Game of the Year: Game 6, NBA Finals, Spurs vs. Heat
I already touched on this game at length on the night after it happened in one of my very first blog posts so feel free to go back and take a look at it for all the juicy details. But this one stands head and shoulders above the competition for 2013 because it had everything. It had posterizations (Kawhi Leonard on Mike Miller anybody?). It had improbable buzzer beaters (Mario Chalmers banking in a long 3 at the end of the 3rd quarter). It had clothing loss (Mike Miller losing his shoe, yet still canning a 3 and LeBron James losing his headband and then promptly turning into the Human Cyborg of Death). Massive blocks, improbable stepback 3s, wild momentum swings, all capped off by an unforgettable sequence where the Heat looked poised to bring this one home but then costly turnover after costly turnover put the Spurs up 5 with less than 30 seconds standing in between them and an NBA championship, while bandwagon Miami fans began to leave for the exits. Protective yellow tape to prevent fans from rushing the court was being placed, the championship trophy was rolled out, ready to be presented, the whole nine yards. But wait a minute! Boom, LeBron hits a 3. Clunk Kawhi Leonard misses a clutch free throw. And finally swish, Ray Allen hits a miraculous 3 to tie the game (don't worry we'll touch on this shot in great length later). Now all of a sudden, we're in overtime where the two teams claw and scratch before Chris Bosh stuffs a late Danny Green 3 point attempt and wouldn't you know it, we have a Game 7! That Game 6 was one for the ages. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows for Heat fans, Spurs fans, and NBA fans alike. And at the end, we were all out of breath, all exhausted and exhilarated, not quite sure what it was that we had just witnessed. But one thing was for certain, we were watching what greatness was all about. Not many games can give us that feeling. But Game 6 of the NBA Finals last June was all that and then some.
Play of the Year: Chris Davis missed FG return, Iron Bowl
War Eagle! This could very well have been the most thrilling sequence that the sports world saw over the course of the last 365 days. It was just the most absurd thing ever. The Iron Bowl. Here was Alabama, back to back defending national champions and winners of 3 of the last 4 and their fierce rivals, the Auburn Tigers, poised to pull off the huge upset over the best college football program in the nation. And for four quarters, they matched each other blow for blow. Though Alabama looked to have a chokehold on the Tigers at times, especially after a 99 yard Kodak moment TD from AJ McCarron to Amari Cooper, Auburn fought back. When it all came down to the one last play in the fourth quarter and the game still tied at 28, Nick Saban inexplicably elected for his young kicker to attempt a Janikowski-level field goal of 57+ yards instead of eating it and sending the game into OT. It was a semi-questionable decision at the time but nobody was prepared for what came next. The field goal was predictably short but Auburn's Chris Davis caught it in the end zone, ran it out, caught a couple of blocks, found some daylight, and miraculously took it 109 yards to the house giving Auburn the upset win and promptly sending the sports world into a downright frenzy. What in the name of Nathan Vasher had just happened?! I mean, when have we ever witnessed an ending even remotely comparable to this?!?! Probably not since Kordell Stewart's Miracle at Michigan or Doug Flutie's Hail Mary or when Joe Starkey proclaimed "The band is out on the field!!!" And to think that this was the team on the right side of the Immaculate Deflection against Georgia a few weeks earlier. Yep, the college football gods are definitely with Auburn this year. And my play of the year award is definitely with Auburn this year as well.
