The past year had its usual share of glories. Unfortunately, they were outweighed by a dismayingly large helping of the inglorious. The Christmas Day Hawaii Bowl served as perfect metaphor: a triple overtime thriller overshadowed by a game-ending brawl. On that sour note, here are my Top 20 highlights and lowlights for 2003:
Lance-A-Lot: He teased us, even gave us a mighty scare. But on the Champ Elysees it was the yellow jersey once again for America’s Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. Five victories in a row ties the record, but a sixth in 2004 would be the ultimate charm.
October Song: The Red Sox and Cubs broke a lot of hearts in what was a throwback thrill of a fall postseason. While the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was restored to fever pitch, it was the Marlins who, in the end, were still standing. All combined to remind us just how enthralling baseball can be.
Evil Designs: The fans may not want to hear it, but they can no longer deny the ugly truth-not since the Feds knocked over a designer drugs lab for our jock set. No athlete is reported to be a target of the investigation. But the parade of superstars like Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Marion Jones before a grand jury was a disturbing sight indeed.
Enter LeBron: His was the most hyped pro-sports debut in history. And more amazing is that LeBron James may ultimately prove worthy of every bit of it. Still, even his dazzling talents don’t make the NBA must-see TV again. Not yet, anyway.
Kobe’s Crash: We thought we’d lost the ability to be shocked by our athletic heroes. But seldom has one fallen off such a lofty pedestal. Regardless of the court verdict, Kobe Bryant will never soar quite as high in our eyes again.
Major Surprises: Let’s start with the fact that Tiger Woods didn’t win a major for the first time since 1998. Or that all four champions were first-time major winners. Still, nothing could have prepared us for total unknowns Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel winning the British Open and PGA championships respectively; neither had ever won any PGA tourney before.
Schools for Scandal: It was one mortifying incident after another. Coaches canned for strip-club frolics, academic frauds, partying with coeds and lying about gambling habits. But nobody stooped as low as ex-Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss who urged his players to lie to police about a murdered teammate to cover up abuses in his program.
Goodbye WUSA: Once upon a time we adored our World Cup “Girls of Summer.” Just not, it turns out, on an annual basis. Women’s pro sports are in serious trouble. Title IX created a lot of ladies who play, but not yet enough who’ll pay to watch other women play.
BCS Blues: Last January, the BCS finally lived up to its promise when Ohio State nipped Miami for the national championship. But the victory lost some luster when Buckeye star running back Maurice Clarett turned out not to be quite as big at attending classes. And now the BCS encore-Oklahoma-LSU-looms as no championship at all.
Records Galore: At swimming’s world championships, American Michael Phelps broke more world records-five-than anyone ever in a single meet. Still, the 18-year-old had to settle for four golds and two silvers. Next summer in Athens, Phelps could try to match Mark Spitz’s fabled 1972 Olympic performance of seven gold medals.
Gruden Time: Oakland Raiders kingpin Al Davis exacted what he thought was a king’s ransom to let Jon Gruden go coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It wasn’t enough, as the Bucs thrashed the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII. A season later, though, the Raiders look like the only team Tampa could still whip.
Ladies of Golf: Martha took on Hootie and Augusta, and golf fans got a commercial-free Masters. Annika took on the PGA men and demonstrated both game and class. But the best performance was by Michelle Wie, who won the U.S. Amateur Public Links at age 13.
Class Act: The Spurs-Nets final was a mismatch. Still, everyone had to feel good seeing the NBA’s classiest act-Tim Duncan and David Robinson-go out on top. Another prized pairing finally broke up without a title as John Stockton retired while Karl Malone went to L.A. in search of that championship ring.
The 300 Club: Roger Clemens got his 300th win, then hung up his spikes-at least for the winter-with 310. Who knows if the Rocket has a National League career ahead of him? The 300 Club may gain another member, Greg Maddux, next year. After that, it just might just close its doors for good.
Tuna Supreme: Bill Parcells returned and performed another amazing-and incredibly swift-reclamation project. The Dallas Cowboys are the fourth team he has ushered to the playoffs. Still, the best coaching job may have been performed by Parcells protegee Bill Belichick, who has led the lightly regarded Patriots to the NFL’s best record.
Bidding for Adu: The whole world was watching-and much of it was bidding-when Freddy Adu chose to stay home and play pro soccer in America. The 14-year-old phenom signed with MLS (and Nike) and will play with his hometown D.C. United next season. (A slightly bigger move occurred when David Beckham, the captain of England, departed Manchester United to play for Real Madrid.)
Gym Dandy: Our gymnastics fortunes have waned since “The Magnificent Seven” of Atlanta. But at the 2003 Worlds, we scored big. First a scrappy group of teens won America’s first-ever world championship women’s team gold; then Paul Hamm became the first U.S. man to win the individual all-around title.
Shades of Seabiscuit: A people’s horse, Funny Cide, served up some legendary nostalgia by winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. But once again, a Triple Crown was not to be; Funny Cide became the ninth horse since Affirmed turned the trick a quarter century ago to lose that dream in the Belmont.
Roddick Time: Andy Roddick had his breakthrough, smashing his way to victory at the U.S. Open. But with both Williams sisters injured early in the season, women’s tennis had to make do with the feuding Belgians, Kim Clijsters and Justin Henin-Hardenne. Did anyone this side of Brussels care?
Grecian Earn: Drug scandals kept what little good news there was for U.S. track out of the headlines. But a little-known decathlete, Tom Pappas, joined a long line-Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson, Bruce Jenner, Dan O’Brien-of U.S. standard-bearers as “world’s greatest athlete.” If the Greek-American can repeat the trick next summer in Athens, he might just become a hero in two countries.
