1984 was a momentous year. All of the following were part of the year. Best year ever?
Movies:
Ghostbusters
Karate Kid
Beverly Hills Cop
Gremlins
Nightmare on Elm Street
Terminator
Amadeus
Spinal Tap
Footloose
Sixteen Candles
Red Dawn
Purple Rain
Splash
Revenge of the Nerds
Firestarter
The Natural
The Killing Fields
Runaway
Toxic Avenger
TV:
Night Court premieres
Where's The Beef commercial debuts
Michael Jackson set on fire in Pepsi commercial
Miami Vice premieres
Cosby Show premieres
Alex Trebek takes over as Jeopardy host
E/R debuts
Murder She Wrote debuts
Fantasy Island, One Day at a Time, Hart to Hart, Captain Kangaroo, Edge of Night, and Three's Company all ended their TV runs
Music:
Bon Jovi/Bon Jovi
Run DMC/Run DMC
Ratt/Out of the Cellar
Chicago/Chicago 17
Springsteen/Born in the USA
Prince/Purple Rain
The Time /Ice Cream Castles
Metallica/Ride the Lightning
RH Chili Peppers/Debut album
KISS / Animalize
Madonna / Like A Virgin
Duran Duran / Arena
Don Henley / Building the Perfect Beast
Do They Know It's Christmas (British song)
Music Videos:
Thriller
Legs / ZZ Top
Dancing in the Dark / Springsteen
Somebody's Watching Me / Rockwell
Sunglasses at Night / Corey
Hot For Teacher / Van Halen
Misc:
Reagan announces he'll run for a second term
Apple debuts McIntosh
NCAA Tourney expands to 64 teams
AIDS virus is identified
Scarlett Johannsen was born
NBA Draft:
Charles Barkley
Michael Jordan
Hakeem Olajuwan
Kevin Willis
John Stockton
1984 also featured what may be the best NBA Finals in history -- Bird's Celtics vs. Magic's Lakers.
The NFL draft in '84 was largely a bust. Not much there. The owners did pass the "No Fun" Rule and the Colts snuck off in the middle of the night to Indy though.
MLB
Mark McGwire
Tom Glavine
Greg Maddux
Roger Clemens was a rookie as was Dwight Gooden