The Best Sports Events of 2011

To say 2011 was an eventful, newsworthy year for sports would be an understatement.  From the disgusting, mind numbing actions at Penn State and Syracuse to the championships of the Bruins, UConn, and Auburn.  We here at The Truth have put together a list of our top 5 sports events of 2011.  Now, these are our favorite events, not necessarily the most newsworthy.  Leave your thoughts and opinions and give your own top 5.  Also, we really appreciate you checking out the blog and will continue to deliver entertaining and informative posts.  Any ideas on posts or guest posts are more than welcome.  Without further ado let’s get to the fun.

Dan: Dan-o starts it up with a mostly video top 5.

5. LeBron Loses

Anytime Lebron loses in the finals after his "Not 1, Not 2, Not 3...." speech it is a great moment.

4. Uconn Wins

Hey, I might not be the biggest UConn fan, but it isn't because I don't like them. They are a New England team and I can respect that. Go Huskies!!

3. Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is one of my favorite sporting events every year. Betting on the winning horse always makes it better but win or lose there probably isn't another sporting event that gives you this type of atmosphere and lets you cheer for who you want year in and year out. Obviously a Boston team playing for their championship like the Bruins in the Cup or the Patriots in the Super Bowl is a different story, but that doesn't happen every year. The Derby does, and every year it is different horses and every year you get to the find the horse you want to root for. Maybe you are a person who actually places bets and you like the horse's pedigree and chance to win or maybe you are just a casual fan and you like his story, you like why it has a certain name, you like who owns it, you like their colors etc. Every person can find a horse they like and every year Churchill Downs brings you the same exact stadium rocking atmosphere. This year we saw Animal Kingdom walk away as the winner, jockey John Velazquez who is one of the most respected jockeys in the sport got his first Derby win, who only got to ride Animal Kingdom because the main jockey Robby Alberado was hurt earlier in the week, a good story.

2. Patriots Continue Their Success and Bobby Kraft Ends the Lockout

Although we haven't won the Super Bowl the last few years the Patriots continue to give us something to cheer for year in and year out and that is something to be thankful for. We have fallen short in the last month of the season the last couple of years but for the other 16-18 weeks of the season the Patriots at least allow us to root for another Super Bowl chance each year and that is a lot more than most teams can say.

However, that isn't the biggest success of the New England Patriot's this year. Robert Kraft the best owner in professional sports who is responsible for the reason we now have 3 Super Bowls and a successful football organization that we can be proud of helped the NFL dig itself out of the darkest days of the league and end the lockout. Because of Robert Kraft, his wife and his influence he has within the league he helped bridge the gap between the owners and players and is the reason we get to witness one of the most exciting week 16's in NFL football history tomorrow on New Year’s Day and why our Patriots are in position for another Super Bowl.  Thank you Robert, thank you Myra and thank you to the entire Kraft family.

1. B's win cup


If this isn't your top moment of 2011 get outta here!! Hit it..

V:  Below are Matty V’s top 5 stories of 2011.

5 - Iona gets upset in MAAC tourney title game:  This wasn’t a big surprise because they were such a young team last season. The bigger surprise was it wasn’t an Iona vs. Fairfield matchup like everyone predicted. Iona did its work in the tourney, but they ran into a hot St. Peter’s team at the time. With another year of experience under their belt and the addition of Momo Jones, 2012 looks promising for the Gaels.

4 - Pats acquire Ochocinco and Hanyesworth:  These types of acquisitions usually benefit the Patriots well.  We saw how Corey Dillon changed when he got here, we saw the Randy Moss of old come out in a Patriots uniform. Ocho and Hanyesworth haven’t panned out; they weren’t loud mouths or distractions like they have been with former teams.  Ocho is my boy. I will never hate on the guy.

Everybody else can hate all they want and say he sucks. He has not contributed a whole lot but he also hasn’t said a word to the media or anyone for that matter. Say what you want, idiots, but he will contribute to this team in the playoffs.

Hanyesworth came here fat and out of shape, plain and simple.  He sucked.  Couldn’t get on the field because Kyle Love was/is more dynamic than fat Albert is.  Once Brandon Deaderick got healthy and Gerard Warren started to contribute, Haynesworth was out the door. The move was a low-risk high-reward moved that just did not work out.

3 -The Red Sox Collapse: Everybody talks about the Yankees blowing the 3-0 lead to the Sox in 2004. I think this was worse. No words can describe this. Disgusting.  Flat out disgusting. This makes me never want to have fried chicken and Bud Light ever again.

