In 1999, on the cusp of the millennium, my dad and I drove down to Veterans Stadium for my first Phillies game. Just five years old, I didn't know any players on the team and hardly knew what baseball was, but for some reason I fell in love. Just a year later at six years old in the second grade, I could recite the whole Phillies 1980 World Series team, and had a school journal full of sports. While other kids were writing about their puppies and their friends, I wrote about Nolan Ryan, Joe Morgan, Ernie Banks and "Lefty" Steve Carlton. Whether I knew it or not, it was evident from a young age that sports and I were destined to be together forever. Now eleven years since my first encounter with sports, the first decade of my young life is coming to a close, I feel obligated to recap it all. While sports have shaped me, and will continue to shape me, this is the first sports decade of the new millennium through my eyes; the eyes of a new and developing fan.
2001 started an unfriendly legacy for Philadelphia's beloved birds; they couldn't win an NFC Championship. When the Eagles lost in the NFC Championship to Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and the "Greatest show on turf" St. Louis Rams in 2001, it was only a year later that it simply became routine. In 2002 they lost to the Bucs 27-10 in what was the final football game at Veterans Stadium and again 1n 2003 they lost to the Carolina Panthers 14-3. When they finally got over the elusive NFC Championship hump in 2004 with a 27-10 win over Atlanta, it was only to fall short in Super Bowl XXXIX and become the third victim in the decade of the New England Patriots, losing 24-21. After that, all hell broke loose. Terrell Owens, who the team acquired in the 2004 off-season to became the star receiver to compliment the now star quarterback Donovan McNabb, could only hold it together for one year until he began to tear up the organization. With rumors of McNabb vomiting in the huddle during the final drive of the Super Bowl, where McNabb would later throw an interception to Rodney Harrison to end the game, T.O. put all the weight of the loss on the shoulders of his once best friend and quarterback Donovan, and with that created turmoil that would shake the sports world. ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports, virtually became the Worldwide Leader in having updates on the McNabb-Owens saga, while they could not go more then ten minutes of a segment without discussing the two. The next year with Owens woefully wearing an Eagles uniform the team finished 6-10, the worst record since McNabb and Andy Reid's first season, and the second time that the Eagles hadn't made the playoffs in the McNabb-Reid era. Jeffery Lurie, Joe Banner, and ultimately Andy Reid made the executive decision after the 2005 year to rid the Eagles of the cancer that was Terrell Owens. The following year behind back up quarterback Jeff Garcia the nagging team was back to their winning ways and into the playoffs, took another vacation from January football in 2007, then was back in '08 losing in the NFC Championship once again to the Arizona Cardinals. And the legacy is re-born. Now with a playoff birth already locked up in 2009, the Birds are yearning for answers on how to pull through in the clutch, and with that to silence all of the non-believers. While the success has been plenty in the McNabb and Andy Reid era, the burden has been the Championship that the team still doesn't have. And fans want to know how much longer we can wait on # 5, Reid, and the rest of 'em to capture Philadelphia football's first ever Super Bowl.
While the 1990's NBA Dynamic Duo debate was a close running between Stockton and Malone and of course Michael Jordan and his wing man Scottie Pippen, the 2000's kicked off with a duo standing alone; Kobe and Shaq. When Kobe was just 22 years old Phil Jackson utilized the now "infamous" triangle offense, that enabled Kobe and Shaq to lead the Lakers to the top three years in a row. A dynasty spanning from 1999 to 2002. Kobe and Shaq simply rocked the basketball world and some wondered if they would ever be stopped. However, like all good things Kobe and Shaq came to an end. The season following the Lakers' third straight title, they started 11-19 with O'neal sidelined with a toe injury, and from their the Kobe-Shaq relationship began to quickly descend. With Kobe absent at training camp prior to the 2003-2004 season, due to the rape allegations against him, Shaq made comments saying that the whole team was at training camp, clearly implying what he thought on Bryant's role on the squad. One thing led to another and O'neal proclaimed that the Lakers were his team, and if Bryant didn't like what he had to say then he could leave. That year, the Lakers lost to the Pistons in the NBA Finals; following, the Kobe-Shaq feud reached its peak. When Kobe was in contact with the Clippers that off-season, the team had to act quick and choose between the two, the only solution to the Lakers' problem was to separate the two super-divas, and they did so. Kobe resigned, and a short time after Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant a future first round pick. That year, the NBA scheduled a Christmas day match up between the Lakers and the Heat, between Kobe and Shaq, one of the most hyped match ups in the league's history. Shaq won a title with Dwayne Wade and the Heat in 2006, and Kobe would later get his title alone in 2009. But the two would not go down for their individual accomplishments, but as a duo dynamic as they come, and yet another combo, who's reign was cut way too short.
