by Josh Bertaccini
1) December. With an NFL single season record of 31 touchdowns (and counting, with two games left), San Diego Chargers’ RB LaDainian Tomlinson has had a phenomenal individual season. But it is his selfless personality and speak-with-action leadership that have really lifted the Chargers to a 12-2 record and legitimate shot at the Super Bowl. Watching LT week-to-week is like watching a caged cheetah: you just know he’s going to break free eventually, and when it happens, you’ll never be able to catch him. Tomlinson has been very public with his respect for the many great running backs that came before him; it is clear now that he has emerged as one of the great running backs of all-time himself. LT is the sports story and personality of the year.
2) January. In a legendary performance in one of the greatest college football games ever played, Texas QB Vince Young rushes for 200 yards and throws for 267, leading his underdog Texas Longhorns to a come-from-behind 41-38 win over USC in the Rose Bowl for the National Championship. Young scrambles for the game-winning 12 yard touchdown on 4th down with under twenty seconds left. Texas finishes the year at 13-0, preventing USC from a repeat championship. The game is all the more remarkable for the amount of NFL talent on hand, with the likes of Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Michael Huff among the many big names who would shortly thereafter become first round NFL picks.
3) February. It was made for Hollywood, except it was real. Rochester, NY, high school senior Jason McElwain gets in a varsity game and goes bananas, hitting six straight three-pointers en route to a total of 20 points in three minutes. McElwain suffers from autism, and was the team’s manager for several years. His coach, Jim Johnson, added him to the roster before the team’s final home game so he could be given a jersey and sit on the bench with his team. Little did Johnson know McElwain would become a national sensation with his performance. Sometimes sports really do get through to the heart better than anything else. The movie is already in the works.
4) October. The Saint Louis Cardinals win their 10th World Series title, and first since 1982. With 83 wins, the lowest ever total for a postseason team, the Cardinals hold on to the NL Central division title in the last weekend of the season, then get red-hot in the playoffs. Cards’ skipper Tony LaRussa revamps his bullpen on the fly to impressive results, with dominating performances by his relievers throughout the post-season, and Saint Louis rolls through the Padres in the first round, the Mets in an epic seven game NLCS, and finally the Tigers in a five game World Series romp. David Eckstein is named World Series MVP.
5) February. The Pittsburgh Steelers become the only sixth-seeded wild card team ever to win the Super Bowl, defeating the Seattle Seahawks, 21-10 in Super Bowl XL. At 23 years of age, Ben Roethlisberger becomes the youngest signal-caller ever to win a Super Bowl Trophy, while wide receiver Hines Ward wins the game MVP award, with a five catch, one touchdown, 123 yard performance. It is the Steelers’ first Super Bowl title since 1980, fifth all-time, and first under head coach Bill Cowher. It will prove to be one of the easier moments for Roethlisberger in what will become a physically difficult year for him personally.
6) July. Floyd Landis “cheats” to win the Tour De France. The doping problem in the world of sport continues to plague competition, fans and the athletes themselves. In cycling, the target of media scrutiny had been American Lance Armstrong for the better part of the last half-decade. But Lance retired last year after his seventh consecutive Tour De France victory. This opened the door for someone else to grab the crown, and American Floyd Landis was the man to do it. The 30-year-old Landis came from nowhere to win the most famous title in his sport, only to see it all called into question less than two weeks after the race, when two of his urine tests came up positive for high amounts of testosterone, a cycling no-no. Landis maintained his innocence, and still awaits an arbitration hearing to determine the fate of his crown, but public opinion is surely not on his side.
7) December. Tiger is named PGA Tour Player of the Year after dominating the golf world in limited action; in the ’06 season, he won multiple majors in the same year for the fourth time and ended up with more tournament wins than anyone else. Still, the story of the year for the greatest golfer on Earth was one of grief and mourning. Tiger disappeared from the public golf scene for more than two months after his father Earl’s death on May 3rd. When he returned, Woods was better than ever, dominating the field for victories in all six of his final PGA events of the year. Tigers’ career major victory total is now at eleven; Jack Nicklaus’ career record mark is 18.
8) March. George Mason’s improbable Final Four run. Although Florida claimed its first national championship, the majority of college basketball fans will remember 2006 for George Mason’s improbable trip to the Final Four. The Patriots upset two of the previous year’s Final Four teams---including an exciting back-and-forth overtime win versus UConn---to become the first mid-major to make the national semifinals since Indiana State and Pennsylvania both did it in 1979. Led by seniors Tony Skinn, Lamar Butler and Jai Lewis, George Mason showed what true team chemistry could allow a team to achieve in the greatest-ever NCAA Cinderella run.
9) June. The Miami Heat win the NBA title. What do you get when you put together an all-time great coach, a Hall of Fame center, a veteran supporting cast and an emerging superstar who can drive to the basket better than anyone on the planet? The answer: an NBA Championship. Overcoming a two games to none hole at the start of the series, the Miami Heat win their first-ever franchise title with a six game Finals triumph over the Dallas Mavericks. Pat Riley and Shaquille O’Neal were the big names on the Miami team, but Dwyane Wade was the story. With a freakish package of speed, agility and fearlessness, Wade immediately put himself on the short list of best players on the planet.
10) May. Barbaro shatters his front right leg at the Preakness. Equestrian athletes are some of the most extraordinary physical specimens in all of sport; unfortunately, the same gifts that make them so breathtaking also make them highly fragile. Few people, however, expected to witness the scene that transpired at Baltimore’s famed Pimlico racetrack in this year’s Preakness Stakes. Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro was a heavy favorite to win the race and perhaps the Triple Crown as well. But something was clearly awry when Barbaro bounded from his gate too early. After a restart, Barbaro pulled up lame early in the race itself, with a broken front leg. Most horses with such injuries never recover, and usually they are put to sleep. But Barbaro’s owners couldn’t accept those facts, and put the horse through an extensive surgery and subsequent rehabilitation. The lengthy recovery continues, but as of now, Barbaro is alive, improving and continuing to overcome the odds.
HONORABLE MENTION:
-2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
-Carolina Hurricanes
-Florida Gators win first-ever NCAA men’s hoops title
-TO’s ongoing soap opera
-Endy Chavez catch
-Maurice Clarett sentenced to jail
-Italy defeats France for the World Cup crown
-Roger Federer dominates the men’s tennis world
-Andre Agassi retires
-Dicekay Matsuzaka
-Knicks/Nuggets' brawl
-Allen Iverson traded
-Lamar Hunt’s passing
-Lamar Hunt’s passing
