If you somehow still haven’t heard, Vanderbilt University’s football team shocked the world Saturday night by upsetting No. 1-ranked Alabama in a 40-35 thriller in the open construction site that is FirstBank Stadium. 

The ’Dores exorcized a number of demons with the win, which was the program’s first against a team ranked in the top five — much less at No. 1. It was also Vandy’s first victory over the mighty Crimson Tide since 1984. 

The student body tore down the stadium’s goalposts before parading them down Broadway and dumping them into the Cumberland, quarterback Diego Pavia became an overnight star, and Vanderbilt Athletics can now stake claim to being more than just a baseball-and-bowling school. 

The miraculous win got us at the Scene thinking about Nashville’s greatest sports moments, so of course we had to compile a list. Special shoutout to former Scene staffer, current Scene contributor and Nashville sports-history repository J.R. Lind for the idea here — and please consider as an honorable mention WrestleWar ’89, which Lind explored in depth for its 30th anniversary.

First, a few ground rules. Normally when discussing Music City sports, I include teams from the greater Nashville area. Not here — this list is strictly Nashville teams only; the options were too plentiful otherwise. We also tried to keep this to specific moments rather than seasons or eras. Here’s what we came up with, in chronological order. 

Wilma Rudolph at the 1960 Olympics

Following her sophomore season competing under legendary track-and-field coach Ed Temple for the dynastic Tennessee State University Tigerbelles, Clarksville native Wilma Rudolph had one of the more productive summer breaks a college student has ever had. Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games, sweeping her three events in Rome: the 100-meter, the 200-meter and the 4×100-meter relay. Remarkably, the relay squad that Rudolph anchored was composed entirely of Tigerbelles.

The Music City Miracle

The easiest pick for this list is the iconic Music City Miracle, a play so famous it has its own Wikipedia page. With all due respect to Derrick Henry and Chris Johnson’s 2,000-yard seasons, January 2000 was the high point of the Tennessee Titans franchise thus far — we just won’t talk about what happened later that month. Frank Wycheck, Kevin Dyson and Lorenzo Neal will be a part of Nashville sports lore forever thanks to their flawless execution of the game-winning “homerun throwback” that propelled the Titans all the way to Super Bowl XXXIV. Any Bills fans claiming it was a forward pass can get back to me if Buffalo ever hoists the Lombardi Trophy. 

Vanderbilt Baseball’s First National Championship 

Vanderbilt’s aforementioned status as a baseball school began in earnest in 2014, when the ’Dores brought home the school’s first NCAA title for a men’s program, and the second overall for a team sport (shoutout to Vandy’s 2007 national title-winning bowlers), with a 2-1 series win over Virginia. That team, consisting of future MLB stars like Walker Buehler and College World Series Most Outstanding Player Dansby Swanson, opened the floodgates for the ’Dores to become perhaps the signature program in college baseball. Since 2014, the Vandy Boys have collected another national championship and three title game appearances, and produced double-digit first-team All-Americans. 

The Predators’ Run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals

Although it’s another example of a local team coming up painfully short in the quest to win a championship, the Nashville Predators’ run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals did the unthinkable — it transformed Nashville into a hockey town. That might seem silly to suggest now in a puck-crazed city, but before the eighth-seeded Preds pushed the reigning champion Pittsburgh Penguins, led by league MVP Sidney Crosby, to six games in pursuit of Lord Stanley’s Cup, hockey in the South was thought of as a novelty at best by the outside world. Not anymore. 

2019 NFL Draft

To the chagrin of many locals, the 2019 NFL Draft has to be mentioned in a list of the most notable Nashville sports moments because of what it means for the future. For better and for worse, Music City’s resoundingly successful stint as host paved the way for Nashville’s future as a premier sports event destination. In line with its transformation into a tourist town, the city has proved its thirst to be the host of Super Bowls, World Cups and more, and the 2019 NFL Draft was just the first domino to fall.