2017 Cleveland Indians Positional Previews: Third Base
February 5, 2017What does a Super Bowl win mean for the future of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo?
February 6, 2017As a fan of sport who loves watching the game’s best compete on the biggest of stages under the brightest of lights, I feel confident in saying we may never have another 12-month stretch as we have between June of 2016 and this past Sunday night. Rooting interests aside, the way the NBA Finals, World Series, and Super Bowl unfolded were each, individually, movie scripts on their own. For them to all occur sequentially? Fewer words can describe it outside of “incredible.”
Forget the odds and the math and the likelihoods and the line charts. The Cleveland Cavaliers did something that had never been done in the history of the NBA when they came back from a 3-1 deficit, laughing in the face of home court advantage, and won Game 7 in epic fashion. The Chicago Cubs would do something similar this past summer, but it was a game-tying home run from one of the most unlikely of sources—off of the most unlikely of sources—that would force extra innings in Game 7. Then Sunday night, with the Atlanta Falcons cruising through the game’s first 50 minutes, up three scores and the FOX Sports team displaying a graphic that read these types of leads resulted in a record of 93-0, fans were given a finish that made the “One Yard Short” finish of Super Bowl 34 look like a preseason game.
These three finishes, be they through the course of a seven-game series or a one-game win-or-go-home scenario, are so significant that we almost forget that the 2016 men’s basketball championship was decided on the first buzzer beater in college basketball championship game history when Villanova’s Kris Jenkins sank North Carolina, this after UNC guard Marcus Paige hit an absurd, double-clutch three-pointer to cap a comeback from a 10-point deficit. Months later, the football version of the collegiate championship would come down to Clemson’s final drive, coming back from a two-touchdown deficit to upset the favored Crimson Tide of Alabama. Had Kyrie Irving’s three-pointer come at the buzzer, we would have had two buzzer-beaters, the equivalent of such in football with two come-from-behind wins, and a World Series that went beyond nine innings. More rare than a Grand Slam in tennis or a Triple Crown in horse racing, it’s the sort of epic stretch of high-profile contests that defies logic, one that will be hard-pressed to ever, ever be repeated.
More rare than a Grand Slam in tennis or a Triple Crown in horse racing, it’s the sort of epic stretch of high-profile contests that defies logic, one that will be hard-pressed to ever, every be repeated.
Each team, each player, each coach… Outside of the games themselves, you have plenty of overriding narratives. LeBron James returns to Cleveland to make right and help the city win its first title in 50-plus years. The Chicago Cubs, after a century of failure, build a team that could be on the verge of a dynasty, leveraging a rain delay to triumph. The New England Patriots, for all their winning, had their quarterback suspended for the first four games of the season, traded their best linebacker midway through the year, and were without their best offensive play maker. The list goes on. I mean, J.R. Smith is an NBA Champion!
Given the teams that won in 2016, and how they went about doing so, it’s difficult to concoct a scenario that would be better. Sure, outright domination is fun if it’s your favorite team doing the dominating2, but for the casual fan, one who lives within the storylines, the last 12 months have been the sort of narratives that live in the heads of screenwriters. The NBA has a fun hashtag for their social media channels called #thisiswhyweplay. If anyone ever questions why you love sports as much as you do, all you need to do is point them to any of the championship games over the last year.
#thisiswhywewatch
This week’s edition of #ActualSportswriting:
- “The Anthem: Six voices on the song everyone hears differently” buy Tom Junod (ESPN)
- “The education of a coach’s son” by Kevin Clark (The Ringer)
- “The misunderstood genius of Russell Westbrook” by Sam Anderson (NYT Mag)
And finally, a big thank you to everyone who has supported us on Patreon. We’ve added even more benefits to becoming a patron, so if you have the time, feel free to head over to at Patreon.com/WFNY and help support the cause.
66 Comments
i just like it when Gisele is happy … Tom is one lucky do https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0863222d470a9b0555c3c5bcb7827fd454f7f776c0fde1ff7d5cd553763d8822.jpg g !
Oh, and finally, FINALLY, Kenny Easley gets into the HOF.
I believe it was the second Julio catch – the defender was unable to climb the ladder high enough to defend it thanks to a perfectly timed and subtle-enough push in the back from Julio. By no means complaining, just something that caught my eye.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0863222d470a9b0555c3c5bcb7827fd454f7f776c0fde1ff7d5cd553763d8822.jpg
that’s not luck.
too soon?
Just Say No To Garoppolo. He’ll be in SF anyways.
Hey Bill, it’s Kyle. You remember when I had the Superbowl all wrapped up but decided to go backwards 25 yards instead of just running up the middle and sealing the game with a field goal? Well, I have decided how you can repay that debt…
hi SAGGY … would he have scored her if he ended-up being a janitor at the University of Michigan ?? … his entire story is about luck … with a little hard work & dedication sprinkled-in … i actually like the guy.
May it have been the broken fibula?
I thought everyone pretty much agreed Kyle was the NFL’s “DeepThroat” on that escapade. Helped grease the skids (from the media perspective) on him jumping ship
Daddy Mike is a master media manipulator. Had his grubby handprints all over it
I don’t have that game as the best ever let alone the top 3. Shanahan had some really questionable play calling in that game. Brady still has it, cant wait to hear about Garoppolo even more!
6’4 with the kind of arm that gets you recruited by Lloyd Carr usually doesn’t end up as a janitor.
Scott Dreisbach ? Drew Henson ? John Navarre ?
Tom Brady was benched for Drew Henson when they were at Michigan
Three guys, who despite not possessing much more than arm strength, found their way to NFL paychecks.