"Holy Crap" Plays and Moments of 2011
Another year is in the books and sports fans everywhere in 2011 were subject to one-handed catches, jaw dropping plays on the gridiron, countless walk-off home runs, no-hitters, buzzer beaters on the hard-court, high flying dunks, and a soccer goal that gripped the nation.
2011 was filled with spectacular plays and outstanding moments that will forever be cemented in sports legacy and here are just some of the best moments from this past year, one's that had everyone saying, "Holy Crap!"
2011 "Holy Crap" Moments
-Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard touchdown run against the Saints in last year's NFL playoffs. Lynch broke eight tackles on the play en route to the end zone and the crowd's reaction was so loud, that it was recorded as seismic activity as a monitoring station 100-yds from the stadium.
-QB Drew Brees breaking Dan Marino's single-season passing record. The record stood since 1984 and many thought it would never be broken, but Drew Brees and the high octane Saints offense made it look easy.
-Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers winning Super Bowl XLV. The Packers were the sixth seed in last year's playoffs and defeated a very talented Pittsburgh Steelers team in the Super Bowl bringing the Lombardi Trophy back home. This past year they lost just one football game and Aaron Rodgers and the Packers will be favorites to repeat in 2012. Without a doubt, the Green Bay Packers were the best football team in 2011.
-The emergence of QB Cam Newton. Cam Newton burst on to the seen in 2010 at Auburn and he picked up right where he left of in 2011. The Heisman Trophy winner led Auburn to the National Championship and was the first player taken in April's NFL Draft. He has revitalized the Carolina Panthers into one of the league's most potent offenses in his rookie season and I expect the Panthers to be a very dangerous team in 2012.
-Tebow Time. Whether you are a believer or a skeptic of Tim Tebow, that fact of the matter is, what he did this season was amazing. He took a 1-4 Denver Broncos teams and led them on a six game winning streak, with countless heroics in the fourth quarter, and the Broncos are now on the cusp of making the playoffs going into the new year. Can Tebow and his style of play last in the NFL? We will find out in 2012, but you have to say the guy sure is fun to watch.
-WR Jerome Simpson's front flip into the end zone. Best play of the year in the NFL and maybe the best play in sports for 2011.
-Notre Dame/Michigan. An electrifying night at the Big House that ended with Denard Robinson hitting Roy Roundtree in the end zone with 2 seconds left giving the Wolverines a 35-31 victory.
-Wisconsin/Michigan St. The Spartans prayers were answered on a unbelievable Hail Mary pass, tip, and catch in the end zone giving them the win over the rival Badgers.
-Offensive explosion in the Alamo Bowl. Washington and Baylor put on quite an offensive display Thursday night in the Alamo Bowl. At halftime Washington led 35-24 and we weren't even close to being done yet. By the end of the game, Baylor had put up 67 points, 777-yards of offense, averaged 9.3-yds a carry on the ground, and had three different guys rush for over 100-yds, including Terrance Ganaway, who had 200-yds on 21 carries and 5 TD. Washington fired their offensive coordinator on Saturday as a result.
Baylor only won the game by 11 because Washington scored 56 points of their own, racked up 620-yards of offense, and QB Keith Price was responsible for 7 TD and 477-yds of offense through the air and on the ground. The 17 total TD scored and 1,397-yards of total offense were FBS bowl records in one of the most exciting games of the year.
-Boston Bruins win Stanley Cup. The Bruins had not won the Stanley Cup in 39-years, but that streak ended in 2011. It was not easy as Boston needed seven games against the Montreal Canadians in the first round of the NHL playoffs and then another seven games against the Tampa Bay Lightning just to reach the Stanley Cup. Down 3 games to 2, the Bruins were able to force another game seven in Vancouver where they shutout the Canucks 4-0, winning their sixth Stanley Cup in team history. Goalie Tim Thomas was stellar throughout the playoffs and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs Most Valuable Player.
-Rory McIlroy wins the U.S. Open in stunning fashion. After shooting an 80 on Sunday at Augusta with a four stroke lead, many wondered how Rory would response in the U.S. Open. McIlroy would go on to shoot a U.S. Open record 268 (16-under), winning the tournament by eight shots, and setting several records in the process. He dominated the tournament by reaching 10 under par after just 26 holes and cruised to one of the most impressive PGA Tour victories in history. So, I guess you could say he responded pretty well after his debacle at the Masters.
-Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500. In February, Trevor Bayne become the youngest driver to ever win NASCAR's biggest race, the Daytona 500. It was only Bayne's second start in the Sprint Cup Series. With the win Bayne became only the second driver to win the 500 in his first attempt and he tied the record for quickest victory at the start of a career.
-SS Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians. Pick any of these plays from Cabrera, who proves that you don't need a glove to be a great fielder in the majors.
-2B Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds. The Reds Gold Glove second baseman showed again this season why he is one of the best fielders in all of baseball.
-CF Ben Revere, Minnesota Twins. Catch of the Year.
-P Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers. Verlander had a pretty good year. He threw a no-hitter; he won the AL Cy Young, and AL MVP. Not bad.
-P Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins. He too threw a no-hitter in 2011.
-Game 6 of the World Series. It doesn't get much more exciting than a walk-off home run in the 11th inning of Game 6 of the World Series. Cardinal third baseman David Freese tied the game up with an RBI triple in the 9th and he ended it in the 11th with a walk-off home run giving the St. Louis Cardinals a World Series title.
-September 28th, 2011: The final day of the MLB regular season. From the Ray's dramatic comeback, the Cardinals too, and the collapses of the Braves and the Red Sox, it was not only possibly the best day of baseball in its long history, but one of the best days of sports you will ever see.
-Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers. Watch here and you'll see why and this doesn't even include him jumping over a car in the dunk contest. Wow.
-Dallas Mavericks win NBA Finals. With the arrival of the Big 3 in Miami, almost everyone picked the Heat to win the 2011 NBA Finals. Meaning not many people gave Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks much of a chance against Wade, Bosh and LeBron. However, the play of Nowitzki was simply superb. Dirk made clutch shot, after clutch shot, and he did it most of the time with a hand right in front of his face. The whole team effort by the Mavs was excellent and was enough to defeat the Heat in the Finals.
-Dwyane Wade's full-court alley-oop to LeBron James. LeBron played football in high school and Dwyane Wade proves in this play that he would have been a decent quarterback.
-Kemba Walker and the Connecticut Huskies. UConn had a crazy March Madness that all started in the Big East Tournament. The Huskies won five games in five days to win the Big East Tournament, including a win over #1 seed Pittsburgh, in which Kemba Walker hit a game winning jumper as time expired. Walker scored a tournament-record 130 points and UConn went into the NCAA Tournament as a #2 seed. The excitement didn't stop there.
UConn advanced to the Final Four after beating Arizona and Kentucky by a combined 3 points and went on to win the National Championship with a 53-41 victory over the Butler Bulldogs. Quite an accomplishment for head coach Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker, and the UConn Huskies who were unranked to start the season, picked to finish tenth in the Big East, and finished the season ranked ninth in the conference. One of the best March Madness' a team will ever have.
-VCU. Of the 50 million brackets filled out during March Madness, about 100 of them had Virginia Commonwealth University in the Final Four. Okay, those numbers aren't quite exact, but the fact is no one thought VCU would make it to the Final Four, many experts thought they should not have even gotten in the tournament at all.
Shaka Smart's squad did get in and prove that they belonged there. They were one of the last four teams in and had to play USC in one of the "First Four" games as an 11th seed. VCU knocked off USC; they then crushed the 5th seeded Georgetown Hoyas. They followed that up with a 94-76 blowout win over #3 seed Purdue to advance to the school's first-ever Sweet 16. VCU faced its toughest test against Florida State, but they prevailed once again 72-71 in overtime. The Rams were not done yet as they knocked off the #1 seed Kansas Jayhawks to advance to the school's first Final Four.
VCU would lose to Butler in the Final Four, but their run was one of the greatest Cinderella stories of all-time and one of the best sports stories of 2011.
-Abby Wambach's goal in the World Cup. The goal heard throughout the United States. This goal from Abby Wambach in the 122nd minute tied up the Americans match with Brazil, one that the US would eventually win 5-3 on penalty kicks. It was 12 years to the day that the US won the World Cup 12 years ago in the Rose Bowl and the nation was even more excited on this day.
