What a year to be a sports fan

From steroids to gambling to cheating to game-fixing refs, virtually all sports around the world, and in the U.S. in particular, have come under heavy scrutiny of late and are facing image problems in one form or another. Despite all these issues that have recently been brought to the forefront, the products on the field have been some of the best a sports fan could hope for, and I could easily argue that this has been the greatest year ever to be a sports fan. Almost every time you turn on the T.V. to watch a major sports event, you have been treated to an all-time great performance or an epic contest. So with that in mind, here are my top 5 best championship events in sports in 2008 (keep in mind some may have been missed since those listed are only the events I watched live).

Honorable Mention #1: Euro 2008 - The final of the European soccer championship last weekend was some very high quality soccer, but the drama was somewhat lacking due to the impressive style with which the Spanish won. The best match in the tournament, Turkey's improbable 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Czech Republic, would easily make the top 5 list if not for the fact that these are only events which directly determined the champion.

Honorable Mention #2: Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5 - This 3 overtime epic barely misses the cut do to one thing: the winner of the game did not win the title. Had the Pens used the thrilling late-night victory to propel themselves to a series win, which would have meant overcoming a 3-1 series deficit, then this game may well have found it's way into the top 2. Alas, the veteran Red Wings regrouped to seal the series in game 6 in Pittsburgh, and leave this as a great game, even if it's simply a footnote in the series.

5. NBA Finals, Game 4 - Unimaginatively labeled "The Comeback Game" by ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, game 4 was arguably the deciding game of the NBA Finals this year with the Celtics overcoming a 20+ point third quarter deficit in Los Angeles to earn the first road win for either team in the series. With the win giving the Celtics a statistically insurmountable 3-1 series lead, the final two games lost some luster as it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Boston would take home the title. It's because of this, and because I had no real rooting interest in the series, that this game makes only the #5 spot on the list. It was an incredible win, but I personally didn't feel chills while watching.

4. NCAA Basketball Men's Championship Game - Over the past several years, the title game of the NCAA basketball tournament has been less than gripping, and often the entire Final Four turns out to have little excitement. This year appeared to be on the same course as Kansas and Memphis dispatched of their foes without too much struggle in the semifinals, but we had no idea what was in store in the final. What happened that Monday night in early April was one of the most exciting finals in NCAA tournament history, thanks largely to the coming of age of Memphis freshman point guard and 2008 NBA Draft #1 overall pick Derrick Rose. Rose seemed to take the game over in the final 10 minutes, helping Memphis turn a close game into a potential runaway with Kansas struggling to keep up. But Kansas persevered, and Memphis's fatal flaw, free throw shooting, was exposed as the Jayhawks completed an impossible comeback, down 8 in the last minute and a half, and eventually won going away in overtime. Had the overtime portion been as exciting as regulation, this game likely would have made it higher.

3. U.S. Open Golf Championship, 18-hole Playoff - This may forever go down as the greatest "Injured star willing himself/his team to a Championship" event of all time. Knowing that he was not 100% entering the 4 day event, Tiger Woods fought through pain and the PGA Tour's toughest course of the year for four days, even leading after 54 holes going into Sunday. Then, the sports world was stunned as relative unknown Rocco Mediate, a man who had never won a major and would be expected to be well beyond his prime, pushed the World's No. 1 to the brink, only to watch from the clubhouse as Woods sunk a cold-blooded 12 foot putt on #18 for birdie to force the playoff the next day. What followed was one of the most incredible rounds of golf of all time, with the star and the no-name battling back and forth, each holding as much as a 3-stroke lead, with Woods nailing yet another birdie putt on 18 for the title. The result would gain further amazement value over the next couple days as the full extent of Woods' injuries (a torn ACL and a broken leg) became public knowledge. Were it not for the inherently slow nature of golf, this would have been an easy #1.

2. Wimbledon Tennis Championships, Men's Singles Final - A match that upon its conclusion was dubbed by many, including former tennis great John McEnroe, as possibly the greatest match of all time, was an easy choice for this list. The competitors, the "aging" superstar on his best surface and one he's owned for the past five years (Roger Federer) against the rising star that has dominated the clay courts but has never won a major on any other surface (Rafael Nadal). The stakes were simple: either Federer wins and sets a modern record for consecutive Wimbledon titles won, or Nadal wins and signals a changing of the guard and proves once and for all that he has the game to win on any surface. Like a classic "Rocky" film, the aging Federer fell into an early hole, losing the first set before completely choking away the second set, blowing a 4-2 lead to fall 6-4, Federer seemed to be on the ropes. But then the rain came, and midway through the third set the players had a break to regroup. And regroup Federer did, fighting back to win the third in a tie break and then scratching and clawing to a breathtaking fourth set tiebreak win, erasing a 5-2 tiebreak deficit. With neither player showing any sign of losing his service games after the second set, the match seemed destined to be called on account of darkness, but with the final set tied 7-7, Nadal finally stole a break, and despite Federer's valiant efforts in the final game, Nadal again held serve, being broken only once in the match, and won his first Wimbledon title.

