Top 5 Sports Stories of 2009

Honorable Mention:
-Canada's World Junior Hockey team wins a 5th straight championship.
-Alex Rodriguez overcoming PED scandal and going on to play well and win the World Series. A 27th in the history of the Yankees franchise.
-Roger Federer wins the French Open, the only asterisk is he didn't beat Nadal.
-Detroit Lions go winless (0-17) in an NFL season.
-UCONN women's basketball goes undefeated, 39-0, and win their 6th national title.
-Lance Armstrong returns to cycling, but can't win the Tour de France.
-Jimmie Johnson wins his 4th straight NASCAR title.


5. Steelers win 6th Super Bowl.
The Pittsburgh Steelers went to Tampa to face the upstart Arizona Cardinals. The Cards had turned around decades of frustration to finally make it to a Super Bowl. The Steelers would not roll over and hand them the victory. In an amazing game that featured the longest play in Super Bowl history (a 99 yard interception return by James Harrison), Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals then had an unbelievable 64 yd touchdown reception that split the Steelers defence, gave the Cards their first lead and gave them a great chance to win if the defence could hold. Big Ben wasn't having any of it though. He drove the length of the field, finally threading the needle to Santonio Holmes with 35 seconds who tippy-toed in the back of the endzone to seal the victory for the black and gold. For his 135 yd performance, Holmes was given the MVP and Big Ben got his second Super Bowl ring.

4. Roughriders lose Grey Cup.
Your typical Canadian football game. Back and forth scoring, some timely defense and special teams that actually mean something. This game, unlike the Super Bowl won't be remembered for who won (Montreal Alouettes) as it will for who lost (Saskatchewan Roughriders). In a very pro-Roughriders environment in Calgary, the Als had a field goal attempt on the final play of the game for the win. The field goal attempt sails wide and it looked for the moment that the Green Riders would take home the Grey Cup. Unfortunately, the 13th man, which throughout most of the game was the fans, in this case was an actual player and the penalty on Saskatchewan allowed the Als to retry their field goal from 5 yards closer and this time kicker David Duval was true and split the uprights for the Montreal win.

3. Usain Bolt is fastest man alive.
Have to say this one quickly. Jamaica's Usain Bolt who came to prominence during the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 had another world stage to showcase his personality and quick twitch muscles. This time the venue was Berlin and the World Track and Field Championships. Bolt quickly (and I mean quickly) brought the world to its feet by running a blistering 9.58 in the 100m and then ran a 19.19 in the 200m to cement himself as the fastest human being ever.

2. Barcelona FC wins 6 championships.
This amazing event flies under the radar because it happened over the whole year and not in one game or under 20 seconds. FC Barcelona became the first football team ever to win six out of six competitions in a single year thus completing the sextuple, comprising the 2008–09 La Liga, 2008–09 Copa del Rey, 2009 Supercopa de España, 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, 2009 UEFA Super Cup and 2009 FIFA Club World Cup. Similar to American sports where trades or transfers are now becoming more common and dynasties are less likely this will probably never happen again.

1. Tiger Woods.
Where to start with this one. Is it Tiger winning Golfer of the Year, Athlete of the Decade or 6 tournaments this year on the PGA tour. Perhaps it is the other side of the coin, maybe the biggest story is Tiger LOSING to YE Yang in the PGA Championship, after leading on a Sunday Woods did something he hadn't done before, gave up the lead. The real story of the year in this one though is Tiger Woods's fall from grace. That link pretty much says it all.


What was your top sports story of the year?

The Arland Bruce Saga

Football south of the border officially started this past weekend with the Buffalo Bills opening training camp. At home, the CFL has been playing for several weeks and one of the biggest stories making headlines so far this season, besides the suckitude of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (3 QBs in 4 weeks, congrats!) is the outrageous behaviour of Toronto Argos wide receiver Arland Bruce.

In the week 1 game he caught a touchdown pass and to honour the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, he celebrated by removing his pads and pretending to lie in a coffin. This earned him a fine, the ire of broadcasters and his coach and a place on youtube for fans from the US to see his Chad Johnson like antics.

Ever since that incident Bruce has been in the doghouse, but he fought back by going on the air talking about his team, why he should get the ball more, his quarterback - and none of it was positive. His spouting off earned him a suspension from this past weekend's game versus Winnipeg. Many people believe that Bruce has seen his last action in an Argos uniform, especially since the Argos won without him.

Is this a smart move by the Argos brass? Let their most talented, but egotistical wide receiver go while in the middle of a tough stretch of games and with 4 other wide receivers injured including their second best in Andre Talbot. Probably not the smartest move if you ask me. Arland Bruce hasn't been the best teammate in the past couple of weeks, but the Argos offense needs him.

Bruce is unlike many other attention starved players. He got attention with his MJ tribute (why not moon walk?), his comments and by being suspended. His actions will remind football fans of Chad Johnson or Terrell Owens or Plaxico Burress. All of those players have been fined and suspended on different occasions, but as of yet, none have ever been given their release for being a jerk.

If the Argos are going to make an impact this season, they need Arland Bruce or they will see him on the opposite side of the bar burning their secondary in a game later this season.