- Sporting events are always going to be a central part of the American experience.
- American sports bleed into American life, and vice-versa.
- From college amateurs taking on the world's greatest hockey team to Jesse Owens infuriating Hitler, these are the 10 most patriotic moments in American sports.
Sporting events are always going to be a central part of the American experience. In the fall, Americans tune in to watch their favorite sports, be it the NFL, MLB, NHL, and even the NBA.
Every two years, we come together as a nation to support Team USA in the Winter or Summer Olympics. We even sometimes come together to see the USA compete in World Cup play.
American sports bleed into American life — and vice-versa. From the yellow ribbon tied around the Superdome during Super Bowl XV to remember hostages taken in Iran to chants of "USA" when a crowd in Philadelphia learned about the death of Osama bin Laden, American sports fans and players wear their American hearts on their sleeves.
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10. Team USA carries the WTC flag to the Olympics
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Rarely does a flag presentation at the Olympic Games happen to a quiet crowd. But as eight members of Team USA, flanked by members of the NYPD and New York Fire Department, marched the flag of the host country into the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, you could hear a pin drop.
The flag they carried was found in the rubble of ground zero and had flown atop the World Trade Center in New York when the buildings were attacked on September 11, 2001. It was under the debris for three days before being found and given to the National Guard.
9. Rulon Gardner defeats the undefeated
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For a decade, Aleksandr Karelin was the world's dominant super heavyweight wrestler. By the time the 2000 Olympics rolled around, Karelin (aka The Russian Bear, aka Aleksandr the Great) hadn't been defeated in a match since Russia was still called the Soviet Union — even then, that was his only loss. Then, he faced off with a dairy farmer from Wyoming.
8. Mary Lou Retton wins a gymnastic first
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A little girl from West Virginia dealt a stunning blow to the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Before Retton, Team USA was never able to wrest Olympic Gold from Eastern Europe in the Individual, All-Around Gymnastics event. She came into the event trailing Romania's Ecaterina Szabo.
In Retton's own words, she believes her performance showed that American-born and trained athletes can do anything — no matter what the odds are.
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