Q's Year in Review: Sports in 2014

Welcome back to the Year in Review!  Today we dive into the past year in the sports world.  Like I noted last year, in the past, I’ve done a top 10 list of sports events.  However, sports are a complex, varied beast.  There are tons of sports, tons of great moments.  So, this year, yet again, I’m going to give a top 5 list of events/moments, and then go sport by sport and talk about the best each sport had to offer.  I’ll list the various champions, give out the athlete of the year, and discuss my choice for the game/match of the year for each one (as applicable).  This way I’ll try not to miss anything!

Now, lets move on to the 5 Most Important Sports Events of 2014 (and no, I'm not putting LeBron or Jeter in my review!):

5.  The NFL's Domestic Violence Issue:  No one could stop talking about the NFL this offseason, and for all the wrong reasons.  The first, and biggest, issue the league faced was the Ray Rice domestic violence case.  Video surfaced showing Rice dragging his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator after a domestic incident.  The NFL suspended Rice two games.  Then video surfaced showing Rice knocking out his fiancee (uh, duh), and Goodell doubled back and suspended Rice indefinitely.  The bigger issue here, though, is the lengths the NFL was willing to go to sweep incidents like this under the rug.  After the second video surfaced, word came out that the NFL had that video immediately...could request it at any time.  Goodell was inconsistent in his statements.  And the whole thing was a gigantic mess.  The indefinite suspension on Rice was later overturned...but Goodell is still in power (despite being an incredible tool).  And, inexplicably, viewership is up this year, with the biggest increase coming among women!  Guess the NFL really is unstoppable.
 

4.  MadBum Single Handedly Wins the World Series:  21.0 IP, 0.43 ERA, 1 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 17 Ks, 2 Wins, 1 Shut out, 1 Save.  That's insane.  Madison Bumgarner was flat out unhittable. "Yeah, it was hopeless," Kansas City manager Ned Yost acknowledged.  MadBum was great in Game 1, pitched a CG SHO in Game 5, then returned to pitch 5 scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 to win the World Series.  Just incredible.  The Giants won the World Series with exactly one competent starting pitcher.  This had to be one of the top 5 World Series performances by any player...ever.  Stupid Giants...

3.  Germany wins the World Cup:  In a very exciting World Cup, Germany finished first in the Group of Death, survived a scare from Algeria in the Round of 16, blasted Brazil 7-1 in Brazil...and was able to sneak by Lionel Messi and Argentina to win their 4th title, and first since the country re-unified in 1990.  The World Cup was exciting all around...with the U.S. also surviving the Group of Death to make the knockout stages again, Mexico finding a star in their goaltender, and Messi carrying Argentina to the finals.  I love the World Cup, and this one did not disappoint!

2.  Winter Olympics in Sochi:  I love the winter olympics.  I love them way way more than the summer games.  And this year was an olympic year!  Notable moments from these games include: 
23 of the 36 medals awarded in long track speed skating went to the Netherlands, Canada swept the team sports (mens and womens Curling; mens and womens Ice Hockey), and the pretty awful across the board performance of the Americans.  But whatever...international hockey is awesome, the luge, skeleton, and bobsled are super fun events...and they even added in some cool new events like slopestyle and ski halfpipe!  All in all, a fun time. 

1.  Lauren Hill's College Basketball Career:  This is, hands down, the sports story of the year...and its not even close.  Lauren Hill was a good high school basketball player, who was committed to play in college for Division III Mount Saint Joseph...before she was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer.  Lauren's dream was to play college basketball...so Mount Saint Joseph, their first opponent Hiram College, and the NCAA worked together to move up the first game of the season to November 1st to ensure she would be able to play.

The first play of the season was a pass to Lauren, who drove in and layed it into the basket with her left hand.  The place erupted, of course, and Lauren subbed out.  Lauren finished with 4 points, after subbing in at the very end of the game when Mount Saint Joseph had the game well in hand.  All in all, a touching moment for a young lady who got to fulfill her dream.

Lauren ended up being able to play in 4 of her team's first 8 games before she was unable to continue competing.  She has recently started receiving hospice care, but she has continued to be an inspiration to everyone who has heard her story.  Even more important than her playing in games...she was able to raise a lot of money for pediatric brain cancer...a cause near and dear to my heart.  So far she has raised over $400,000, which is pretty spectacular.

After the jump (click “Read More” below to see everything else in this article), I’ve gone through and discussed the best of the year in the world of Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, and Wrestling!

Baseball

2014 World Series Champion:  Some stupid team from SF

2014 NCAA College World Series Champions:  Vanderbilt Commodores

Baseball Player of the Year:  Madison Bumgarner.  He plays for some stupid team with dumb colors and an awful mascot.  But my oh my is MadBum a legit pitcher (see story 4 from above).

