside, you know, like it don't mean anything. I know it's important, I do. I honestly do. "But we talkin' bout practice, man. What are we talkin' about? Practice? We talkin' about practice, man. [Reporters laughing] We talk -- we talkin' bout practice. We talkin' bout practice! We ain't talkin' bout the game, we talkin' bout practice, man. When you come into the arena, and you see me play, you see me play, don't you? You see me give everything I got, right? But we talkin' bout practice right now. [Reporter: 'But it's an issue that your coach raised.'] We talkin' bout practice. Man look, I hear you, it's funny to me too. I mean, it's strange, it's strange to me too. But we talkin' bout practice, man. We not even talkin' bout the game, the actual game, when it matters. We talkin' bout practice."
May 7th, 2016: Big Sexy goes yard
The jewel in the crown. The proof that there is a higher power and that that higher power is the 7th of May. At 42 years old and nearly 4,000 stone, Bartolo "Big Sexy" Colon smacked his first home run in 19 years of big league service, stepping across home plate and into the hallowed pages of baseball history. Spookily enough, the dinger made Colon the second-oldest New York Met to ever homer, behind 48-year-old Julio Franco, who also blasted his way into the MLB history books on May 7th, 2005, becoming the second-oldest MLB player to ever hit a homer at the ripe old age of 46 years and 257 days old.
And with that, humble sports pilgrims, we wish a happy May 7th to you and yours.