I Love the 2000s...Part 2

Now that I have chronicled many of the events and developments of the decade, it is time to start to scroll through my top ten moments/events of the decade. Since it is general and its impact isn't extremely large and wide, I will begin with the sports stories that shaped the decade. Some crossed the lines of sports and news with the realm of their importance.

10)Sports stories of the decade:

In the NFL, there were some dramatic Super Bowls that featured teams that had never been there and others who turned around themselves to achieve success. To start and end the decade, probably two of the most compelling and exciting finishes in Super Bowl history took place. Also the second to last Super Bowl of the decade had its share of excitement and ranks right up there. The St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans battled in one of the closest contests ever in Super Bowl XXXIV. The Rams took a touchdown lead with less than two minutes to go to only watch the Titans and QB Steve McNair drive the field to fall just one yard short of tying the game as the clock expired. On the opposite end of the decade, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals gave us just a thrilling of an ending. The Steelers took the lead fairly late in the game to see what seemed like an unstoppable WR Larry Fitzgerald this postseason catch the go ahead score for the Cardinals. Then the Steelers would respond with not much time on the clock when WR Santonio Holmes caught the game winning touchdown as time drew down. The win was the Steelers' sixth championship and gave them the most ever Super Bowls by an organization. These two games not only stand out for this past decade but in the whole history of the Super Bowl. Not to be outdone, Super Bowl XLII featuring the then undefeated New England Patriots against the underdog New York Giants. The Patriots took a late lead and looked like they were about to become the first team to finish a season at 19-0. However, in the one of the craziest catches in Super Bowl history, Giants WR David Tyree caught a drive and game saving pass and allowed QB Eli Manning to find WR Plaxico Burress later in the drive to score the game winning touchdown.

In the MLB, the New York Yankees began and ended the decade as World Series champions. The Bronx Bombers came into the Subway Series with the New York Mets in 2000 with back-to-back titles and got a third straight after a heated series that featured a bat being thrown by Yankees' pitcher Roger Clemens at Mets' catcher Mike Piazza after it broke. The Yankees would go into a long drought in terms of how they view success before finally bringing in the right players and getting contributions from big stars like 3B Alex Rodriquez. This last title came in the "New Jersey Series" as the two major cities of New York and Philadelphia battled it out for baseball and regional supremacy. The Phillies themselves had won a title for the first time in 2008 since 1980 and gave the city its first major title in 25 years. In 2001, the normally hated Yankees were fan favorites in the wake of 9/11, but the Yanks could not overcome the Arizona Diamondbacks and their two-headed pitching monster of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.

There were also decades long droughts that finally came to an end. Not too many franchises have suffered as much as the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox. Two of those three teams would finally snap those droughts and one would come painfully close. The Cubs haven't won it all since 1908, the White Sox haven't won it all since 1917, and the Red Sox haven't won it all since 1918 when they sold Babe Ruth and thus began the Curse of the Bambino. All of sudden, though, in 2004, the heavens opened up and the Red Sox got a gift from above. The "idiots" fell into an 0-3 hole in the ALCS against the hated rivals, the Yankees. But behind clutch hitting by 1B/DH David Ortiz and a clutch pitching performance by Curt Schilling, the Red Sox were able to not only avoid elimination, but came back to win the series and go on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals to win the the World Series. The curse was lifted. It was only the year before that the Yankees broke the Red Sox's hearts again with a Game 7 winning home run by 3B Aaron Boone in the ALCS. The Red Sox would ride that victory into a second one in 2007 while the Yankees had to watch empty handed. In 2005, the White Sox would join the Red Sox in breaking their own lengthy drought in a similar fashion; a sweep over an NL Central team (Houston Astros). The Cubs in 2003 were 5 outs away from a World Series birth when Steve Bartman, a fan at Wrigley Field, interfered with a foul ball that would have been caught by Cubs OF Moises Alou for an out. The rest is history as the Florida Marlins came back and won that game and the next to get to the World Series.