Fight of the Year: Bradley-Provodnikov
To be honest, it wasn't a great year for boxing. Most of the marquee fights featuring the marquee fighters were either disappointing and/or ridiculously one-sided (see: Mayweather-Guerrero, Mayweather-Alvarez, Bradley-Marquez, Pacquiao-Rios). In fact, some of the better efforts of the year were given by lesser known fighters like Adonis Stevenson, the Garcias, and Nonito Donaire Jr. However, the one fight that stands out for me was the 12 round slugfest that was Timothy Bradley vs. Ruslan Provodnikov. This was no holds barred. While some of the middle rounds slowed when the fighters decided to get a little more conservative, most of the fight, particularly the first 2 rounds and the last 2 rounds were wild. A flurry of punches thrown by both fighters, wild exchanges left and right, none of that "cover up and let the other guy punch out" nonsense but rather both fighters alternating with one another seamlessly between attack mode and counter mode. Bradley's speed vs. Provodnikov's power. Provodnikov hurt Bradley arguably even more than Manny Pacquiao did, even scoring a couple of vicious knockdowns. But Bradley fought back and used his speed and well-timed counter punches to tag Provodnikov with solid shots of his own. Both men paid the price in this fight as a huge cut opened above Provodnikov's eye late in the fight, while Bradley was taking brutal hooks to the chin all night long and just barely beat the count at the end of an epic 12th round after an all-out assault from the Siberian Provodnikov. Bradley went onto hang on for the victory via the judge's scorecards but this breathtaking welterweight championship fight was one that could have gone either way. It was one that delivered for boxing fans everywhere in a year where there wasn't a whole lot to get excited about in the sport.
Knockout of the Year: Pacquiao-Marquez
So this fight technically happened in late 2012. Oh well. It's my blog. It's my awards. Sue me. The fact of the matter is that this knockdown has been the defining image, the defining story of the boxing world for the last 12 months and it has had an impact that transcends what any calendar says. And as much as I would have liked to, I really can't sweep this one under the rug. Pacquiao-Marquez IV was supposed to be a lot of things. It was supposed to be a tuneup for a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown. It was supposed to be the end all be all to the saga between the two fighters. It was supposed to be where Manny Pacquiao finally established once and for all ultimate dominance over his bitter rival who had cast a shadow on him for the better part of a decade. And it was almost all of those things. Sans one big hiccup in the third round, Pacquiao was fighting better than he'd fought in any of their previous 3 bouts. He had broken Marquez's nose and was showing an aggressiveness and vigor that we hadn't seen from him since maybe the Hatton and Cotto fights. But then the end of round 6 happened and Pacman, just trying to get in one last lick before the bell sounded, stepped forward right as Marquez turned his head, closed his eyes, and let loose a massive right hand. It was perfect. And Pacquiao walked right into it. The result was a violent knockout that snapped Pacquiao's head back and sent him crashing facefirst to the canvass. And that was the end of that.
At that moment, it seemed like time had stopped. You could hear a pin drop when we all began to realize that Pacquiao wasn't getting up, wasn't moving. There was legitimate concern for his well-being and it seemed almost as if Marquez had literally knocked him into another dimension. I mean, boxing has had its fair share of brutal knockouts but never anything this brutal on this big of a stage. The only parallels I can think of the sport has ever seen are probably Tommy Hearns' KO of Roberto Duran and Lennox Lewis flooring Mike Tyson. And this was way past that level. Even Pacquiao's huge KO of Ricky Hatton just a few fights earlier. At least Hatton was lying on the canvass lucid, awake, and conscious! Pacquiao was just "Good night" and that's all she wrote. That knockout is something that's gonna be talked about for years and years to come and the impact, the image, the lasting power it's had for the last 12 months is good enough to win my 2013 (technically 2012, yes, yes, we've touched on this before) knockout of the year.
