ESPN25

On September 7, 2004, ESPN celebrated its 25th anniversary. During the run-up to the anniversary, the network counted down the top sports moments of the last 25 years (the "ESPN era"). The list featured concentrated almost exclusively on moments involving Americans. Each Tuesday, a new 25-to-1 list was unveiled, as was the next headline in that 25-to-1 countdown. In addition, each day during SportsCenter, the next moment in the list of the top 100 moments of the ESPN era was shown. The celebration concluded by declaring the Miracle on Ice hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics the #1 moment, game, and headline of the last 25 years.

Who's #1?

Immediately following "The Headlines" (before "The Headlines" in the early portion of the summer), Stuart Scott hosted "Who's #1?", which counts down the top 25 of the last 25 years in some category. The #1 selection is shown below.

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• Greatest player (aired June 8 during "Then and Now"): Michael Jordan
• Best team (aired June 15 at 7pm): 1998 New York Yankees
• Worst team (aired June 22): 1991 Prairie View football team
• Best sports movie (aired June 29): Hoosiers
• Worst blunder (aired July 6): The Stanford Band (see #18 above)
• Most outrageous character (aired July 13): Mike Tyson
• Biggest flop (aired July 20): Ryan Leaf
• Best coach (aired July 27 at 8pm): Dean Smith
• Greatest record (aired August 3): Tiger Woods wins four straight majors
• Biggest chokes (aired August 10): Bill Buckner and the Boston Red Sox in the 1986 World Series (see #2 above)
• Best sports commercial (aired August 17): "Mean" Joe Greene throws his jersey to a young fan who gives him a Coca-Cola
• Best play (aired August 24): Kirk Gibson hits a walkoff home run to win Game 1 of the 1988 World Series (see #3 above)
• Biggest controversy (aired August 31): Pete Rose banned from baseball (see #5 above)
• Best game (aired September 7): Miracle on Ice (see #1 above)