Top 5 of 2010

It creeped up on us, the end of the year. That means the influx of end of year lists. It seems this year there aren't as many "top ten" lists or "best of" lists. Maybe the end of the decade last year took the wind out of every one's sails. I will however not overlook 2010, and therefore present to you...the top 5 sporting events of 2010.

5. SF Giants win the World Series
Everyone went into the season thinking that the AL was hugely superior to the NL and that the AL East was the be all and end all of baseball. During the season that all got flipped on its head. Although the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox were all strong and even the Jays surprised it was two west division teams that met in the World Series. The Giants and Rangers clashed and again, even though most experts had the Rangers as the stronger team, it was the Giants and there outstanding pitching staff and make-shift line-up that ended up with the hardware. Everyone is already talking up the Phillies and Brewers for next year, but if history repeats itself we should be looking elsewhere.

4. Tiger Woods not winning a golf tournament
This might have nothing to do with sport. After the now infamous Thanksgiving day 2009 incident that took Tiger Woods from golfing legend and family man to philandering weekend hacker we had to find a new number 1 golfer in the world. For the first time since graduating from Stanford, Tiger Woods did not win a golf tournament and he was only in contention a handful of times. Without hoisting a trophy in 2010 Woods fell from the position of number one golfer in the world. No one doubts that Woods still has the talents to win many more championships, but now the bigger question is if he can break the majors record. Many advertisers hope that he returns to pre-2009 form.

3. Spain wins the World Cup (World Cup in general)
The whole month of World Cup soccer action was great. The excitement of waking up every morning knowing that the best players in the world, playing the beautiful game were going to put on a show. Spain has produced some of the best players in the world over the last 10 years. Four years ago, many assumed that the generation of Spanish talent that could have won a World Cup had passed, but led by Fernando Torres, David Villa and David Silva they conquered all comers. Other great moments included the scoring prowess of the Netherlands, Diego Maradonna's insane rants, the improbable run by Ghana and the one thing everyone expected - England's failure. Now FIFA makes us wait another four years till 2014 in Brazil...see you in Rio!

2. Miami Heat/LA Lakers
These two NBA stories aren't the same, but one came about primarily because of the other one. First, in June, the LA Lakers won their second straight NBA title over the Boston Celtics. Led by one of the best ever, Kobe Bryant and a very strong supporting cast in Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. Threatening to become three time champs, the Lakers sat back in summer and watched the drama unfold. The summer of 2010 marked the biggest free agent class to ever hit the market. Three of the top 15 players in the NBA - LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh all became free agents, as did Amar'e Stoudamire, Joe Johnson and Carlos Boozer. Nobody had any idea where these players would end up. It turns out James, Wade and Bosh had been talking and they all ended up with the Miami Heat. Although, the three of them thought this was probably the best idea ever, fans didn't and the backlash commenced. The new super power team the Heat put together had a rough start to the season, but have picked up their game and will definitely be around this June, probably against the Lakers.

1. Canada wins Hockey Gold (Olympics)
The Olympics came to Canada for the first time since 1988 and it was finally time for Canada to win a gold medal on home soil. It was supposed to happen on the first night, but we had to wait until the second night and Alexandre Bilodeau in the moguls. It started off well and continued all the way until the final day of competition when Canada men's hockey team defeated the United States to win the gold medal. The game was in question when Canada blew a late lead and the US forced the game into overtime, but then Sidney Crosby came to the rescue with the golden gold. The closing ceremony was an ode to everything Canada and a great topper to a Canadian games.