Parody was hard to find in major league baseball in the early 2000's. The New York Yankees, Bronx Bombers, Evil Empire, whatever you choose, picked up where they left off in the late 90's when they won the 2000 Subway Series against the New York Mets 4-1. 2001 proved the Yankees mortal when Mariano Rivera blew a Game 7 save on a Luis Gonzalez walk-off single, to hand the Arizona Diamondbacks' their first ever World Series win, with MVP's Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson capturing their first career rings. The next year was the first Series since 1998 that was "Yankee-less" when the Angels of Anaheim defeated Bar-roid Bonds and the San Francisco Giants in 7 games. The following year, 2003, the Yankees lost in 6 games to the Florida Marlins who took home their second ever World Series crown, but the story that October was the sighting of the Curse of the Great Bambino. It had been 86 years since the Red Sox had won a World Series, 86 years since trading away possibly the greatest baseball player of all-time, and 86 years full of bad bad luck. With the game tied in the bottom of the eleventh inning of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, Aaron Boone, who had earlier came into the game as a pinch runner, hit a walk off home run off Tim Wakefield that shocked the world, and left Red Sox Nation thinking the curse would never be broken. The next year Boston fired manager Grady Little and brought in Terry Francona. Ready to come back with a vengeance and beat the Yankees. The Yankees reloaded their already star studded lineup by adding one of the league's best, Alex Rodriguez to play third base. The Yankees and Red Sox again met in the ALCS. The Sox quickly went down three games to none, including a Game 3 19-8 loss that put the Yankees on the brink of another pennant. That was when Boston caught fire at the exact right time. The Sox won Game 4 on an 11th inning walk-off home run by David Ortiz, Game 5 on a 14th inning David Ortiz walk-off single, and Game 6 4-2 behind Curt Schilling pitching with a torn tendon and the famous bloody sock, to even the ALCS at 3-3. Boston breezed through Game 7, and on October 20th, 2004, under the lights of the stadium that the Sultan of Swat built himself, the curse was just about broken. The finishing touch? The Sox marched into the World Series and swept the St. Louis Cardinals, and with that officially snapped a legacy 86 years in the making. Bill Buckner? Buck Dent? Even Aaron Boone? All was forgotten when Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, and the rest of the Boston team paraded around Closer Keith Foulke on Busch Memorial Field of St. Louis. And that night, with the whole world watching, they became the best team of the decade. Not because they had the most talent on their side, or the most Wins, but because they simply defied all odds. They were told that because of the 86 years that came before them, that they couldn't do it, and they took all of that, and threw it right back in everyone's face. Curse? What curse? The Boston Red Sox were baseball's Little Engine that could, that represented everything good about the game. If there ever was a story in sports it was the Curse of Babe Ruth on the Boston Red Sox, and the 2004 team that silenced it all.
The 2003 NBA Draft was the finest of the decade, it gave birth to a majority of the current stars that keep us on the edge of our seats night in and night out. First; arguably the best player of this generation, Lebron James. Third overall; current NBA scoring leader Carmello Anthony, fourth overall, already 4-time All-Star Chris Bosh, and fifth overall; Dwayne Wade, 2006 NBA Champion and winner of the 2009 scoring title. Other notables, Clippers Center Chris Kaman, Cavaliers point guard Mo Williams, Hornets forward David West, and Mavericks forward Josh Howard, which makes this not only the draft class of this decade, but one of the strongest draft classes of all time. Sports Illustrated and ESPN rarely have predicted someone to be one of the greatest before they stepped onto the hardwood, but with Lebron they did just that. When Lebron James was at St. Vincent St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, he was the one player that all the "experts" said would simply be, elite. Just eighteen years old when he first stepped onto an NBA court for the first time, Lebron has succeeded in their expectations and has put his name up with the likes of Magic, Bird, and Michael, and only 25 years old. Not only did the 2003 Draft give way to one of the most talented batch of players the League has ever seen, but also possibly one of the best players ever to touch an NBA basketball.
