11. Alex Rodriguez finally wins a championship
A-Rod may be not only be one of the best players of this era (with exception to maybe Albert Pujois and Barry Bonds), but one of the greatest of all time. His accomplishments are many, 12 time all star, 3 time MVP, 5 time AL leader in Home Runs, 2 time gold glove winner, youngest player to hit 500 home runs, a member of the 40 home runs-40 stolen bases club, and already a future hall of famer. Whether you love or hate him, you can't argue that is not a great player. And it is fitting that one of the greatest players wins his world championship with baseball's most recognizable team, the New York Yankees. he may not be the captain, (that belongs to Derek Jeter), but he is the center of the team for many fans. Alex Rodriguez has some similarities to the Yankees, both are bigger than thier sport in some aspects. The Yankee logo is recognized everywhere from music videos to persons coming from other countries in search of something "American, meanwhile A-Rod is covered in as many sporting magazines as in the mainstream media, be it GQ or on TMZ. A-Rod and the Yankees' transcend the sport.
As the decade closed the Yankees had not won a championship since the beginning of the decade, a long time for a team that had already won 26 championships. A-Rod finally winning the World Series not only brought joy to his fans but the Yankee fans who had waited for the "World Champion" title to be brought back to the Bronx.
12. Bobby Bowden's retirement
Bowden has had an amazing career. Here are a few highlights; 389 total career wins, (2nd all time behind Joe Paterno), 14 consecutive seasons in which Florida State was ranked in the top 5, 14 consecutive seasons in which Florida State won at least 10 games, 33 of 34 seasons at FSU with a winning record, and 31 of 34 seasons at FSU with a bowl game. Bowden took over as head football coach in 1976, a program which had relatively little success and little recognition. FSU was not a football school, but Bowden changed that. Bowden made FSU a football program that star players wanted to be part of. Some of the great players that made it big professionally include Deion Sanders, Warrick Dunn, Anquan Boldin, Derrick Brooks, Laveranues Coles, Walter Jones, Samari Rolle, Sebastian Janikowski, and Tra Thomas. There are many more players that made it to the professional level, but Bowden did more than just have the athletes play well, he made them better people. Bowden knew that many of his players did not come from the best of circumstances. They came from inner cities, poverty, single parent households, some had past legal trouble and some got into trouble while with FSU. But, Bowden protected his players when they got involved in scandal, waiting to discipline them when all the facts were out. Bowden tried to make his players better people by teaching them to be better. He had yearly trips with the team to local churches, not to force religion, but to bring the players together as a community.
But, Florida State grew tired of the football program not having the same success as it once did. A program which Bowden himself built, which made the school millions and millions of dollars so that the school itself could be better to attrach better students and athletes. So unfortuately, Bowden's impressive legacy came to a rather sad ending. Instead of going out in a championship game or major bowl, he went out winning a rather minor bowl against the school he coached before FSU, West Virginia. But instead of being bitter as some would be when hoisted out of a program, Bowden was the same polite and positive man he has been for years. And hopefully the mismanaging on Florida State's part will be overshadowed by the greatness of Bowden.
13. Steroids in baseball and Juiced
The scandal that still hasn't ended. Baseball took a major blow when Jose Canseco's Juiced was published. In it he brought to light what many had speculated for years, that many of the top baseball players of the 1990s and 2000s; including Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, Ivan Rodriguez, and even himself. Though Canseco has probably more haters than fans, his book and the subsequent public outrage are very important. The fact that Congress became involved in pro sports is almost unheard of, I mean how could Congress be more focused on this when the country was in the midst of 2 wars? Many sad Canseco was a lot of talk and making false reports about who was doing steroids, but ultimately, Canseco was right. He was right on all the players he said above and even on some that he speculated on like Roger Clemens. Canseco will continue to be hated, but he was right even if he is a jerk.
14. Todd Bertuzzi and Marty McSorely
Bertuzzi and McSorely are both professional hockey players who have similar stories. Both inflicted tough hits on players that caused serious injuries and both players were face both league and legal rammifications. McSorely hit Donald Brashear on February 21 2000. Brashear would suffer a concussion and McSorely was charged with assualt and got 18 months probation, along with a 23 game suspension, which was following the conviction turned into a year suspension. Bertuzzi hit Steve Moore on February 16 2004 which resulted in a concussion and again an assault charge. Bertuzzi recieved a year probation and the league suspended him for 20 games. Brashear's career has continued, but Moore's has not, in fact Moore hasn't played since the hit and even filed a lawsuit against Bertuzzi. McSorely never played in the league after his suspension; Bertuzzi has and had a fair amount of success. These stories has a great deal of similarities, but what is most interesting is in the fact that both stories resulted in lawsuits and charges against the players. This is amazing since there really is no other sport where a player could face criminal charges for playing their sport. Players get into legal trouble, but not for what they do on the field of play. These cases bring up the question that haunts the NHL, is the sport to violent? compared to all other major sports, hockey is by far the most likely to include violence, fights are common and part of why people attend, but a bad hit may be a result of a player being dirty, or simply just trying to hard. Ultimately these stories are important because of the precendent they set for the league in dealing with hits on players and how the league change rules concerning hits.
15. University of Colorado scandal
The University of Colorado football program faced one of the worst scandals of the decade. in 2004 allegations of rape came up, and not only this, but the school's lackluster response by not reporting them to the police. The reason I included this story was that the football program was accused of using sex (and alcohol) as a recruiting tool to attrach high school students. The scandal become even worse when Katie Hnida, a former student athlete on the team and the first female player in college football to score a point in Div. 1, said that she had been harassed and sexually assualted by a member of the team. The then coach, Gary Barnett, basically said that it didn't matter what Hnida said since she was a girl and bad player. Barnett was only suspended for this comment, but did finally lose his job for poor team performance. UC football program has really fallen apart since the scandal, but football is not important is this story. What is inportant is that the school, which is required to investigate harassment, intimidation, assualt and any type of discrimination based upon gender (see Title IX) and failed. Not only did the school break the law, it made affected the lives of several women by basically ignoring their sexual assualts. The school made recruiting good players more important than the safety of their students, they allowed for sexual assualts to occur and did nothing.
A few that didn't make the cut;
Adam 'Pac Man' Jones and NFL player conduct policy
Retirements and Unretirements - Brett Farve, Michael Jordan, and Mario Lemieux.
Kobe Bryant's rape allegations
Danica Patrick enters into pro racing
Tim Donaghy and the betting scandal in the NBA
