By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Jul 13, 2016 at 9:37 PM

You remember the play because you can't forget it.

Down by two points last December and with zeros on the clock – Green Bay had received an extra, untimed down because of a Detroit penalty – the Packers had the ball on their own 39-yard line, with one more chance, a long-shot,  no-way-in-hell, never-going-to-happen chance to go for it all and win the game.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers took the shotgun snap, rolled a bit to his left, made a defender miss, ran all the way back across the field to the right, took a few steps up to gather some momentum and then unleashed a towering, majestic missile into the end zone. Tight end Richard Rodgers jumped up with everyone else and, somehow, was the one who miraculously came down with it for the 61-yard, game-winning touchdown. And then everyone just went crazy.

You remember. And sports fans and media voters didn't forget about it, either, honoring it with the 2016 ESPY Award for Best Play during Wednesday night's ceremony. 

Lions tight end Eric Ebron remembers the play because he can't stop seeing it and, surely, it haunts his dreams.

Even though it was one of the defining moments of the NFL (and especially the Packers') season, not everyone was thrilled with the choice. Rodgers' Hail Mary – his first; he threw another one in the NFC Divisional Round playoff game against Arizona – beat out a few other plays from games with much higher stakes than a regular-season Packers game against the Lions. The other finalists were LeBron James' block late in the fourth quarter of the Cavaliers' Game 7 win over the Warriors that helped Cleveland win its first NBA championship, and Michigan State’s recovery of a fumbled Michigan punt attempt that was returned for a game-winning touchdown on the last play. 

Villanova's buzzer-beating three-pointer to upset North Carolina and win the NCAA Tournament probably would have been a fine choice, too, at least in guard Ryan Arcidiacono's opinion. 

And CBS Sports college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb's too.

Well, at least now Aaron Rodgers has a trophy to put on his mantle. But what do you think? Was the Packers' Hail Mary against the Lions really the best play of the year?

Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.