History Heartwarming / RealLifeSports

* After the death of [[TooCoolToLive legend]] Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR was in mourning. But 4 wins in the 2001 season helped get NASCAR to smile again.
** The Dura Lube 400 the next week, which Steve Park, who drove for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won. Afterwards, he did a backwards victory lap while holding aloft a Dale Earnhardt cap.
** The Cracker Barrel 400 in Atlanta, the fourth race of the season. [[TheOtherJonas Kevin Harvick]], Earnhardt's replacement (with a new number, #29 instead of 3) held off a hard-charging Jeff Gordon to win by ''.006 of a second'', one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history. After the race, Harvick performed a burnout in tribute to Earnhardt and did a reverse victory lap holding three fingers in honor of Earnhardt.
** After winning the NAPA Auto Parts 500 in California, Rusty Wallace, a former competitor of Earnhardt's did a reverse victory lap while holding an Earnhardt flag out his car window.
** But the best one was when Earnhardt's son Dale Jr. won the Pepsi 400 in July, the very track Dale died at. It was almost as if Jr. had exorcised the demons of his father's death.
* It should be noted that the reverse victory lap in the above examples was made popular by Alan Kulwicki. Why is this important? Because Rusty Wallace's reverse victory lap for Earnhardt in 2001 harkens back to the last race of the 1993 season. Kulwicki and rising star Davey Allison had been killed in separate air crashes earlier in the year. Earnhardt and Wallace were 1st and 2nd in the championship standings going into the last race, during the height of an intense rivarly between the two. Wallace won the race, but Earnhardt still kept the championship. Both drivers drove a reverse victory lap, side-by-side, one carrying a #7 flag for Kulwicki, and the other carrying a #28 flag for Allison.

* At the 2012 Olympics, Canadian triathlete Simon Whitfield fell and took out Costarican Triathlete Leonardo Chacon. After the race, Chacon posted a message on Whitfield's facebook wall, expressing his admiration for Whitfield, and winvited Whitfield to Costa Rica.
* Eric Lamaze's gold medal in 2008 in show jumping. Lamaze beat all odds to win gold, coming from a drug-addicted mother, and not making it past grade eight in school. He was banned from previous Olympics for testing positive for cocaine and was banned for life, but after convincing the FEI and the Canadian Equestrian federation to give him another chance, he made a comeback which all culminated in his gold medal in individual show jumping and a team silver in 2008

* Eric Lamaze's gold medal in 2008 in show jumping. Lamaze beat all odds to win gold, coming from a drug-addicted mother, and not making it past grade eight in school. He was banned from previous Olympics for testing positive for cocaine and was banned for life, but after convincing the FEI and the Canadian Equestrian federation to give him another chance, he made a comeback which all culminated in his gold medal in individual show jumping and a team silver in 2008

* In a mix between this and a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, in 2001, then Montreal Canadiens captain Saku Koivu was diagnosed with cancer. Expected to miss the whole season, he came back for the last few games of the season. Montreal fans gave him an ''eight minute'' standing ovation. He then helped the team get into a playoff spot and eventually defeat the top seeded Boston Bruins, whom with they have arguably the biggest rivalry in hockey.

* Japan winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, just a few months after the massive tsunami/earthquake.

** 23 year old Jonathan Toews finished off an amazing year, winning Best Forward and a gold medal with Team Canada in the Olympics followed the Con Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup.

** Topping that for this Troper was hearing that the first person many of the players called following the final game was former Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, who had long been the subject of ridicule for having made the fielding error which cost the Red Sox their last shot at the World Series in 1986.

**** Plus Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon saying that he would have given up Boston's dramatic Game 7 ALCS victory over the Yankees to prevent the death of Victoria Snelgrove, the college student who was killed during the post-game riots.

* [[TwoWords Two Words]]: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nifq3Ke2Q30 Derek Redmond]]. The man who joins him on the track is his father.

* Donovan Mc Nabb, former quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, recently traded to the Washington Redskins, always had something of a love-hate relationship with fans. When coming back to the Eagles stadium. Anaylsts debated for weeks how Mc Nabb would be received by the tough Philadelphia crowd... most assumed either a mixed reaction or a loud chorus of boos. What did Mc Nabb receive... a standing ovation.

