2015 was a big year for me. To sum it up, I turned 22, graduated college, moved three states away from home, started a career (that I love, by the way) and am now living in what I call Small Town, USA. But really, no one wants to read about that in the sports section of a newspaper. So while we have the top moments from sports in Carbon County featured in this section, here are my choices for top sports moments in 2015.
Professional Sports Champions
It would be wrong not to mention the fact that the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, the Golden State Warriors won the NBA Finals and the Kansas City Royals won the World Series.
Max Scherzer
During the off-season, starting pitcher Max Scherzer signed a huge contract (7 years, $210 million huge) with the Washington Nationals, and although the Nationals ran out of gas too early in the season, Scherzer himself did not. In one of the most dominant seasons in (possibly) history, Scherzer turned in two no-hitters and an almost-perfect game (he made it 6 innings before giving up a hit), striking out 43 in the three games combined. Forty-three batters.
Deflategate
Oh, Deflategate. (Don’t even get me started on the name, I’m embarrassed just saying it.) You all know the story, as it has been in the news for the better part of 2015. The New England Patriots were suspected of deflating footballs during the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts in January. And then the investigation went on and on and on. And on. It was announced in May that the Patriots would be fined $1 million and lose their first round draft pick. Tom Brady was also suspended four games based on “substantial and credible evidence” that he knew the balls were deflated (I could write a whole column on this suspension and how ludicrous it is. But I’ll just leave it at he was suspended.)
Undefeated Streaks
I don’t know if we saw any noteworthy streaks in baseball, but both the NFL and the NBA saw memorable undefeated streaks in 2015. The Carolina Panthers started their streak in September and went on to win 14 games in a row before ultimately being defeated by the Falcons last weekend. And we all know from my last few columns that the Golden State Warriors had the best start to a season since the 1993-94 Houston Rockets 15-0 start. The Warriors went undefeated for 24 games to start the 2015-16 season before eventually losing to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Ronda Rousey Actually Losing
It seems like every single person in the world was awaiting what turned out to be, arguably, the fight of the year. (The fact that it was a women’s UFC fight is just amazing to me.) And I don’t remember one person actually saying that Holly Holm would win the fight. Every single media outlet or random person just assumed Rousey would win. And when she ended up losing relatively early in the match, the world was stunned. Absolutely stunned. But, in my opinion, Rousey still remains the best in the world, despite losing her title.
Kobe Bryant’s Retirement
It’s a confusing thing to try to explain, but I think that while Kobe’s announcement was a surprise to a lot of us, it really wasn’t at the same time. (See what I mean by confusing?) I think we all knew it was coming sometime soon, I mean he’s been in the league for 20 years and the Lakers aren’t really doing much. But, I think the announcement (a poem, really Kobe?) shocked us all, seeing that it came in the middle of the season. I don’t know about you, but it’s going to be hard for me to picture basketball without Kobe Bryant.
It’s hard to remember things that happened over 300 days ago, so if I’ve missed any that you think are memorable, feel free to share!