2 - Robert Kraft single handedly end the NFL lockout:  This man is by far the most respected owner in the league. The man loses his beloved wife and has hated rivals giving him hugs on national television. The impact the Myra has on this organization makes you think that this was her way of saying “shut up and just play football.” We are extremely lucky to have an owner like Robert Kraft for our hometown team. Let’s go win the Super Bowl for MHK.

1 - Bruins Stanley Cup Victory: 

If you’re from Boston and love Boston sports, you are insane if this isn't #1 on your list. This is big for me to have this as #1 because we all know I’m not the biggest hockey fan. This team was special. I mean, they have to be extremely special to get me to tune in and watch on a nightly basis. From the experience of Recchi, to the excitement of Segs and Marshmont, this team had it all. The scary part is they are even better this year. This isn't a hockey team, it's a gang of brothers. Hockey wasn't like this a few years ago in Boston. Times have certainly changed.

Matt:

This was one of the hardest things to come up with.  My top 2 were easy choices, however I feel like I will make some Bruins fans a little upset with the order of the top 2.  I won’t ramble anymore, here is my top 5:

Honorable Mention:  Butler back in the NCAA championship, Brandon Bass trade, Heat Lose in NBA Finals

5 - Red Sox Collapse:  Before people say “Hey, Hey, Hey, that’s not a positive story for 2011,” let me explain.  This Red Sox team was flawed, even when healthy they were never the best team ever, as the Boston Herald proclaimed.  This team was never going to win a World Series, so this collapse expedited some of the changes that needed to happen. This team got boring to watch and very complacent.  Listen, I loved Francona as much as the next guy but he needed to go, Theo was missing on a lot of free agents of late, and players such as Wakefield and Varitek wore out their welcome.  My view is, after about 10 years, management becomes ineffective and needs new blood, and with this collapse that new blood is now in charge.  Here is to hoping that new blood will help turn around a stale franchise and lead us to really be the best team ever.

4 – Basketball is Back:  Everyone knows, basketball is my favorite sport – both college and the NBA.  I hated the lock out probably more than most; however it turned out to be a positive for both the NBA and NCAA.  First, college basketball had more players return for another year from the likes of Thomas Robinson to Doron Lamb, from Perry Jones III to Harrison Barnes, and from Jared Sullinger to Jeremy Lamb.  When all these guys stay, it leads to a better product for college basketball and you have seen that with so many exciting games already.  Moving on to the NBA, obviously the lockout being lifted means I get to see my beloved Celtics with the Big 4 one more year.  Also, if there was still a lockout you wouldn’t be able to see LeBron take 4^th quarters off like last year.  Besides the Celtics, watching Kevin Durant and the Thunder will be my favorite team to watch this year.  Let’s hope this year’s playoffs are just like 2011’s.

3 – Records Fall:  I’m only going to talk about Ray Allen breaking the career 3 point record and Rob Gronkowski breaking the touchdown record for a tight end, because well, I don’t really care about Drew Brees.  To watch Gronk this year is just amazing.  Gronk cannot be tackled by just one guy, and sometimes two guys aren’t even enough.  He is such a match up nightmare, especially in the red zone where safeties and corners are too small while linebackers are too slow to cover him.  It really is exciting every time he touches the ball.  “Me catch ball, me score touchdown, me spike ball hard.”  Moving on to one of the best pure shooters I have ever seen, Ray Allen.  Watching him shoot the ball is just a thing of beauty, I could not be happier to see him break Reggie Miller’s record especially against the Lakers at home with Reggie Miller in attendance.  You could not have written a better script for that record to fall.

2 – Bruins win the Stanley Cup:  I’m sorry Boston, hockey is just my least favorite sport.  I will admit I was blown away by how exciting playoff hockey was.  Tim Thomas really was unbelievable and single handily kept the Bruins in many games.  Then to watch Krejci, Lucic, Bergeron, Seguin, Chara, Seidenberg, and Marchand step up throughout the playoffs was special.  You can tell this team really loves playing together and should be exciting for years to come.

1 – Auburn wins National Championship:  Let me start by saying this – WAR EAGLE!!  What a season this team had.  From all the controversy and trashing of Cam Newton, it was unbelievable to see this team fight through it all and win the National Championship.  Lots of people were picking the high flying Oregon Ducks to win, but Auburn showed why they were the best team all year.  From the likes of Cam, Michael Dyer, Nick Fairley, Onterio McCalebb, Josh Bynes, and Darvin Adams, this was just an amazing season.  With how good Cam was, you could basically tell the defense what play they were running and they would still get positive yards.  Beating Oregon, Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Georgia, and South Carolina (twice) really just shows how strong this Auburn team was.  War Eagle all day.

Again, thanks for checking the blog and we hope that 2012 will continue to be a very fun and exciting year.  Check for our bold predictions for 2012 coming Monday or Tuesday. 

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