The Best Year of Sports Ever

When remembering in my recent history the best years of sports 2008 is the best by far. It seemed every major event topped the previous one. Whether it was tennis, swimming, NCAA tournament, the Super Bowl, it just seemed to be getting better and better as the year went on.

To start off the great year, I would argue the greatest Super Bowl ever. The Patriots came into town with a historic undefeated record with a rematch of the last game of the regular season. No team during the 16 game season era has ever gone undefeated and entering the Super Bowl they were ready to make more history. For the first three quarters it seemed as if the Patriots would make history against a New York team who had just ended Brett Favre's historic season. The fourth quarter became the most historic part of this game; if there was a ever a better fourth quarter in NFL history I haven't seen it. Eli Manning stumbles out of the pocket eludes tacklers and throws hope truly a Hail Mary and David Tyree, a no named WR for Giants catches it on his head to keep the drive alive. The Giants ended up scoring with a Plaxico Burress catch (before he shot himself). The game was the ultimate underdog story and the great precursor to an unforgettable season.

The next great memory I have is the best national championship basketball game in a few years. With all 4 number 1 seeds making the Final Four, all the talent was ready for a big championship game with talented Memphis led by Freshman sensation Derrick Rose and a experienced Kansas squad. John Calipari preached the whole season his team's free throws woes were not a big deal because they were good enough other places. Boy, did that bite him in the butt as he watched his nine point led dissappear the last two minutes and be overshadowed by the last second shot by Mario Chalmers.

Who can forget maybe Tiger's toughest performance of his career? With torn cartilage in his leg and two stress fractures in his league battling off a sudden death to win the US Open. The year just keeps on getting better and more unforgettable.

The year continued with a changing of the guard at Wimbledon and a match for the ages. Federer was on the verge of being first player to win six straight Wimbledon championships. Nadal, his long time rival and new young stud battled Federer for almost 5 hours and the young kid Nadal ended up winning. Called by most tennis experts one of the best Wilmbledon matches of all times.

The Summer ended with a bang with Michael Phelps makes the Olympics relevant again. As a sports fan, I would never turn to swimming in my life. That all changed last August when Michael Phelps made history winning 8 gold medals, each one being more amazing than the last. Who can forget Phelps celebrating after those Frenchies blew the big lead! Oh I almost forgot, we have a new fastest man in world. Usain Bolt made a joke of the old world records breaking them with a 10 yard celebration.

The year also had the historic matchup in the NBA Finals with the Celtics and Lakers matching up again. The Tampa Bay Rays went from laughing stock to in the World Series. The Williams sisters decided to take a leave of absencse from art and dominate tennis again. The world say a legend leave on top and come back and leave and maybe comeback... oh Favre make up your mind.

The thing is there are 10 more good stories that I didn't have enough ink to write about. I believe 2008 was one of the best sports year in history.