Breakout Star of the Year: Jameis Winston
Where on earth did Famous Jameis come from? In the preseason Heisman watch, there was a clear top 7 of elite QBs. Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater, OSU's Braxton Miller, Georgia's Aaron Murray, Clemson's Tajh Boyd, Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, Oregon's Marcus Mariota, and Bama's AJ McCarron. And if it wasn't gonna be a QB, South Carolina's Jadeveon Clowney, USC's Marqise Lee, and Bama's TJ Yeldon would have been the logical choices. Nowhere on the radar was this freshman QB playing in the ACC. Nowhere was Florida State's Jameis Winston. When he threw for 356 yards and 4 TDs against Pitt in FSU's season opener, people were quick to label him a one game wonder. Only problem was that he kept us this torrid pace for the entire season. All of the Seminoles games were turned into blowouts by halftime and a destruction of Clemson combined with an insane statistical season (nearly 4000 yds passing, 38 TDs, close to 70% completion percentage) led FSU to the #1 overall ranking in the nation, a shot at the national championship, and a Heisman Trophy for Mr. Winston. Breakout superstar material indeed.
Team of the Year: Boston Red Sox
Even if I pined to give this award to the Miami Heat, there is really no other team to give it to than the Boston Red Sox. This was a team that was supposed to finish in the cellar this year! They did finish 69-93 just a year before after all. So after a massive salary unloading trade dumped their biggest names like Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett to the Los Angeles Dodgers, expectations were low. They said Pedroia couldn't do it on his own. They said Papi was washed up. They said the pitching was crap. They said John Farrell couldn't manage his way out of a wet paper bag. Yet now here the Red Sox are, 2013 champions of Major League Baseball. Every single odd was defied. Every expectation surpassed. A shaky bullpen supposed to be led by the likes of Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey suddenly turned into the Doom Corps later in the year with Junichi Tazawa, Craig Breslow, and Koji Uehara virtually untouchable. David Ortiz found the fountain of youth and hit nearly .700 in the World Series. John Lackey was out there coming back and pitching like it was 2007 (Insert teardrop here). Rookies like Jackie Bradley, Xander Bogaerts, and Jose Iglesias were making tangible impacts. And alas, the power of the beard reigned supreme and the Red Sox clinched the World Series at Fenway for the first time since 1918. Team of the Year status? I think so.
Moment of the Year: Ray Allen 3 to tie the game in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals
Call me a homer but how can I not give this award to (brace yourself) the clutchest shot in the history of the NBA??? If we ever made a Mount Rushmore out of the greatest big-time shots ever hit on a basketball court, the three no brainers would be Magic Johnson's baby hook at the Garden in '87, Jerry West's 60-foot prayer in 1970, and Michael Jordan's iconic Last Shot against the Jazz in '98. Well ladies and gentlemen, I think we've found out the fourth. When Jesus Shuttlesworth, the greatest three-point shooter of all-time, backpedaled to the three-point line, caught the ball in the corner off a Chris Bosh offensive rebound, planted his feet perfectly behind the line, steadied his body for a split second, then let it fly and hit nothing but net, he claimed his rightful place alongside those indelible moments in NBA history. And here's why this shot tops them all.
Let's look at the stakes here. Take Magic's shot. What if he missed it? Throw out the fact that Kareem would have been right there to tip it home and throw out the fact that Larry Bird missed an open jumper at the end of that game that he made 9 out of 10 times. Say Magic misses the baby hook and the Lakers lose. That was Game 4. The Lakers still would have had 3 games to get 2 wins (including 2 at home) to bring home the championship. Now take West's 60 foot heave. Despite a degree of difficulty that was off the charts and the fact that it was from SIXTY FREAKING FEET OUT, if West misses that shot, the Lakers lose. But it wouldn't have mattered because that shot sent the game into overtime where the Lakers lost anyway. Now take MJ's iconic J from the top of the key to clinch the '98 Finals. If His Airness misses and the Bulls lose, they still have one more chance to get in done in Game 7. With Ray Allen's shot? If he misses? Over. Done. Sayonara. Goodbye. Cue the fat lady because that series would have been OVER. Allen misses that shot, the San Antonio Spurs are the champions. Simple as that. Duncan gets his 5th ring, LeBron James' legacy falls to shambles, we spend an entire summer talking about what went wrong, Ray gets skewered and ridiculed for his decision to leave Boston, and there's a good chance that the Miami Heat, as we know it today, ceases to exist. But as fate would have it, when you call Jesus Shuttlesworth's number, Jesus Shuttlesworth answers. And he answers with the greatest shot in NBA history. And that is why Ray Ray's 3 tops em all to win my award for Moment of the Year for 2013.
