2010 was a great year in the sports world. I'll skip the lengthy, suspense-building introduction, and jump right into it. Here are the 5 biggest sports stories of the year from my view, and my thoughts about them.
#5: Roy Halladay's No-Hitter In The Playoffs
I'm usually not big on personal performances, but Roy Halladay shutting down the Cincinnati Red's lineup in the first game of the NLDS was phenomenal. It is absolutely amazing to throw a no-hitter in a regular season game, but to do it in the playoffs is ridiculous. Ridiculous because there's so much pressure to perform, that some guy's collapse under it. And to add to that, not only did Roy Halladay have to start the series by pitching Game 1, but it was also Game 1 of his playoff experience. That's right, his first time to ever pitch in the playoffs and he doesn't give up a single error. I don't think "impressive" quite describes Halladay's feat.
#4: LeBron James and "The Decision
Just another reason that I don't prefer the NBA. LeBron James, looked at by some as the greatest player on earth, and others as the biggest diva in the league, needed an hour on television to announce his decision on where he'd play in 2010 and on. Fan's still ask why the TV special was necessary, and there's only one explanation: LeBron James wouldn't have it any other way. When you've been the best player on every court you've ever played on, it would be hard to fit your titanic ego on that same court. LeBron wants the publicity (see his comments on issues that don't even have indirect ties to basketball.) For some reason, he has to have his name in the news every day, and it doesn't look like it will come to an end anytime soon. I'd love for the Mav's to win every game this year, but it would be as much of a positive to me to see the Heat lose every game after that.
#3: Landon Donovan's Game Winner
Team USA entered the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as a decently strong team. However, they were matched up against England in the first game, which didn't look good. After England Goalie, Robert Green, has a mishap in goal to give USA the 1-1 tie, USA started eying the tournament that occurs after pool play. It came down to Team USA getting a win against Algeria, and they went in confident. After a few questionable calls from the referee's and USA looking gassed towards the end of the game, the climax came on a final run by Team USA. Goalkeeper Tim Howard made a great save, and launched the ball down the right side of the field. After Donovan dribbled and passed off the ball, he fell back and watched. Little did he know, the ball would bounce off the goalie, and land perfectly in front of the goal. All he had to do was tap the ball in, and in doing so he sent the entire United States soccer world into an insane celebration (as seen in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn3rOPmR9w ).
#2: College Football
Usually this would be the #1 choice, but it got knocked out this year. How could any fan not have loved this college football season? Traditional powers like OU, Florida, Alabama,Nebraska, and USC struggled. Team's that were usually mid-ranked shot to the top like Oregon, Auburn, South Carolina, Washington, and Oklahoma State (You know I couldn't leave them out!) It was every anti-BCS fan's dream of a season. Look nowhere else than the SEC. Coming into the year, 95% of America would have agreed that they'd be seeing the Crimson Tide face off against the Florida Gators when the regular season ended. But look what happened, Auburn vs. South Carolina? Uhh... What? Mizzou knocked off OU, Texas struggled with seemingly everything, Boise State beat Virginia Tech, and Nevada played a game that no one will ever forget against that same Boise team. College football in 2010 was awesome, terrible, stressful, or amazing depending on what team you call your own, and hopefully we're one step closer to seeing a daing college football playoff system! (Yes, Mark Cuban, that was directed at you, pull out that checkbook.)
#1: The Texas Rangers
Now you can see why College Football got knocked off. This was the best year for Texas Ranger Baseball in franchise history. Possibly the most famous Texas Ranger purchased the team, the front office brought in one of the best pitchers in the league and in playoff history, and the Rangers were actually a blast to watch. This was the first year I've actually stressed about each and every game that the Rangers played, starting from opening day when I listened to the Rangers win in walk-off fashion against the Blue Jay's. Not only did they make it to the World Series, but the highlight of my year was to see them beat the Yankee's in 6. And not only that, but actually being there for Game 2 of the ALCS against those Yankee's, and seeing the Rangers win their first ever home playoff game in person. With baseball, you never know when a season like this could happen again, so you probably won't hear the end of it from me anytime soon. After all, the Phillie's, Yanks, and Red Sox are building All-Star teams, so who knows if we'll ever even be able to say the phrase "World Series" again in the next few years.
That's all I've got. It's been a great sports year, and I'm just as excited about this coming year as I am impressed with this past year. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and wish you a Happy and Safe New Year.
Go Rangers, Go Pokes, Go Cowboy's!
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