1. Super Bowl XLII - Even if you had no real interest in either the New York Giants or New England Patriots, you still were rooting for someone in this game. You had no choice. It was one of the biggest Super Bowl underdogs of all time against the unstoppable 18-0 juggernaut. What's more, it was a rematch of a week 17 game that was meaningless in the standings and yet still turned out to be the best game of the entire regular season. The Giants had accomplished the improbable, winning 3 road playoff games en route to the Super Bowl, a feat matched by the 2005 Super Bowl champion Steelers but not expected ever to be equalled. The Patriots had cruised for more than half of the regular season, but were not blowing anybody out in the second half of the season or the playoffs and were starting to seem almost mortal. Still the Vegas wiseguys opened the line at Patriots by 14 and it held at 10+ even as game time arrived. I myself told a friend of mine that the only result that would surprise me would be a Giants blowout win. Anything else seemed possible, but I certainly didn't expect what happened. The defenses dominated. Only 5 weeks after the teams previously met in a 38-35 shootout at Giants Stadium, neither team was able to muster much offense throughout the game, with the Giants d-line constantly pressuring Tom Brady while the Patriots stuffed the Giants running game. Despite the defenses dominating, the game never felt like it was dragging with each possession gaining importance as the game moved along. When the Pats offense finally seemed to find its stride midway through the fourth quarter, and they broke into the endzone for a 14-10 lead, the game felt like it was over. But time was nowhere near up for the G-Men, and the much-maligned Eli Manning took the game in his hands, moving the Giants confidently down the field, aided by the most spectacular catch in Super Bowl history (argue if you want, but it's true). Finally, with under a minute to play, Manning hit Plaxico Burress for the touchdown and a 3 point lead, and the Patriots were stunned. 17-14 has already become a black mark throughout New England, and fans will never hear the end of 18-1, the would-be perfect season ended by the likes of Eli Manning and rival New York.

RE: Is soccer gaining ground in America?

The short answer? No.

I think it would be a mistake for the MLS to make significant rules changes to try to increase scoring. Doing so would only alienate the fans they have, and wouldn't likely attract many new fans, at least not fans who would stick around. I think soccer is just not going to make it big in the States, unless one of the other major sports takes a huge nosedive, and the way the MLB seems to be going strong despite the steroids problem seems to indicate that it may not be possible for one of the "big three" sports to fall out of favor without some kind of extended strike. Their best hope may be to become a second tier sport like hockey or golf. (I omit NASCAR since it is probably "first tier" due to the size of its following, but mostly because it is not a sport.)

A better way to grow soccer fandom in the US would be to try to get a few star players that are identifiable to the casual sports fan. Beckham has played so little that he's not done the MLS much good, and besides, I think it's important to get some homegrown talent to stay in the US to play. Any American players who are any good go overseas to play. (As an aside, it's somewhat surprising to me that there are so few good American soccer players, since it seems like everyone, boy or girl, plays soccer as a kid. I guess most just give it up once they hit their teens.)

It'll be interesting to see if the added coverage the MLS, and soccer in general, is receiving from ESPN will boost interest. If there's more news out there about it, and if people start to learn the names of players, and even teams (I'd be hard-pressed to name more than two or three), that might get them interested in following the sport more. I would consider myself a casual soccer fan (for an American), and I only watch maybe 2-3 games a year. I think I would be inclined to watch more if soccer got more than 10 seconds of coverage on Sports Center. Learning more about the intricacies of the sport would also help. ESPN's halftime and postgame coverage was pretty good at going into some depth with the game. I'd like to see more on strategy and tactics (but please, not the way NFL Live uses old has-beens running around a quarter-sized football field in suits to explain strategy!). I hear all the time that some teams rely on athleticism, while others take a "technical approach", and I have no idea what that's supposed to mean!

I think it would also be a good idea to get rid of ties. I think the MLS should go with a single overtime, followed by a shootout. They could give partial points (say, the same as for a tie) to teams that lose in the overtime or the shootout, as opposed to losing in regulation. Shootouts are fun to watch, but it seems like a crappy way to lose since they're really based more on lucky guesses by the goalkeeper than by skill. It's kind of like deciding a baseball game with a home run derby. It'd be fun to watch, but doesn't necessarily prove which was the better team.

