The Best Games/Series of the 2000's

As the decade draws to a close, The Wizard of Sports compiled a list of the best games or series of the past decade in sports. It would be difficult to definitively rank the top 30 on this list against each other, thus the top 30 games/series that follow are listed in no particular order:

1. NBA – Lakers defeat Kings, 4 games to 3, 2002 Western Conference Finals




2. College Football – USC 34, Notre Dame 31, October 15, 2005





3. MLB – Yankees defeat Red Sox, 4 games to 3, 2003 ALCS

4. Tennis – Andre Agassi defeats Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5, 2006 US Open 2nd Round: While there wasn’t a championship on the line, this match had as much drama as any match during the 2000’s. This was Agassi’s final tournament and the crowd did all that they could do to will Agassi to victory in what would be the final win of his distinguished career. With the electric atmosphere of a night match at the US Open and a formidable opponent in Baghdatis, this match became an instant classic. At 4 -4in the 5th set, the players contested a wild game with 8 deuces.



5. College Basketball – Illinois 90, Arizona 89 (OT), 2005 NCAA Tournament Regional Final



6. College Basketball – Arizona 96, Gonzaga 95 (2OT), 2003 NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

7. MLB –Rockies 9, Padres 8 (13 innings), 2007 NL Wild Card Tiebreaker

8. NFL – Patriots 32, Panthers 29, Super Bowl XXXVIII, February 1, 2004

9. Tennis – Rafael Nadal defeats Fernando Verdasco, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4, 2009 Australian Open Semifinals

10. NHL –Maple Leafs defeat Islanders, 4 games to 3, 2002 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals : While this first round NHL playoff series may not be remembered by a lot of people, I can tell you that this series was an easy choice to make this list. The Islanders were playing in their first playoff series in 8 years and their fans packed Nassau Coliseum to create one of the loudest and intense environments I had ever witnessed. The Maple Leafs had one of the dirtiest teams ever assembled with Darcy Tucker, Tie Domi, and Shayne Corson issuing cheap shots and picking fights throughout the series and that helped make this a classic series. These 2 clips give you a great idea of what this series was all about:





11. College Basketball – West Virginia 111, Wake Forest 105 (2OT), 2005 NCAA Tournament 2nd Round

12. MLB – Diamondbacks defeat Yankees, 4 games to 3, 2001 World Series

13. Tennis – Todd Martin defeats Carlos Moya, 6-7, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6, 6-2, 2000 US Open 4th Round

14. College Football – Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT), 2007 Fiesta Bowl

15. Golf – 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines, Champion: Tiger Woods, Runner-Up: Rocco Mediate

16. Soccer – United States 3, Portugal 2, 2002 World Cup 1st Round

17. College Basketball – Syracuse 127, Connecticut 117 (6OT), 2009 Big East Tournament Quarterfinals

18. Tennis – Rafael Nadal defeats Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7, 2008 Wimbledon Championship

19. College Football – Arkansas 50, LSU 48 (3OT), November 23, 2007

20. NBA – Lakers defeat Pacers, 4 games to 2, 2000 NBA Finals

21. College Football – Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2OT), 2003 Fiesta Bowl

22. Soccer – Italy 1, France 1, (Italy wins shootout 5-3), 2006 World Cup Final

23. Golf – 2004 Masters: Fan-favorite Phil Mickelson finally wins his first major championship after years of near-misses, draining an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to edge out Ernie Els by one stroke. The back nine of the final round was filled with high drama and high quality golf.

24. NFL – Patriots 16, Raiders 13 (OT), AFC Divisional Playoffs, January 19, 2002: This game would not have been nearly as memorable as it turned out to be if it hadn't been played in a blizzard. The snow, the drama, and the Tuck Rule controversy all combined to make this one of the iconic games in NFL history.

25. MLB – Red Sox defeat Yankees, 4 games to 3, 2004 ALCS

26. MLB – Rays defeat Red Sox, 4 games to 3, 2008 ALCS

27. NBA – Warriors defeat Mavericks, 4 games to 2, 2007 Western Conference 1st Round

28. NHL – Penguins defeat Capitals, 4 games to 3, 2009 Eastern Conference Semifinals

29. NFL – Steelers 21, Colts 18, AFC Divisional Playoffs, January 15, 2006

30. College Basketball - Gonzaga 109, Michigan State 106 (3OT), 2005 Maui Invitational : The average sports fan might scoff at a regular season college basketball game being on this list, but this game was so fantastic and well played that it definitely merits a place on this list. Adam Morrison was the star of the show with 43 points in a game that had countless lead changes and a dramatic buzzer-beating 3 pointer from Michigan State at the end of regulation to force overtime.