Athlete of the Year: LeBron James
Was there any other choice other than LeBron Raymone James?? How could he have possibly topped a 2012 campaign where he won the regular season MVP, the NBA championship, and NBA Finals MVP while putting up superhuman numbers? By doing it all over again in 2013 just with even more ridiculous numbers. What can't this guy do?!? It's getting to the point where we're just so used to his greatness and so used to his other worldly talent that we don't even bat an eye anymore when he does things like baptizing Ben McLemore and Paul Millsap, like single-handedly resurrecting his team from the grave, like making the SportsCenter Top 10 every other minute. He improved in almost every major statistical category (including shooting a career best in FG%), won his 4th MVP in 5 years, and took the Miami Heat to the top once again downing the veteran Spurs in 7 games en route to a second consecutive Finals MVP. To cap it all off, he was awarded the AP Male Athlete of the Year award a couple of days ago becoming only the third NBA player (after Michael Jordan and Larry Bird) to receive that honor. Did I mention that he just turned 29?? Just sit back and enjoy the ride, folks.
Polarizing Star of the Year: Johnny Manziel
I swear, there's something about this guy. Maybe it's the Johnny Football charm. Maybe it's how fun it is to watch him play with his heaves off the wrong foot and the way he runs circles around defenders behind the line of scrimmage. Maybe he's just pure money. Whatever the case may be, Johnny Manziel was without a doubt, the most polarizing sports star of the year. He captivated the nation with everything he did: leading Texas A&M to big win after big win, lofting impossible touchdowns to Mike Evans, getting kicked out of Manning Camp, going to frat parties, the infamous autograph scandal, the subsequent money celebration. Everything. There's something about him. The way he sucks you in. Almost like Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. You know that this guy's bad news and that he rubs everyone and everything the wrong way but he just has something about him that sucks you in and before you know it, though it goes against every bone in your body, it's almost as if you find yourself rooting for the damn guy in the end. It's crazy. Congratulations Johnny Football. It takes a special athlete to get me to pull out a Quentin Tarantino reference from my back pocket. Now let's just hope he fares better after life in the College Station than Michael Madsen did after Dogs.
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| I can't be the only one that sees this parallel. Johnny Football = Mr. Blonde There's no way you can convince me otherwise. |
Blunder of the Year: Super Bowl blackout
Super Bowl XLVII a.k.a the Harbaugh Bowl. The NFC champion 49ers squaring off against the AFC champion Ravens. Baltimore jumped out to a 28-6 lead early capped off by a Jacoby Jones taking a kickoff return 108 yards to the house. Mr. Momentum was wearing a Ravens jersey as the game proceeded into the second half. Then an almost inexplicable development. The lights went out in the Louisiana Superdome with the game in full swing, causing a 34 minute delay. Yeah no big deal. Just the biggest sporting event of the year, maybe the biggest television event of the year to boot, delayed for over a half hour because of technical difficulties. Later, conspiracy theories flew as to what caused the outage. The game was dubbed the Blackout Bowl and Ray Lewis made accusations that Roger Goodell was behind the whole spectacle, people thought that Bane had found his way to New Orleans, people argued that Beyoncé had brought down the house. But fact of the matter was that once the lights came back on, the momentum had obviously swung and it was almost enough to spur the Niners to the victory if not for one late pass interference no-call with the game hanging in the balance. Nothing this embarrassing had ever happened on such a grand stage in the sporting world ans I sure hope somebody lost their job over this. The blunder of all blunders for 2013.
