Top Sports Stories from 2015
As we start a new year in 2016, I thought it would be fun to look back on 2015 and comment and post my thoughts on the top sport stories of 2015. There's a lot to choose from but I have narrowed it down to my favorites. This list is not in any particular order.
To start off, let's go back in February of 2015 with the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Coming into the game the Seahawks were looking to become one of the few teams to win back to back Superbowl titles. The past season they blew out Peyton Manning and the Broncos. They were looking again to come back on top and win against a very different New England Patriots team. The Patriots, came into this game with a lot of controversy. The speculation was that in preparation for a game held against the Indianapolis Colts, the patriots were accused of deflating the footballs, therefore making it easier for Tom Brady to grip the ball. (A few months after the Super Bowl Tom Brady would be suspended by the NFL for 4 games into the the upcoming regular season. However he appealed to federal court and won, meaning his 4 games which he would have been suspended for were upheld.
This game between the Seahawks and the Patriots was a really good one. It came down to the final play. The Seahawks had the ball at the 4 yard line. They could either run it in with Marshawn Lynch or pass it. Pete Carroll (Seattle's coach) decided to pass it. That call ended up costing the Seahawks the title. Russell Wilson ended up passing it to one of the Patriots defender and the Patriots won the game that year!
One of the most talked about boxing fights in 2015 was in no doubt the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Floyd came into this fight 47-0 and was determined to stay undefeated. Pacquiao, on the other hand came into the boxing ring with 57 wins, 4 losses, and 2 ties. He was looking to bring down the champ and pull an upset. Unfortunately, it didn't workout for Pacquiao and Mayweather won with an unanimous decision.
However months later, Mayweather was stripped of his title in May of 2015 because he failed to comply with the rules (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/). It didn't bother Mayweather though. All he was concerned about, according to the Telegraph, was money and having an undefeated record.
Pacquiao, apparently had a shoulder injury during the match with Pacquiao. Pacquiao himself said that was what prevented him for winning against Mayweather. A couple weeks back before the fight, Pacquiao's trainer and promo were considering postponing the fight because of it. But Pacquiao still went on to fight even having to deal with it.
Next on the list is the U.S. Women's soccer team World Cup against Japan. The U.S. Women's soccer team has been pretty dominant for years in soccer. A lot of the best in the world have come from the United States, including Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Hope Solo, and now most recently retired Abby Wambach. The World Cup is played every 4 years just like how the Olympic is. In the last World Cup in 2011, Japan and the U.S. played in the Finals in Germany. It was a good match. The game ended up being a tie and had to go to penalty kick. Japan came out on top 3 to 1.
This last year in July, they met yet again the finals. The U.S. were hungry to win, since their devastating loss to Japan 4 years earlier. This time the U.S. came on top and were all smiles in this one. They won 5-2 with 3 of the 5 goals happening in the first 20 minutes of the game. All the talk about this game was on Carli Lloyd, who incredibly scored 2 goals in 5 minutes and added one more in the game. It was a great day to be a U.S. Soccer fan.
This year Abby Wambach, one of the Women's greatest soccer player announced her retirement. What a wonderful player to watch on and off the field. She has not only been an example to her teammates but she has demonstrated that to thousands of fans as well.
I'm going to go on a little tangent. I really hadn't been that much of a soccer fan until years earlier. At that time, my family and I were staying in Park City where we watched the Men's soccer World Cup. I got so interested and from that time since I have always been a fan of soccer. It was a good year for women's soccer.
Next up we will go a different route and follow the story of Jordan Spieth. He had an incredible year in Golf. He came into the Masters being an underdog. No one expected him to win. And what does he do? He wins, of course. He also breaks records. Here's a look at them below:
He also won the U.S Open later on a few months later in June as well as the John Deere Classic, which was also in that month. All in all, in the year of 2015 he won 5 PGA Titles, ascended to #1 in the World in Golf Rankings, and won the PGA Tour player of the year award in 2015. (http://www.golfdigest.com/story/jordan-spieth-ends-2015-with-the-perfect-tweet)
On twitter just before New Years, he tweeted that he would rather not have this year to end. And who would blame him? 2015 was an incredible year for him and now he has a chance to do more things in 2016.