In the NBA, in a similar fashion as the Yankees; the Los Angeles Lakers started the decade with a dynasty and ended with another title and another possible birth of a dynasty. The Lakers with Shaq and Kobe Bryant won three straight titles from 2000-2002 and looked close to unstoppable. They would lose two Finals before getting a fourth ring in the decade under a Kobe-led team. In 2008, the Lakers fell short against the Boston Celtics who brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to assist Paul Pierce and the three would help turn Boston from the worst record to the best and another championship for the franchise with the most. In 2006, Dwayne Wade with Shaq by his side led the Miami Heat to a championship after falling down 0-2 to the Dallas Mavericks. In between all these titles, the San Antonio Spurs were probably one of the most consistent teams of the decade and won title in 2003, 2005, and 2007.

In other sports news, Vince McMahon and the WWE along with NBC in 2001 attempted to launch an upstart football league called the XFL. The league folded after 1 season and its over the top theatrics and overall lack of talent didn't pay off. Also that year, the Seattle Mariners brought in Ichiro Suzuki from Japan and since he has arrived; he has been the most consistent at-bat in baseball. And in just his third season here, he broke an 83 year old record held by George Sisler for most hits in a season (262). In 2005, baseball returned to Washington DC with the Nationals coming to town. Michael Jordan unretired for the second time and went to the Washington Wizards, a team he had just become part owner of. He would play three years before retiring for good and ending one of the greatest NBA careers. Speaking of records, Dan Marino's touchdown record of 48 in one season stood for 20 years before QB Peyton Manning would throw for 49 and then three years later QB Tom Brady would throw 50. Another record that fell during the decade was the single season home run total of 70 set by Mark McGuire in 1998. McGuire broke a 47 year old year old record and his would only last for three when Bonds slugged 73 home runs. And another record, the 100 points scored in a game by Wilt Chamberlain was in danger when Kobe Bryant went off in a game in 2006 against the Toronto Raptors scoring 81 points before being pulled late in the game. In college basketball, Bobby Knight passed Dean Smith for most win in Division I with his 880 win in 2007. QB Brett Favre in 2007 would establish himself as quite possibly the best statistical quarterback ever as he claimed every major record and fell one game short of the Super Bowl. That season would drive Favre back in 2008 and again in 2009 and is having one of the best years of his celebrated career. Time will tell if he returns again next year depending on how 2009 ends. And in the racing world, Danica Patrick burst onto the scene and gave the men a run for their money and after many close calls, she finally won a race; a first for a woman in Indy racing.

Dominance would be a good word to describe Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong, Jimmie Johnson, and Michael Phelps during the decade. Woods would add to his major total including a one legged win at the 2008 U.S. Open and winning four majors in a row in 2001 generating the phrase the “Tiger Slam”. Federer would go on to win the most majors by a male tennis player and created a rivalry with Rafael Nadal that gave us one of the best Wimbledon finals ever in 2008. Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer and not only battled back from that but went onto to win seven straight Tour De Frances from 1999-2005 and made a return in 2009 and almost won an 8th. In NASCAR, the early part of the decade was marred by the sudden death of one of its major superstars in Dale Earnhardt. By the decades end, one driver would come to dominate the track. Johnson has won four straight titles and has a chance at history next year when he pursues his fifth straight title. And finally, Phelps made an impact in 2004 at Athens, but at Beijing in 2008; Phelps went 8 for 8 in his pursuit of 8 gold medals. One of the relays came down to the wire, but at the end Phelps has established himself as one of the most decorated Olympians ever. Of course not to be out done on the world stage, Usain Bolt broke the world records for the 100m and 200m and then went and broke his own records in back to back years.

In college football, there were a few games that will probably stand the test of time. In the 2002 national title game, Miami (FL) came in as champions and seemed poised to win another title, but Ohio State burst onto the scene and ran the table and squeaked by in overtime to shock the Hurricanes and much of the nation. In the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma was Goliath against Boise State playing the role of David. And in this battle, David conquered Goliath at the end and sent a statement to the BCS that the non-power schools can compete. In 2009, Utah would make a similar statement in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama. But probably the biggest game in college football of the decade was the 2006 Rose Bowl where QB Vince Young led the Texas Longhorns over the USC Trojans for the national title. Young took the game over at the end and won the game with seconds on the clock.

