If the OJ story counts (which I can see both arguments for), I dont think anything was even close. I remember being in grade school when the verdict was read and every senior class had a TV in their room to watch it live. One of the biggest stories in general in my lifetime.
Personally as a Jays fan. The 93 World Series win, when Joe Carter hit that homer was still a thing of beauty.
On a global scale. Usain Bolt’s entire Olympic run was not only a huge success for breaking numerous records in Olympic track & field, but he became a household name throughout the World by just being himself (As my parents are Jamaican, it’s rare to see Jamaica succeed in anything so it’s a plus)!
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If we are talking pure “moments”, that is #1 on my list.
Anyone who watched that live in Canada has to remember this!
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Germany winning the World Cup Final against Hungary in 1954. 3:2
Do people outside North America and maybe Japan care about Baseball? I think on a worlds stage almost none of the mentioned above would stand a chance. You could almost only mention the Olympics and their tragedies as well Football world cups. Olympics in Munich 1972 Palestinian terrorists almost kill every member of the Israeli team. Would be one of those stories.
I think a lot of it is the in your lifetime part. Clearly stories like Jessie Owens at the Olympics or Munich 1972 would be the clear winners for biggest sport stories of last 100 years or so
When you used the word “captivating” the first thing that came to my mind was the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run race. Those guys were the top sports news story, if not the top news story overall (simpler times), for a good two and a half months in the summer of 1998.
I know it’s tarnished by steroids now and the record itself was broken a few years later by fellow roided up masher Barry Bonds, but that HR race really reinvigorated baseball after the 1994 strike and set them up for another massive boom period.
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It’ll probably be the Cubs winning the World Series. I’ll throw in my favorite 30 for 30. Ridiculously insane of all the events that occurred on June 17, 1994. The cops chasing OJ, the World Cup, NY Rangers parade, Knicks Game 5, Arnold Palmer.s final game and Ken Griffey Jr tying Babe Ruth’s record.
I mean personally mine would be the rivalry between Dathan Ritzenhein and Alan Webb in their senior years of high school and Web breaking the 4 minute mile and national high school record for the mile. But that is because I love running.
Agreed that if OJ counts as “sports”, that’s definitely the biggest one in my lifetime.
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Nobody gave a crap about baseball between 1994 and 1997, then in '98 when the Sosa/McGuire race began, it 100% completely changed the sport.
I was in high school at that point and I can remember everyone was talking about this. I also remember being disappointed to a degree because I always wanted Griffey to break the record.
Abe Knuckleball Schwartz cared about the '94 MLB strike! Biggest story ever to him … Considering his face was a baseball.
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Who can forget the memorable feud between Abe Knuckleball Schwartz and TL Hopper. Oh the 90’s lol.
And '94 was also the banner year when Leslie Neilson was searching for the Undertaker. Amazing sports story!
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No we don’t talk about that 
My choice was Miracle on Ice though I was not around to see it. At the height of the Cold War you had American and Russian play hockey in the Olympics. That sounds pretty epic and has lived on in the memory banks through films as such. Layer in the American hockey players were unknowns, this is in America, and that they then need to win another game to clinch the gold, it has all the makings of a tremendous sports drama.
It’s hard to pick a single game (Patriots or Buster Douglas) over that single game between America and Russia. It’s also hard to pick a series that plays out across multiple days / weeks.
I think if you want to include one here I’d nominate the 2019 Masters for which Tiger Woods won another major, over 10 years since his last and countless surgeries, injuries and scandals. The TW story is bonkers and to have him not just contend in the 2018 Majors, but to win at Augusta over 4 days of building drama w/ all the carried expectation from the previous year was something non-sports fans could be enthralled by.
EDIT: seeing others nominated Tiger @ the Masters in 2019. Also good pick by @kliq on the 98 HR race. I remember that as being daily news in sports for an entire summer, to the point you’d watch games just to see their next AB.
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96 gymnastics gold gets an honorable mention
2004 world series has to be my answer but mostly for the ALCS. Absolutely nuts and I’m a Yankees fan.
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Yeah, other than MJ/Lebron/Gretzky, Tiger is arguably THE definitive athlete of my generation/lifetime in terms of performance, importance, & popularity. Good call. 
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Most captivating moment in terms of history is probably the Red Sox coming back down 3-0 in the ALCS. That’s just so improbable to come back from a deficit like that and to be beat your heated rival of all teams. A close runner up would be the Patriots going 16-0 (another extremely improbable and one of a kind type of milestone in sports history) and choking in the Super Bowl.
The most captivating moment for me personally, it’s probably The Catch III when the 49ers beat the Saints in the 2011 Divisional Playoff game. I had been a lifelong 49ers fan at that point, and it ended almost a decade of futility (hadn’t even been to the playoffs or even had a winning record once in the previous 9 years) and shitty coaches for the team. Sadly, the happiness from that moment would be erased the following week when they lost to the Giants in the NFC Conference Title game.
Ya…that ALCS was crazy!
What happened in the ‘96 gymnastics?
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Not the most captivating for the general public, but my personal choice would definitely be the 2004 Red Sox. I went to a college that was about 50/50 Red Sox vs. Yankees fans, which made it a lot of fun to be involved, so I was at the height of my fandom at that time. The classic 2003 ALCS was my freshman year and that Game 7 loss still hurt, so for Boston to come back from 3-0 in the series in 2004 (first time ever in MLB) and then sweep the World Series was about as perfect a script as possible.
Between Red Sox fans like me, Mets fans (who were probably even more sick of the Yankees than we were), and general baseball fans who knew they were witnessing history, it was a crazy time to be living on a college campus.
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