Upset of the Year: #15 Florida Gulf Coast makes it to the Sweet Sixteen
Florida Gulf Coast. Even the name just sounds like Round of 64 NCAA Tournament fodder. Well that's what they were supposed to be. But evidently, somebody forgot to send the memo to Dunk City as they came out of left field to upset #2 Georgetown in the first round of the 2013 tourney, then continued the magic in the next game by upsetting #7 SDSU to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Though they would fall to Florida, they captivated the nation with their high-flying, energetic, up-tempo play as Dunk City became a thing and Andy Enfield's crew did their best impression of the 2006 George Mason Patriots. Dunk City, it's been fun.
Best Individual Season of the Year: Peyton Manning
This was a ridiculous season even by Peyton Manning's standards. Look at these numbers. 68.3% completion percentage (third highest of his career). 450 completions (tied for the highest in his career). 115.1 QB rating (second highest of his career). 10 interceptions (tied for the second-fewest in his career). 5,477 passing yards (career high and all-time single season record). 55 TDs (career high and all-time single season record). Are you kidding me?? Manning smashed virtually every single season statistical record for a quarterback, blazing a path of destruction to lead the Denver Broncos to a 13-3 record and a #1 seed in the AFC, and making us wonder if he had surpassed the likes of Dan Marino, John Elway, and Joe Montana as the greatest quarterback of all-time. And this is a guy who's 37 and less than 2 years removed from major neck surgeries. (Yes plural). He's a shoo-in for MVP and his 2013 season will go down as one of the greatest statistical years across all sports, right up there with Michael Jordan's '91, Wilt Chamberlain's '62, Wayne Gretzky's '86, Tiger Woods' '00, and the rest.
Dunce of the Year: Alex Rodriguez
Can he just go away? Please??? The once great slugger known as Alex Rodriguez made headlines for all the wrong reasons over the last 12 months and set a new precedent of obnoxiousness and egomania for professional athletes everywhere. After an entire summer full of Biogenesis news, the MLB handed down a 211 game suspension to Rodriguez that would keep him sidelined through the end of the 2014 season. But it was just the beginning of a saga that had already been dragged out for far too long. A-Rod decided to milk every last inch of the appeals process to death which enabled him to ludicrously make his season debut just hours after his suspension was announced. Jokes of "A-Rod's playing 3rd, batting 4th, and pleading the 5th" ensued and each day the story continued to lurk over Major League Baseball's head like a plague. There was the backlash after Ryan Dempster plunked A-Rod at Fenway. There were the accusations A-Rod made that Bud Selig had a vendetta for him, that the Yankees wanted him gone, that there was a larger conspiracy to keep him out of the sport, that the Illuminati had put out a hit on him (OK, maybe not that last part but it almost seemed like that after a certain point). Meanwhile, fellow cheaters like Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta took their suspensions and disappeared from the public eye. But not A-Rod. He leaped at every opportunity to extend his 15 minutes of infamy and put on a performance that even outstank the likes of Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito (a story that has gotten so overblown and overcovered this year that this is all the mention I'm going to make of it. Enough has been said about it. No more.) A performance truly worthy of Dunce of the Year honors for 2013.
Dunk of the Year: DeAndre Jordan over Brandon Knight
Yes, I know. This dunk has been played and replayed to the point that we're almost sick of it, to the point that we've almost memorized Ralph Lawler's exact words. But that doesn't take away from the greatness of it. The wildly athletic center out of Texas A&M, DeAndre Jordan sauntered up to the three point line as if to set a pick in semi-transition, then darted to the hoop getting behind his man and forcing poor Brandon Knight to rotate over and futily contest as Chris Paul, the best in the business provided a pinpoint alley and DJ rose up over the leaping Knight and threw down a vicious, disrespectful, and downright fillthy oop sending Knight crashing to the floor and delivering the ball through the hoop with such brute force that it rocketed back down and nailed the already humiliated Knight right in the face. Damn. And the dunk face at the end just added to the legend.
