By Andrew Porzio Staff writer
As New York Mets radio play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen would say, “Put it in the books.” The past 12 months in sports have been something the world may never see again.
The past year in sports can be summed up in three words: improbable, entertaining and fun. Every major sports title had an unbelievable ending, an ending that ranged from storybook to historic and even a little of both.
This year in sports is something we may never see again. Every major sporting event this year not only lived up to all the hype; it exceeded it and then some.
The NBA’s Golden State Warriors cemented themselves as the greatest regular season team ever only to blow a 3-1 Finals lead and lose to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in game seven.
Kris Jenkins of the Villanova men’s basketball team hit a buzzer beater in one of the greatest finishes in national championship history to give Villanova their first championship since 1985.
Deshaun Watson and Clemson absolutely shocked the college football world when they upset unbeaten Alabama with one second left in the CFB playoff national title, and USC stunned the nation after coming back to beat Penn State in what was possibly the best Rose Bowl game ever.
In the Olympics we saw Michael Phelps again make history, while Katie Ledecky continued her dominance in the pool winning five total medals—four gold, one silver.
The Olympics also brought us the new face of women’s gymnastics in 19-year-old Simone Biles, who won gold in individual all-around, vault and floor. Biles also was part of the winning USA team dubbed the “Final Five” in honor of their coach Martha Karolyi’s final time coaching in the Olympics.
2016 saw Dustin Johnson win his first career major at the U.S. open before being a member of the first U.S. Ryder Cup team to win the cup in six years.
Novak Djokovic captured the career grand slam in men’s tennis and Serena Williams continued to show why she is the greatest of all time.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2016 sports year was the Chicago Cubs becoming World Series champions. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in dramatic fashion, beating the Cleveland Indians in the tenth inning of game seven. The win broke a 108-year drought for Cubs fans all across the nation.
To cap it all off, the sporting gods gave us perhaps the best game of them all, Super Bowl LI between the Patriots and Falcons.
With just over 8:30 left in the third quarter the Falcons held a 28-3 lead. Judging by the score and the fact that New England had struggled to move the ball, Falcons fans had to be feeling pretty confident their team would come up victorious. In fact, according to ESPN Stats and Info, the Falcons had a 99.7% chance to win the game at one point in the third quarter.
With just less than 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter the Patriots defense made a big play that sparked the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. On 3rd-and-1 from their own 36-yard line Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan dropped back to pass and was hit by New England linebacker Dont’a Hightower. The hit caused Ryan to fumble the ball, and Patriots defensive lineman Alan Branch recovered it and put the Patriots in great field position.
From there Tom Brady took the game over, leading the Patriots on three straight scoring drives including the game-winning drive in overtime. Without star tight end Rob Gronkowski, there was talk about who would step up and fill that void in this game. That player was running back James White.
Although White doesn’t have anywhere near the size of a player like Gronk, he still was just as challenging of a matchup for the Falcons defense. White finished the game with 14 receptions for 110 yards and three total touchdowns, including the game winner in overtime.
Brady finished the game with a Super Bowl record 466 yards passing to go along with two touchdowns and his unprecedented fourth Super Bowl MVP award.
So, is 2016 the greatest year in sports history? If not, it is certainly up there. Every championship game was an instant classic. Every game featured moments and plays that will be shown on television for decades to come. However, if this past year in sports has taught us anything, it taught us that it isn’t over until it’s over.
The sports shots of The Quill reflect the views of individual members of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire editorial board or of the university. The content of the Sports pages is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Sports editor.
