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By: Keith Dobkowski, National Sports News Writer
December 20, 2004
2004 is quickly coming to an end and as is proper this time of
year, a sports fans reflection. There have been great stories,
heartwarming stories, and terrible stories that have touched the
sports fans’ world. Here is a look at the 16 biggest stories of
2004.
BOSTON RED SOX: By far the story of the year is the Boston
Red Sox World Series Victory. After 86 years of futility, the Sox
defeated Babe Ruth’s curse and won. And the Sox did it in the
most dramatic fashion possible. Down three games to none
against the hated New York Yankees, Mariano Rivera, the
greatest closer in postseason history was a mere three outs
away from leading the Yankees past the Sox again and into the
World Series. A Dave Roberts stolen base followed by a Bill
Mueller single sent the game into extra innings. David Ortiz
ended the game with a homerun and the Sox didn’t look back.
Eight straight victories later and the Sox were on top of the
world.
BALCO: The BALCO investigation has been in the news for two
years now. However, over the past two months two interviews
and the leak of grand jury testimony has Major League Baseball
spinning on its head. First, Gary Sheffield revealed to Sports
Illustrated that he used a cream and a clear liquid that
resembled the steroids that BALCO had released. Sheffield
claimed that neither did much and he stopped using both shortly
after beginning. Second, the grand jury testimony of both Barry
Bonds and Jason Giambi was released. Both admitted to using
the same cream and clear liquid as Sheffield. Giambi also
admitted to having injected human growth hormone among
other steroids during the past few seasons. Finally, BALCO
owner Victor Conte sat down with ABC 20/20’s reporter Martin
Bashir and admitted, among other things, giving the cream and
the clear to Barry Bonds’ personal trainer. The backlash has
resulted in immediate action by Major League Baseball that will
have new rules regarding steroids before the 2005 season.
MIA HAMM: Mia Hamm left the soccer field for the last time in
2004. Hamm is greatest woman athlete of a generation, if not
the greatest of all time. Hamm made Team USA for the first time
as a 15 year old. Since that day, Hamm holds several world
records including most goals scored. She has been featured in
major commercials, most famously with Michael Jordan in the “I
can do anything you can do better” Gatorade spot. Hamm will
be missed.
RICKY WILLIAMS: Williams shocked the Miami Dolphins and
America by retiring from the NFL on the eve of the 2004 season.
Williams gave several reasons from walking away from millions
and fame, but most notably stated that he wanted to smoke
marijuana regularly and thought he would be persecuted for
doing so in the NFL. Williams became an easy target for many
sportswriters, sports radio personalities, and fellow football
players. Many have called Williams a waste of talent. But the
many just don’t get it. Williams got the opportunity to walk
away from a sport he did not love as a rich man who at 27 years
olds will never have to work again. Williams joins a small list of
others who have not placed football first. In 1989, John Frank
played tight end for the Super Bowl champion 49ers. Frank
retired after the Super Bowl though he was only a few years into
his career and one of the best pass-catching tight ends. The
Niners won the Super Bowl the next year and Frank started
medical school. Barry Sanders, Robert Smith, Pat Tillman, NBA
star Kevin Johnson and for a point Michael Jordan all left their
sports in their prime for other reasons, and now Ricky Williams
has joined the list.
VIJAY SINGH: Vijay Singh set his sites at the beginning of the
2004 PGA season on the number one ranking in golf. By the end
of the season Vijay had his ranking and several other
achievements. Vijay won nine times including the PGA
Championship. Vijay set the all-time record for most money won
in a season by winning over $10 million. He won the Vardon
Trophy for lowest scoring average and supplanted Tiger Woods
for the first time in five years as the PGA player of the year.
LANCE ARMSTRONG: Lance Armstrong won his sixth Tour De
France in 2004. Amid several reports of steroid use and even a
published book declaring that Armstrong regularly injected
himself with illegal performance enhancers, Armstrong pushed
past both the rumors and his opponents when winning his sixth
Tour. The Tour De France is the toughest athletic endurance test
in sports. For over three weeks cyclists ride over 100 miles per
day as they cover most of France including the ascent of the
French Alps. Armstrong’s strength through the years has always
been the climb of the Alps and this year was no different as
Armstrong grabbed the lead and did not let go once the
mountain climb began.
KOBE BRYANT: Kobe Bryant may have had the busiest year of
any athlete. He fought rape charges until the criminal charges
were dropped. Then news came that Kobe dropped Shaquille O’
Neal’s name in a police interview stating that Shaq paid off the
women he cheated on his wife with. With plenty of distractions,
Kobe helped lead the L.A. Lakers to the NBA finals where they
eventually lost to the Detroit Pistons. And this was only the
beginning. Kobe was at the heart of Phil Jackson’s resigning.
Then he was instrumental in Shaq being traded to the Miami
Heat. And most recently Kobe accused Karl Malone of hitting on
Kobe’s wife and that Karl would no longer be welcomed back to
the Lakers. By the end of 2004 Kobe had alienated three Hall of
Famers and changed the face the Lakers. Kobe is still dealing
with a civil suit regarding to the rape in Colorado. Up next on
the calendar are Kobe and the Lakers playing Shaq and the Heat
on Christmas day.
DETROIT PISTONS: The Detroit Pistons shocked the L.A.
Lakers and the world by defeating the three-time champions in
five games. The power of the NBA is in the West, while the East
was better known as the Least. Yet a team with no superstars,
relying on defense, passing and team basketball spanked the
Lakers. The Lakers boasted four hall of fame players on the
same floor and a coach with nine NBA titles. The Lakers were
supposed to be unbeatable. A mere five games later, the Detroit
Pistons beat them and were world champions.