I don't watch a lot of soccer myself, but recently I watched several of the Euro Cup 2008 games and a couple of MLS games, and the talent difference really is noticeable. I wouldn't have expected, as someone who doesn't watch soccer regularly, that I could have told any difference, but even to me it was quite apparent. I don't know if it's field dimensions or talent level or what, but the MLS players didn't seem capable of controlling the ball the way the European teams could. Passing was poorer and the ball changed possession a lot more in the MLS game than the Euro game, making the MLS game seem like amateur hour. It was just not as entertaining to watch. And there's just something about the MLS players that makes them look less... professional. In one MLS game I caught, one team had an overweight, 40+ year old guy on their side, and the sad part was, he seemed to be one of the team's better players!

Perhaps the best way to get Americans into soccer would be this: fantasy soccer! Maybe this exists and I don't know about it, but I think it could work. You'd have to go with more stats than goals and assists, but there's a lot more statistics kept for soccer than I previously realized, including touches, distance dribbled, passing, etc. With a little bit of creativity, fantasy soccer could be a pretty fun thing to play, and would definitely help people learn who the players are.

Is soccer gaining ground in America?

The conclusion of the Euro 2008 soccer tournament was televised on national TV in the U.S. this weekend, broadcasting on ABC at 2:30 eastern time. With the world's largest sports network, ESPN, beginning to not only broadcast Major League Soccer (U.S.) games but many European league games and international matches, it is looking more and more like the world's most popular sport is gaining a foothold here in the United States.

Certainly your average sports fan is paying more attention than ever to the sport, but this doesn't necessarily mean much. Soccer has long been an afterthought for Americans due to its generally slow pace and low-scoring games, not to mention the dreaded ties. All of these aspects are things that American sports have been fighting to avoid for years, from the strict defensive rules imposed in the early '90s by the NBA to allow for more free-flowing, 1-on-1 basketball leading to more scoring, to the NFL's continuing rules changes this decade making it more difficult for defensive backs to hang with speedy receivers, to the NHL's numerous rules changes following the devastating lockout, all aimed at increasing scoring. These rules changes really started, one could argue, in the late 1960s in Major League Baseball when the pitchers' mound was lowered and the strike zone shrunk following a season with record-low scoring totals and the remarkable seasons of starting pitchers Denny McClain of the Tigers (31 wins) and Bob Gibson of the Cardinals (1.12 ERA).

Scoring didn't truly reach the point of mass appeal until the 1990's and the Michael Jordan era in the NBA. In order to further promote the league, Commissioner David Stern decided to take the approach of promoting the game's stars to draw more attention to the sport. While the Larry Birds and Magic Johnsons of the previous decade had drawn significant attention to the sport, it was Jordan that drew in even the most casual of sports fans, the same way Tiger Woods draw even casual sports fans to golf, a game with a history of not connecting particularly well with the average Joe. Jordan brought both national and global attention to the league because of his high-scoring ability and flair for the dramatic, and the other leagues began to take notice.

Further evidence of the U.S.'s desire for scoring and offense came in 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa engaged in a home run duel that lasted throughout the summer with both chasing, and each surpassing, the MLB home run record previously held by Roger Maris. This summer saw what many call the rebirth of the sport that was still reeling from a player strike and the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. This event is also what many believe is the beginning of the Steriod Era in baseball, but the fans flocked to the sport, happy to ignore the signs of cheating to watch the offensive juggernauts at work.

Why am I going through all of this? It allows me to present a simple question: Will soccer ever gain a significant foothold in this country, moreso than just the niche sport that it currently is, without some change that provides for more offense? For years I've thought this sport would gain significant appeal and would increase scoring if it simply removed the offsides rule (or perhaps changed it so that players can only be offsides if they are beyond the goal box). Despite the fact that the 1-0 Spain victory on Sunday was an entertaining game, there is something to be said for the idea that a 1 goal lead is not sufficient for a team to just sit on and expect a victory, or at worst a tie. Yes there will be games where a team may overcome a 2 goal lead, but those instances are so rare, it is difficult for a fan to want to continue watching a game if either team takes a 2 or more goal lead.

So what do you think? Does soccer need to consider rules changes to gain more popularity in one of the world's largest economic markets, or should the game remain as it is and be content to be an afterthought in the U.S. while being number 1 nearly everywhere else?