Nobody rushes to judgment more than sports fans. We love what we just saw. We want to sanctify what just happened by giving it historical context, and as a result we jump to conclusions easily: THIS was the best Super Bowl ever. THIS was the greatest Final Four of all time.
Mostly, given time to digest it all, we sheepishly come around to the fact that maybe we got a little carried away.
Just not this time. This is fact:
The ending to Saturday’s Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn was the greatest ending in the history of sports. There. I said it. There are many reasons. Here are eight:
1. The play itself. On television, for a moment, the kick by Alabama’s Adam Griffith (its own amazing story; Griffith, a freshman, was only in the game because starter Cade Foster had one of the worst days a kicker can have) looked as if it were straight and true. But it wasn’t. It was short. And when Auburn’s Chris Davis fielded the punt 9 yards deep in the end zone … well, we all saw Davis line up there before the kick. But did you really think he would get a chance to bring it back 109 yards to the house? Could you?
2.The fact the play itself ever happened. It looked like the game — already a classic — was headed to overtime before the referees, after review, determined there was still one second left when T.J. Yeldon stepped out of bounds. Had Griffith nailed the kick, the depression that would have descended upon the Auburn campus would have lasted until roughly 2027.
3. Who was beaten. Alabama was No. 1 in the country, the Tide have won three of the last four national titles and have looked borderline unbeatable for most of this season, swatting away all comers.
4. Who was beaten II. Nick Saban. Who is a genius, who may well be the best football coach alive (it’s either him or his old boss, Bill Belichick), who before it’s all over may stand with the very best who ever lived. And who is remarkably easy to root against unless you are Alabama born, bred or Bear-ed.
5. Who did the beating. Sometimes the Iron Bowl is lost among the better rivalries in the sport, lost behind Army-Navy or Notre Dame-USC or Ohio State-Michigan (who played their own classic Saturday that nobody remembered by 7:30). But Alabama and Auburn have been playing each other since 1893 — just 16 years after the end of Reconstruction.
It is a bitter in-state feud that in recent years has inspired fans to kill beloved oak trees at Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner.
6. Who did the beating II. Gus Malzahn was a high school coach for 16 years. That’s putting in your dues. Last year Auburn was 3-9, 0-8 in the SEC, and lost this game 49-0 in its last game under Gene Chizik.
7. What are the other worthy candidates? That Cal-Stanford game? Sure, it was crazy, with the trombonist getting clocked at the end and all.
But that was a lousy team against a mediocre team. Christian Laettner?
Incredible game (also voiced by Verne Lundquist, lucky for him and luckier for us) but in the end it was a buzzer-beater, and there have been plenty of those. Bill Mazeroski? Joe Carter? The fact there have been two walk-off World Series homers should eliminate both automatically. You have any others? I’m all ears. vac@nypost.com.
8. The call. The same way we forever have Russ Hodges to narrate the Shot Heard ’Round the World — No. 2 in my book, by the way — has always helped that moment’s legacy. Now we have Auburn radio play-by-play man Rod Bramblett and his partner, Stan White:
WHITE: I guess if this thing comes up short he can field it and run it out …
BRAMBLETT: All right, here we go … [57] yarder … it’s got, no, does NOT have the leg … and Chris Davis takes it in the back of the end zone … he’ll run it out to the 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, FORTY!
FORTY-FIVE! FIFTY! FORTY-FIVE! THERE GOES DAVIS!
WHITE: OH MY GOD!!
BRAMBLETT: DAVIS IS GONNA RUN IT ALL THE WAY BACK!!!
WHITE: OH MY GOD!!!!
BRAMBLETT: AUBURN IS GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME! AUBURN IS GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!! HE RAN THE MISSED FIELD GOAL BACK! HE RAN IT BACK
109 YARDS! THEY’RE NOT GONNA KEEP ’EM OFF THE FIELD TONIGHT! HOLY COW!!!!!
Yep. It’ll take some convincing that anything’s been better than this. Ever.