i love sports. i am not one of those folks who can spout off stats and scores, but i do love 'em. here are my most memorable sporting events of this last decade. now, i understand these aren't the "best" but, they are what stick with me when i think of sports from this decade.
may 15, 2003: San Antonio Spurs 110, Los Angeles Lakers 82
this was a big game. a very big game. the spurs (with Robinson and Duncan) won the Championship for the first time in 1999. my childhood hero The Admiral got himself a ring. it was perfect. then, for the next 3 years the fucking Los Angeles Lakers won 3 in a row. oh, awesome! you got shaq on your team! how neat!
but then, came this series. Phil Jackson's boys were looking pretty solid in there first 2 losses. and then put up 2 wins, tying the series at 2-2. time to sweat, we got the 3 time defending champs snowballing us. then came game 5, Spurs get the win by 2. this is going to be a massive, amazing, great, grand, wonderful game 6 right? possibly one of the best playoff series in NBA history right? the writers new it, LA was gonna take game 6, setting up a 32-overtime game 7 that would last for a week.
but that isn't what happened. Tim Duncan, the horse/man he is, had 37 points. the spurs never trailed after the first minute, and ended up winning the game a breezy 110-87. 23 points! SA put up 23 points on the 3 time defending champions, with Shaq and Kobe. what a game.
not only did the Spurs get the win, they went on to the finals, D-Rob got his second ring and retired. which was ok, cause of some new kids named tony and manu (am i saying that right) who along with some help from there great grand dad Bruce Bowen were going to have us right back in the finals 2 years later.
The Spurs had 3 championships in the 2000's, easily making them the most succesful team i follow, but none of the finals wins were as memorable to me as beating those dickhead Lakers.
january 11, 2004: Indianapolis Colts 38, Kansas City Chiefs 31
what a year! the chiefs started out 9-0, ended 13-3, Priest Holmes set the single season touchdown rushing record with 27, and Trent Green (fun fact: he was born in Cedar Rapids, just like Kurt Warner and Stacie. I am pretty sure Stacie could make it to the pro-bowl just because of her hometown.) got us a first round bye in the play offs.
then came the fateful day. no punts, a fucking shoot-out. i was working at a pizza hut in council bluffs and i had the radio blasting. the only time there wasn't points going up was half-time. dante hall had that 90-some yard kickoff return for a TD, opening our eyes to "the human joystick". when peyton manning ran those last 4 minutes down, i was livid.
but it was such an exciting game i was still happy. what a great season. it was a sign of things to come, Trent, Dante and Priest were gonna take us to the top. that was a fact!*
(*it was not fact.)
september 10, 2006: Cincinnati Bengals 23, Kansas City Chiefs 10
i call this game the beginning of the end. the chiefs, who just a few years before were looking like a premeir AFC team, were about to be fucked.
Trent Green, the best Chiefs quarterback in my memory, went to slide for a first down and was hit by D-end Robert Geathers. no foul was called, it wasn't a dirty play. just a shitty one. a really shitty one. it was game one, and our pro-bowl quarterback is gone.
the rest of the game doesn't matter. apperently some fieldgoals were kicked and few touchdowns, but the big loss was Green. He would never fully return to the NFL. poor bastard. atleast kurt warner got him that super bowl ring, that was nice of him.
in week 2, damon huard took over and dammit if he didn't do to bad. got KC to a 10-6 record, but missed the play offs. that would have won the NFC, but not in the AFC. with only a handful of wins over the next few seasons, and the firing of lackluster coach herm edwards, the chiefs were at an all time low. fucking bengals.
i was at our apartment in Ames, on Tripp Street watching this game. and it is like a recalling a dream. after Green went out, everything gets fuzzy.
june 2, 2008: Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Detroit Red Wings 3 (triple overtime)
oh doctor! what a game. penguins were back in the Stanley cup for the first time since the mid 90s, and with Sid the Kid leading the way, we got on the board early. Hossa and Hall (note: not jesse hall from the Mighty Ducks, adam hall, his white cousin) scored putting the pens up 2-0, but then those sons-o-bitches in red came back with 3 straight by some fellas whos names no one could ever learn to say so why try to read them?
well, nothing else happened until almost the end of the game when Maxime "the talbot" Talbot sunk one on chris os-not-good. (ya see what i did there?). the real tale of this game starts in extra periods, not the first or second of course, but in that third one. when Sykora booted it. my favorite stat of this game is that Detroit took took 58 shots in the game! thats 26 more shots then the Pens took to win it. dummies. Bell, Whistles, Win! look out Red Queens, Penguins are back in it!*
(*the penguins lost 2 days later, hopes/dreams ruined)
june 12, 2009: Pittsburgh Penguins 2, Detroit Red Wings 1
what a fucking year! changing coaches mid way through the season, during a slump, certainly made my heart sink. but then they blew through the Flyers (my 4th least favorite hockey team), took the Capitals (my 3rd least favorite hockey team) to 7 games and shut that douche alexander ovechkin up (how ya like that commrade?), and then beat the Carolina Hurricanes (who have a fucking stanley cup, but i really could care less about.) to get to the stanley cup, AGAIN, and play the Red Wings, AGAIN. (also, Detroit is my 2nd most hated hockey team. number 1, yep you guessed it, Boston Bruins.)
So here we are, just like last year except this time the Pens got to game 7. Look out Red Wings, we got this one. The game started off slow, with no goals in the 1st, and much like last year Sidney Crosby played more of a leader roll then a scorer, which is fine considering Mad "The Talbot" Talbot was on the ice. He was clutch, like last year, and scored both of the Pittsburgh's points.
when the siren rang, the penguins had done it. what everyone said they couldn't. they won a game 7, on the road, and beat the team that beat them the year before. i was at The Gigglin' Goat in Boone drinking when the game ended. it was a good night. no asterix.
november 22, 2009: Pittsburgh Steelers 24, Kansas City Chiefs 27
there it is. on the back of the worst 3 year skid in team history, the chiefs were still sliding. 2-7 Chiefs were about to take on the defending super bowl champs, 6-3 Pittsburgh Steelers.
the chiefs are trying. they got rid of Herm, they brought in Scott Pioli and Todd Haley and they did some wheeling and dealing to get 2008 superstar Matt Cassel. yes they are still losing, but atleast they are trying. after kicking a-number one-fuck head Larry Johnson off the team, it looked like distractions were out the window. (oh except Dwayne Bowe doing steroids, fucking my fantasty team) but still. who would bet on the Chiefs to beat the Steelers?
tied at 24 at the end of regulation after an exciting game including Studebaker picking off Rethlisaedadsgerearfdsarklalkjthaberdsfadler in the end zone, and then returing it to the Steelers 8. it was all up to 13 year old boy Ryan Succop (the last person drafted in the 2009 draft) to kick it through the up rights giving Chiefs the win.
not only did KC get the win, but some how Succop's kick automatically sent a text from my phone to my brother's asking if he had seen the game. (Ya see, he loves the Steelers cause he's confused.)
what a win. and yeah, it was followed by 2 MASSIVE 30 point blow outs by division rivals Chargers and Broncos, i'll still call that win over Pittsburgh a good win. fuck em.
whelp...
thats all i got. there are some other great games, the super bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. or even last year, the Steelers vs Cardinals. great games.
but those games above are the ones that i'll always keep with me. when i remember the 2000's in sports.
also, Manchester United is amazing and i couldn't decide on 1 or 2 games that were most memorable (consider i seldom watch the games.) but they are amazing and fun to watch when i get the chance.
the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment