Liam Day recaps the year’s best moments in sports.
Yesterday, we shared with you the worst. Today we’re here to share the best—those moments that made us stand up and cheer, and helped us remember why it is we watch sports in the first place. For all of the grimness that gripped sports in 2013, there was, thankfully, just as much to root for.
1) The first two entries on our list of the best moments in sports from 2013 are mirror reflections of two we included in our list of the worst—wrestling’s removal from the slate of Summer Olympic events and the bombings at the Boston Marathon. In the first instance, we were happy to report that the International Olympic Committee reversed itself and reinstated wrestling. Whether due to the international outcry that met the Committee’s original decision, or to the rules and governance changes that sport’s ruling body, FILA, enacted, wrestling will be a part of the Olympics at least through 2024.
2) On Monday, April 15, 2013, two bombs exploded in succession near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring another 270. Two nights later, the city still very much in shock, the Boston Bruins hosted the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden. During a brief ceremony before the game, a moving video honoring the men and women—police officers, emergency medical technicians, and bystanders—who came to the aid of the wounded was shown. Rene Rancourt, who has sung the national anthem before Bruins home games for 35 years, then launched into The Star-Spangled Banner’s first familiar notes. He was not alone. Fully 17,565 fans accompanied him.
3) There have been any number of female athletes over the years who are gay. Billie Jean King, who will accompany the US Olympic team to Sochi next month as an ambassador, Martina Navratilova, and, most recently, WNBA star Brittney Grier, to name just a few. But for reasons I’ve explored on The Good Men Project before, having a male athlete come out, especially one who competes in one of our country’s four major sports, would defy stereotype in a way that gay female athletes don’t. For many people, athletics are equated with masculinity and homosexuality with its opposite. Openly gay male athletes would confound those equations.
It is for that reason that NBA player Jason Collins’ announcement in Sports Illustrated was met with such fanfare. At the time, he was the first active player in the NBA, NHL, NFL, or MLB to announce his homosexuality openly. As we subsequently reported, Collins, who was at the time of his announcement a free agent, has yet to be signed by another NBA team. It is unlikely that he will ever play in the NBA again, meaning we are still left waiting for the first openly gay athlete to compete in one of the four major sports’ leagues. Still, it feels as if the closet door has been shouldered just a bit further ajar.
4) Sticking with the NBA for one more entry, in June the Miami Heat, led by LeBron James, won their second consecutive NBA title, beating, first, the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Championship and then the Spurs in the Finals, both in seven games. Despite Yago Colas’ admonition to the contrary, I’ve argued on The Good Men Project before that LeBron James is the best basketball player ever. His second championship run only emboldens that claim. His last second, game-winning drive in Game 1 v. the Pacers was the appetizer. Over the course of the next 13 games he would become the first player in NBA history to score more than 30 points in consecutive games in the NBA Finals and, in dropping 32 in the deciding game v. the Pacers and 37 in winning the title against the Spurs, he would also become the first player to score more than 30 points in 4 consecutive game 7s, stretching back to 2008. His scoring average for game 7s is 34.4 points per game, highest in league history, and 15 times in his playoff career he has posted a stat line of more than 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists. Haters are still gonna hate, and, too often, LeBron lets them get under his skin. Yet, the evidence mounts.
5) It had been 77 years since a British man won Wimbledon. Yes, Andy Murray won gold in London in 2012 on the very court where Wimbledon is played. Still, it wasn’t the same thing. Murray has had the misfortune of coming up during an era that might be called male tennis’ best. Between 2003 and 2013, the game was dominated by exactly three men—Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Murray, who made run after run to the semi-finals of major tournaments, could not seem to break through to join this elite group. But after taking gold, Murray would go on to win the U.S. Open the next month and then, finally, end Britain’s drought in its home tournament. In front of a raucous crowd, the Scot dispatched Novak Djokovic in three tense sets.
6) Mariano Rivera is, at 42, the greatest relief pitcher in baseball’s history. Oh, there have been some, such as Eric Gagne, who was unhittable for a season and a half, only to fade with injuries, and others, like Dennis Eckersley, who moved to the bullpen toward the end of his career, thus limiting his dominance to a few precious seasons. But only Rivera consistently maintained that level for 19 years. What’s scary is that, despite his age and announcing that he would retire at the end of the 2013 season, Rivera is probably still the best reliever in baseball. But the Yankees, as Neil Cohen attested last month, are a mess, and Rivera wanted to go out with dignity and pride. He certainly achieved that.