Things That Annoy Me

I wanted to get up a quick post regarding a few things that have really annoyed me in sports this fall:

• 4th Down Interceptions : Anyone who has even a basic knowledge of the game of football, knows that it often behooves the defensive team to knock down a pass on 4th down rather than intercept it. Unless there is a chance at a decent return of the interception, the defense will get better field position with an incomplete pass rather than an interception. This is not complex strategy yet I have seen numerous occasions during this football season, particularly in college football, where defensive backs intercept these 4th down passes down the field with very little chance at returning them past the line of scrimmage. I am not sure whether the reason for these 4th down interceptions is stupidity or selfishness, but it is very annoying to watch nonetheless. Equally irritating is the defensive back who gets his hands on a 4th down pass, does not come up with the interception, and then proceeds to react like he is so disappointed in himself for not securing the interception.


• Basketball fans who count down the final seconds of the shot clock/game clock too fast: I don’t understand why it is so difficult for fans to count down from 5 seconds to the buzzer at the correct pace, but I would guess that close to 90% of the time the crowd counts too quickly. I would estimate that the countdowns are usually anywhere from 0.5 to 1.0 seconds too fast, meaning that there is still at least a half second left when the fans reach the end of the countdown. Fans are often highly critical of players, yet they themselves can not even execute the simplest of tasks correctly.


• Basketball players who shoot desperation shots at the end of periods with time still left: Basketball players should have a mental clock in their head to know exactly how much time is left at the end of periods and exactly how far up the court they can go to get the best shot before time expires. Yet I so often see players bringing the ball up the court and chucking up a shot from halfcourt or beyond with plenty of time left to continue their dribble and get close to the 3-point line. Like the fans I described previously who count down too quickly, many players underestimate the length of a second. Coaches should be working on these end of game/period situations in practice, but it is obvious that some coaches do not spend time on this. Even great players are guilty of this offense; during last night’s Blazers-Knicks game Brandon Roy launched a shot from beyond 50 feet with around 3 seconds left on the clock at the end of the 3rd period when he easily could have reached the 3-point line to attempt a normal shot. Roy shot it so early that by the time his brick hit the backboard there was still time left on the clock. This is just a terrible basketball play.

• Teams wasting a foul to give at the end of a period: This is an NBA phenomenon that occurs when the defensive team hears they have a foul to give at the end of a period. Too many times in this situation the team just plainly gives up the foul without it serving any purpose. The foul is usually taken with at least around 3 to 5 seconds remaining with the offensive team in a non-threatening position. The offensive team still has plenty of time to get off a quality shot, but now the defensive team is susceptible to giving up a couple of free throws if they commit a non-shooting foul. The proper ways to use the foul to give are: play an aggressive defense and go for steals; or treat the foul as an insurance policy and only use it if your man has a step on you or beats you off the dribble or if the defense is in a compromising situation. Just because you have the foul to give does not mean you have to use it.
  

• The losing team running out the final seconds of the game by holding the ball: This may seem like a meaningless thing to get upset about, but it bothers me when at the end of a basketball game where the outcome has already been decided, the losing team holds or dribbles the ball for the final 10 seconds or so. The losing team should always shoot the ball in these situations and let the winning team dribble out the clock. The crowd usually salutes the winning team with cheers as the final seconds tick down and dribbling the clock out is like bowing after a good performance. It seems stupid if the losing team is the one doing the "bowing". Along the same lines, although this is probably exclusive to college basketball, I hate it when the guys at the end of the bench get into a blowout in the final minute and proceed to hold the ball or dribble the clock out. If you're playing in garbage time you should always continue playing right down to the buzzer, no matter if you are up by 40 or down by 40. These guys rarely get into the game so they should take full advantage of their precious few minutes. The losing team can not take offense if the last guys on the bench are still shooting with a 40 point lead; that is just the art of garbage time basketball.

• College basketball referees telling the guys on the bench to sit down: I never can understand why referees are so preoccupied about 5 or 6 excited players on the bench standing up during a pivotal moment at the end of a game. It's the biggest moment of the game and the referee is worried about bench guys standing up? Just officiate the game and let the kids be kids.

