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Another year, another recap
A look at this year in sports
By Colin Altevogt, May 7, 2009
Last time you read my end-of-the-year wrap of sports, you were a year younger. And the world of sports has changed dramatically.
A year ago, LeBron James failed to get into the finals again, the Arizona Cardinals were the laughingstock of the NFL and no one outside of the innermost circles in the gymnastics world had heard of Alicia Sacramone. Now, the Cavaliers look unstoppable, the Cards nearly won one of the most thrilling Super Bowls in our lifetime and Alicia Sacramone is every teenager’s dream bride.
Only in America. The following are eight sports highlights of 2008 and 2009.
June 17 – The Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in Game 6 of the NBA finals to win the league title. Word on the street is that Phil Jackson’s postgame tirade ended with "Our pets’ heads are falling off!"
August – The Olympics take place in Beijing. Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals are the high point of the competition (pun intended) but other historical events include Jamaican Usain Bolt breaking three track & field world records, the "Redeem Team" winning basketball gold and a one-two American finish in the women’s gymnastics all-around by Nastia Lukin and Shawn Johnson. Oh, and Sacramone gets robbed of a medal in the vault. But I’m not bitter.
October 7 – Facing a 1-3 start, the Colts mount a furious comeback by scoring three touchdowns in slightly over two minutes after getting three turnovers from Houston quarterback Sage Rosenfels, who looks like Peyton Manning for 55 minutes and the child of Rex Grossman or Ryan Leaf for five. Thanks, Sage!
October 30 – The Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series. The only significant aspect to this is that it gave me another chance to quote "Dumb and Dumber" by saying "What’s wrong? Some little filly break your heart?" while my buddy Jake Crow replied, "No, it was a girl."
February 1 – The Pittsburgh Steelers win another Super Bowl title, proving that God probably doesn’t like the Arizona Cardinals. But He really hates Detroit.
February 5 – Indiana wins its only Big Ten game of the season with a 68-60 win over Iowa. I can’t believe I just typed that.
April 4 – North Carolina wins the NCAA men’s basketball championship over Michigan State, 89-72. Critics immediately mention that none of the Tar Heel players will succeed in the pros, which would be noteworthy if anyone cared about the NBA.
April 5 – UConn’s women’s basketball team caps off a perfect season. Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris searches for a way to pay off her scholarship.
May 3 – Despite winning cross country, football, basketball and baseball, the Franklin athletics program finishes second to Rose-Hulman for the conference’s men’s all-sports trophy. The reason? Rose was given two points for finishing last in wrestling and swimming, sports that only three schools contest. Shenanigans.
Oh well. There’s always next year.
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