7) Our own Scott Behson predicted another flame out. (And, much to his credit, later owned up to his mistake.) It had been 20 seasons not just since the Pittsburgh Pirates last made the playoffs, but 20 seasons since they had even finished above .500. But the 2013 Pirates confounded expectations and, through judicious use of their bullpen, qualified as a wild card in MLB’s new, expanded playoff format. The wild card game v. the Reds was memorable less for its play—the Pirates won fairly handily 6-2—than for the atmosphere in PNC Park, which was truly electric. After having watched so many playoff games at Braves Stadium, where the crowd, spoiled by the team’s consistent excellence, seemed to only half care who won, it was refreshing to watch a group of fans who thirsted for victory after wandering through the desert for two decades.
8) The 2012 version of the Boston Red Sox is one the city would like to forget. After collapsing down the stretch in 2011 and missing the playoffs, the Sox front office used longtime manager Terry Francona as a scapegoat, firing him and bringing in Bobby Valentine to replace him. The result was a last-place finish in the AL East, their first in 18 years. Another manager and a blockbuster trade later, the 2013 Sox seemed their old selves. Chemistry as much as talent became the key to their success.
And so they found themselves back in the playoffs, facing the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. Dominated by five Tiger pitchers in Game 1 and then by Max Scherzer for 7 innings of Game 2, it looked like the Sox’ run was over. And I don’t think anyone in Red Sox Nation would have been too disappointed. It’d been an enjoyable one, after all, and Detroit’s pitching was just too good. How good? Through the ALCS’s first 16 innings, the Sox had managed a meager 3 hits. But, then, trailing by four in the 8th inning of Game 2, they loaded the bases for David Ortiz, who proceeded to loft a long fly ball toward the bullpen in right field. Despite a valiant effort by Torii Hunter, the ball landed beyond his outstretched glove and the game was all of a sudden tied. The Sox would go on to win it and the ALCS and, eventually, the World Series.
9) If I were the Florida State Seminoles, I’d be worried. Talent-wise, there’s probably not much difference between the two teams who will play for the National Championship Monday night. But, honestly, who can have watched those two final regular season games and not believe the Auburn Tigers are blessed. First, against the Georgia Bulldogs, trailing 38-37 with less than a minute to play and with the ball well inside their own territory, Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall lofts a pass into double coverage that should have been easily broken up by the Georgia defenders, but, instead, bounces off their hands and into those of Auburn receiver Ricardo Louis with no one between him and the end zone. Game-winning touchdown, 43-38.
Then, even more improbably, in what can only be described as one of the greatest endings to a game in the history of college football, Alabama coach Nick Saban decides to attempt a 57-yard field goal on the last play of regulation in an Iron Bowl appeared destined to go to overtime. The field goal attempt falls short and into the waiting arms of Chris Davis, who returns it 109 yards for a touchdown. Auburn wins 34-28.
10) And, finally, how could we not include on our list of the best of 2013 the Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning. I have my doubts about his ability to lead his team to the Super Bowl. He has happy feet in the pocket and you can count on him to throw at least one or two balls up for grabs in tight games, as he demonstrated yet again when the Patriots came from 24 points down to beat the Broncos back in November, but there is no denying what he accomplished this year when he set NFL records for the most touchdown passes and most passing yards in a single season. To do what he did at 37 after having taken a year off due to a neck injury, which most people, including his previous employers, the Indianapolis Colts, assumed would prevent him from ever playing again, is truly a remarkable achievement.
Photo: Kathy Willens/AP
See 2012’s list of best moments in sports here.
Mariano Rivera was one of those few players you could be happy your child looked up to. Beyond being a great player, he is humble, graceful, and decent. He will be missed.
Great post! I think the best one is Teddy!!! When a million smiles beats a homerun http://www.hustleorbust.com/2013/04/20/when-a-million-smiles-beats-a-home-run/
Mark,
I wasn’t aware of that story. It’s a great one. Any time you come on others like it, please feel free to send me a link at [email protected]. We’re always looking for reposts.
Best,
Liam
Nice article- the Auburn clips alone were worth the price of admission; would maybe like to see a Trevor Hoffman reference mixed in with the Rivera salute with some of the context you provide ie other players like Gagne and Ecks. ( we Padre fans need any accolades we can get and hold Hoffman up there with Rivera). PEACE