After watching the NCAA Championship game between Kansas and Memphis — once live, twice on ESPN Classic and once on the Channel 12 rebroadcast — I came up with a stirring discovery.
    I have no life.
    Besides that, I decided this may have been the greatest game I had ever seen in any sport.
    Quite a summation, considering I watch a lot of sports.
    Twenty four hours later after first pondering the question, I decided it wasn't. So I made a list - my top 10 best games I ever saw.
    I pared the list down. I didn't include any high school game that did not involve a Sumner County team, because quite frankly you wouldn't care. I also did not list any game involving my children or myself, although that game where I made a catch at first base as an 11-year-old was quite a contest.
    And this is what I came up with:
    1. U.S. vs. USSR, 1980 hockey game — I was 16 and it still gives me goose bumps thinking back. Anyone will remember at that time the Soviets seemed like they were pretty much kicking our tails in about everything. Then that game happened. I think that was the first time I felt good about this country. By the way, the movie "Miracle" with Kurt Russell rocked.
    2. Denver vs. Cleveland, 1986 AFC Championship — That was the year John Elway, the stud, took Denver on a 95-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to get the Broncos to the Super Bowl in Cleveland. It was a coming-of-age moment for not Elway, but for the whole Bronco organization. 
    3. 1996 Wellington vs. Ulysses State semifinal football game — Yes, we lost, but that game was incredible in so many ways. The game ultimately showcased the talents of junior quarterback Nate Cornejo, who would go on to play for the Detroit Tigers. He had two incredible lengthy touchdown runs, the best I've seen in high school. Then there was that last minute drive by Ulysses. It was the only time as a sports editor I saw both teams crying at the end. It was also Linn Hibbs first year as coach.
    4. 1995 Wellington vs. Minnetonka Midwest Regional baseball game — Another Cornejo moment. This was when Wellington had a 15-year-old Babe Ruth team that nearly won the regional at Sellers Park and had a chance to play in the World Series in New Jersey. Wellington would lose in extra frames, but what impressed me the most was how the whole town just shut down and went out to the baseball park on a hot weekday afternoon in mid-August. It was a classic Wellington moment. My first born came into the world three days later.
    5. Kansas vs. Memphis 2008 — A game even K-State fans could love because it was so good. What was incredible about this game was the number of lead changes, the Memphis collapse, and Mario Chalmers last-second shot. The overtime, overshadowed by everything else, was good too. Watch that game again, and you'll see that OT didn't come as easily for Kansas as you first thought.
    6. Oklahoma vs. Boise State Fiesta Bowl 2007 — I can't think of another football game where an underdog pulled out so much to clinch victory. It was like watching a Hollywood movie that made you smile and say, "yeah, right," except it was actually happening.
    7. Nebraska vs. Miami Orange Bowl 1984 — I was a freshman in college when this game happened. Nebraska coach Tom Osborne decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion after a touchdown instead of a tie which would have guaranteed him a NCAA football championship. It didn't work, but, boy, was that gutsy.
    8. 1998 Big 12 Championship game - K-State vs. Texas A&M — Great games can bring great heartbreak. I was depressed for a month after K-State choked away a national championship. But looking back 10 years later, this game stands out in K-State football history lore. It's about great opportunities lost and how life goes on despite it.
    9. Denver vs. Green Bay, 1998 Super Bowl — Another Elway moment, this time on the other side of his career. The old geezer willed Denver to victory with another late fourth-quarter comeback drive, this time over the favored Packers. The Broncos finally got that elusive Lombardi trophy.
    10. K-State vs. Nebraska 1998 football— I actually saw this one live in Manhattan as K-State would end a streak of more than two decades against Nebraska. That was the game where Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch nearly had his head torn off with a face mask, which was never called. Interestingly enough, I was sitting right behind the official, who was supposed to make the call. I remember him lifting the flag out of the seat of his pants and then strangely putting it back in.
    •••••
    Well, I'm sure I forgot a great event somewhere. Remember, it's my list. I didn't get to see the Ice Bowl in the late 60s because I was too young. I did see that Kansas City Royal moment when it beat St. Louis in game six of the World Series in 1985, but at the time I didn't care that much. I also missed some great Wellington football games in the past decade because I wasn't around.
    Someone told me that a Wellington vs. Norton playoff game in the 1980s was the best game ever. Sorry, I didn't see it.
    But this list is what I saw, and those are the events that most stick out in my mind.
    ———
•Tracy McCue is sports editor of the Wellington Daily News. He can be reached at sports@wellingtondailynews.com.