By Sean Mcindoe,, Mike Jones,, Tyler Kepner And Christian Clark
We love a good revenge game, isn’t it friends?
It is an irresistible sports trope. A player leaves a team in troubled circumstances – perhaps against their will or perhaps there is an imprint on the back while it heads for the door – then, inevitably, he can face his old team, and they teach them a lesson. And the lesson is: you are finished.
It doesn’t always work, but when it is, it’s glorious. And if it comes with frequent photos of an owner or a managing director in the miserable air, even better.
We saw a classic example during the NHL weekend, with the Mikko Rantanen of Dallas Stars Break the heart of its old teamThe Colorado Avalanche, in match 7 of its eliminatory series. It was not his first match against the AVS – he had faced them once in the regular season in March – but it was easily the most important meeting and the greatest opportunity of revenge. And let’s just say he delivered.
Inspired by Rantanen’s performance, we gathered writers from a handful of sports, asking them to share the greatest vengeance game they remember.
The list is subjective and does not intend to be complete. Do you have your own favorite? Do not hesitate to share memories in the comments section.
Mikko Rantanen match 7 against the avalanche
Call this by taking the easy answer or accuse me of a recence bias, but I do not see how the NHL’s response for the “biggest gaming game in sport” may be anything but Rantanen absolutely decimating the avalanche at the end of match 7 on Saturday.
Let’s look at the scenario that just played. Rantanen does not want to leave Colorado and would be willing to take less than the market value To re-sign. He thinks he is close to a new contract. Then, the team shocked him with a business with the Hurricanes of Caroline, where he is unproductive and miserable, how long he returned to the stars. Dallas then confronts his former team in the best match of the first round, but with 15 minutes to play, it seems that the story will end with a groan. The Colorado is up 2-0, about to steal match 7 in Dallas and move on.
It was then that Rantanen most likely gathers The biggest period in the history of NHL qualifying seriesMarking three times and adding a decisive pass while Dallas ends the return and wins 4-2. Rantanen ends up directing the series in score. He has two periods of four points, something that only Mario Lemieux had never done twice in the playoff series in a career, except that Rantanen did it twice in 48 hours. Oh, and he seems to have plunged his old team into A full -fledged existential crisis of doubt and reluctance.
I mean, unless I fly to Colorado and burn the arena on the ground, then go to the door to hit all their fans in the groin, I don’t know what else he could have made to bring the point to the house. I go out on a member, but I have the impression that the avalanche might want a do-over here. – Sean Mcindoe
The first Brett Favre match against packers
Regarding the revenge games, the NFL has certainly seen its just part. But none turned out to be more poetic than the first match of the Brett Favre Favre against the Green Bay packers after 16 legendary seasons as the team’s face.
After a season with the New York jets, Favre signed with the NFC North North Packers Rivals, the Vikings of Minnesota, in 2009. In week 4 of the regular season, Favre and the Vikings welcomed the packers and the former underestimation of Favre Aaron Rodgers in Minneapolis, and the number 4 has always been left in the tank. Pass for 271 years 30-23 victory. To make a good measure, Favre also beat the packers in his return to Green Bay in week 8, launching four Touché passes and for 244 yards in a 38-26 victory.
Brett Favre is realized with his former sub-study, Aaron Rodgers, after a victory of week 8 in 2009. (Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)
Favre was not the only quarter to take revenge against her former team. In 1994, Joe Montana brought the 49ers to turn to Steve Young as Starter. The Montana signed with the Chiefs of Kansas City and in its only match against San Francisco succeeded 203 yards and two affected in a 24-17 victory.
And who could forget the return of Tom Brady to New England in 2021 as a member of the Buccaneers of Tampa Bay? A year earlier, the coach of the Patriots Bill Belichick had concluded that the winning days of the Brady Super Bowl were behind him and had left him in a free agency. Brady signed with the Bucs and quickly led Tampa Bay this season at a LV victory for the Super Bowl against the Chiefs of Kansas City. Then, during the week 4 of the regular season of 2021, Brady returned to Foxboro and directed the BUCs towards a victory of 19-17 to finish the circle of revenge. – Mike Jones
Roger Clemens tights to the Red Sox
How dominant Roger Clemens for the Boston Red Sox? When the team let him go after the 1996 season, Clemens was tied for the career victories record of the franchise – with Cy Young himself.
The Blue Jays de Toronto won the rocket with the richest launcher contract in the history of baseball – more than $ 8 million per season – and Dan Duquette, then GM Red Sox, wished him the “twilight of his career”. The comment was cut but reasonable. During his last four seasons with Boston, Clemens has not made any team of stars, has not collected any vote for the Cy Young Award and went 40-39.
With Toronto, however, Clemens embarked on a personal crusade to have the Red Sox regret their indifference. He returned to Fenway Park on July 12, 1997, with a declaration of revenge for ages: eight heats, one point, no walks – and 16 stick with sticksThen a record for a Blue Jays launcher, in a 3-1 Blue Jays victory.
“He came to assert a point,” said Boston’s hitter, Mo Vaughn, “and he did.”
The fans who had mocked Clemens before the game increased in appreciation after firing Vaughn to finish the eighth. As he strutted from the mound to the visitors’ canoe, Clemens looked at the executive suite of the Red Sox. His twilight would burn Bright, with more prices Cy Young after leaving Boston (four) that he had won with the Red Sox (three).
The climb at the end of his career of Clemens would later be marred by the links with steroids. But with the Yankees in 2003, as he Thought about his career While approaching his 300th victory, Clemens always enjoyed when he stuck him in Duquette and Red Sox: “I did not need motivation. A guy made a decision. He made a bad decision. He criticized the bad guy. ” – Tyler Kepner
Luka Dončić’s return to Dallas
In the return of Luka Dončić to Dallas, tears have flowed, just like the 3S stepback.
On April 9, the Slovenian superstar was able to play the American Airlines Center for the first time since the Dallas Mavericks surprisingly exchanged it to the Los Angeles Lakers more than two months earlier.
The Mavericks welcomed Dončić with a tribute video that stirred so much emotion, Dončić’s eyes flowed from tears while he was sitting on the Lakers bench and looked at him. When the ball finally switched, Dončić showed a side of himself that Mavericks fans knew well: the ruthless competitor. He scored 14 points in the first quarter and he had 31 points at halftime.
Whenever Dončić touched the ball, Mavericks fans applauded it. And almost every time a maverick player has shot free throws, these same fans chanted “Fire Nico!” Their anger was, of course, directed against the managing director of Mavericks, Nico Harrison, who launched the commercial talks of Dončić with the Lakers and looked at the return of his former star player from a tunnel near Midcourt.
Dončić finished with 45 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Anthony Davis, the centerpiece of the package that Dallas returned for Dončić, disappointed with 13 points. The Lakers beat the Mavericks 112-97, and Dončić later said that he was ready to turn the page on the profession that had turned his life upside down.
“I love fans,” said Dončić. “I love this city. But it’s time to move on. ” – Christian Clark
(Photo: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)