No. 9: Wimbledon
Familiar marquee names and their drama filled the headlines at Wimbledon this year: Roger Federer’s fall from grace, Serena Williams’s continued dominance, Rafael Nadal’s swashbuckling brilliance. Even the Queen put in an appearance, a royal first in 33 years. Yet amid all the star power, this year’s championship found its…
No 8: Masters 2010
The Masters may be one of the four cornerstones of men’s professional golf, but the Georgia invitational might also be considered a genteel, clubby stop on the championship circuit. In 2010, though, the tournament had been overwhelmed by news of — and online searches for — the return of Tiger…
No. 7: World Series
With a cast of characters befitting San Francisco’s love of the unconventional and the flamboyant, the Giants won the World Series for the first time since 1954, when they were still in New York. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers in five games behind homegrown pitching, led by…
No. 6: NBA Playoffs
Throughout the years, Kobe Bryant has transformed himself from ultratalented young player to veteran winner. He understood that his game was built on practice and preparation and that, unlike LeBron James, he wasn’t a physical freak. Bryant stands a wiry 6-foot-6, and night after night of double teams and hacking…
No. 5: U.S. Open
Rafael Nadal thought it “unbelievable” after becoming only the seventh man in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam. But the rest of the tennis world certainly could believe. By the time he beat Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open singles final, his triumph seemed a mere formality. Not…
No. 4: NFL Draft
Hope for the upcoming pro football season begins with the NFL Draft, and the buildup to the annual stockpiling of college talent is highly anticipated every April. Fans of all 32 NFL teams spend weeks poring over lists of projected picks (or mock drafts) in an effort to become the…
No. 3: Super Bowl
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, devastating the city and sending its beloved football team, the Saints, to play the season in Texas. Many thought that the team would never return to its damaged home stadium, and that the region might never be able to financially support an NFL…
No. 1: World Cup
Every four years, the sporting world stops for a month to focus on every pass, shot, and save of the World Cup. The difference with this year’s event in South Africa was the U.S. tuning in with unprecedented enthusiasm, thanks to a resilient group of soccer players who embodied the…
Good Sports
When quarterback Drew Brees led the underdog New Orleans Saints to victory over Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, the win signaled that this would be the year of excellence over celebrity. Good Sports World Cup Winter Olympics Super Bowl NFL Draft U.S. Open NBA Playoffs World Series…
No. 2: Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics couldn’t have suffered a worse start, with the death of Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run. The accident cast a pall over the Games before they had begun. There was even talk of Vancouver 2010 going down as one of the worst Olympics…