** Also in that season, in a combo of CrowningMomentOfAwesome and CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming was Jon Lester's no-hitter. This would be just another no hitter in a lot of cases, however, Lester was less than a year removed from beating non-Hodgkins lymphoma! What makes it go into CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming land was the parade of hugs that Lester had with his teammates, coaches, and other personnel. This Troper, in particular, completely lost her composure when she saw manager Terry Francona (who never went a day without talking to Lester during his treatments) hugging him and hearing him tell Lester in a choked up and muffled voice how proud of him he was.
* In 2008, the Windsor Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud had died of a heart condition. So in the following hockey season, the team ''won the Memorial Cup for the first time''. Not only did they win in the memory of Mickey Renaud and hung his jersey on their bench, the ''entire city'' banded together in supporting and cheering for their team for the whole season. The whole city was suffering from the economic recession and the city was completely transformed by the determination of the Spitfires.

** Not to mention, as soon as the Spitfires' plane touched down back to Windsor, they were greeted with tremendous roars and cheers of all their fans, wearing red, waving flags and screaming for their team.

* In April 2010, golfer Phil Mickelson brought in a special caddy for the 14th hole of the Shell Houston Open: [[http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Nice-move-Phil-Mickelson-brings-his-wife-s-doct?urn=golf,232360 the oncologist who has been treating both his wife and his mother for cancer]]. Also qualifies as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, in [[{{kittenmommy}} This Troper]]'s opinion.

** Second: after the game, Joyce watched the replay and realized the magnitude of his blown call and how badly he had screwed it up. He asked to see Galarraga and apologized to his face for costing him the perfect game. Galarraga accepted the apology and a hug. "Nobody's perfect," he said.

** [[http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/06/02/the-lesson-of-jim-joyce/#more-3523 Joe Posnanski said it best]] about the three perfect games (he's counting Galarraga's)

** Even better, the two players met ''again'' in Wimbledon [[ContrivedCoincidence 2011]]. Although that time the match went to Isner in straight sets (7-6 [7-4]; 6-2; 7-6 [8-6]), BBC news coverage showed that after the epic match of 2010, the two became [[FireForgedFriends close friends]], and the court that they played on now has a plaque commemorating their historic match.

* November the 29th, Spanish [[EuroFooty La Liga]]'s most important match (FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid, AKA "El Clásico") was played. Usually, players come out to the field while the local team's anthem is played ([[CrowdSong and sung by the fans at the stadium]]). What happened is that the PA started playing the anthem too soon, the crowd started singing...and the anthem was quickly turned off. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GlraCrwh88 90,000+ fans kept singing the whole anthem]] ''a capella''. (And then the players came out and the fans sung the whole anthem again.)

* On the evening of May 1, 2011, during a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets, news stations began reporting that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Many people around the stadium learned about this on the Internet through their cell phones. The reactions of the fans of both teams, considered one of the biggest rivalries in baseball, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35pfllMiLag can be seen here.]] As one YouTube commentator put it, "At that moment, there weren't Mets fans, and there weren't Phillies fans. There were Americans."

* 2010 Olympics, Canada wins gold on home soil for the first time. The winner, Alexandre Bilodeau, stated his older brother, Frederic who has cerebral palsy, was his inspiration.
** And at the medal ceremony, when they played the Canadian national anthem, you could hear the audience singing it... over the music.

* Another 2010 Olympics thing for Canada: Men's Curling gold medal final. Near the end of the game, the Canadian had to make the perfect shot and they would finally beat Norway. In 2002, Canada lost due to a bad shot by one player, and that guy was put on the 2010 team. In the 2010 Gold medal final, just before he was about to take the winning shot, THE ENTIRE AUDIENCE STANDS UP, SINGS THE CANADIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM AND CHEERS. He made the perfect shot and WON GOLD!
* China's figure skating coach Yao Bin was considered one of the first pioneer Chinese skaters. But during the 1980 World Championships, he and his partner came last in the event, having only pictures to study from and learn moves from. They were ridiculed and laughed at for years. Guess what? Now he is the coach of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo, the first Chinese pair skaters to win a medal in the Olympics, three-time World Champions, six-time Grand Pix Final champions and as of Vancouver 2010, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome the first Chinese skaters to win ]]''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome gold]]'' in any figure skating category. The joy and pride in his face as he watches his former students finally getting the Olympic gold after all these years was just that sweet.
** Not only that, another one of his teams won the silver. CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Chinese figure sksating.
* Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette, who skated the performance of her life after the death of her mother a few days before her performance. She decided to remain in competetion and ''won bronze'', against Kim Yuna, Mao Asada and Mikki Ando.
** This tripes as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, and a TearJerker!

