It's that time of the year again. As the calendar year wraps up, the superlatives come raining down. I traditionally end the year with a countdown of the best games from January 1-December 31. The number of games usually corresponds to the number in the year, and that's the case again this time (eventually the year number will get to high to use it as the basis of the countdown). Although, this is the first time that I have more than one contest from the same sport/event. That's because of the many memorable games we saw during those two weeks in Rio.
16. Indianapolis 500: May 29, Indianapolis-Was this one of the all-time classic Indy 500s? No. But the 100th running of the Greatest Spectacle In Racing produced quite a finish. All of the leaders had to pit for fuel late in the race, handing the lead to rookie Alexander Rossi. He didn't pit and was running on fumes at the end. Despite going less than 180 mph, he held off Carlos Munoz and Josef Newgarden by just over four seconds.
15. Olympic Trials, Women's 100 Meter Hurdles: July 8, Eugene, OR-How loaded is the U.S. in this event? Well, for starters, Keni Harrison broke the world record a week AFTER she didn't even make the Olympic team. Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin were the three that did, and they went on to sweep the medals in Rio.
14. US Open Men's Quarterfinals (Kei Nishikori vs. Andy Murray): September 7, New York-I was there for that incredible five-set match Rafael Nadal lost in the third round, but this scintillating quarterfinal trumps that one. Murray won Wimbledon and the Olympics, and he'd go on to become No. 1 in the world. But in the US Open quarterfinals, he blew a two sets-to-one lead against Olympic bronze medalist Kei Nishikori, who looked out of it before emerging victorious, 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
13. Champions League Final (Real Madrid 1, Atletico Madrid 1): May 28, Milan-To say Cristiano Ronaldo had a good year would be an understatement. Before Portugal won Euro 2016, he scored the winning penalty kick for Real Madrid in the Champions League final against rival Atletico Madrid. The winner came in the final round of the shootout after the game ended 1-1.
12. Olympic Women's 10,000 Meters: August 12, Rio de Janeiro-Those wacky Rio organizers. The first final of the track & field program--in the first session on the first day--produced a world record. And it was a brilliant one at that, with Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana shaving 14 seconds off the existing mark. Ayana's world record wasn't the only thing that made this the fastest women's 10,000 in history, though. The second-, third- and fourth-place finishers had the third-, fourth- and fifth-fastest times ever, and there were a total of eight national records set, including Molly Huddle's American record that was also an area record.
11. UFC 196 (Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm): March 5, Las Vegas-In her first fight after beating Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm lost to Miesha Tate. That women's championship bout wasn't the main event, though. That was Conor McGregor. So what if he lost to Nate Diaz? This was one of the biggest events in UFC history until that long-awaited Madison Square Garden debut in November, which was also headlined by a certain Irishman.
10. Australian Open Women's Final (Angelique Kerber vs. Serena Williams): January 30, Melbourne-Little did we know it at the time, but 2016 would be the Year of Angelique Kerber. It started so innocently in Australia in January. After saving a match point in the first round, she stopped Serena's coronation, putting that 22nd Grand Slam title on hold until Wimbledon with a BRILLIANT 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory that was the talk of the tennis world. She'd later win the US Open (in another three-set thriller) and take Serena's place as the world No. 1.
9. Olympic Men's 100 Meter Butterfly Final: August 12, Rio de Janeiro-Michael Phelps didn't win gold in his final individual Olympic race. Yet he found his swan song to be entirely fitting. He finished behind Joseph Schooling, a 21-year-old from Singapore who took a photo with his idol during the USA's training camp in that country prior to the Beijing Games. The best part, though, was that Phelps finished in a three-way tie for silver--with South Africa's Chad le Clos (who beat him in this event in London) and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh (who won so many silvers behind Phelps throughout his career).
