2007: The Year in Sports

While we're recounting the year that just passed, here are my top twelve sports stories of 2007. One story for each month of the year, checking the sports tags in this blog from from December 29th back to January.

1. December 29: New England Patriots go 16-0
First undefeated 16-game regular season in NFL history.
Crown their ass.

2. November 22: "Old England" eliminated from Euro 2008
The country that invented modern soccer doesn't have one of the 16 best national teams in their own continent.

3. October 6: Stanford 24, USC 23
I was out of the country when this happened, and found out by noticing that USC somehow dropped from #1 to #8 in the Yahoo NCAA football poll. Given the way that USC finished the year, this might have been an even bigger upset than the one below.

4. September 1: Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32
A ranked division 1A ("Bowl Subdivision") team loses to a 1AA ("Championship Subdivision") team for the first time ever. Conform or be cast out. The restless dreams of youth.

5. August 7: Barry hits #756*
Uneasy lies the head that wears the asterisk.

6. July 30: RIP, William Ernest "Bill" Walsh 1931-2007
With all respect to Msrs. Belichick and Parcells, there was only one "Coach Bill".

7. June 10: The A's sweep the Giants in S.F.
This didn't really matter in the long run, but it was the high water week of the Oakland Athletics 2007 season -- 2 out of 3 from the Red Sox followed by a sweep of the Giants, and it was all downhill after that.

8. May 3: Warriors eliminate Mavs 4-1
The 2007 Golden State Warriors -- We Believe!

9. April 4: Florida 84, Ohio State 75 (NCAA basketball)
The Florida Gators became the only school to win NCAA football and basketball championships in the same year, beating Ohio State in both championships.

10. March 24: Okay, March was a slow sports month..
India & Pakistan eliminated from the Cricket World Cup

11. February 6: Colts 29, Bears 17 (Super Bowl XLI)
The game itself was super dull, but Tony Dungy became the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl. And Lovey Smith became the first African-American to lose one.

12. January 1: Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (Fiesta Bowl)
Only the greatest football game ever played.