* "The Difference Makers" section from CTV Vancouver 2010 Olympics, where Canadian atheletes talk about their special someone who changed their lives and helped them in their journey to Olympic atheletes. I cannot recall the athelete's name, but he talked about how he didn't have a great family life and during high school, began spiraling down a dangerous path. Fortunately for him, his best friend talked him out of it, took him into his own family and helped him get focused on what he enjoyed the best: sports.

* During the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, Matthias Steiner won the gold medal for weightlifting and he did it all for his wife. He was unashamed of crying when he did win and when he went up on the podium, he was carrying a picture of his late wife, whom he wanted to win for.
* [[http://www.gymn-forum.net/Articles/NYT-1996_LiDonghua.html Donghua and Esperanza Li]]. What that article doesn't mention? He won gold in Atlanta. And from the top of the podium, he waved to Esperanza in the stands while the Swiss anthem played.

* Canada celebrating their first Olympic gold medal in the Vancouver Olympics for freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau, who was [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal strongly serenaded by a stadium-full of his super-supportive statesmen]].
** Alexandre gets his inspiration from his older brother, who suffers from cerbral palsy.
* Canadian ice skater Joanne Rochette performing a beautiful short program (placing third after the two best figure skaters in the world) just 72 hours after her mother suddenly died of a heart attack. To [[ReverseFunnyAneurysm make it worse]], earlier she was struggling through practice and eventually left the rink as [[SoundtrackDissonance "I'm Gonna Live Forever"]] was blaring.
** She won bronze after the women's free skate. Despite it not being gold or silver, the crowds went nuts for her. And the smile on her face, as she looks upwards towards the crowds of Canadians and family who supported her and perhaps to her own mother watching her, was simply indescribable.
* Let's just say '''The Olympics, Special Olympics, and Paralymics''', period.
* In the opening of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, one of the four pillars of the center torch did not rise, leaving one of the torchbearers, Catriona Le May Doan, unable to lit the torch with the others. In the closing ceremonies, after a CrowningMomentOfFunny where that same pillar is still down and a clown "fixes" it, Catriona comes out to finally do what she was denied in the opening ceremonies.
* The Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The sheer joy in the announcer's voice as he shouts "Do you believe in miracles?!" is what did me in.

* Japan winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, just a few months after the massive tsunami/earthquake.
* At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Canadian speed skater Clara Hughes, who won gold, invited her teammate, Cindy Klassen, who won bronze on the top of the podium to join her.

* Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette, who skated the performance of her life after the death of her mother a few days before her performance. She decided to remain in competetion and ''won bronze'', against Kim Yuna, Mao Asada and Mikki Ando.

** Alexandre gets his inspiration from his older brother, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

* Japan winning the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, just a few months after the massive tsunami/earthquake.

* Speaking of sports, the entire Red Sox [[{{Nakama}} team]] forming a gigantic GroupHug after '''finally''' winning the World Series after all those years.

* ThisTroper recently read an abridged biography of Vincent Van Gogh. Despite being usually stoic, he nearly cried when he found out that Theo Van Gogh was exhumated after dying of syphilis to be buried next to Vincent. Theo, who spent all of his life helping his brother, answering his letters, giving him support in every random think the artist got interested into and aided him after Van Gogh's insanity became way outside manageable. Theo, in whose arms Vincent died and who some believe died because of gried now rests next to his brother; the two brothers will stand next to each forever.

* The death of Eight Belles, the first filly to run in the Kentucky Derby since Regret in 1915, was hands-down one of the [[TearJerker saddest moments in the history of horse racing]]. But there were plenty of heartwarming moments after her death, including [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Belles her burial at Churchill Downs, the Eight Belles Stakes]], and perhaps the most heartwarming/tear-jerking moment of them all, her owner in tears immediately after the race, saying that losing her was like losing a child.

