ATV’s weekly sports program, “SportsZone,” ends every episode with a “Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down” segment, so I decided to borrow this idea when recapping the 2010 sports year. Let’s start by getting the negative out of the way first.
Thumbs Down
2010 NFC West Sam Bradford, Derek Anderson/Max Hall/John Skelton, Alex Smith/Troy Smith and Matt Hasselbeck/Charlie Whitehurst. No really, those were the eight quarterbacks that took snaps for NFC West teams this season, leading to a historically abysmal year for the division. The four teams combined for a record of 25-39, and finished with a point differential of -376. Good God.
Hall of Fame Voting Two years ago, Andre Dawson received 67 percent of votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame, 8 percent behind the threshold needed for election. Last year, Dawson was elected to the Hall when he received just fewer than 78 percent of the votes. So you’re probably thinking he must have had a monster 2009 season to finally get elected. In reality, he hasn’t played since 1996, continuing the trend of enshrining players who fall into the “really good” category, instead of just the “dominant and great” group.
Washington Redskins If you didn’t watch the Redskins one time this season, the following sentence could sufficiently sum up the 2010 campaign. Mike Shanahan started Rex Grossman over a healthy Donovan McNabb in Week 15, 16 and 17. Anytime the words “Rex Grossman” and “starting quarterback” are in the same sentence, good things don’t happen. With McNabb now disrespected, Washington is once again in big trouble.
College Football I’m finding it harder and harder to throw my support behind a sport that doesn’t have a playoff to decide a champion. Last year, were we certain that Alabama was the best team in the country? Probably, but we can’t tell for sure since Boise State also finished undefeated. The BCS has been around for 12 years, and that’s 12 years too long.
LeBron James Does this really need an explanation?
Washington Nationals At what point does the Nats front office personnel think to themselves, “Wait a minute, we signed a 31-year-old outfielder who has never hit .300 or surpassed 100 RBI to a seven-year, $126 million deal? What the hell were we thinking?” The over/under for this conversation taking place is four and a half years, and that might even be a bit too high.
NCAA Tournament Changes This was one of those things that was perfect the way it was: 64 teams, divided into four regions of 16, with games being played Thursday-Sunday and the championship tipping the first Monday in April. So what happened? The format changed, of course! Now, we’ll be able to see the ninth-best team in the Big East, or the eighth-best team in the Big 12 rewarded for a mediocre season.
Thumbs Up
New Orleans Saints At first, the Saints had the hopes of a city riding on their season. As the 2010 NFL playoffs started, they became the feel-good story of the entire league. And during their Super Bowl run they accomplished two things: Knocking Brett Favre out of the playoffs (and making everyone outside Minnesota giddy), and forcing us to remember that regular season Peyton Manning is different from postseason Peyton Manning.
Duke-Butler Butler was one half-court heave away from defeating Duke in the championship game of the 2010 NCAA Tournament. I never thought I’d write that sentence during my lifetime. And if that shot had dropped, it might have pushed this game from one of the greatest in tournament history into the greatest in tournament history.
Jayson Werth He just signed a seven-year deal worth $126 million dollars. Let that statement sink in for a little bit.
Armando Galarraga Great sportsmanship was displayed by Galarraga, who was denied a perfect game when umpire Jim Joyce botched a call with two outs in the 8th inning. In fact, Joyce missing the call may have been beneficial to Galarraga in the long run. Five years from now, are you more likely to remember Dallas Braden’s perfect game or Galarraga’s near-perfect outing?
‘Hard Knocks’ It was a brilliant job by HBO executives to select Rex Ryan and the New York Jets for the sixth installment of the series. There were so many great quotes from the season, but here are a that stuck out. He’s “just mad ‘cause he’s taking a pay cut,” Bart Scott on University of Southern California rookie Joe McKnight. “Some of these guys can’t play dead in a B-Western,” Ryan on the third-team defense. “Let’s go eat a goddamn snack,” Ryan ending a team meeting.
Here’s to the 2011 sports year being more exciting and less Favre-filled than its 2010 counterpart!
ttomea@theeagleonline.com