Catch of the Year: JB Shuck
Sorry Kodi Whitfield, Josh Donaldson, JJ Worton, and Co. This award belongs to one Jack Burdett Shuck the Third. While you might not have been surprised that an Angels outfielder would win this award, you were probably expecting it to be Mike Trout or Peter Bourjos. Alas, it's the rookie Shuck who takes home the honor after this unreal catch where he tumbled into the first row of the left field bleachers at Angel Stadium to rob the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista of a sure home run. The concentration. The extension. The timing. It was all exquisite. And I love the reaction of the Angels dugout and of Kole Calhoun leaping around in celebration in right field. I tip my hat to you JB Shuck.
Goal of the Year: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Of course I gotta give some love to soccer!! Over the last couple of weeks, I've become a newly converted soccer fan (Chelsea Headhunter, if you must know) so I think the time is right to give a shoutout to soccer, the Bernard King of sports (forgotten at times but still no less great). This goal by Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic defies every last law of physics. Chases the ball down, hits it in stride as it's on its descent and unleashes a colossal bicycle kick from another area code and somehow finds the net. Pure instincts and skill right there. This one is in the Pacquiao-Marquez Corollary. The calendar will tell you that it happened in 2012 but the lasting impact it has had, the memories that it has given us, tell otherwise. That's the kind of goal you see once in a lifetime.
Coach of the Year: Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat
How can you possibly top Coach Spo's combination of accolades, tactical genius, and innovation? I'll give you a hint: you can't. Not only was Spo as instrumental as anyone to the Miami Heat's second championship in as many seasons, and not only did he preside over the second longest win streak in NBA history but you look at what he's done from a strategical standpoint and it's just breathtaking. Despite not having a single traditional center on the roster (not counting newly-signed Greg Oden who still has yet to play in a single regular season game), Spoelstra has taken the Miami Heat to Herculean levels with his revolutionary positionless, pace and space motion offense that has opened up wide driving lanes for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade by forcing the defense to cover every inch of the floor by shrewdly positioning shooters everywhere. On defense, Spoelstra calls for aggressive trapping of pick and roll ball-handlers which forces turnovers left and right and even if the ball-handler can find a way to pass out of the trap, Spo's emphasis on communication and quick reactions allows for help defenders to rotate seamlessly back and forth to suffocate the offense. Toss in hard closes on shooters and you have a defense that forces countless 24 seconds violations and numerous bad shots by opposing offenses whose plays have suddenly broken down. And by focusing on winning the battle in transition, the Heat are able to overcome being arguably the weakest rebounding team in the league. Not to mention Spo's brilliant ego management and people skills. I saw a quote the other day after another one of LeBron's hyperefficient superhuman performances that went along the lines of "When you can get the best player in the world to take only 11 shots, that's what you call coaching." And Spo's even managed to get Michael Beasley to give a damn! He's gotten him to actually play defense, put forth an effort on the glass, and stop launching bad 3s! I am absolutely in awe.
Commercial of the Year: NBA Finally Forever
This 30 second spot that aired during the NBA Finals last June had to be one of the best things I'd ever seen. Just all those images, it was so damn beautiful. Let's take a moment to recap the images shown.
- Magic Johnson juxtaposed with Larry Bird. The greatest rivalry of all-time. Two superstars in every sense of the word playing for the two most storied franchises in NBA history. A relationship that transcended race, that transcended culture. The hard-working country boy from French Lick and the fun-loving youngster from Michigan. Together they saved an NBA that was on life support thanks to the cocaine era of the 1970s that threatened to derail the league. And not only did they save it, they transformed it into the global juggernaut it is today. We'll never see anything like it ever again.
