Sunday, February 05, 2017

Top Sports Moments of January

This is something that I've been thinking about doing for a while, so I guess this falls into the "better late than never" category.  Each month, I'll pick what I thought were the Top 5 sports moments of the month, and at the end of the year will rank them from 1-60 (assuming there are 5 great moments each month, which probably isn't much of a stretch).

For January:

1. College Football Championship game, Clemson v. Alabama.  Hard to argue with a hard-fought, competitive game that comes down to the very last play.

2. Rose Bowl Game.  Longtime readers will know that I'm not a fan of USC, but I have to give them their props for coming from WAY behind to nip Penn State in an all-time thriller.  And just like baseball is better when the Yankees are great, College Football is better when USC is great.  Now I just hope the Cal Bears can beat them some day.

3. Federer v. Nadal, Australian Open Men's Final.  Two great warriors facing off in a great match.  Something we never thought we'd see again.

4. Williams v. Williams, Australian Open Women's Final.  See above.  Ranked lower only because the match wasn't quite as good.  This has been going on for almost two decades now - extraordinary.

5. Green Bay defeats Dallas, NFL Divisional Playoff.  Pittsburgh v. KC was also an excellent playoff game, but this one was for the ages.  AARON RODGERS!  (But props to Mason Crosby and the Cowboys' Dak Prescott as well).

Albums of 2016

Memorializing.

  • The Weight of These Wings, Miranda Lambert
  • Blue and Lonesome - The Rolling Stones
  • 57th and 9th, Sting
  • Joanne - Lady Gaga
  • A Very Kacey Christmas - Kacey Musgraves
  • Walls - Kings of Leon
  • 22, A Million - Bon Iver
  • My Piece of Land - Amanda Shires
  • We're All Gonna Die - Dawes
  • American Band - Drive-By Truckers
  • Day of the Dead - Various Artists
  • Real - Lydia Loveless
  • Freetown Sound - Blood Orange
  • Eyeland - The Low Anthem
  • True Sadness - The Avett Brothers
  • Big Day in a Small Town - Brandy Clark
  • Blackstar - David Bowie
  • Hero - Maren Morris
  • Stranger to Stranger - Paul Simon
  • Hag - The Best of Merle Haggard
  • The Things That We Are Made Of - Mary Chapin Carpenter
  • HitnRun Phase Two - Prince
  • HitnRun Phase One - Prince
  • Painting of a Panic Attack - Frightened Rabbit
  • The Hope Six Demolition Project - PJ Harvey
  • Human Performance - Parquet Courts
  • A Sailor's Guide to Earth - Sturgill Simpson
  • Upland Stories - Robbie Fulks
  • Midwest Farmer's Daughter - Margo Price
  • E*mo*tion - Carly Rae Jepsen
  • Full Circle - Loretta Lynn
  • Untitled Unmastered - Kendrick Lamar
  • Ourboros - Ray LaMontagne
  • The Ghosts of Highway 20 - Lucinda Williams
  • Wonderful Crazy Night - Elton John
  • Palomino - Trampled by Turtles
  • Duluth - Trampled by Turtles
  • Divers - Joanna Newsome
  • Coming Home - Leon Bridges