Next story up is Duke beating Wisconsin out for the NCAA basketball title. March Madness is always a fun month for die hard basketball fans. 64 teams come together in a tournament competing against each other until one is on top. In this case, Duke beat out Wisconsin 68 to 63 with Tyus Jones and Jahil Okafor stepping up for the Blue Devils.
A lot of people were wondering if anybody could stop Kentucky. They started 38-0 which was a team best for them in their history. In my mind I thought that they were going to win it all. But Wisconsin comes in as the underdog and gets the W, earning them a spot in the National Championship. I love March Madness and its one of my favorite months to watch basketball.
I couldn't leave out Ronda Rousey from this post. She's an MMA Boxing fighter who has been dominant in all her previous fights and had never lost until she fought against a fighter named Holly Holm. Not a lot of people were expecting Holm to win, but she brought it to Rousey in an unusual way. She not only won her she knocked her out. It's kind of ironic because Rousey has been doing that to most of her opponents and in this fight it was her the one that was knocked out instead of the other way around. Holly Holm came into this fight confident and determined to win and she did that. She didn't let Rousey intimidate her in any way. She stepped up her game big time and it all her worked out for her good in the end.
The next story is on BYU vs Nebraska. It's the home opener in football and Nebraska hadn't lost in their home opener for 30 years. The last time Nebraska lost in a home opener at home was in 1985. The pressure was on BYU to see if they could break the streak. Taysom Hill, who has struggled a lot with injuries came back and played a heck of a game. He was 21/34 for 268 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He also ran the ball 9 times for 72 yards and 2 rushing Touchdowns. Unfortunately, he got injured again and later on was declared out for the season. Such a tough time for a remarkable player who has battled injuries for many years.
His backup QB was Tanner Mangum. I am a BYU fan and was really disappointed with Hill going out and really didn't have high expectations for him at all. The pressure is on him and comes in and completes 7 out of 11 passes for 111 yards and a game winning Hail Mary TD. BYU shocks Nebraska with Mangum's pass to Mitch Matthews. Whether you are a BYU fan or not you have to be pretty impressed with that play. Not a lot of freshman quarterbacks could pull off what Mangum did that day.
Now to the NBA where Golden State defeats the Cavs in the Finals for the NBA title. The last time they won the title was 1975 so they really wanted to win for the city and the people. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson made the magic happen in Oakland, along with Draymond Green, Andre Igodola and many others on the team that contributed greatly for them being able to win it all.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, Kevin Love got injured during the playoffs and Kyrie Irving got injured during the Finals I believe so that left Lebron James to do it on his own. That would be a tough task for him. He gave it all he could with those two gone but it just wasn't enough against Steph and the Warriors. The Cavs had a good run though. On Jan 13, 2015 their record was 19-20 and they make an extraordinary comeback to make it to the finals. That's pretty remarkable to say.
The Warriors are still the team to beat this season. They have won 30 games and have only lost twice. The question though is now will they still be able to win without Curry. He was out against the Mavericks and they dominated the Warriors 114 to 91. It will be fun to see how the rest of the NBA season turns out.
This last one is regarding the World Series. The Kansas City Royals wern't able to win the World Series in 2014 against the San Fransisco Giants but in 2015 they came back and were able to win the the New York Mets. They hadn't won the World Series since 1985 so a 30 year old drought came to end and they were able to make more plays than the Mets to claim the victory.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Indianapolis Colts beating Peyton Manning and the Colts. I love Peyton Manning and will always cheer for him and Denver but I love the Colts more so this was fun to win at home against the Broncos!
Philadelphia Eagles beating the Cowboys on the Road: I loved watching this game because DeMarco Murray, who unfortunately has been struggling this season came back to Dallas (his old team) and played like his old self. The best play of the night of course belonged to Sam Bradford connecting to Jordan Matthews in overtime to win the game and in Dallas too!