- Garfield Heard's miracle shot in the 1976 Finals. Nobody gave this Phoenix team a chance. They were up against the mighty Boston Celtics, a team that had won 12 of the last 19 championships. They weren't even supposed to be there. But this scrappy Phoenix team gave Boston everything it could handle. And Heard's shot was the improbable of all improbables, sending Game 5 into triple overtime. And though the Celtics would go onto to win the game and eventually the championship series, it taught us never to count out the underdog.
- Julius Erving with his unreal behind the backboard reverse and Michael Jordan with famous his "righty, no, lefty" layup (I can still hear Marv Albert's voice saying "A SPECTACULAR move by Michael Jordan!). Two legends who also helped save the league on the front and back ends of Larry and Magic. Two of the most iconic athletes of all-time with two of the most iconic shots of all-time. Wow.
- Kevin Garnett at center court pounding the Celtics logo after winning the championship. A guy that left it all out on the court every single time. Love him or hate him, the guy brought it night in and night out and had his teammates' backs through thick and thin. Now here, he had finally reached the top of the mountain. And you can bet your life that he was thinking about Malik at that moment.
- Dirk Nowitzki. A guy who had been called a lot of things. A choker. Soft. A loser. A liability on defense. And here he was taking down the Goliath Miami Heat to win his first NBA championship.
- Kobe Bryant after winning his fifth ring. Getting a chance to celebrate on his homecourt with his home fans for the first time without Shaquille O'Neal. That moment was everything to him.
- Mario Elie. A guy that bounced around for many years looking for home. Played everywhere you could think of before coming to the NBA. Ireland, the USBL, Argentina, Portugal, the CBA. Even bounced around once he made it to the NBA. Played for the 76ers, the Warriors, and the Blazers. Now here he was with the Houston Rockets, his 9th team in less than a decade. And now he was a champion. That's a look of pure joy right there.
- Dave Cowens diving on the floor for a loose ball and desperately calling timeout. Giving up his body. All for one more chance. One more possession. Cowens is one of the NBA superstars I'll always have eternal respect for. Just a simple man that loved the game. All those stories about him moonlighting as a taxi cab driver to get his mind off things. Those tales of him sleeping on a park bench the night after winning the championship. And how he walked away from a chance to play with a young Larry Bird and an almost guaranteed championship because his heart just wasn't in it anymore and he didn't feel like he could give the team everything he could anymore. Respect, Dave.
- Isiah Thomas writhing in pain in the ground after spraining his ankle horribly. Then coming back, running on pure drive and adrenaline, to drop 25 points in a single quarter in the Finals against the fearsome Showtime Lakers. Heart of a champion.
- Willis Reed limping out of the tunnel and showing up to play in Game 7 of the 1970 Finals despite a TORN thigh muscle. Comes out, knocks down his first two shots, and gives the Knicks the spark they need to hand it to Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and the rest. Unforgettable.
- The flu game. Despite a nasty stomach flu, Michael Jordan comes out to lead the Bulls to a victory over the Jazz, scoring 38 points and playing 44 of 48 minutes. And here is, so exhausted and sick that Scottie Pippen has to carry him to the bench. But he's still here. He's still playing. Still giving it his all. GOAT.
- Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, and John Havlicek. The winningest trio of all-time. I dare you to find a trio with more championships than that trio. I dare you.
- Magic's baby hook at the Garden timed perfectly in sync with Kareem's skyhook to lead the Bucks over the Celtics in double OT. That's everything that clutch is about right there.
- Magic hugging Butch Lee after putting up the greatest performance in NBA Finals history. An injured Kareem forces rookie Magic to start at center and he plays all 5 positions on his way to 42 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists to lead the Lakers over the powerhouse Dr. J Sixers. That image represents a kind of youthful innocence for me. For Magic, this was before everything. This was before egos. This was before fame. This was before money. Before the vices of life in LA in the 80s. Before the Westhead fiasco. Before the 1984 Tragic Johnson backlash. Before HIV. Before everything. Just a kid from Michigan with a big smile who was on top of the world and was tasting what it was like to be an NBA champion. It's just really special moment.