The decade also gave us many a sports scandal. There was Danny Almonte in 2001 who was playing in the Little League World Series, but there was much uncertainty if he was older than the minimum age for the athletes. A couple years later Sammy Sosa would come to bat and his bat would explode to expose cork in the bat. Cork is used to add power to a slugger and thus an extra advantage for a man who has been linked to steroids. Also in the baseball world, there was a split between the children of Ted Williams in 2002 when it came to what to do with their recently deceased father. Involved was aspect of freezing Williams’ head for the purpose of cloning his genes. There was also Jayson Williams, a former basketball player, who shot his driver accidentally and would cause a lengthy trial to commence and tarnish a once proud athlete. And these scandals also were seen in the Olympics as a French judge in 2002 at Salt Lake City was bought off and cost the Canadian pairs figure skating team a gold medal, which would go to the Russia pairs team. After consideration and review, both teams would take home gold medals. At the 2006 World Cup, Zidane of France would lose his control against the Italians and headbutt a member of the team and got himself ejected in the deciding game, which Italy would win. At the end of the decade, just weeks ago; Tiger Woods would find himself in a sex scandal that almost no one would have predicted. Details are still coming out as I write this.

As big as these scandals were or might be in Tiger Woods’ case, there were even bigger ones and issues linked to sports in the 2000s. In the basketball world, Kobe Bryant had his own sex scandal to deal with in 2003 when he was charged with rape from a visit to Colorado. The case would drag on and be a distraction for Bryant and the Lakers. However, this was nothing compared to what Tim Donaghy and other referees did. They threw games and changes the outcomes of contests based on making calls that favored the way they wanted the game to go. This has left a black eye on the NBA and it can still be felt moving into the next decade. But of course, the decade also had the “Malice in the Palace” when a Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers game broke into a brawl late in the 4th quarter. Multiple players were suspended and punished including Ron Artest getting a 72 game suspension. It has been five years since the incident, but it still stands out among many who follow the NBA and sports.

There were also miscellaneous issues and scandals involving sports and athletes. One such was the continued uproar over the BCS system as for the most part it failed at getting things exactly right. Unless we see to undefeated teams at the end face each other then there will always be dispute. In a sad story, Pat Tillman gave away guaranteed money and NFL fame for the duty to his country. Unfortunately, he lost his life in what was a friendly fire accident and then a cover up was revealed. The whole situation is just not what you want to see involving a man who saw a better calling for himself. The NHL also had its problems when they were forced into a lockout in 2004-2005. The league already was struggling to gather a strong fan base compared to other sports and then they took a step backwards with the lockout and disputes. League Commissioner Gary Bettman has made questionable calls under his tenure at times and luckily for him young stars like Sidney Crosby have garnered some interest again. Lastly, a scandal came over Duke University and their lacrosse team in 2006. Three players were falsely accused of raping an exotic dancer and it was a long drawn out process that hurt the men and team involved.

But no scandal and cloud was bigger than the one that engulfed major league baseball for much of the decade. Steroids. Enough said. From the Mitchell Report that listed 104 names linked to steroid use and the slow revelations that came out. The names were not the also-rans and has-beens of MLB. Sosa, McGuire, Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Ortiz, A-Rod, Palmiero, Bonds, etc. We went from seeing maybe 35-40 home runs a year to seeing 45-50 a year being the average for the top home run hitter. It will truly be hard to tell how much abuse of illegal substances was going on and personally I blame the major officials in charge for causing their own mess and trying to look like it wasn't there fault. Rules and regulations were not in place until a few years ago and tests are in place and we see occasional individuals testing positive, but who know how many guys would have been caught in the early part of the decade if these tests were in place. Would guys have wanted to do what they did? The speculation is what is killing baseball and what's done has been done.

It was a decade that gave us joy and sadness in sports. It gave us a lot to think about and a lot to celebrate depending where your loyalty is. It gave us great moments and lasting sports legacies. There certainly was no shortage of great moments and news worthy stories.

Next I will explore the elections in 2004 and 2006. In 2004, there was a close presidential race and in 2006, we saw a political shift occur.