Denver Broncos beating the New England Patriots
The odds of the Broncos beating the Patriots weren't very good with Brady playing as good as he has at his age. However, Brock Osweiller came in for an injured Manning and made the plays down the stretch to be able to beat the Patriots, and give them their first loss of the season!
The Eagles beating the Patriots on the road
I love how they don't just beat them but they beat them on the road. It's so hard to play at Gillette Stadium and the Eagles were able make the bigger plays than the Patriots and hold on for the victory at the end.
What a great year for sports in 2015! Bring on 2016!
To start off, let's go back in February of 2015 with the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Coming into the game the Seahawks were looking to become one of the few teams to win back to back Superbowl titles. The past season they blew out Peyton Manning and the Broncos. They were looking again to come back on top and win against a very different New England Patriots team. The Patriots, came into this game with a lot of controversy. The speculation was that in preparation for a game held against the Indianapolis Colts, the patriots were accused of deflating the footballs, therefore making it easier for Tom Brady to grip the ball. (A few months after the Super Bowl Tom Brady would be suspended by the NFL for 4 games into the the upcoming regular season. However he appealed to federal court and won, meaning his 4 games which he would have been suspended for were upheld.
This game between the Seahawks and the Patriots was a really good one. It came down to the final play. The Seahawks had the ball at the 4 yard line. They could either run it in with Marshawn Lynch or pass it. Pete Carroll (Seattle's coach) decided to pass it. That call ended up costing the Seahawks the title. Russell Wilson ended up passing it to one of the Patriots defender and the Patriots won the game that year!
One of the most talked about boxing fights in 2015 was in no doubt the fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Floyd came into this fight 47-0 and was determined to stay undefeated. Pacquiao, on the other hand came into the boxing ring with 57 wins, 4 losses, and 2 ties. He was looking to bring down the champ and pull an upset. Unfortunately, it didn't workout for Pacquiao and Mayweather won with an unanimous decision.
However months later, Mayweather was stripped of his title in May of 2015 because he failed to comply with the rules (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/). It didn't bother Mayweather though. All he was concerned about, according to the Telegraph, was money and having an undefeated record.
Pacquiao, apparently had a shoulder injury during the match with Pacquiao. Pacquiao himself said that was what prevented him for winning against Mayweather. A couple weeks back before the fight, Pacquiao's trainer and promo were considering postponing the fight because of it. But Pacquiao still went on to fight even having to deal with it.
This last year in July, they met yet again the finals. The U.S. were hungry to win, since their devastating loss to Japan 4 years earlier. This time the U.S. came on top and were all smiles in this one. They won 5-2 with 3 of the 5 goals happening in the first 20 minutes of the game. All the talk about this game was on Carli Lloyd, who incredibly scored 2 goals in 5 minutes and added one more in the game. It was a great day to be a U.S. Soccer fan.
This year Abby Wambach, one of the Women's greatest soccer player announced her retirement. What a wonderful player to watch on and off the field. She has not only been an example to her teammates but she has demonstrated that to thousands of fans as well.
I'm going to go on a little tangent. I really hadn't been that much of a soccer fan until years earlier. At that time, my family and I were staying in Park City where we watched the Men's soccer World Cup. I got so interested and from that time since I have always been a fan of soccer. It was a good year for women's soccer.
Next up we will go a different route and follow the story of Jordan Spieth. He had an incredible year in Golf. He came into the Masters being an underdog. No one expected him to win. And what does he do? He wins, of course. He also breaks records. Here's a look at them below:
He also won the U.S Open later on a few months later in June as well as the John Deere Classic, which was also in that month. All in all, in the year of 2015 he won 5 PGA Titles, ascended to #1 in the World in Golf Rankings, and won the PGA Tour player of the year award in 2015. (http://www.golfdigest.com/story/jordan-spieth-ends-2015-with-the-perfect-tweet)
On twitter just before New Years, he tweeted that he would rather not have this year to end. And who would blame him? 2015 was an incredible year for him and now he has a chance to do more things in 2016.