- George Mikan. The first great NBA superstar. The face of the league during its infant stage. The one who blazed the path for generations of superstars to come.
- Tim Duncan and David Robinson hoisting the championship trophies. That was a brotherhood right there. Two of the greatest big men this league has ever seen accomplishing great things. Together.
- Finally, LeBron James after winning his first NBA championship. The guy went through hell and back to get here. A kid from Akron dubbed the next Jordan when he was still a teenager. The loftiest expectations dogged him for nearly his entire life. Media scrutiny followed his every move. The pressure put on him ever since St. Vincent-St. Mary was unlike anything any athlete had ever had to deal with. 7 years of futility with the Cavaliers and then the wrath of an entire city and really an entire nation after The Decision when he decided to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. He became the villain. The most hated athlete in all of America. And when he fell to the Mavericks in 2011, the entire world rejoiced in his pain, in his failure. That he still hadn't won a single NBA championship. And now here he was after he picked himself up off the ground and reached the top. Finally. After all these years. After everything he had been through. Now he had champagne in his eyes, the championship trophy in his arms, and the smile of a kid on Christmas on his face. He had finally made it.
All these images are about the journey. About the heart of a champion. About legacy. About victory. About perseverance. About greatness. And it managed to encompass all of those themes in a span of 30 seconds. Finally forever. Forever is big. Forever is big, indeed.
43 years old. Coming off a torn ACL, the most devastating injury a professional athlete can suffer. Yet Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer this sport has ever seen, made it back. And made it back not as a shell of his former self running on fumes and ego, but as the same vintage self that we all had come to know and love. He sported a 2.11 ERA and recorded 44 saves and won the All Star Game MVP as the baseball community gathered at Citi Field and heard "Enter Sandman" play one last time. He even had one of the better "Who's chopping up an onion?" moments of the year when his Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, his teammates for life who had been going to battle with one another since the mid 90s, came out to escort him out of his final game at Yankee Stadium. We're gonna miss you, Mo. Thanks for everything.
Quote of the Year: David Ortiz- This is our f***ing city
It was just so perfect. The timing, the person delivering it, the atmosphere, the message. When David Ortiz stepped in front of the Fenway Park crowd in Boston, a city broken and shaken after the Marathon bombings just a few days earlier, and declared "This is our f***ing city," it was everything you could have wanted. A city looking for something to cheer about, for something to help it get back on its feet, got just that. And from David Ortiz nonetheless, a larger than life figure in the city of Boston, a man whose name in a few years will be spoken by Bostonians with the same reverence as guys like Bill Russell, Larry Legend, Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams Bobby Orr, and Tom Brady.
The national pastime has a way of bringing us together in the face of unspeakable tragedy. Derek Jeter's flip play and Mike Piazza's home run to lift the city of New York after 9/11. Virginia Tech alum Joe Saunders proudly sporting the VT cap in his next start for the Angels after the massacre. And now David Ortiz's declaration. Even the FCC approved. What a moment.
Remembering Those We Lost In 2013
And now before I wrap things up, I'd like to take some time to acknowledge the sports icons we lost in 2013. Ken Norton, a true heavyweight great who is one of the few who can say he beat Ali in Ali's prime. Walt Bellamy, Bill Sharman, and Vern Mikkelsen, three giants in the NBA world who helped define the game in its infant stages. Tommy Morrison, one of only 5 men to beat George Foreman. Bud Adams and Jerry Buss, a couple of owners who lifted both their franchises and their sports to great heights. Deacon Jones, one of the most terrifying defensive studs the NFL ever saw, the leader of the Fearsome Foursome. Stan "The Man" Musial and Earl Weaver, two defining icons of Major League Baseball. And to all the rest we lost. You will all be missed. Rest in paradise, champs.
2013, it's been real and 2014, I look forward to what you have to offer in the world of sports and beyond. Happy New Year everybody!!!
