Top Sports Events of 2017
As a fan of many different teams and players in many different sports, 2017 was perhaps the most mixed bag of all time. I experienced many lows reminiscent of my dreadful 2016. After all, the Patriots won-- again. Real Madrid won-- again. The US Soccer Team missed out on the World Cup. Conversely, though, there were extreme highs. My beloved Tar Heels won the national title. Alabama lost. LeBron lost. Life wasn't all too gloomy! See, world? We're on our way to recovery.
However, my personal opinion doesn't matter all that much here. My midyear sports 'Best Of' was full-on bias; thus, here I will do my best to take off my fan cap, and assume the role of the objective, uninvolved sports reporter.
First, several noteworthy events that just missed the list (in chronological order):
USC beats Penn State in a Rose Bowl for the ages
Serena Williams wins Australian Open while 8 weeks pregnant
Michigan's Men's Basketball wins Big Ten tournament days after surviving a frightening plane takeoff crash
Former walk-on Luke Maye does THIS
South Carolina Men's Basketball goes on Cinderella run to the final 4
Ronaldo dominates in latter stages as Real repeats Champions League success
19-year old Jelena Ostapenko wins French Open, first unseeded woman to win a major in 84 years
Expansion club Atlanta United shatters MLS attendance records
Tiny nations Panama and Iceland qualify for their first-ever World Cup
Army beats Navy in thriller to win their first Commander-in-Chief trophy since 1996
Now, the true top 10:
10. Christian Pulisic Explodes Onto The Scene
Let's face it-- there wasn't a whole lot for Americans to cheer, soccer-wise. Our usually dominant Women's team dropped several games. A Canadian club won the MLS Cup. And, oh, by the way, this happened. But, there was one extremely bright spot, and his name was Christian Pulisic.
Technically, we'd been introduced to the teenage wunderkind last year. But 2017 was the year where Pulisic became a key Champions League and Bundesliga cog for Borussia Dortmund, a regular starter for the National Team, and by the end of 2017, the US National Team Player Of The Year. It's a tragedy we won't get to see him in the World Cup, but watching him carve up team after team after team gives all American fans hope and optimism for a bright future.
9. Game 3 of the NBA Finals
Everyone and their mother knew that the Cavs and Warriors were going to be in the Finals this year. Weeks of hype preceded the star-studded matchup: the last two champions going in for a Round 3, this time featuring LeBron vs. Kevin Durant, the heir apparent to LeBron's throne. Unfortunately, the final product didn't exactly match the expectations; the Warriors won 4-1, with 4 of the 5 games being relatively easy wins. Game 3, though, was the pivotal matchup, and proved to be the one thriller of the bunch. Golden State came in to Cleveland leading 2 games to 0, but facing back-to-back road games. Cleveland, obviously, needed the win but were also expected to get the win, and for most of the game, that's how it seemed to be trending. The Cavaliers were outdueling and leading for most of the game...but the Warriors stuck around. Little by little, they chipped away at the lead until, all of a sudden, they had a chance to take the lead in the final minute. And who else should that chance fall to, but the matchup within the matchup, Durant vs. LeBron:
Bang. Just like that, the game was essentially over, and the series was essentially over. Durant's ice-cold shot wasn't only a backbreaker that basically clinched the Finals, it was vindication for him and his fans who had to endure backlash over his move to Warriors, as well as claims that he would "ride the coattails of an already-great team" to a title.
8. Nashville Plays Hockey, Apparently!
I'll admit, this is a little outside my realm, as I've never followed hockey. However, even I was surprised, entertained and delighted by Nashville's shocking run to the Stanley Cup Finals. In a sport typically dominated by Candians and the icy cities of Chicago, Boston and Pittsburgh, this small-market Southern city was threatening to win hockey's biggest honor. Not only that, they progressed to the Finals as an 8-seed in the West. Listen to this crowd:
Sadly, their Cinderella run ended with a 4-2 Finals loss to big, bad Pittsburgh. But the future of Music City hockey appears to be shiny.
7. Northwestern Goes Dancing
After Chicago's Cubs ended one of sports' most famous slumps last year by winning a World Series, Chicago-area college Northwestern ended another famous drought. The Wildcats had never gone to the NCAA Basketball Tournament, being the only power-conference school to have never qualified for March Madness. That all changed this year, as Northwestern qualified as an 8-seed, and what's more, even won a game in the tournament! The even better story, though, is the game that helped them get there. Enduring a late-season slump and in dire need of a quality win, the Wildcats faced a crucial game against eventual Big Ten Champions Michigan. And with 2 seconds remaining in a tie game, this happened:
Madness.