* On June 9th, 2001, Ray Bourque after 22 seasons of playing finally won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. Stanley Cup tradition states that the captain will skate the cup around the rink first upon winning the cup. However, Avs captain Joe Sakic, knowing how long Bourque had waited for the cup, gave him the honor of skating around the rink first. To add on, teammate Patrick Roy (one of the best goalies of all time, 2nd in regular season wins) claimed, "A name was missing from that Cup, and today it is back to normal."

** Even better, the two players met ''again'' in [[BeyondTheImpossible Wimbledon]] [[ContrivedCoincidence 2011]]. Although that time the match went to Isner in straight sets (7-6 [7-4]; 6-2; 7-6 [8-6]), BBC news coverage showed that after the epic match of 2010, the two became [[FireForgedFriends close friends]], and the court that they played on now has a plaque commemorating their historic match.

** Similarly, when current Hawks anthem singer Jim Cornelison [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIO9DLe_-rY sang for the Bears game at Soldier Field on the 10th anniversary of September 11th]], the crowd reaction may have [[BeyondTheImpossible broken the law of sound physics for an open-air stadium]].

* Collegiate Wrestling invokes images of stereotypical muscular atheletes with nearly perfect bodies. Enter Anthony Robles a wrestler with only one leg. Barely recruited coming out of high school he joined the Arizona State wrestling team, a respected program but not known for producing national champions. Was only an All-American going into his senior year and the returning national champion was in his weight class. Robles went on to have a completely undefeated regular season and ended up facing the defending national champion in the finals at 125 pounds. Anthony Robles easily wins the match and hoping on his only leg stands with his hand raised to hear the biggest and most unanimous applause I have ever seen at the national tournament.

* During the 1966 World Cup, the North Korean team was billeted in Middlesbrough, a somewhat rough working-class town in north-east England. The Korean War had ended relatively recently and there were fears that the Teessiders could get nasty towards the team because of it. Instead, partly because of their underdog status and partly because they played in red - the same colour as Middlesbrough FC, [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/08/north-korea-world-cup-middlesbrough they more or less adopted them]], with the Smoggies cheering for them at everyone of their games and even following them to Liverpool to see them play against Portugal. To this day there are North Koreans who think fondly of Middlesbrough.

* Another auto racing moment: the first IndyCar race after Dan Wheldon's death was in his adopted hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. Turn 10 of the circuit and the actual street following it was renamed in dedication to Wheldon and his race-winning pass in 2005. After Helio Castroneves won the 2012 race for the third time, he climbed the fence in front of the grandstands at Wheldon's turn, one he didn't climb in his first two victories. The true heartwarmer comes when he crossed the track to climb the other fence and [[www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXgVVsckeDk pounded the street sign to honor his fallen friend.]]

* On the evening of May 1, 2011, during a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets, news stations began reporting that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Many people around the stadium learned about this on the Internet through their cell phones. The reactions of the fans of both teams, considered one of the biggest rivalries in baseball, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35pfllMiLag can be seen here.]] As one YouTube commentator put it, "At that moment, there weren't Mets fans, and there weren't Phillies fans. There were Americans."

* The oldest tournament in rugby (union) is the 6 Nations (formerly 5 Nations) tournament, that pits England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy against each other every year. The team that wins it defeating all other sides is said to have won a Grand Slam, which of course is the highest possible award in the 6 Nations. Ireland won it in 1948, captained by Karl Mullen, and then not again until 2009. Only one month after the 2009 win, 82-year-old Karl Mullen peacefully passed away.

* The oldest tournament in rugby (union) is the 6 Nations (formerly 5 Nations) tournament, that pits England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy against each other every year. The team that wins it defeating all other sides is said to have won a Grand Slam, which of course is the highest possible award in the 6 Nations. Ireland, captained by Karl Mullen, won it in 1948 and then not again until 2009. Only one month after the 2009 win, 82-year-old Karl Mullen peacefully passed away.

** Similarly, when current Hawks anthem singer Jim Cornelison [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIO9DLe_-rY sang for the Bears game at Soldier Field on the 10th anniversary of September 11th]], the crowd reaction may have [[BeyondTheImpossible broken the law of sound physics for an open-air stadium]].