The 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens brought about one of the greatest American Athletes of all-time, and the greatest athlete of the last decade, Michael Phelps. In 2004, Michael Phelps emerged from the crowd of Olympians as a human oddity. He won Gold in 6 events, and Bronze in the other two, setting world records in the 400m Individual Medley, and the 4x100 Medley, and Olympic Records in 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly, and the 200 m Individual Medley. You think Phelps peaked there? Well you were wrong. In the 2008 games in Beijing, Phelps joined Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Larissa Latynina, and Paavo Nurmi as the only Olympians in Modern History to win 9 Career Gold Medals. Phelps also broke Mark Spitz's record of 7 Gold Medals in a single Olympics, by winning eight, one in every event. But here's the thing, simply winning was not enough for Phelps, because he absolutely dominated. In 2008, Phelps set the world record in every event, aside from the 100m Butterfly where he set the Olympic record, re-writing what he had already etched into the record books. While Phelps had success on other stages, his work on the Olympic level made him elite as well as a legend, and set him way apart from any other athlete of this time period.
When the USC Trojans met the Texas Longhorns in the Rose Bowl on January 4th, 2006, it was right away dubbed an instant classic. Not only was the game played between two undefeated teams ranked #1 and 2 in the AP Polls, but also featured former NFL players, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Steve Smith, Dwayne Jarrett among others on and Vince Young, Jamaal Charles, Aaron Ross, Michael Huff, Limas Sweed among others on Texas. With two Heisman Trophies on the Trojans' side with Leinart and Bush, USC was the clear cut favorite surfing on Cloud 9 until the Longhorns showed up in Pasadena. Down 38-33 in the 4th quarter with little time left on the clock, All-American Vince Young led the Longhorns into USC territory and capped off the drive with a 4th down 9-yard touchdown run; his third TD run of the game that put the Longhorns up 41-38 with just 19 seconds left in the game. The game ended with that score, Young's touchdown the difference. Texas played the underdogs, but in the end came out on top over the team that no one thought could be beaten. That year, Reggie Bush, Vince Young, and Matt Leinart all went in the Top 10 of the NFL Draft, and proved the magnitude of the Rose Bowl matchup we had all witnessed.
On December 19th, 2006 the 76er's dealt superstar guard Allen Iverson to the Denver Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two future first round picks. With rebuilding just around the corner, the team had done the unthinkable in trading the 6 foot guard from Georgetown when he seemed to be showing no signs of slowing down. When the latest attempt at finding A.I. a wing man failed in the form of "has been" Chris Webber, the organization finally realized that it just wasn't going to ever work out. But what the departure of Iverson made me realize was really just how good he was. The "little" man brought it day in and day out, and never had the guys around him to be able to show it on the National stage. The 4-time NBA Scoring Champion, 3-time All NBA first team, 10-time All-Star, 2-time All Star Game MVP, 1997 Rookie of the year, and to top it all off 2001 NBA Most Valuable Player is one of the greatest players to ever wear a Sixer uniform, and one of the greatest players to ever step on an NBA court at his size. And I feel privileged to have gotten to watch him in his prime. Allen Iverson brought me and many others to our feet more than any player ever will on the hardwood in South Philadelphia, and will always be held in the hearts of all Sixers fans. After short stints with the Nuggets, Pistons, and Grizzlies, Iverson is back in Philadelphia older and humbled, and is most likely looking to end his career here. While some may remember Iverson for his infamous, "talkin bout practice?" interview, I remember him as the guy who paid his dues to a franchise that never paid him back. There will be something to be said for a guy who never won a Championship and never had grteat players around him, when his # 3 is put up in the rafters and when he is enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
The 2005 NBA Draft was the final year that players could be drafted out of High School. The NBA put a rule into affect that said that players needed to wait one year after High School and be at least 19 years old to be eligible for the pros. The year prior, Shaun Livingston and Dwight Howard, each top five picks, were both right out of High School. Little did the NBA know at the time, that forcing High School players to go to college would change the NCAA Basketball game forever. Now top High School recruits like Eric Gordon, Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, and Kevin Love had no intentions of staying in college, and really played solely because they had to. What does that do for College Basketball? Certainly not anything good. It is becoming near impossible for NCAA coaches to develop anything close to a future plan. They can't count on keeping their star players for more than a year, with the money the NBA is offering. David Stern, you did the right thing, that sadly has a not so good long term affect.