6. El Clásico Lives Up To The Name
The rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid is one of the most prominent in the World, and featuring two rosters gleaming with the world's best talent, one of the most-watched sporting events every year. The April 2017 edition was no different, and with Barca attempting a late-season rally to snag the trophy from Real Madrid, the stakes were incredibly high. The match itself? Amazing. An evenly-matched, tit for tat, back-and-forth affair for 90+ minutes. It had amazing goals, it had amazing saves, it had a red card...and then in stoppage time, it had this amazing winner, from the best player in the World:
The story is a little soured by the fact that Real did indeed hang on to win La Liga, as well as the Champions League, thus giving them the last laugh. But that doesn't change the fact that 2017 saw perhaps the most classic Clásico of all time.
5. Mississippi State Women Slay The Giant
Forget the Patriots, forget Alabama football, forget Real Madrid, forget the Yankees...the biggest dynasty in all of sports is UConn's women's basketball. Coming into this year, Connecticut had won the last 4 women's titles, and 10 since the turn of the century. They've appeared in 18 Final Fours and won 11 titles since the postseason began in 1982. So, all this to say, it's more of a story when they lose than it is when they win. And for them to lose to a 21.5 point underdog on the last play of the game? Well, that's Top 5-worthy:
If the Bulldogs had gone on to win it all, this may have been ranked even higher, but sadly the Hollywood story ended when conference rivals South Carolina beat them in the Championship, a good story of its own.
4. Nadal and Federer Rule 2017
In January, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, two aging greats, somehow found themselves in the finals of the Australian Open. That was supposed to be the storyline, that two 30-somethings who had injury setbacks and hadn't been in their prime for years were now meeting in a Major final, nearly a decade after they played the Greatest Match Ever Played (Wimbledon 2008). But then, these two conspired for another all-time classic, a 5-set match that saw both doing what they do best, and Federer somehow storming back from a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the 5th set to win his 18th Major in unbelievable fashion. Yet, even that ended up not being the main story. No, the main story is that it wasn't a fluke: Federer went on to also win Wimbledon, and Nadal took home the French and US Open, meaning all 4 Majors went to the two legends, aged 35 and 31, cementing their status as likely the two greatest to ever play.
3. Super Bowl LI: The Collapse/Comeback
For 3 quarters, it looked like the Empire was going down in flames. Atlanta, the young upstarts, held a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots. Their vaunted offense was firing on all cylinders, and surprisingly, their defense was socking it to Tom Brady and co., too. Then, it all started to go haywire. The Pats somehow got within striking distance in the final few minutes, and then, struck. New England fans will call this the Great Comeback, a testimony of grit and leadership engineered by Brady and the suddenly revitalized defensive front. Beleaguered Atlanta fans will refer to it as the Great Collapse, a story of mental weakness, defensive deficiencies, and horrid playcalling. Whatever you call it, the result was a miraculous victory for the Patriots, the first-ever Overtime Super Bowl, and what the NFL Network recently deemed the greatest Super Bowl ever, all made possible by a mind-blowing catch:
The only reason this isn't the top-ranked (and no, it's not anti-Pats bias) is because the game itself was never actually very evenly played. Only one team played their best at a time, in other words. My vote still goes to Patriots-Seahwaks three years ago as the greatest Super Bowl of all time.
2. Astros Win First World Series In Epic Fashion
Another famous drought fell in ridiculous fashion in 2017: the Houston Astros had never taken home the World Series in their 55-year history, and in fact had only ever played in one. Just 3 years ago, Houston was the worst team in baseball, but embarked upon a process of building a team that will surely be mimicked by more organizations. That process resulted in the Astros having the best hitting and young talent in all of baseball this year. Nobody, including me, thought last year's World Series would be topped. And the anticlimactic Game 7 this year will not be as remembered as the Cubs' feat last year, true. But in terms of overall quality, this Series, between the red-hot bats of the Astros and the torrid pitching of the L.A. Dodgers, may have been the best-ever played. Games 2 and 5 alone deserve to be replayed in the annals of history:
That the World Series came in the wake of Hurricane Harvey made Houston's triumph all the more meaningful. A great conquest for a resilient city.
1. Clemson Downs Bama On Last Play
My high-school self would not believe that I was joyously telling the tales of my local university's championship. But, as I said several months ago, "It can't be stressed enough how ready I was to see the dynasty of the 2010s finally be knocked off their pedestal; so ready that I would rapturously cheer for the team my hometown had led me to hate during my high school years. Indeed, it was hard to cheer against this Clemson team. They played offense the way I want my team to play offense, and in the Playoffs, the same went for the defense." Why is this my #1? Because it had everything. The dynasty against the newbies (Clemson's only title ever was in the early 80s, so this counts.). The rematch from last year's thrilling title game. The best team in football against the best player, in Deshaun Watson. And this time, it lived up to every one of those. It was a terrific affair, with Clemson rallying in the 2nd half to set the stage for one of the most exciting 4th quarters ever, all culminating in one play to crown a new champion, to mark the end of a perfect season, to break the dynasty's stranglehold, to find an unlikely hero:
Unlike so many other moments in my sports fandom history, this one went exactly how Hollywood would have scripted it.
I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for us. It has a tough act to follow!