With the end of the year approaching us, it’s time for sports fans to think back to some of the year’s biggest moments. In these moments, the athlete or team involved did something both amazing and unforgettable. They accomplished something so great that when the year ends, we're still thinking about that one play. There are many deserving candidates in the “sports moment of the year” competition, but here's a look at one specific moment that changed the outcome of the biggest game of all sports, the Super Bowl.
The Malcolm Butler Super Bowl interception is the biggest sports moment of the year.
It's Super Bowl 49, and the Patriots are facing the defending champs, the Seattle Seahawks. There are 26 seconds left in the game. The Seahawks are losing by four points, but they have the ball on the 5-yard line, meaning they are simply 5 yards away from winning the game.
It's time for the play. Russel Wilson, the Seahawks Quarterback, gets ready and throws out into the end zone to, receiver, Ricardo Lockette. Out of nowhere comes a Patriots cornerback. The ball is intercepted!
The guy with the ball, his name is Malcolm Butler. Butler was an undrafted free-agent cornerback, and he just intercepted the football in the most important game of his life. Butler falls to the ground with the ball, and approximately thirty seconds later, the Patriots are Super Bowl Champions! The Patriots just won the Super Bowl!
Watching this moment with a group of stunned Patriots fans showed me just how important a moment it was. The Patriots were so close to blowing their lead. Everyone Patriot fan at the viewing party was silent with their head down. They thought they had lost, and then out of nowhere, an unknown member of the team saves the game. Everyone next to me started beaming and yelling victory.
Butler was the last person on the Patriots defensive unit you'd expect to make a game-altering play in the Super Bowl. Many fans watching the play at home were left with one question, "who is that?". Butler came out of nowhere, and even more, he performed when it mattered most; when absolutely everything was on the line.
After the game, Tom Brady was appropriately named the Super Bowl MVP. The award recipient is also given a Chevrolet car, and in this case it was a red Chevy Colorado. Brady responded by giving the car to Malcolm Butler. Brady had already been awarded a car when he won his previous Super Bowl MVP, and so he gave it to the player who basically sealed the championship for him.
Butler got a lot of attention after the season. Skeptics didn't think he would be able to perform well during his next season, but with a fair chunk of this current season complete, it's accurate to say that Malcolm Butler is a extremely good player in the National Football League.
Yet, the most recent Super Bowl happened at the very begging of the year (February), and most football fans are focused on their team's upcoming title run (or draft strategy), but there's no reason not to look back, and appreciate one of the best, and most unexpected, sports moments of 2015.
