FrontRowSportsReport.com: Sports Blog

Tiger Woods is in the middle of a swing at a recent PGA Golf Tournament when a photographer takes a picture from…after seeing the look Tiger gives the guy how bad would you feel? Personally I am amazed this doesn’t happen more often, next time it does happen I hope Tiger chucks the club at him.

Who doesn’t love a year-end list and with 2007 being a big year for big sports stories what better way to wrap up what went down. Now I could have easily made a list of the top 50 or even 100 sport stories of 2007, however I think 25 covers everything important that happened.

So how did I come up with the rankings? Well, I factored in things like impact, importance and buzz - so with out further ramblings here are my top 25 sport stories of 2007…

1. Steroids, Scandals and Cheating…oh my.
The first 5 or more top sports stories of 2007 could have easily covered Bonds battling steroids and the courts, The Mitchell Report, Michael Vick’s dog fighting ring, cheating NBA referee Tim Donaghy, Marion Jones giving back her Olympic medals, cycling doping…the list goes on and on.

2. Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run mark.
Putting aside all of the steroid accusations and court issues, Barry Bonds breaking the all-time home run record is a monumental feat. Major League Baseball (MLB) had many important records; this one is the most important – maybe the most important in all of sports. Thankfully Bonds is just holding the record until Alex Rodriguez breaks it in a few years.

3. Indianapolis Colts win Super Bowl
Peyton Manning had all of the statistics to make him one of the best quarterbacks of all-time, however was he going to be the next Dan Marino (great quarterback who never won the big one)? Not if he had anything to do with it. The Colts pounded their way all-season to a Super Bowl win that not only got that monkey off the quarterbacks back but also blessed the world with 1,001 commercials and appearances by Manning.

4. University of Florida Gators dominates major college sports
The Florida Gators made history in 2007 by being the first school to ever win the football and basketball national championships in the same year. Go Gators.

5. Duke lacrosse players get their justice
After 13 months of charges and investigations the Duke Lacrosse players, who were accused of rape, finally heard the words they wanted to hear “innocent of all charges”.

6. The greatest / craziest year in College Football History
It all started with the biggest upset, maybe ever, in College Football history - Appalachian State beating Michigan. Who knew that was just the beginning…Stanford beating USC? Kansas and Missouri in the National Championship hunt? UCONN, South Florida, Illinois and Kentucky becoming football powers? What a great year for any sports fan.

7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team makes history
The only problem with them making history is that is was the wrong type of history. The Fighting Irish had their worst season ever putting up a record of 3-9, yeah the team is young and lost numerous starters to NFL Draft but this season was unacceptable. Oh yeah and to top that off remember the 43 straight victories by the Irish over Navy? Gone.

8. New England Patriots “perfect” season
Whether or not the Patriots win their last game or not, this season that they put together is one for the record book. The numbers that quarterback Tom Brady and wide receiver Randy Moss put up are nothing short of historic. However, this team will only be considered all-time great if they win the Super Bowl.

9. Boston Celtics get their own three-headed monster
Saying that the Celtics made some major moves in the NBA off-season is an understatement. The Celtics signed both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to play along side Paul Pierce. If the Celtics can remain healthy and keep their legs fresh for the entire season they might as well book a trip to the NBA finals.

10. A-Rod’s highs and lows
Alex Rodriguez put together one of the greatest seasons ever for a right-handed hitter: 54 home runs, 24 stolen bases, .314 batting average and 156 RBI’s – true MVP numbers. However, the off-season drama that took place isn’t how A-Rod saw his monumental 2007 ending. A-Rod’s agent Scott Boras made outrageous contract demands and announced his star client’s decision to listen to other offers…during the World Series…left a bad taste in many peoples mouths. In the end, A-Rod swallowed his pride and let go of Boras to negotiate a long-term deal with the Yankees. With his contract issues behind him A-Rod can now focus on winning championships and setting records.

11. Red Sox win World Series…again.
The Boston Red Sox put the curse of Babe Ruth far behind them by winning, in convincing fashion, their second World Series in 4 years. Led by a players coach in Terry Francona and plenty of talent – both young and old, the boys from Boston look to keep the rings coming.

12. Tiger Woods has baby, dominates Golf yet again
Is there anything Tiger Woods cant do? I am telling you; enjoy watching Woods play now because in 20+ years you can say you saw the greatest golfer to ever live play at in his prime.

13. A world class NBA Draft?
Well Kevin Durant is living up to the hype (20 ppg)…we will have to wait until next year to see if Greg Oden is as good as advertised. The rest of the class? The jury is still out on them. The 2007 NBA draft was loaded with big names in addition to Oden and Durant – Horford, Yi, Noah, Brewer…but your name alone doesn’t guarantee being a star in the NBA. The season is still young and these kids have time but I am sure most NBA experts expected more from this class at this point.