2006 and 2007. Somewhere in a castle far far away, Archie Manning sat in his lazy boy arm chair, remote in hand, flipping through the channels as he watched his two quarterback sons Eli and Peyton take over the football world. Archie's oldest son Peyton, won MVP awards in 2003, 2004, was a Super Bowl Champion in 2006, and then would later win another MVP Award in 2008. On February 4th, 2009 Peyton Manning silenced all the nay sayers who said that he couldn't win in big one, when he and his Colts met the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI and came out on top 29-17. Manning won MVP, in the monumental game; the first Super Bowl ever to feature two African-American coaches, Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy. About a year later, Eli Manning lead his New York Giants into Super Bowl XLII as possibly the biggest underdogs ever, going against the undefeated New England Patriots. The Pats, who brought in receivers Wes Welker and Randy Moss in the off-season to compliment their "All World" quarterback Tom Brady, were 18-0 entering the Super Bowl, only threatened by a few teams all year, the Giants being one of them. The Patriots rolled into Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands in Week seveteen 15-0, one win away from a perfect regular season. The Giants didn't make it easy. It took the Pats just about all 60 minutes to defeat the Giants 38-35, in which Tom Brady and Randy Moss each beat the single season touchdown records for their respective positions on the same play when they hooked up for 65 yards in the 4th quarter. So when the Patriots stole the spotlight from the Giants like they had from so many other teams during that year, Eli kept his club poised to get revenge next time the two would meet. Well that next meeting came in Glendale, Arizona on football's biggest stage. Down 14-10 with ample time left on the clock, Eli took the snap and ripped off the greatest play of the decade. He escaped sack after sack, dancing out of the pocket and firing way down field to David Tyree who caught the ball at the Patriots 23 yard line, with his hands pressing it against the top of his helmet. Simply, WOW! Later on the drive, with thirty seconds left, Manning through a short touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress, that put the score at 17-14, that would hold up as the game winner, and hand the Patriots their first loss of the season. After the game Manning was named Super Bowl MVP pulling Peyton's poise out of his pocket and leading the 12.5 point underdog Giants to yet another world shocking victory. Peyton and Eli became the first brothers to both play in the Super Bowl and also win Super Bowl MVP's, doing so in successive years. So for bringing two of the finest quarterbacks of this generation into the world; Kudos Archie! and of course Olivia as well.
2007 was the worst year for Major League Baseball since the 1994 players strike. On August 7th, Barry Bonds stepped up to the plate under the lights of AT & T Park in San Francisco and blasted a 435 ft. Home run off of Washington pitcher Mike Bacsik; the 756th of his career, and with that the most all time. But unlike when Hank Aaron passed Babe Ruth on the all-time home run list in April of 1974, everyone was not happy for Bonds. It had become evident, due to Bonds ascending size and numbers that he was an avid steroid user throughout his career. So when Bonds smashed his 756th over the fence in San Fran, the initial reaction was confusion for fans all across America. Bonds didn't only take a record with him when he left the ballpark that night, but he took the purity of baseball; steroids had won. Four months and six days later, Senator George J. Mitchell released a 409 page document on the history of the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in baseball, called "The Mitchell Report." After 21 months of research inside sources Kirk Radomski and Brian McNamee, Senator Mitchell's work had an affect on baseball like nothing ever had. Notable players named in the Mitchell reports as users of illegal performance enhancing drugs; Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Jose Canseco, Miguel Tejada, Eric Gagne, David Justice, Paul Lo Duca, Troy Glaus, Rick Ankiel, Mo Vaughn, and of course many many others. While we all knew that steroids were a part of baseball with McGwire and Sosa in the early 2000's, no one knew that it was this rampant. The reason why the Mitchell Report had such an affect on baseball was because the ordinary guys were on the list: Gregg Zaun and Ryan Franklin. If these are guys are shooting up, why should we hold back from questioning anyone who puts up big numbers, or has a little extra mustard on their fast ball? Now every time someone hits 40 home runs like Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, or Ryan Howard, everyone compulsively says "steroids," because Mitchell showed us how "routine" they are becoming in baseball. Now, no one is innocent. Is it safe to say that the 90's ruined baseball? Well, it's a stretch but it has made it a lot less enjoyable to watch someone have a great year; if all those guys did steroids, doesn't everyone?
