Recapping 2019

With just a few days remaining in 2019, I figured now's as good a time as any to do a "Year In Review" piece.  There have been a lot of "all decade" lists coming out in various places over the past few weeks, but since the decade technically doesn't end until next year (we had this same problem at the Millennium...there was no year 0!), I'm not going to do that.  Besides, 2019 gave us enough all on its own.

Baseball: It took until Spring Training already started, but Bryce Harper and Manny Machado got their big-money deals with the Phillies and Padres, respectively.  Then, like two days later, the Angels doubled down and made Mike Trout the highest-paid player in baseball while also guaranteeing he'll spend his entire career in their uniform.  Harper's former team, the Nationals, got the last laugh, though.  After years of playoff failures, they went all the way, capturing their first World Series title in seven games over the Astros, who had some off-the-field, shall we say?, "problems" come to light.  Meanwhile, Mariano Rivera, the Greatest Closer of All-Time, headlined the Hall of Fame class after becoming the first player unanimously elected to Cooperstown.

Football: Football year-in-reviews are always weird because the season is almost over at the end of the year, but the year started with the end of the previous season.  Anyway, the tail end of the 2018 season gave us two great conference championship games followed by a dud of a Super Bowl, where the Patriots won their sixth Lombardi Trophy of the Bradicheck Era.  There was one good thing to come out of the NFC Championship Game, though.  The non-call on an obvious pass interference by the Rams made pass interference reviewable, which was long overdue (even if they still don't get it right).  And this season, of course, the NFL has celebrated its centennial.

Hockey: At this time last year, the St. Louis Blues were the worst team in the NHL.  Six months later, they hoisted the Stanley Cup.  The final of the Women's World Championships wasn't USA vs. Canada for the first time, and it was just weird.  Finland won, celebrated on the ice, then controversially had the goal disallowed, only to have the U.S. win the gold in a shootout.

Basketball: After eight years, the NBA changed the rules and LeBron's team was no longer required to be in the Finals.  Instead, it was the Toronto Raptors who represented the Eastern Conference, and they brought the NBA title North of the Border for the first time.  They beat the Warriors, who were in their fifth straight Finals before seeing the team broken up big time in free agency.  There was also a World Cup that the U.S. struggled to put together a team for, and it showed.  They qualified for the Olympics, but that was about the only positive that could be taken away from their performance.  They had the worst showing ever for an NBA-based U.S. team, losing in the quarterfinals and finishing seventh overall.  Spain won its second world title.

College: Clemson and Alabama continued their domination of the College Football Playoff, once again meeting for the National Championship.  Although, that run ended in the 2019 portion of the season, with LSU taking Alabama's place as Kings of the SEC.  Virginia, meanwhile, won its first men's basketball championship, with an overtime victory over Texas Tech.  Baylor was the top women's team all year and cemented that status with a National Championship after a great title game against Notre Dame.  UConn made its 11th straight Women's Final Four, but was only a 2-seed in the tournament because of how weak the American Athletic Conference is.  That was the last straw for UConn, which led to the Huskies' return to the Big East next school year.

Soccer: We saw perhaps the most competitive Women's World Cup ever.  The USA-France quarterfinal game had the feel and intensity of a final.  Entering the tournament, the question was whether or not the U.S. would defend its title.  They did so in dominant fashion, although it wasn't the classiest performance.  The way they ran up the score against an incredibly overmatched Thailand and celebrated like they'd never scored before rubbed a lot of people (myself included) the wrong way, and they didn't act any more professionally the rest of the tournament.  It didn't help that the ringleader, Megan Rapinoe, a woman who could really use a dose of humility, ended up being named tournament MVP.  So, what should've been a great, feel-good moment when they beat the Netherlands for their second consecutive World Cup title ended up being divisive instead.

Rugby: New Zealand's 18-game Rugby World Cup winning streak came to an end when they lost to England in the semifinals.  England was heavily favored in the final a week later against South Africa, but the Springboks proved to be the better team that day and won their third World Cup.  The U.S. went 0-4 in the tournament, but really had no chance after ending up in a group with three heavyweights--England, France and Argentina.  They also had to cancel several games for the first time in tournament history when a typhoon hit Japan.

Tennis: Stop me if you've heard this before--Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal dominated the year in men's tennis.  Djokovic won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while Clay Boy added a US Open title to his annual French Open victory.  On the women's side, meanwhile, Naomi Osaka finally got to celebrate a Grand Slam championship the appropriate way with her victory in Australia, which made her No. 1 in the world.  Ashleigh Barty then became No. 1 by winning the French Open, while Simona Halep won Wimbledon.  Bianca Andreescu capped the year by becoming the first Canadian Grand Slam champion with her victory over Serena Williams at the US Open.  Serena, meanwhile, stays stuck on 23 Grand Slam titles.

Golf: Tiger Woods let us all know that he isn't done yet.  In April, he turned back the clock with a vintage performance.  He had golf fans and non-fans alike enthralled as he charged down the back nine on Sunday to earn a comeback win at the Masters.  Tiger wasn't in contention at any of the other Majors, but was the top American performer at the President's Cup.

Track & Field: The World Athletics Championships were held later in the year than ever before in a brand new location--Doha, Qatar.  That turned out to be a mistake, as the stadium was empty on the first few days and the heat was unbearable.  And, as a result of the heat at the women's marathon, the IOC took it upon themselves to move next year's Olympic marathons from Tokyo to Sapporo.  There were plenty of notable performances, though.  Christian Coleman won the 100, Noah Lyles was electric in his 200-meter victory, DeAnna Price and Donavan Brazier became the first American World Champions in their events, and the U.S. set a world record in the debut of the mixed 4x400 relay.  Caster Semenya wasn't in Doha, as she was controversially excluded by the new testosterone rules that were passed in March and later upheld.

Swimming: Caeleb Dressel had a Phelpsian performance at the World Championships, winning eight medals, six of them gold.  Katie Ledecky was expected to have a similarly-dominant showing, but took a shocking silver in the 400 freestyle and was forced to withdraw from her two best events (800 freestyle, 1500 freestyle) due to illness.  There was also plenty of controversy, as China's Sun Yang was allowed to compete despite a pending doping suspension and won two gold medals.  At the first medals ceremony, Great Britain's Duncan Scott refused to stand on the podium with Sun, and at the second, silver medalist Mack Horton of Australia refused to shake his hand.

Olympics: First the good news.  The Winter Games will return to the more traditional Western European location that the IOC wanted in 2026, when Milan and Cortina, Italy will host.  Maybe Russia will actually be competing under their own flag again by then.  Because they simply can't get out of their own way.  Their doping crisis has only gotten worse, and it's all their own doing.  As a result, they've been given a four-year suspension from all international sports, with the pending appeal to be heard in early 2020.  And don't get me started on the 2024 Paris Games, where "breaking" will make its Olympic debut and surfing will be held 10,000 miles away from Paris in Tahiti.

That's just a sampling of what happened in the world of sports in 2019.  There was also Simone Biles' return, retirements (Lindsey Vonn, Andrew Luck), deaths (Tyler Skaggs, Bart Starr), stadiums and arenas opening and closing, and so much more.  In short, 2019 was another great year in sports.  I'm excited to see what 2020 has in store for us.