Jorge Posada is the Wimpiest Player in Baseball

That was quite the embarrassing display put on by Jorge Posada on Tuesday night as he came off looking like a punk, wuss, and coward in starting the bench clearing brawl with the Toronto Blue Jays. It all began when Toronto's Aaron Hill was drilled in the back by a pitch in the top of the 8th inning. While that hit by pitch was probably unintentional, Toronto pitcher Jesse Carlson perhaps felt that he wanted to defend his teammate and he proceeded to throw a pitch several feet behind Jorge Posada in the bottom of the 8th. I think the pitcher in these situations should just go ahead and hit the batter instead of throwing behind him, but either way this is pretty standard protocol in baseball. Yet Jorge Posada whines about it and he starts to act in a "fake tough guy" way. Posada yells at Carlson and walks toward the mound but he was more of less just walking down the 3rd base line with the bat in his hand as he was too much of a wimp to go directly towards Carlson or charge the mound. The pitch didn't even hit Posada; he had no right to be upset. Even if he is plunked, he should just realize it's part of the game and take his base. If I was Carlson I would've gone ahead and nailed Posada in the back with the next pitch, but nothing happened the rest of the at bat and Posada ended up drawing a walk

However, Posada is not satisfied and after scoring later in that inning he brushes against Carlson near home plate giving him the little chicken wing elbow. That was such a bush league and cowardly move as he knows Carlson would kick his rear end in a straight up fight. Carlson yelled back at him before Posada ran towards Carlson inciting a bench clearing brawl. Posada was not exactly intimidating when he went after Carlson as he was essentially curled up like a fetus when he reached Carlson.

If Posada felt he was so egregiously wronged by having a pitch thrown behind him, he should've manned up and went after the pitcher right then and there. But wimpy Jorge just ran his mouth and threw a wussy chicken wing elbow later in the inning. His antics just showed everyone that he is the wimpiest player in the league.

2009 Tennis Grand Slam Cumulative Resutls

Juan Martin Del Potro's surpising 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Roger Federer in the US Open final was a great achievement and a great moment for tennis. Del Potro showed so much resilience in the match as there were numerous instances where things looked bleak for him and he could have gone down quietly. Yet he hung in there, pulled out the 2nd and 4th sets in tiebreakers and then got ahead early in the 5th set on his way to capturing the title by winning the 5th set 6-2. It was refreshing to see a fresh face win a grand slam, as either Federer or Nadal had won 17 of the previous 18 grand slam titles. Del Potro is only 20 years old so he should have plenty of chances in the coming years to contend for more grand slam titles. The US Open final was an exciting finish to a great season of grand slam tennis. We will now have to wait a little over 4 months for the next grand slam to begin, the 2010 Australian Open. Looking back on this past year's grand slams, here is a look at the top 25 players this season in terms of their grand slam results:

1. Federer - 2 championships, 2 runner-ups
2. Del Potro - 1 championship, 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 1 2nd round
3. Nadal - 1 championship, 1 semifinal, 1 4th round, (1 DNP)
4. Roddick - 1 runner-up, 1 semifinal, 1 4th round, 1 3rd round
5. Djokovic - 1 semifinal, 2 quarterfinals, 1 3rd round
6. Murray - 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds
6. Verdasco - 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds
8. Soderling - 1 runner-up, 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 2nd round
9. Gonzalez - 1 semifinal, 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 3rd round
10. Haas - 1 semifinal, 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds
11. Robredo - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round
11. Cilic - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round
11. Tsonga - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round
14. Simon - 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds
15. Monfils - 1 quarterfinal, 2 4th rounds, (1 DNP)
16. Davydenko - 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 3rd round (1 DNP)
17. Ferrero - 1 quarterfinal, 1 4th round, 1 2nd round, 1 1st round
18. Hewitt - 1 quarterfinal, 2 3rd rounds, 1 1st round
19. Stepanek - 2 4th rounds, 2 3rd rounds
20. Berdych - 2 4th rounds, 1 3rd round, 1 1st round
21. Kohlschreiber - 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds, 1 2nd round
22. Almagro - 4 3rd rounds
23. Wawrinka - 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds, 1 1st round
24. Andreev - 1 4th round, 2 3rd rounds, 1 1st round
25. Karlovic - 1 quarterfinal, 1 2nd round, 2 1st rounds

US Open 2009

This year's US Open has had some good moments so far, but the drama and excitement will really come to a head if both Federer and Nadal can get to the final on Sunday afternoon in the one grand slam tournament that they have not met in. In the past 16 months, Federer and Nadal have played in the final in the 3 other grand slam events including their classic 5 set match at Wimbledon in 2008 that lasted nearly 5 hours with Nadal winning 9-7 in the 5th. It will really be great for the game to have these 2 legendary players meet on the biggest stage in tennis.

