Hey Man, Can't We All Just Get Along?
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Whole Hog Is All Heart
Every weekday of December (except for December 25, that is), Phillyist will be counting down to 2009 with our highlights from the past year and our predictions for the next. If you have a list you'd like to submit, let us know!
5. Week 17 of the 2008 NFL season goes perfectly for the Eagles: Maybe it's just because this one is fresh in my head, but seriously, how could all of us not watch in awe and amazement as the Bucs pulled a major choke job against the Raiders—yes, the Raiders, with their mad genius head coach Tom Cable and the best owner in the NFL in Al Davis. Alright, I thought, but we still need help from one or both of the NFC North teams. I guess the Bears wanted to pay us back for that gift of a win we gave to them in Week 4. All of that made the Eagles-Cowboys game a true "Win and you're in" for both teams, and what could have been better than puttin' a good ol' fashioned Philadelphia ass-whoopin' on Dallas? Throw in Philadelphians' love of watching the other guys collapse for a change, and the Broncos and Jets gave us some extra reason to smile at the end of Week 17.
4. David Tyree's ridiculous on-the-helmet catch at the end of Super Bowl XLII: Philadelphians were in a precarious position when the Giants met the Patriots in the Super Bowl. On one hand, we had pretty boy Tom Brady, cheater Bill Belichik, and the Patriots' pursuit of perfection—something I think most Philadelphians would have liked to see only because then Mercury Morris would have to shut the hell up about the '72 Dolphins. But for the most part, most people I know in this city really wanted to see the Patriots fail. Epically. Unfortunately, for that to happen, we'd have to root for—or rather, just not root against—the New York Giants. This Phillyist begrudgingly supported the G-men for those four quarters, but I really wasn't all that into the game. Until, with just over a minute left and the Giants down by four, Eli Manning pulls a Harry Houdini to avoid a sack, scrambles right, and chucks the ball up for grabs down the field, where Tyree pins it against his helmet and somehow maintains control despite Rodney Harrison's attempts to pry the ball out of his hands. That moment set up the Giants' game-winning touchdown and put the dagger through the Pats' perfect season. It also, almost fifty-nine minutes in, gave me a rooting interest in a game where I really hoped there was a way both teams could lose.
3. Anthony Kim races to the 15th tee on Ryder Cup Sunday: The thing with that was, by halving the 14th hole with Sergio Garcia, Kim won his match 5 & 4. The Ryder Cup rookie just wanted to keep putting a hurt on Garcia to rub it in. This year's Ryder Cup—not a Philadelphia sports story, but an American sports story—was the most exciting three days of golf in recent memory. The Europeans had taken the event the last three times out, and the Americans haven't held the Cup since 1999. We (the collective "we," players and fans alike) were hungry, on a mission to reclaim the trophy. And we'd have to do so without Tiger Woods, who was out of the event due to his knee surgery. American captain Paul Azinger decided to go with an unorthodox strategy, using three of his four captain's picks to put Ryder Cup rookies on the team over veterans. Three more rookies qualified for the team, which meant a full half of Team USA was Ryder Cup rookies. With the event being held at Kentucky's revered Valhalla golf course, it was fitting that the majority of the team was from the south—Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Georgia. A golfing buddy and I, just before the Ryder Cup this year, agreed that it had a funny, but good feel about it. It was being held right in the backyard of many of our players. Tiger's absence meant no distractions for our team. And it meant no pressure, as very few people even gave the Americans a fighting chance going in. Kim, a Texan who had the bigger-than-life attitude that his state is known for, led the charge as the Americans absolutely took it to Team Europe for three days. Kim's Texas-style beat-down of Garcia to start the final day of the Ryder Cup catapulted the US to a cruising victory, and the fact that he wanted to keep beating Garcia even after he'd already won put a big smile on my face.
2. Jason Lezak outreaches Alain Bernard to win the 4 x 100 freestyle relay in Beijing: Like many Americans, I usually watch the Olympics with only half-interest. But the 2008 Games kept me riveted because it was held in China, where the intersection of sports and the "real world" was on full display, and, of course, because of Michael Phelps' pursuit of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 gold medals. Commentators figured that the toughest gold for Phelps to get would be the 4 x 100 freestyle relay. If the Americans won that race, Phelps would be favored in the rest of his swims. If not, Phelps could "only" lay claim to seven medals, and the rest of the Olympic swimming would have been far less interesting. It really came down to that one event and so, understandably, there was a lot of hype for the race. But whatever amount of hype there might have been couldn't even come close to preparing me for what actually happened—three of the most exciting minutes in sports in 2008, and probably for several years prior. From the get-go, it looked like the race might be close, and it would come down to the US and the France (boo! hiss!). But during the third leg, Frenchman Frederick Bousquet opened up a sizable lead on American Cullen Jones. With Alain Bernard—who'd held the world record for 100 meter freestyle—anchoring the French team, it looked like Phelps's pursuit of the magic eight would come to an unspectacular end. American anchor Jason Lezak dove into the water more than a body length—a mile in swimming terms—behind Bernard, and made up ground, but not quickly enough it seemed. With twenty-five meters to go, Lezak was still 3/4 of a length behind Bernard. Those last twenty-five meters seemed to slow down and go in fast forward all at the same time. It was clear that Lezak could overtake Bernard if given an infinite amount of time and space; the question was whether he would run out of pool before he did. He's going to catch Bernard! He doesn't have enough space! But he's going to catch him! But not soon enough! It went back and forth like that. With each meter, Lezak got closer, and in the last two meters, it was clear it would just come down to the last stroke and the reach to the wall. The American team was screaming at the top of their lungs, and so were the French, and so were the announcers, and so were my companions and I in my living room. The NBC graphic flashed "U.S.A. 1, France 2, Australia 3." Lezak had touched first, won by literally a fingertip. Everyone erupted—especially Phelps, whom I thought was going to pull a Bruce Banner-like transformation into a raging beast. It might have been Phelps's Olympics, but that moment, that race, was Lezak's—and America's.
1. Brad Lidge blows away Eric Hinske with a slider to end the World Series—and Philadelphia's major sports championship drought: Not much needs to be said about this one, because we all slept, ate, breathed (or held our breath), lived the Phillies' incredible run. With a couple weeks to go in the regular season, I thought the Phillies weren't going to make the playoffs. But the Mets had collapsed before, so there was hope. Sure enough, the Mets went 3-6 to end the season, while the Phillies finished up on a 13-3 tear. As the Phillies tore through the playoffs, I kept waiting for something to go wrong, something to crush the city's sports dreams once again. But all went well, until Mother Nature intervened with some truly heinous weather to put a stop to Game 5—after the umps and Bud Selig had allowed the teams to play two innings too long, just so the Rays had a chance to tie the game. But, two nights later, things got back on track. Brad Lidge—the perfect Brad Lidge this season (we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Houston Astros for that Lidge/Bruntlett-for-Bourn/Geary trade) threw one of the sickest pitches we've ever seen to end the game, the World Series, and twenty-five years of heartache for Philadelphia sports fans.
Image Credit: Flickr user dameetch
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Excellent recap, Ross. Too many people forget Jason Lezak, who pulled one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen. The type that make me love the Olympics and tune in every 2 years.
And I won't even point out to you where Lidge went to college (hey, it was our only shining light in the last 2 years, I have to savor it).