Next story up is Duke beating Wisconsin out for the NCAA basketball title. March Madness is always a fun month for die hard basketball fans. 64 teams come together in a tournament competing against each other until one is on top. In this case, Duke beat out Wisconsin 68 to 63 with Tyus Jones and Jahil Okafor stepping up for the Blue Devils.
A lot of people were wondering if anybody could stop Kentucky. They started 38-0 which was a team best for them in their history. In my mind I thought that they were going to win it all. But Wisconsin comes in as the underdog and gets the W, earning them a spot in the National Championship. I love March Madness and its one of my favorite months to watch basketball.
I couldn't leave out Ronda Rousey from this post. She's an MMA Boxing fighter who has been dominant in all her previous fights and had never lost until she fought against a fighter named Holly Holm. Not a lot of people were expecting Holm to win, but she brought it to Rousey in an unusual way. She not only won her she knocked her out. It's kind of ironic because Rousey has been doing that to most of her opponents and in this fight it was her the one that was knocked out instead of the other way around. Holly Holm came into this fight confident and determined to win and she did that. She didn't let Rousey intimidate her in any way. She stepped up her game big time and it all her worked out for her good in the end.
His backup QB was Tanner Mangum. I am a BYU fan and was really disappointed with Hill going out and really didn't have high expectations for him at all. The pressure is on him and comes in and completes 7 out of 11 passes for 111 yards and a game winning Hail Mary TD. BYU shocks Nebraska with Mangum's pass to Mitch Matthews. Whether you are a BYU fan or not you have to be pretty impressed with that play. Not a lot of freshman quarterbacks could pull off what Mangum did that day.
Now to the NBA where Golden State defeats the Cavs in the Finals for the NBA title. The last time they won the title was 1975 so they really wanted to win for the city and the people. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson made the magic happen in Oakland, along with Draymond Green, Andre Igodola and many others on the team that contributed greatly for them being able to win it all.
Unfortunately for the Cavs, Kevin Love got injured during the playoffs and Kyrie Irving got injured during the Finals I believe so that left Lebron James to do it on his own. That would be a tough task for him. He gave it all he could with those two gone but it just wasn't enough against Steph and the Warriors. The Cavs had a good run though. On Jan 13, 2015 their record was 19-20 and they make an extraordinary comeback to make it to the finals. That's pretty remarkable to say.
The Warriors are still the team to beat this season. They have won 30 games and have only lost twice. The question though is now will they still be able to win without Curry. He was out against the Mavericks and they dominated the Warriors 114 to 91. It will be fun to see how the rest of the NBA season turns out.
This last one is regarding the World Series. The Kansas City Royals wern't able to win the World Series in 2014 against the San Fransisco Giants but in 2015 they came back and were able to win the the New York Mets. They hadn't won the World Series since 1985 so a 30 year old drought came to end and they were able to make more plays than the Mets to claim the victory.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Indianapolis Colts beating Peyton Manning and the Colts. I love Peyton Manning and will always cheer for him and Denver but I love the Colts more so this was fun to win at home against the Broncos!
Philadelphia Eagles beating the Cowboys on the Road: I loved watching this game because DeMarco Murray, who unfortunately has been struggling this season came back to Dallas (his old team) and played like his old self. The best play of the night of course belonged to Sam Bradford connecting to Jordan Matthews in overtime to win the game and in Dallas too!
Denver Broncos beating the New England Patriots
The odds of the Broncos beating the Patriots weren't very good with Brady playing as good as he has at his age. However, Brock Osweiller came in for an injured Manning and made the plays down the stretch to be able to beat the Patriots, and give them their first loss of the season!
I love how they don't just beat them but they beat them on the road. It's so hard to play at Gillette Stadium and the Eagles were able make the bigger plays than the Patriots and hold on for the victory at the end.
What a great year for sports in 2015! Bring on 2016!
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