More thoughts on the US Open:

• Watching the US Open this week has only reinforced my feeling that this is the best grand slam tournament of the four. The spectacle that is night tennis at Arthur Ashe Stadium creates a great atmosphere that trumps any other atmosphere in tennis. The hard court surface at the Open also creates the most entertaining style of play, as the court is not as fast as the Wimbledon grass and not as slow as the clay at Roland Garros. The server oftentimes becomes too dominant at Wimbledon, while the rallies on clay at the French Open can sometimes become too long. The rankings of my favorite grand slams would be 1. US Open, 2. Wimbledon, 3. Australian Open, and 4. French Open.

• For the 2nd year in a row, the weather during the US Open has been absolutely spectacular with not a single rain delay thus far through the first 10 days. Last year the tournament was uninterrupted by rain until the final Saturday of the tournament. The weather has been the polar opposite of what it was for golf's US Open in June at nearby Bethpage Black, when rain disrupted every round of that tournament.

• John McEnroe is quite possibly the best television analyst in sports history. He has a vast knowledge of the game of tennis, he knows the in-depth scouting reports on seemingly the top 200 players on tour, and he's not afraid to offer his candid opinions. McEnroe is the go-to source for tennis opinions and his presence on telecasts makes that telecast much more enjoyable. Johnny Mac also is witty with a great sense of humor. McEnroe was part of a great moment on Monday night when during Novak Djokovic's post-match on-court interview, Djokovic invited McEnroe down from the broadcast booth to hit balls with him in front of the late night crowd at Ashe Stadium. McEnroe accepted Djokovic's offer, took his tie off and ran down to play Djokovic. McEnroe humorously imitated Djokovic's habit of bouncing the ball 20 times before serving and the two played a few points before embracing at the net. The moment just illustrated the greatness that is Johnny Mac. In honor of Johnny Mac here is a hilarious famous (or infamous) clip from his playing days:
  

• Robin Soderling showed a lot of guts in Wednesday night's quarterfinal match with Roger Federer as he fought back from losing the first 2 sets 6-0 and 6-3 to make it a compelling and dramatic match. Soderling won the 3rd set in a tiebreaker after falling behind in the tiebreaker 4-1 and he had his chances in the 4th set tiebreaker to force a 5th set but he ultimately lost that 4th set tiebreaker and the match because of the greatness of Roger Federer. Soderling has had a breakout season after upsetting Nadal and reaching the final at the French Open and he won himself a lot of fans with his valiant effort against Federer here at the US Open.

• #2 seed Andy Murray was upset by Marin Cilic in the Round of 16 in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in an uninspiring effort by last year's runner up. Murray has had a very good year but he must be disappointed that he did not make it to a grand slam final and that he only made it to one grand slam semifinal(Wimbledon). Murray will now lose the #2 ranking to Nadal when the new rankings come out after the US Open.
  

College Football Week 1 Analysis

1. Easily the best and most significant game of the week was BYU's 14-13 upset of Oklahoma. I, like most other prognosticators, did not believe that BYU had a chance to hang around with the Sooners. Oklahoma had blown away so many quality opponents last season and I did not think BYU could hold up physically to the Sooners combination of size and speed. But in hindsight I should have seen the upset coming. Oklahoma playing a neutral site game in a brand new state of the art stadium against a heavy underdog with an experienced quarterback - Oklahoma's Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State in January 2007 fit that description as well. Oklahoma was breaking in a completely new offensive line and BYU had a veteran quarterback in Max Hall that had the poise and ability to bring his team up and down the field on the Oklahoma defense. Max Hall had to be the key player for BYU as Oklahoma's strong front line completely shut down BYU's running game. Hall did throw 2 interceptions but his play on BYU's game winning drive was outstanding as he led the Cougars 78 yards in nearly 9 minutes for the winning touchdown.

There may be some people who will not give BYU the credit they deserve for this win because Oklahoma's Heisman winning quarterback Sam Bradford was knocked out of the game with an injury on the final play of the first half. The idea that BYU won because of the Bradford injury is completely off base. Bradford played the entire first half and BYU had stayed right with the Sooners, probably even outplaying the Sooners in the half despite trailing 10-7. Oklahoma had four 3-and-out drives in the half and their only touchdown was set up by a muffed BYU punt return. BYU's huge win has now put themselves in position to have a magical season and they will vault themselves into the Top 10 of the polls.

2. Thursday night's much anticipated matchup between Oregon and Boise State on Boise's blue turf field turned into a dud as Oregon's offense was completely dominated by the Boise State defense. Oregon was held without a first down for the entire first half and never really seriously threatened Boise State in the 2nd half. Boise State should have won the game by 30 points but their own self-inflicted mistakes and sloppy play kept the score down. It is safe to say that the final score of 19-8 was not indicative of how much Boise State outplayed Oregon. This was the debut game of new Oregon coach Chip Kelly who is taking over for underrated longtime coach Mike Bellotti. Bellotti retired from coaching to move over to the position of athletic director at Oregon and early indications are that the program may take a step back without him at the controls.

