The year 2016 in Pittsburgh sports: Our staff's choices for top 25 stories

We went through the words.

We went through the wonderful images.

Finally, for our Year in Pittsburgh Sports project, we'll offer the DKPittsburghSports.com staff's choices for the top 25 moments of 2016. And let's stress that word moments. It's not necessarily about the biggest news, the biggest games, the biggest cumulative bodies of achievement. It's about a moment, a snapshot, one that sparks a reaction, for better or worse.



We're proud to have covered every moment found below, from far and wide, and you can check the original article by tapping or clicking the date.

With much appreciation to our entire staff, especially Ron Ledgard, as well as you, our readers, for making this site possible in the first place:

25. CROSBY'S TIP-TOE DRAG
Nov. 26, 2016, at PPG Paints Arena



Months have passed since Sidney Crosby led the Penguins to their fourth Stanley Cup, but he still hasn't stopped scoring. If anything, he's gone from scoring to positively soaring, with 26 goals in his first 31 games this season. Picking one is no picnic, but this pickle-stabber of a toe-drag to tie the Devils with 14 seconds left in regulation -- en route to a 4-3 overtime win -- might take the prize. It was everything that makes Crosby great, from his patience and poise, to his skill to his ability to think at another level even under pressure.

Here's guessing he'll show up on this list again.

24. VOGELSONG'S SCARE
May 23, 2016, at PNC Park

Before the middle game of a series between the Pirates and Braves at Turner Field, Clint Hurdle made the unthinkable official: Andrew McCutchen, our city's generational baseball talent, was being benched for the entire series. Moments later, reporters exited Hurdle’s office to find Cutch sitting at his locker. For 45 remarkable minutes, he sat through interviews with four waves of reporters, explaining his .241 output at the plate again and again and again. Finally, when the reporters were all done, he looked toward another group. “Let me know if anyone else needs me,” he said, without a hint of sarcasm. “If you need me, we can talk. I’ll be right here." He'd soon be all the way back, batting .283 with nine home runs the rest of the way.

The first meeting since 1999 between these rivals -- depending on which side you ask, anyway -- Penn State was driving down to Pitt's 31-yard line. With three minutes left, Trace McSorley dropped back, lofted a ball toward the end zone for Mike Gesicki ... but it fell into the hands of the Panthers' Ryan Lewis, and a 42-39 victory was secure for the home team. Which was a really big deal ... depending on which side you ask, anyway.