8. World Cup of Hockey Semifinal (Europe 3, Sweden 2 OT): September 25, Toronto-Say what you want about how stupid including Team Europe in the World Cup of Hockey was. They were fun to watch, though. That semifinal game against Sweden is a prime example of that. This game was by far the most entertaining of the tournament. It was 1-1, then Europe scored early in the third, only to see Sweden tie it with less than five minutes left. But Tomas Tatar put one past Henrik Lundqvist in overtime to upset the Swedes.
7. Olympic Men's Golf Final Round: August 14, Rio de Janeiro-A funny thing happened during the Olympic golf tournament. The players embraced being in the Olympics after all, and a truly exceptional tournament was the result. Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar were locked in a tight battle heading to the back nine, where Rose ended up taking the gold by two strokes over Stenson, who was one ahead of bronze medalist Kuchar.
6. NFC Divisional Playoff (Cardinals 26, Packers 20 OT): January 16, Glendale, AZ-While the Super Bowl sucked, there were plenty of outstanding games in the earlier rounds of the playoffs. I easily could've gone with that Steelers-Bengals wild card game or even the final Manning-Brady showdown for the AFC championship. But I decided to go with the Cardinals-Packers Divisional Playoff. A game where Aaron Rodgers threw the tying touchdown pass on the final play of regulation, only to see Carson Palmer connect with Larry Fitzgerald on a 75-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage in overtime...then find Fitzgerald again two plays later to win it.
5. Ohio State 30, Michigan 27 (2 OT): November 26, Columbus, OH-For the first time in a long time, Ohio State and Michigan were both good heading into their season-ending matchup. They both came in 10-1, and they were ranked second and third in the country. And the game lived up to the hype. Ohio State tied it with a field goal on the final play of regulation, then after both teams scored touchdowns on their first possession of overtime, the Buckeyes won it in the second extra period to lock up a place in the College Football Playoff.
4. Olympic Men's Soccer Gold Medal Game (Brazil 1, Germany 1): August 20, Rio de Janeiro-Brazil wanted one gold medal at the Rio Games. And they delivered it. The men's soccer gold medal game went to penalty kicks tied at 1-1. After the Brazilian goalie made a save, Neymar stepped up to the spot and put it into the back of the net, giving the hosts their first-ever gold medal in their national sport and sending the sellout crowd at the Maracana, one of the sport's cathedrals, into euphoria.
3. World Series, Game 7 (Cubs 8, Indians 7): November 2, Cleveland-After 108 years, what's an extra half-hour? The Cubs and Indians gave us an amazing World Series, capped by an incredible Game 7. Chicago led 6-3 before Rajai Davis homered in the bottom of the eighth to tie it. There was a rain delay before the 10th inning, during which the Cubs had a players-only meeting in the clubhouse. They then went out and scored two in the top of the 10th before closing out a championship no baseball fan will ever forget.
2. NBA Finals, Game 7 (Cavaliers 93, Warriors 89): June 19, Oakland, CA-The Cubs came back from a 3-1 deficit to win a title. They were the second team to do that this year. The first was the Cavs, who just so happened to knock off a Warriors team that had beaten them the previous year and set a record with 73 regular season wins (against just nine losses). LeBron's tour de force started in Game 5, and he was at his very best in Game 7, posting just the third Game 7 triple-double in NBA history. He also had "The Block" with the score tied 89-89 with 1:50 left, then, after Kyrie Irving hit the go-ahead three, nailed a free throw with 10.6 seconds remaining to ice Cleveland's first pro title in any sport since 1964, delivering on the promise he made when he returned to the Cavs.
1. NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game (Villanova 77, North Carolina 74): April 4, Houston-LeBron didn't quite do enough to earn the top spot, though. That honor goes to one of the best NCAA championship games in history--that thriller between Villanova and North Carolina. We all thought we were headed for overtime after North Carolina's Marcus Paige hit that ridiculous off-balance three-pointer to tie it at 74-74 with less than five seconds left. Villanova had other ideas, however. Kris Jenkins launched one just before the buzzer, and he sank it to give the Wildcats the championship. It was the Play of the Year without question, and it lifted the NCAA Championship Game above all the others as the Game of the Year, as well.
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