End-of-Year Review

It’s the end of another year and not a bad year it was. We saw the beautiful, the ugly and all the in between.
A good year got off to a fantastic start four days in when USC and Texas squared off in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship. Southern California was on the verge of being “the greatest team ever” if they could win their third straight title. But even though they lost, they will still go down as one of the best. Two national championships, 34-game winning streak, two Heisman Trophy winners and numerous NFL draft picks. But on that a night, a Texas team took the field having to play the best game of their lives to pull of the upset, and they did it. Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White all played well but Texas did enough to pull out the victory. This was also the game that Vince Young cemented his legacy. Yes the man is blessed with amazing talent packed into an incredibly athletic frame but that is not what separates him. His desire to win and to win when it really matters is almost Jordan-esque. Seeing him stride through the Trojan defense that night almost seemed magical and the competitiveness he posses may see him accomplish great things in the NFL as well.
Tiger Woods also put in one of the year’s best performances. After his father died earlier in the summer, the man played vintage Tiger golf to win the British and PGA Opens in dominating fashion. Capturing majors numbers eleven and twelve at Hoylake and Medinah continued to seal his legacy. Everyone now has to consider how long it will take him to break Jack Nicklaus record of 18 majors. Some people are saying that at only 31, he has yet to hit his prime and could hit 25. Whatever he finishes at, one can rest assured that they have seen one of the game’s great.
Unfortunately, of course, we also saw the ugly. Zinedine Zidane’s head butt in the World Cup Final was one of the biggest. The French midfielder really rolled back the years pulling out all the tricks to drive France to the final but sadly his career ended in tragedy. But let us not remember him for this one act but as one of the all-time greats.
Ashville Tourist manager Joe Mikulik pretty gave himself the lunatic-of-the-year award after his display this summer. The minor league skipper pretty much set the bar for idiocy with his antics. Although Carmelo Anthony look to reach that mark with his sucker punch that earned him a 15 game suspension. The tension had really already settled when he threw the punch making one wonder just what exactly what was going through his mind. Their must be times when David Stern wonders just exactly what kind of people he has working for him.
The World Series displayed a high degree drabness this October. The Cardinals and the Tigers both had losing records in the second half and it showed. Despite this, you must give credit to St. Louis for playing their best when it counted.
2006 saw the deaths of several of sports most noted figures: Buck O’Neil, Red Auerbach, Bo Schembechler and Lamar Hunt. Three men that were great role models, leaders, pioneers. We will all miss them but the world was a better place because they were here.
So we had a pretty great year. We saw some great athletes putting in some great performances. We also had some athletes recording some pretty forgettable displays. So as 2007 begins, let us sit back with our drinks and snacks and enjoy another year of our greatest obsession.