Thursday, December 31, 2009

My top 10 sports moments of the decade

Yes, the much anticipated has finally arrived on my blog. Here are my personal top 10 moments in L.A. and Badger sports over the past 10 years. Please keep in mind that I've only been a true Badger fan since 2007, so I won't have a lot of the great moments such as the 2000 Rose Bowl and Final Four or UW's first Big Ten Championship since 1947, etc. Either way, enjoy:

10: Manny comes to the Dodgers

In the dog days of summer, I was working for KNBC Sports in Los Angeles when I got the inside information that Manny Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers. What did he do? Well, aside from creating excitement in the Dodger organization for the first time since I could remember, Manny nearly batted .400 and almost led the team in home runs by season's end. He alone propelled the Dodgers to a playoff berth and was perhaps the best hitter in the second half of the 2008 season.

9: Michael Flowers beats Texas

In my first year as a student at Wisconsin, the men's basketball team had just lost Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor a year earlier to graduation, leaving them with Brian Butch and Michael Flowers as the only true veteran leaders on the team. Flowers' miracle three-point bucket to beat Texas on the road was among the first huge wins (others included Marquette, Michigan State) of the 2007-08 season that saw the Badgers win the Big Ten title and make the Sweet 16 before falling to Davidson.

8: Butch beats Indiana

About a week after I got blasted online for alleging that Kelvin Sampson was a cold-blooded cheater, the Badgers stuck it to the Hoosiers in Indiana, thanks to Brian Butch's bank three pointer with only seconds remaining in the game. That game was the beginning of the downfall of the Indiana basketball program, and it solidified the Badgers' status as the Big Ten's top team.

7: Badgers clinch outright Big Ten Championship

In my first year at UW, I never thought the men's basketball team would come away with an outright Big Ten title. Led by Michael Flowers, Brian Butch, Marcus Landry and others, the team completely bought in to Bo Ryan's swing offense, and used all of its tools to defeat every Big Ten opponent except Purdue.

6: Kobe drops 81

How could I leave this one out? It's difficult to describe exactly how Kobe was able to do it, but his 81 points over the Toronto Raptors is pretty unfathomable. Check out this Youtube video of every bucket Kobe scored in the game. It's worth it.

5: Alley-oop to Shaq seals comeback over Trail Blazers

In Phil Jackson's first year as head coach of the Lakers, he, Kobe and Shaq were able to perfect the triangle offense, with a few hiccups against a great Blazers team. With Arvydas Sabonis, Scottie Pippen, Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and others, the Blazers jumped out to a 15 point lead with the clock ticking, but the Lakers — who hadn't lost three straight all season — didn't let up. Kobe crossed Pippen over and threw up a perfect pass to Shaq who threw it down, virtually sealing the win for L.A.

4: Fish in 0.4

"It's over." After Tim Duncan hit a ridiculous 21-footer with 0.4 remaining to put the Spurs up by one, that's probably what most Laker fans were thinking. Then Derek Fisher got the ball, threw up a prayer, and I, like every other Laker fan around the world, was screaming and running around my house in disbelief. Looking at the replay, it is simply a remarkable shot, one that I will always remember.

3: Steve Finley walk-off grand slam to clinch playoffs

At the end of a season that saw then-general manager Paul DePodesta trade away Paul LoDuca and Guillermo Mota for Hee Seop Choi and Brad Penny, there was pretty much nothing that could make me worse about the Dodgers. Down by two runs in the ninth inning against the arch-rival Giants, L.A. made a huge comeback, loading the bases for Steve Finley with the bases loaded. When he belted one to deep right, it didn't matter if it didn't go out, but it did, and I and the rest of Dodger nation knew we would breathe for at least a week in October.

2: Horry's buzzer beater

On the night of my Bar Mitzvah, the Lakers were wrapped up in perhaps the best playoff series of the decade. The Kings boasted Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Doug Christie and Vlade (Floppy) Divac against the Lakers' Kobe and Shaq parade. After Kobe missed a layup, Shaq missed one from two feet out, but it wasn't over. Divac batted the loose ball out to Robert "Big Shot Bob" Horry, who swished home the biggest shot of the decade in Lakers basketball. The shot tied the series at two games apiece, and still remains as one of the biggest shots in NBA history.


1: Wisconsin nukes Duke

Trevon Hughes had the game of his life, the Kohl Center crowd was as loud as it will ever be, and the underrated Wisconsin men's basketball team shocked the No. 5 Blue Devils, sparking one of the biggest celebrations in my time at UW. Our Herald photographer Jeff Schorfheide got an incredible shot of Jon Leuer celebrating (seen above), and that pretty much summed up the night. For the next two weeks — and even til today — Badger fans have been talking about that game, and for me and my friends who were in attendance, it was perhaps the best sports moment of my lifetime. It sealed a win for the Big Ten in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and that one win probably would be enough on UW's résumé to put them in the NCAA Tournament once again, making that every single year in the decade.

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