"Swing and a miss! Struck him out! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of Baseball!" The words of 72 year old Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas echoed through South Philadelphia when closer Brad Lidge got Eric Hinske to fan at a slider with two strikes to beat the Rays 4-3. And on October 29th, with over 45,000 fans in attendance under the lights of Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies were World Series Champions for the second time in the club's history, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in five games. It was the cities first title since the 76ers won the NBA Finals in 1983; a total of 100 seasons between the 4 major sports. The Phillies won the World Series behind rising star Cole Hamels, who won MVP in the NLCS and World Series, fueling a staff yearning for a star. But just as big a story was their World Series opponent, the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays went from last to first in the AL East from '07 to '08, surpassing the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, two of the league's richest teams, to eventually make the World Series. So when the Rays, one of the league's lower payroll teams, and the Phillies, a team composed of players who had come up through their minor league system met in the World Series, they proved that spending isn't always the winning formula. However, the New York Yankees were not inspired by either of the teams "winning ways." With George Steinbrenner passing control to his son Hank Steinbrenner, we all saw that the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. The Yankees went out and had the most expensive off-season ever, signing A.J. Burnett to a 5 year deal worth $82.5 million, C.C. Sabathia to a 7 year deal worth $161 million, and Mark Teixiera to an 8 year deal worth $180 million; locked and loaded to win again. On April 13th, 2009, about a week into the baseball season, Harry Kalas died before a telecast in Washington, in where else but the broadcasting booth. Harry, Philadelphia's cherished voice, was honored ceremoniously with a precession at CBP, a sign honoring his name in left field, and of course an HK patch on the jersey of ever player and coach. The theme of the year became, "Do it for Harry," repeat for Harry. Sadly, that Fall, behind Philly's new pitching phenom Cliff Lee, the Phillies lost in the World Series to the New York Yankees 4-2; a repeat run cut short when money defeated destiny. But on that cold November night, when the Yankees defeated the Phillies at the New Yankee Stadium, there is no doubt that Harry was watching, and maybe, just maybe, lending his voice as well.
No matter what happened in the first ten months of 2009, the final year of the decade, Tiger Woods headlined it all. One of the world's greatest athletes, Woods was recently, EXPOSED. With the number of Tiger's mistresses climbing into double digits early in December, we can only shake our heads at the role model that once was. Just recently, AT & T cut off their sponsorship of Woods while Gilette and Gatorade also announced that they were backing off the now infamous figure. Cheating while not getting caught is bad in itself, but Tiger, now the world knows. You went from our beloved putting saint, to the infamous "Driver" with a legacy people will not be so soon to forget.
Finally, I congratulate some of those who reached big career milestones in the last decade. No matter how tainted the runs may have been, congrats to: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Frank Thomas, and Gary Sheffield for becoming the newest members of baseball's 500 Club. Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, and Greg Maddux for joining the 300 Win Club. To coach Pat Summitt for becoming the all-time College Basketball leader, eclipsing over 1,000 wins. Tom Brady, Ladanion Tomlinson, and Randy Moss, for breaking the single season touchdown record at all of their respective positions. Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'neal, and Ray Allen for scoring 20,000 points in their careers. Devin Hester for breaking the all-time single season Return Touchdown record, and Tim Tebow for passing Hershel Walker for the All-Time SEC Rushing Record, while playing quarterback. And last but certainly not least, I congratulate myself. Without knowing it I did not once mention Brett Favre in this article, hey must've slipped my mind.