Overshadowing Boise State's big victory was the postgame sucker punch from Oregon senior running back LeGarrette Blount to the face of a Boise State player. Blount had been chirping in the week leading up to the game, saying that Oregon owed Boise State an "ass whooping" for Boise State's win at Oregon last season. Thus, after Boise State's win on Thursday a Boise State player tapped Blount on the shoulder and said something to him. Blount responded by unleashing a cheap shot on the Boise State player as he was looking away. Blount then backed away, jumping up and down, and whooping and hollering. Blount nearly pulled a Ron Artest on the Boise State fans, as they were heckling him as he walked through the tunnel to the locker room. He had to be restrained by multiple people who escorted him safely to the locker room. As disgraceful and classless as the punch was, it was Blount's behavior after the punch that may have been even more embarrassing for the Oregon program. Athletic director Mike Bellotti is such a classy and no nonsense guy that it came as no surprise that Blount was subsequently suspended for the rest of the season for his actions. Blount has been projected as a 2nd or 3rd round NFL Draft pick in 2010 so his game will translate well to the NFL with all of the troublemakers that play in that league.

3. Ohio State's defense was gashed way too often Saturday by Navy's triple option offense in Ohio State's 31-27 win. With USC coming to Columbus next week there has to be serious concern for the Buckeyes although Terrelle Pryor did have a nice game to open his sophomore season. Speaking of Navy, they have time and again shown how good their program has become. Navy plays such a tough, gutty style of football and they are an easy team to root for. Navy has had some very nice wins the last few years and hanging with Ohio State on the road was just as impressive as some of their big wins have been. Since 2007, Navy has beaten Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Wake Forest and they have held up well in their other games on the big stage. The rest of Navy's schedule is very manageable and I expect the Midshipmen to have a chance to have 10 wins this season.

4. Texas opened their season with a cupcake in Louisiana-Monroe and won comfortably as expected, 59-20. Contrast that to rival Oklahoma who scheduled a tough BYU team and also have a road game to play at Miami in a few weeks. The rest of Texas's non-conference schedule is relatively easy as well with games against Wyoming, UTEP, and UCF. This brings me to my point regarding the Texas-Oklahoma debate last year as to who deserved to be in the BCS Championship Game. I heard several times during the past few weeks when reading the college football previews that Texas was "royally screwed" last year for getting beat out by Oklahoma for the BCS Championship game berth despite beating Oklahoma head to head. First of all, Texas Tech was also in that mix as part of the three-way tie for the Big XII South. Texas Tech beat Texas who beat Oklahoma who beat Texas Tech, so any way you slice it the head to head factor is rendered moot. Second of all, while the Texas-Oklahoma and Texas-Texas Tech games were both tight games, Oklahoma took Texas Tech behind the woodshed in a 65-21 beatdown. Lastly, I think the biggest factor in Oklahoma's favor in the Oklahoma-Texas-Texas Tech comparison was the difficulty of Oklahoma's non-conference schedule. Oklahoma played eventual Big East champion Cincinnati and a very strong TCU team that ended the year in the Top 10 and beat them both by 25+ points. Texas meanwhile did not play a high quality non-conference opponent and they do not again this season. I get very irritated when I hear the arguing and complaining from people saying Texas got screwed last year. They did not go undefeated and thus they forced the BCS to differentiate between several similar teams and Texas's lack of non-conference schedule strength cost them.

MLB's Biased Charity

I stumbled across the tidbit below from Phil Mushnick's column in the New York Post this week and I think he makes an outstanding point. Many people involved in MLB have lamented about the lack of blacks in MLB. Last year I am told that 8% of the players in the league were black. Now this only includes black Americans because black players from Dominican Republic and other foreign countries are not included in that figure. MLB has charity programs designed to attract more black Americans to baseball. CC Sabathia has even called the lack of blacks in MLB a "crisis". I don't see how it matters how many blacks are in the league and it is certainly not anything that should be called a crisis. I don't see the NBA or NFL implementing programs to stop the decline of white Americans in their leagues. Here is what Phil Mushnick wrote in his column:

"Let's see if we've got this right: MLB is financing initiatives to have more African-American kids play baseball. Meantime, the Mets have closed their Florida instructional league facility and will move it to the Dominican Republic. Soon, MLB can expand its "Play Baseball!" initiative to include all U.S. kids!"