Top 10 Sports Memories of 2010

2010 was a great year to be a sports fan. As far as a Wisconsin sports fan, the highlight was definitely the Badgers making a run to the Rose Bowl. But there were many other highlights and lowlights that made for a memorable year. In no way is this list what I consider to be the top ten sports events of the year. These are MY most memorable sports events of the year.

10. I can’t remember the last time a tennis match made my year-end Top 10. But the match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon was amazing. Isner ended up winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. That’s right: 70-68. The match lasted 11 hours, 5 minutes and totaled 183 games. The final set alone was 8 hours, 11 minutes. It spanned three days. Isner still had to play a doubles match the same day (June 24) of the last day of this match. He also had to play the next round in singles the following day.

9.March 19 will go down as the day we moved and spent the first night in our new home. But during that move, I listened to one of the most entertaining college basketball games in recent memory. Northern Iowa held on to beat the number one overall seed in the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament 69-67. The end of the game featured all sorts of drama with Northern Iowa trying to hold on by hitting free throws and Kansas trying to hit threes to get back into the game. The highlight was Ali Farokhmanesh of Northern Iowa pulling up to hit an ill-advised three point shot to ice the game.

8. In another game I was unable to watch but makes my list is the Wisconsin Badgers defeating then #1-Ohio State 31-18 at Camp Randall Stadium on October 16. David Gilreath got the game started by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. The Badgers jumped out to a big lead and then held on. It was the turning point in the season which started slow and finished huge.

7. Four weeks later, the Badgers who had already established themselves as one of the top teams in the country dropped a Big Ten record 83 points on Indiana in an amazing 83-20 win.

6. The Milwaukee Bucks shocked all of us this year by making a big trade for John Salmons. Combined with the breakout year from Andrew Bogut and the rookie sensation Brandon Jennings, the Bucks made the playoffs for the first time since 2006. They were big underdogs to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round mainly due to the season-ending injury to Andrew Bogut. But the Bucks came back from a 2 games to none deficit to tie the series. Then on April 29, the Bucks went into Atlanta and won game 5, 91-87. Unfortunately, the Bucks could not close the deal two nights later at home and wound up losing the series in seven.

5. We had some good friends over to watch the Viking-Saints NFC Championship Game on January 24. It was the Brett Favre-led Minnesota Vikings looking for their first Super Bowl appearance in over 30 years against the New Orleans Saints. The game was a barn burner and was going long. Our friends had to leave, and it was Caleb’s bedtime which left me to watch the unimaginable. The Vikings tied the game at 28 with less than five minutes left. And after a defensive stop, Minnesota got the ball back. Favre drove the Purple into field goal range when the Viking curse took hold. They were called for 12 men in the huddle which backed them into what would be a 50-plus yard field goal. With time for one more play before bringing on the field goal unit, Brett Favre rolled out and could have run for the additional yardage which would have set up a very makable field goal. Instead, he threw across the field and Tracy Porter made the interception which took the game into overtime. The Saints then won it on the first possession of OT when Garrett Hartley nailed a 40-yard field goal. I could not believe that Brett threw that pass. It was so ironic that just two years earlier, Brett threw an ill-advised interception for the Packers which also cost them the NFC Championship Game.

4.A week after the Ohio State-Wisconsin game, the Badgers went into Iowa to face the #13 Hawkeyes. We watched the game from our hospital room the day after Abby was born. And what a great game it was. The Badgers were not going to have a let down after defeating Ohio State. Trailing 30-24, the Badgers drove down the field taking almost the last seven minutes off the clock. The drive included a successful fake punt, a fourth down conversion and a terrific touchdown run by Monte Ball which put the Badgers up 31-30. They had to hang on after Iowa had a nice kick return. As they were closing in on field goal range, they were unable to stop the clock on the final play of the game and the Badgers held on. The season which featured three games where the Badgers scored 70 or more concluded with a trip to the Rose Bowl against TCU. The Badgers finished the year ranked #4 in the country.

3. The playoff game on December 10 won’t go down as a great memory, but it will be one of the best games I’ve ever seen. The Packers making their first playoff appearance with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, went into Arizona to play Kurt Warner and the defending NFC champion Cardinals. Arizona jumped out to a huge lead, but the Packers fought back valiantly in the second half. Aaron Rodgers threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns including a game tying score with under two minutes left to make it 45-45. The Packers got the ball to start the overtime period. On the first play from scrimmage, Rodgers just missed a wide open Greg Jennings which would have ended the game. Two plays later, Rodgers was sacked and fumbled. Arizona returned the loose ball for a touchdown to win the game 51-45. An amazing second half of the season and a very memorable playoff game resulted in heartbreak.

2. We brought home our new baby girl on October 24. A few hours later we were watching the big Minnesota-Green Bay Sunday night game. Would this be the night that the Packers finally exercised the demons and beat Brett Favre? The answer didn’t come until the very end. Both Favre and Rodgers were playing very well in the first half. Then Favre threw a couple picks which gave the Packers a 11-point second half lead. But Brett and the Vikings stormed back and nearly pulled out the victory in the closing seconds when Favre threw to Percy Harvin in the back of the end zone. Initially ruled a touchdown, replay officials noticed that Percy had one foot out of bounds which reversed the call. The Packer defense held and Green Bay emerged with a 28-24 victory. The Viking ship sunk quickly after the loss with Brad Childress getting fired, Randy Moss being released, Brett Favre’s streak ending and the Metrodome roof collapsing. Meanwhile, the Packers continued to battle against a slew of injuries to stay in the playoff race throughout the season.

1. My number one memory might make a lot of you question the validity of my list, but I thought long and hard about this and it truly was an incredible moment. I really got into the World Cup this past summer. It was great to have a U.S. team with an incredible goalie and some big time play makers. Their group play started with an upset draw with England and then a disappointing draw with Slovenia. The Americans were faced with a situation where they needed to win against Algeria on June 23 in order to advance. The game was scoreless until the 92nd minute when Landon Donovan put in a rebound shot to win the game 1-0 for the United States. The drama, the call, the reaction of fans across the country and the understanding that this is the world’s number one sporting event made this moment my top sports memory of 2010.

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