Baseball Game of the Year:  Oakland Athletics vs Kansas City Royals, AL Wild Card Game.  This game totally sucked.  But from an unbiased point of view (which, quite obviously, I do not have), it was rather entertaining. The Royals and A's traded the lead like a billion times.  The A's had a 7-3 lead going into the 8th, a 7-6 lead going into the 9th, and an 8-7 lead in the 12th...and couldn't freaking win.  The Royals were the luckiest playoff team of all time not named the San Francisco Giants...and rode that luck all the way to the World Series (where they were trumped by the luckiest baseball franchise in history).  Sigh...it was a phenomenal game...and would have been fun to watch if I wasn't rooting for the team that ended up losing.

Football

2014 Super Bowl Champion:  Seattle Seahawks (yeah, football totally sucked)

2014 BCS Champions:  Florida State Seminoles

Football Player of the Year:  Marcus Mariota.  Yeah, I'll go college for this one.  Mariota has been freaking baller this year.  He lead Oregon to the inaugural College Football Playoff as the 2nd ranked team in the country.  He won the heisman trophy.  And is also an exceedingly nice and humble guy!  Easy to root for (even if they are rivals of Stanford...BOOOOOOOOO).  Besides, the NFL has been dumb this year.  So go Mariota!  Hope you don't end up on the Raiders next year and get ruined!

Football Game of the Year:  Nothing.  Football is stupid.

Basketball

2014 NBA Champions:  San Antonio Spurs

2014 NCAA Men’s Champions:  Connecticut Huskies

2014 NCAA Women’s Champions:  Connecticut Huskies

Basketball Player of the Year:  Stephan Curry. Because, why not.  He's a baller.  I don't really watch basketball...so this will have to do.

Hockey

2013 Stanley Cup Champions:  Los Angeles Kings

2013 NCAA Men’s Champions:  Union Dutchmen

2013 NCAA Women’s Champions:  Clarkson Golden Knights

Hockey Player of the Year: Marc-Edouard Vlasic.  Because I don't want to give it to Drew Doughty (who won a gold medal and a Stanley Cup in 2014).  But Vlasic was part of an awesome Canada defense that blazed its way to the Gold Medal in Sochi...and anchored a Sharks defense that was lost without him (when he went out, the Sharks historically blew a 3-0 lead in their series with the King.  He's a total baller!

Soccer

2014 World Cup Champions:  Germany

Soccer Player of the Year:  Cristiano Ronaldo.  Hell, FIFA said so...I'll go with it.

Soccer Match of the Year:  USA vs Belgium, Round of 16, World Cup.  This match was incredible simply due to the performance of US Goalkeeper, and American Hero, Tim Howard.  Howard recorded 15 saves in the match, which was the most saves recorded in a match since FIFA started to keep track of the number of saves in 1966.  He tried to single handedly will the USA to the quarterfinals.  Unfortunately, forward Chris Wondolowski could not finish a point blank chance in the 90th minute to steal the victory.  In added time, Belgium finally broke through and scored twice in the first half of extra time.  The US got one back in the second half of extra time when Julian Green became the youngest player to score a goal in the 2014 FIFA World Cup...but could not find the equalizer and were eliminated.  Still, this was an intense match, with an otherworldly performance by an American legend.

Golf

2014 Masters Champion:  Bubba Watson

2014 U.S. Open Champion:  Martin Kaymer

2014 British Open Champion:  Rory McIlroy

2014 PGA Champion:  Rory McIlroy

2014 FedEx Cup Champion:  Billy Horschel (who went T2, 1st 1st in the final three playoff events to come from out of nowhere to win the cup...incredible!)

Golfer of the Year:  Rory McIlroy.  Regards to Billy Horschel, who's run through the FedEx cup was incredible...but when you win back to back majors, easily, with another couple tour win, some Euro Tour wins, lead the money list, and win the Ryder Cup...yeah, you definitely had a solid year!

Tennis

2014 Australian Open Champion:  Stanislaus Wawrinka

2014 French Open Champion:  Rafael Nadal

2014 Wimbledon Champion:  Novak Djokovic

2014 U.S. Open Champion:  Marin Cilic

Tennis Player of the Year:  Novak Djokovic

Tennis Match of the Year:  Novak v Federer in the Wimbledon Finals.

Wrestling

Wrestler of the Year:  Sami Zayn.  Zayn can do it all. He can put on an incredible match, he can tell an incredible story, and he can stand up with anyone on the mic.  He can sell, he can fly, and he can strike.  He is one of the best professional wrestlers in the world...and he had a heck of a year.  He's spent the year in WWE's developmental territory called NXT.  But don't think of this as the minor leagues...NXT has consistently been the best wrestling show around.  And Zayn has been at the center of it as the babyface who could never win the big one.  Until he did at NXT R Evolution, the NXT live 2 hour special in December.  And it was the feel good moment of the year!  Until his best friend Kevin Owens turned on him as the special went off the air.  Zayn is now the NXT Champion...with a big ol target on his back!  He should be in for a great 2015 as well!

Wrestling Match of the Year:  Sami Zayn v Adrian Neville, NXT R Evolution, December.  Awesome storytelling, perfectly paced match, satisfying conclusion...and a great heel turn at the end.  This match had it all, and was the main event of one of the best pro wrestling events I've ever seen.  Go find the video and watch it...its super good.