The Biggest Plays of 2012

The biggest plays of 2012 are those moments in professional sports where our favorite players came up big to accomplish amazing things. While selecting the biggest sports plays of 2012 is often a matter of opinion but these moments all left fans speechless. From those ridiculous catches in professional football to the legacies left by the talented Olympians who made history in London and everywhere in between, these are the moments that defined sports in the year 2012.

There's no surprise that many of the biggest plays of 2012 came from some of the biggest athletes and sports teams in the world right now. Michael Phelps' record-breaking performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Miguel Cabrera's World Series-clinching strikeout and Heisman Trophy-winner Johnny Manziel's 72-yard touchdown run highlighted the offerings among the top plays of the year.

It would be easy to list those sports teams and individual players who won championships during the year as the best but there were so many other amazing moments during 2012 that should get love as well. Notre Dame's goal-line stand against Stanford in college football for instance only won them that game but was part of the process to finishing an undefeated season culminating with a trip to the BCS National Championship Game. And not all of these moments are favorable, such as the mass confusion when NFL replacement officials fumbled a game-altering call during the Packers vs. Seahawks game.

So from those huge accomplishments, like when Juan Manuel Marquez IV knocked out Manny Pacquiao, to the controversial, like the infield fly rule call during the Cardinals-Braves MLB game, each of these moments has its place in the sports history books for 2012. See a favorite moment missing? Want to re-rank this list in the order you see fit? Do all of that and more below with the biggest plays of 2012.