Top 10 sports stories of 2011

As the year 2012 kicks in, here are my top ten sports stories of 2011. Disagree with the list or the order? Let it be known in the comments.

10. Rematch for the BCS title game– This game is quickly approaching, but the build up during the season took up most of the talk in college football. It brought up the question of a playoff format for the game, as well as the fairness of a rematch. Due to voters letting Alabama in, we’ll never know what would’ve happened in an LSU vs Oklahoma State match-up.

Rioters run amok after game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals between the Canucks and the Boston Bruins in Vancouver, June 15, 2011 (Jason Payne/Postmedia News Service).

9. Boston Bruins win Stanley Cup, Vancouver riots–  The Bruins ended their Stanley Cup dry spell, but a beautiful city looked horrible due to one championship win. The Bruins made a remarkable run to win it all but it was overshadowed by what happened in Vancouver.

8. U.S. Women’s soccer falls short– At a time when there was very little going on during sports (the MLB All-Star break) Megan Rapinoe and Abby Wambach made a play which will live in United States sports history. The women’s soccer team made an emotional run to support their country and win the World Cup but fell short. The manner in which they lost to Japan allowed this to still be in the top ten, but had they won in penalty kicks this would’ve easily been in the top five of this list.

7. Tim Tebow– One former Heisman trophy winner polarized the country more than the nation’s politics do, so much so I had to write a post about how both sides needed to calm down and just let Tebow play. That still is the case, but Tebow’s play, both good and bad, made for compelling drama on a football field and had the NFL audience captivated. It’s because of this player that we have phrases like, “Tebowing” and “Tebow Time”. Ugh.

6. The Green Bay Packers– The Packers took the football world by storm in January 2011 by making an incredible run through the playoffs and beating the Pittsburgh Steelers. How do you follow that up? With an MVP-type season by Aaron Rodgers and threatening to go undefeated. The Packers took control of the NFL so much so that a survey during the year gave the Packers the nickname of “America’s Team” rather than the Cowboys. As we head into 2012, the Packers look to be the favorite to win the championship again.

5. Jeter and Rivera break records– Even if you weren’t a Yankee fan, you had to respect what these two accomplished during their careers and this season. Jeter’s accomplishment was especially remarkable. No previous Yankee, in the franchise’s storied history, had never had a 3,000 hits player before. Jeter reached this mark with a homerun and going 5-5 that day. While saves are sometimes considered a trivial statistic, it will be decades before someone passes Rivera’s mark.

4. Lebron James collapses– LeBron James developed a love-hate relationship with sports fans with his decision in 2010, and entered 2011 with fans hoping he would finally win his title and others wishing he’d fail. The latter got their wish, as James’ self-destruction versus the Dallas Mavericks became the punch line of many sports jokes. The whole world watched as the Finals favorites lost, and the blame was placed heavily on James.

3. Albert Pujols (finals and off-season)– The 2011 World Series was one to remember, and while David Freese won the MVP, much of the Cardinals win was due to what Pujols provided. Pujols had began the season with a huge debate on whether or not he deserved the huge contract he was asking for from St. Louis. Then, in a shocking move, Pujols surprised the sports world by signing with the Angels in the off-season, getting the big contract he was looking for from the beginning.

2. Scandals– There were far too many scandals to count in 2011: Ohio State’s NCAA violations and subsequent leaving of Jim Tressel and Terelle Pryor, Ryan Braun testing positive for steroids, David Stern denying the Lakers of Chris Paul, Syracuse’s Bernie Fine just to name a few. But nothing was more shocking and disgusting as the Penn State Scandal. If there was a list of all-time sports scandals, this would make a strong case for number one. The ignorance the university showed of the scandal, by both those involved and the students causing riots after Paterno’s firing was enough to make this a top story, but Jerry Sandusky’s alleged crimes are far worse than anything anyone could have imagined.

1. The lockouts– While the Sandusky story disgusted the country because of the alleged crimes, the biggest sports-only related story dealt with both the NFL and NBA lockouts. The NFL has become a huge part of American culture, and the threat of there being no football had fans on edge and taking sides for the players or owners. Almost every NFL off-season activity was changed in some way due to the lockout. Players, coaches, even team staffers were effected by the lockout. Finally, the NFL came to a deal and football resumed as scheduled. The NBA, however, was so dysfunctional it had to delay its season until Christmas day. It has yet to be determined just how players are going to be effected by this in-season, but it already made an impact by delaying the game, changing the schedule and giving Chris Paul to the Clippers rather than the Lakers. All in all, these two lockouts took up most of the year and had fans on the verge of an outrage if they lost their beloved sports.