Fans across the country, from their living room, the local bar, to Times Square in New York City, were shouting and screaming in amazement. I'm not a big soccer fan, but that goal was one of the greatest sports moments I have ever seen. When something as simple as a soccer goal brings a nation together, like the one that Abby Wambach put into the net against Brazil, that's worthy of a "Holy Crap."
2011 was a great year and here's to hoping your 2012 is even better. Happy New Year!
2011 was filled with spectacular plays and outstanding moments that will forever be cemented in sports legacy and here are just some of the best moments from this past year, one's that had everyone saying, "Holy Crap!"
2011 "Holy Crap" Moments
-Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard touchdown run against the Saints in last year's NFL playoffs. Lynch broke eight tackles on the play en route to the end zone and the crowd's reaction was so loud, that it was recorded as seismic activity as a monitoring station 100-yds from the stadium.
-QB Drew Brees breaking Dan Marino's single-season passing record. The record stood since 1984 and many thought it would never be broken, but Drew Brees and the high octane Saints offense made it look easy.
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| Aaron Rodgers' Super Bowl win turned him into one of the NFL's most popular players. (David J. Phillip/AP) |
-The emergence of QB Cam Newton. Cam Newton burst on to the seen in 2010 at Auburn and he picked up right where he left of in 2011. The Heisman Trophy winner led Auburn to the National Championship and was the first player taken in April's NFL Draft. He has revitalized the Carolina Panthers into one of the league's most potent offenses in his rookie season and I expect the Panthers to be a very dangerous team in 2012.
-Tebow Time. Whether you are a believer or a skeptic of Tim Tebow, that fact of the matter is, what he did this season was amazing. He took a 1-4 Denver Broncos teams and led them on a six game winning streak, with countless heroics in the fourth quarter, and the Broncos are now on the cusp of making the playoffs going into the new year. Can Tebow and his style of play last in the NFL? We will find out in 2012, but you have to say the guy sure is fun to watch.
-WR Jerome Simpson's front flip into the end zone. Best play of the year in the NFL and maybe the best play in sports for 2011.
-Notre Dame/Michigan. An electrifying night at the Big House that ended with Denard Robinson hitting Roy Roundtree in the end zone with 2 seconds left giving the Wolverines a 35-31 victory.
-Wisconsin/Michigan St. The Spartans prayers were answered on a unbelievable Hail Mary pass, tip, and catch in the end zone giving them the win over the rival Badgers.
-Offensive explosion in the Alamo Bowl. Washington and Baylor put on quite an offensive display Thursday night in the Alamo Bowl. At halftime Washington led 35-24 and we weren't even close to being done yet. By the end of the game, Baylor had put up 67 points, 777-yards of offense, averaged 9.3-yds a carry on the ground, and had three different guys rush for over 100-yds, including Terrance Ganaway, who had 200-yds on 21 carries and 5 TD. Washington fired their offensive coordinator on Saturday as a result.
Baylor only won the game by 11 because Washington scored 56 points of their own, racked up 620-yards of offense, and QB Keith Price was responsible for 7 TD and 477-yds of offense through the air and on the ground. The 17 total TD scored and 1,397-yards of total offense were FBS bowl records in one of the most exciting games of the year.
-Boston Bruins win Stanley Cup. The Bruins had not won the Stanley Cup in 39-years, but that streak ended in 2011. It was not easy as Boston needed seven games against the Montreal Canadians in the first round of the NHL playoffs and then another seven games against the Tampa Bay Lightning just to reach the Stanley Cup. Down 3 games to 2, the Bruins were able to force another game seven in Vancouver where they shutout the Canucks 4-0, winning their sixth Stanley Cup in team history. Goalie Tim Thomas was stellar throughout the playoffs and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs Most Valuable Player.
-Rory McIlroy wins the U.S. Open in stunning fashion. After shooting an 80 on Sunday at Augusta with a four stroke lead, many wondered how Rory would response in the U.S. Open. McIlroy would go on to shoot a U.S. Open record 268 (16-under), winning the tournament by eight shots, and setting several records in the process. He dominated the tournament by reaching 10 under par after just 26 holes and cruised to one of the most impressive PGA Tour victories in history. So, I guess you could say he responded pretty well after his debacle at the Masters.
-Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500. In February, Trevor Bayne become the youngest driver to ever win NASCAR's biggest race, the Daytona 500. It was only Bayne's second start in the Sprint Cup Series. With the win Bayne became only the second driver to win the 500 in his first attempt and he tied the record for quickest victory at the start of a career.
-SS Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians. Pick any of these plays from Cabrera, who proves that you don't need a glove to be a great fielder in the majors.
-2B Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds. The Reds Gold Glove second baseman showed again this season why he is one of the best fielders in all of baseball.
-CF Ben Revere, Minnesota Twins. Catch of the Year.
-P Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers. Verlander had a pretty good year. He threw a no-hitter; he won the AL Cy Young, and AL MVP. Not bad.
-P Francisco Liriano, Minnesota Twins. He too threw a no-hitter in 2011.
-Game 6 of the World Series. It doesn't get much more exciting than a walk-off home run in the 11th inning of Game 6 of the World Series. Cardinal third baseman David Freese tied the game up with an RBI triple in the 9th and he ended it in the 11th with a walk-off home run giving the St. Louis Cardinals a World Series title.
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| David Freese will be remembered forever in St. Louis for his heroics in Game 6 of the World Series. (Jeff Curry/US Presswire) |
-Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers. Watch here and you'll see why and this doesn't even include him jumping over a car in the dunk contest. Wow.
-Dallas Mavericks win NBA Finals. With the arrival of the Big 3 in Miami, almost everyone picked the Heat to win the 2011 NBA Finals. Meaning not many people gave Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks much of a chance against Wade, Bosh and LeBron. However, the play of Nowitzki was simply superb. Dirk made clutch shot, after clutch shot, and he did it most of the time with a hand right in front of his face. The whole team effort by the Mavs was excellent and was enough to defeat the Heat in the Finals.
-Dwyane Wade's full-court alley-oop to LeBron James. LeBron played football in high school and Dwyane Wade proves in this play that he would have been a decent quarterback.
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| Connecticut's run through the Big East and NCAA tournament's was an impressive accomplishment. (Mark Humphrey/AP) |
UConn advanced to the Final Four after beating Arizona and Kentucky by a combined 3 points and went on to win the National Championship with a 53-41 victory over the Butler Bulldogs. Quite an accomplishment for head coach Jim Calhoun, Kemba Walker, and the UConn Huskies who were unranked to start the season, picked to finish tenth in the Big East, and finished the season ranked ninth in the conference. One of the best March Madness' a team will ever have.
-VCU. Of the 50 million brackets filled out during March Madness, about 100 of them had Virginia Commonwealth University in the Final Four. Okay, those numbers aren't quite exact, but the fact is no one thought VCU would make it to the Final Four, many experts thought they should not have even gotten in the tournament at all.
Shaka Smart's squad did get in and prove that they belonged there. They were one of the last four teams in and had to play USC in one of the "First Four" games as an 11th seed. VCU knocked off USC; they then crushed the 5th seeded Georgetown Hoyas. They followed that up with a 94-76 blowout win over #3 seed Purdue to advance to the school's first-ever Sweet 16. VCU faced its toughest test against Florida State, but they prevailed once again 72-71 in overtime. The Rams were not done yet as they knocked off the #1 seed Kansas Jayhawks to advance to the school's first Final Four.
VCU would lose to Butler in the Final Four, but their run was one of the greatest Cinderella stories of all-time and one of the best sports stories of 2011.
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| Abby Wambach's goal in the 122nd minute against Brazil was one of the best sports moments in 2011. (Martin Rose/Getty Images) |
Fans across the country, from their living room, the local bar, to Times Square in New York City, were shouting and screaming in amazement. I'm not a big soccer fan, but that goal was one of the greatest sports moments I have ever seen. When something as simple as a soccer goal brings a nation together, like the one that Abby Wambach put into the net against Brazil, that's worthy of a "Holy Crap."
2011 was a great year and here's to hoping your 2012 is even better. Happy New Year!
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