PAT TILLMAN: Pat Tillman walked away from millions and NFL
stardom to fight a war halfway around the world. And though
Tillman was killed by a terrible friendly fire mistake, Tillman’s
heroism cannot be diminished. As major American professional
sports battle an image problem, Tillman was one athlete that
actually got it. With NBA players fighting fans in the stands and
MLB players using steroids it is refreshing for an athlete like
Tillman to place his ideals before sport. It is not for us to debate
the merit of Tillman’s ideals, but rather to celebrate that Tillman
had ideals and would not let sports and money get in the way of
his beliefs.
RON ARTEST: A situation that had been set to occur for several
years finally did a month ago as Ron Artest entered the stands in
Detroit and fought with fans. After a hard foul on Detroit Piston’s
star Ben Wallace, Artest went to and lied down on the scorer’s
table. He was then hit with a cup full of ice and liquid. Artest
reacted by jumping over the scorer’s table and running into the
stands. Artest grabbed one fan, who was innocent, and ended
up hitting at least two others. By the end of the Throw-Down in
Motown, several players were suspended and awaiting arrest
warrants.
PEYTON MANNING: Football has always been about winning
and seldom do statistical records come into play. In fact there
are only a few records that seem to merit any discussion. For
both a career and single season it is all about yards and
touchdowns. Well, this season Peyton Manning is two
touchdowns short of breaking Dan Marino’s record of 48
touchdowns thrown in a single season. And Manning has two
games remaining. Marino set the record in 1984, his second as
he led the Miami Dolphins to the Super Bowl. While it is obvious
that Manning would rather have the Super Bowl than the record,
the record seems a surety.
BARRY BONDS: While many will find it hard to celebrate Barry
Bonds this year amid the BALCO scandal, it is only fitting that we
do as Bonds had one of the greatest seasons of all time. In a
year that saw other suspected steroid users’ numbers drop
dramatically, Sammy Sosa and Jason Giambi come to mind, Bonds
just kept getting better. Of all of Bonds statistical numbers none
is more impressive than his 61% on-base average. A great year
by a great hitter will net a 40% on-base average. Bonds,
because of the walk record, would have reached that plateau
had he not had a single hit this season. Instead, Bonds hit 45
homeruns. Bonds won his seventh MVP award, more than Willie
Mays, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth combined.
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Ben Roethlisberger was the third
quarterback chosen in the 2004 NFL Draft. Ahead of
Roethlisberger were number one pick Eli Manning and number
four pick Philip Rivers. Manning has yet to win a game as a
starter. Rivers has yet to play in an NFL game. And
Roethlisberger has simply won all 11 of his starts. Including
victories in consecutive weeks over undefeated teams, the New
England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. Roethlisberger is off
the to greatest start for any rookie quarterback ever. At this
pace Roethlisberger will lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to home-
field advantage throughout the playoffs. Looks like being the
third quarterback chosen has worked out pretty well.
TERRELL OWENS: Terrell Owens has kept sportswriters busy
all season. From ridiculous comments to the Nicollette Sheridan
skit for Desperate Housewives, Owens has been a newsmaker
all season. However, busier than sportswriters have been
opposing defenses as T.O. and quarterback Donovan McNabb
have created one the best passing duos in the league. Together
they have combined for 14 touchdowns and led the Philadelphia
Eagles to a 13 – 1 record. Whether Owens can overcome the
ankle injury sustained on Sunday and lead the Eagles to the
Super Bowl has yet to be determined.
PAUL HAMM: Paul Hamm shocked the world and won the Gold
Medal at the Olympics in Men’s All-Around Gymnastics. It just
took a few months to figure that much out. After winning the
gold it was determined that a judge’s error cost South Korean
Gymnast Yang Tae-young the gold. Tae-young parallel bar’s
routine was not given the proper amount of difficulty points and
therefore Tae-young’s score was lower than it should have
been. The discrepancy would have given Tae-young enough
points to win the gold. However, many thought that if video
replay was used to award the extra point it should also be used
to find extra errors in Tae-young’s performance thus changing
the score completely. The governing panel agreed and ruled
that Hamm could keep the gold.
BCS: In what is becoming a yearly story, the BCS has screwed
up again. While we won’t have a BCS champion until the first
week of 2005, it was the 2004 season that started the
controversy. Five teams went undefeated in college football this
year, yet only two can play for the BCS championship. Auburn,
Utah and Boise State were all left on the outside looking in. And
as the BCS and college football season close it is very likely that
four teams will remain undefeated. The second story is the
effect that the Coaches Poll has on the BCS. A last second
change vaulted Texas ahead of Cal and into the Rose Bowl.
Though Cal finished fourth in both the AP and Coaches Poll, they
finished fifth in the BCS. It was later learned that several
coaches dropped Cal’s ranking from fourth to below sixth and
that led to the BCS change. With the money on the line for a
BCS Bowl appearance it became clear that money and not morals
were the lead reason for Cal’s drop.
It has been a great sports year. We had the Olympics, three
NFL teams with just one loss, a seven time MVP, an upset in the
NBA finals, five undefeated teams in college football, and the Red
Sox beat the Yankees and won the World Series. 2004 was a
great sports year.
Writers Note: As often happens subjectivity controls the basis
of an article. Here that subjectivity become clear as this writer
has not offered a top five, top 10 or top 100 stories of the year,
but rather a top 16. The reasons for the top 16 becomes so
much clearer when the reader finds out that this writer’s favorite
football team is the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners are the
worst team in the NFL and are headed by the worst owner, John
York, in the NFL. But the Niners have the greatest winning
tradition in the NFL and the only positive to be found with the
Niners is found by looking back. And a look back takes us to the
greatest 49er, Joe Montana, number 16.
Happy Holidays!
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