Honorable mention: Peyton Manning injury, Auburn national title, Dan Wheldon death, NBA trades, Concussions, UConn men win national title/UConn women do not, Rory McElroy, Dan Marino’s single season passing yards record broken.

What To Take Away From The NFL Lockout

With the NFL Lockout coming to a close, it’s time to see what the public can take from this entire process. Frankly, this post could rather short with me simply saying, “Nothing at all,” but this post will be much longer than that. Here are a few things fans can learn from the NFL lockout.

Photo by Matt Cavanah

PR Ploys:

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is full of these. The league released it’s full schedule while the lockout was in full force, simply to bring attention to the NFL while many fans were upset about the lockout. People celebrated because they got to see who their teams would play, even though it wasn’t a certainty that games would be played. Then, the commissioner went around the country talking to fans, only to spew the same message almost verbatim to each group. These are just a few of many things the commissioner did to gain support and move it away from the players.

The players weren’t so innocent in this subject either. The lawsuit on behalf of the players is a prime example of this. Their lawyers had to have known that they wouldn’t win in court, and yet they pursued anyway. The players even got a rookie, Von Miller, on their side to show that this was an issue to future players as well.

Even in the end, both sides seemed to be pulling PR ploys. 31 of the 32 owners (it had to be the Raiders to be the only ones disagreeing) approved the new agreement before the weekend, and left it up to the players to vote as well. This made it seem as if they were the good guys and the players were the only ones holding things back. Meanwhile, many players took to Twitter to call out the owners and took the entire weekend to vote on something they could’ve easily said yes to in five minutes.

It’s All About The Money:

The almighty dollar drives the NFL, and nothing shows this more than the lockout. Both sides argued bitterly for more money, completely forgetting their “passion” for the game of football. It was very bothersome that the players wanted more money for retired players, when the general public has to save their money and insurance to provide for themselves after retirement. It was sad to see owners not budge when they were already contractually obligated to receive money from TV networks even without a season. Because of all the money fighting, people within organization lost jobs to save costs. Coaches and general managers could not talk to their players or potential players because of the lockout. All in all, money was the most important aspect of the lockout, however…

There Are Some People Who Do Care:

Throughout the entire lockout process, there were some who actually did care for the game of football and fought to find an agreement for that reason. While a few owners, like Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, mocked the NFLPA and were too stubborn to talk to, others were valuable in reaching an agreement. Robert Kraft was at every meeting he could attend and fought to find a new deal. Even players wanted him there because they knew he would be strong enough to find a balance. Even after the passing of Kraft’s wife, Myra, on July 20, he was still at meetings and today was in Washington to celebrate the new deal. Kraft displayed an unbelievable love for the game, and is a model owner that people like Richardson should try to emulate.

Photo by Steven Dean

On the players side, there were those who showed their love as well. Player representatives like Jeff Saturday of the Colts and Domonique Foxworth of the Ravens were influential during the lockout. Neither player missed a meeting for labor peace in the past month. But aside from the meeting rooms, players showed their love for football in their practices. While players like Reggie Bush seemed to celebrate the fact that he didn’t have to practice, Jordan Palmer (the lesser known Palmer of the Bengals) led player workouts. Palmer cared enough to lead his team in workouts despite the fact that he may be out of a job this week. Much like in Cincinnati, Alex Smith in San Francisco led team workouts even though he is not even under contract. These players showed they wanted to play football and took the necessary precautions to be ready when the time came.

The Country Needs Football:

This lockout showed that there really is no such thing as an off-season in the NFL. Fans sat in complete boredom as there was no free agency, no OTAs, and draft excitement came and gone quickly. Fans had to turn to the NBA for entertainment, only to see them venture into a lockout of their own. Even major league baseball, as close as division races are, could not provide enough relief with their substitute-filled All-Star game. With nothing big, aside from Ohio State getting away with several NCAA violations, in the game of college football, it looked as if fans would have to turn to CFL games on NFL Network. Basketball, baseball, and hockey have all shown tat they can go away for some time and sports fans would be alright, but if games had been missed due to this lockout, there would be far too many disgruntled fans.

Players began finding ways to pass the time as all they could do was workout on their own. Several players, like Chad Ochocinco, tried their hand in other professions. Granted, no one was as crazy or unsuccessful as Ochocinco, but it is unlikely they would have been better at anything other than football. I doubt Chris Kluwe would have been better at music than at punting or calling out Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. While players were trying to be teachers or authors, others simply got arrested with too much time on their hands. As many as 15 players, including former Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward, were arrested for various reasons during the lockout. It appears as if they needed to keep busy with football over the summer to avoid trouble.

It is a huge relief that this labor situation has finally found some peace and will remain this way for the next ten years. From players, to owners, to fans, all will be happy to see their teams on the field on Sundays this fall.