Everybody loves lists, but sometimes all a list does is start a debate. That’s not a bad thing—debating—but it’s not always a good thing either. Therefore, I’m not numbering my list of the most memorable sports stories of the decade.
To me, each of these five stories was terribly memorable. Some were more emotionally significant to me than others, but all five helped define the decade in sport.
My Five Most Memorable American Sports Stories of the Decade
Pat Tillman
It wouldn’t be correct to simply categorize the story of Pat Tillman as Pat Tillman’s death, because Tillman ...
If 2009 taught us anything, we learned that more and more athletes continue to make decisions which jeopardize their careers and their image to the public.
For years we, as fans, have seen many promising athletes make decisions that affect the rest of their lives, and all of these decisions could be easily avoided.
Some of the eyebrow raising incidents of 2009 include:
· Most recently, we had two teammates pull guns on each other in their very own team locker room. If I was a part of the Washington Wizards organization, I would be looking for a way out.
· Three Tennessee football players were charged ...
The New York Yankees are arguably the MLB organization of the year; 27-time World Champions, 103 regular season wins, and an unobstructed run to the World Series.
You ask, how can the TinCaps of Fort Wayne, the Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, top the evil empire ?
The TinCaps crossed a line that not many professional clubs do; 100-plus wins. The staggering fact in this case, is 100 wins in 149 minor league games, topping out at a .678 winning percentage, something that the Yanks couldn’t overtake with their .636 winning percentage (.644 if you include the playoffs).
When you ...
Tim Tebow steps into the pocket and delivers a strike to the end zone. Touchdown, Gators win.
Tebow, a two-time national champion and Heisman Trophy winner, jogs off the field to celebrate with his teammates and coaches. He must feel like the golden boy who can do no wrong, as if everyone wants a piece of him. He is the definitive big man on campus.
With the clock expiring on the final kneel down of the game, a mass of players, reporters, camera crews, and the like, rush to center field as confetti falls from above. Tebow is swarmed, as he often ...
The spirit of the Olympics once painted a picture of athletes marching in proud formation, waving flags high, and eyes open wide with the awe of the moment they were a part of.
They were athletes that marched together, perhaps meeting each other for the first time, yet nonetheless held a shared feeling of accomplishment and fraternity, as if they had crossed paths many times before.
The moment, fresh and vivid, was not yet tarnished with the allure of big names and established athletes, the sponsors that endorsed them, and the media that worshiped them.
The moment, crisp and unnerving, was not ...
Happy New Year!
2009 was chock full of plenty of reasons why a sportswriter could be as wrong as could be, or as right as rain.
Time once again to look back on the previous year and see what clippings appeared beside my name---and how accurate, wrong, or prophetic (or not) I turned out to be...
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The internet has changed many of the existing paradigms of journalism as newspapers and magazines have cut staff and expanded their online content. Before the internet, breaking a story meant publishing the next morning. Now being the first to report a story is separated by hours and minutes. As the demand for immediate news rises, it begs the question whether this will hurt sound journalistic practices?
To begin, and more importantly to not confuse ourselves, the majority of journalism is sound and will likely remain so. Small and regional community newspapers don't fit into this discussion and local beats at major ...
As fans, we're done with the excuses.
We're tired of superstar athletes rising to prominence only to turn their back on common sense and intelligence, to give way to chosen ignorance.
It's not everybody else's fault. It's your responsibility, what you reflect and what people see as a reflection of who you are and what you stand for.
Everyday we are bombarded with choices. Mundane decisions like whether to sleep a little longer or have a cup of coffee not withstanding.
It's the choices that affect our position in life and what we believe that stand by themselves in the level of importance.
Choices like ...
I’ve always loved the game of baseball. What’s not to love? A simple game─hit a round ball squarely with a round bat─with simple rules: reach base, move the runner along, and score more runs than your opponent. My dad took me to my first ballgame, a Tigers/Angels night game at old Tiger Stadium, a game which the home team won. I was but seven years old. The Corktown district in Detroit, in the early 1960s, had not yet fully deteriorated, and the 1968 race riots were still a few years away. Al Kaline was my childhood idol, and ...
"Spread love everywhere you go; first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting."-Mother Teresa
While many sports lovers see New Year's Day as a day to watch copious football, recover from ample over indulgence and, this year, to prepare for hockey from, of all places, Fenway Park, I am trying to embrace ...