14. Tim Tebow wins Heisman Award
Tim Tebow put together an unbelievable season where he ran and passed for more then 20 touchdowns, had a 177.0 passing rating and was the first Sophomore to ever win the Heisman Award – plus I heard Superman wears Tim Tebow pajamas. Not bad for a preachers son.

15. NBA Dynasty?
The San Antonio Spurs won their 4^th NBA Championship in 9 years, so does that make them a dynasty? 1 more championship and they will have their Dynasty. Sad thing is, does anyone care? This team is great and has all the key players to keep winning but in terms of likeability / personality they rank really low.

16. College Football coaches on the move
Between Bobby Petrino leaving the Atlanta Falcons for the Arkansas Razorbacks, Houston Nutt leaving Arkansas for Ole Miss and Rich Rodriquez leaving his hometown West Virginia for Michigan – it seemed like College Football coaches were in the news every week.

17. Roger Federer keeps winning…
…and winning and winning. Is their anyone is Tennis today that can beat him?

18. David Beckham comes to America
Yes, most American’s do not follow Soccer the same way the rest of the world does. But, that doesn’t mean the biggest name in the biggest sport isn’t a big deal. Even if Beckham doesn’t score every time he touches the ball his impact on Major League Soccer (MLS) is immeasurable. Case in point – without him I wouldn’t even be talking about Soccer.

19. Adrian Peterson sets NFL single game rushing record
Minnesota Viking rookie running back Adrian Peterson ran for 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers on November 4^th. The best part…253 of those yards came in the 1^st half. How upset are all those teams that passed on him at the NFL Draft.

20. Don Imus and the “comment”
On April 4^th talk-radio host Don Imus called the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed-hos” – on April 5^th it seemed everyone in the world wanted him fired…and that is what happened, sort of. After some “time off” and apologies Imus returned to the radio on December 3^rd.

21. Lebron James is almost ready to be king
Lebron can score, he can score when it counts, he can lead his team to the NBA Finals almost by himself and he is a true marketing vehicle. Now, all he needs to do is win the NBA Championship.

22. Joe Torre leaves the New York Yankees, signs with Brooklyn – I mean Los Angeles Dodgers
Joe Torre leaving the Bronx makes my top 25 list purely because I never thought I would see it happen. Torre was a beloved figure for the most famous team in the world – he won 1,173 games, 4 World Series and 2 AL Coach of the Year awards. But in New York it is all about what have you done for me lately. Now the man who brought the Yankees back to prime-time will look to transform another legendary franchise into winners once again and let me say if he does bring the Dodgers to the promise land he should be called one of the greatest managers ever.

23. The New York Knicks fall apart
If the Knicks played in another town, like Atlanta, do you think this would be as big of deal? Of course not, but when you take the media capital of the world and combine that with a coach no one likes, a horrible team and add in some sexual harassment lawsuits to boot you get a train wreck of epic proportions.

24. Boxing fights back against Mixed Martial Arts
For the past couple of years MMA has been knocking boxing around. 2007 didn’t see the comeback people were expecting but it did see some really big fights – most from Floyd Mayweather. “Pretty Boy” fought and beat both Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, even though boxing would have benefited more from some big-time heavyweight fights, the boxing gods have to be happy with some of the focus coming off of MMA.

25. Swimmer Michael Phelps goes off
Swimming is something that most people only care about when the Olympics come around, well Michael Phelps is about to get people really into the 2008 Olympics. Why? At the World Championships this past spring Phelps won 7 gold medals and set 4 world records. Get ready for a whole lost of Phelps in 2008.

After taking 10 weeks off from the tour, Tiger Woods won the Target World Challenge by 7 strokes yesterday. Tiger won his 13th Major Championship this year and has won 9 Player of the Year awards since 1997. Unless something unforeseen happens to Tiger, he will surely eclipse Jack Nicklaus’ record for most major championships - which currently stands at 20 - and go down as the greatest golfer ever.

Currently the two most dominant people in sports are Tiger and Roger Federer. Who in the four major sports (well the USA’s four major sports) can currently compare to those two?

Lebron James? Give it a few more years.

Alex Rodriguez? He needs the championships before ever being mentioned in that group.

Tom Brady? He probably comes the closes but I still think that he comes up short.

(Insert Hockey Player’s Name)? No.

I think it is interesting that the two most dominant people in sports today play sports that the USA doesn’t really care about. Granted Tiger does get his share of attention, but Golf doesn’t. I have no facts to back this up but I would put money on the fact that Men’s Tennis is the least watched sport in the USA.

Include the above mentioned sports with soccer and it shows how alienated the USA is from the sports WORLD. Not only do we not care about the most popular sports in the world, but we aren’t the best at our “own” sports (i.e. basketball & baseball). The value of the US dollar is dropping, we are dependent on foreign oil and our global diplomacy leaves something to be desired… is it a surprise we are no longer a global power in the sports world either?