Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Year that was 2010 - Sports and Entertainment

This is a continuation of my Year End Review: 2010.. Part 2 of 5 - Sports and Entertainment

Sports and Entertainment

Sports


Tiger Woods Saga
Well, this really started around the end of 2009 but it was full blown in 2010 when it was revealed that Tiger has been cheating on Elin with 16 women. They have ever since filed for divorce

Winter Olympics tragedy
Tragedy struck the winter olympics before it even started when Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Luger from Republic of Georgia, died while training just hours before the opening ceremony when he lost control of his sled while traveling 90 miles per hour on Whistler Sliding Centre track. US took the overall medal count with 37 but host Canada took most of the gold with 14 medals.

The Saints win Super Bowl
The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl against heavily favored Indianapolis Colts 31-17. It was a surprise win since the Colts finished the season with 14-2 record losing only after Caldwell decided to sit out his starters the final two games.

But NFL marred with controversies
Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for the first six games of the NFL season in April after an incident involving a 20 yr old college student. The suspension was reduced to 4 games and Big Ben has since led the Steelers to a playoff spot in the AFC division. Then in Sept, Ines Sainz a reporter for Azteca TV accused NY Jets assistant coach and players for harassing her during practice which the NFL investigated. In the same month, Jenn Sterger, a NY Jets "Gameday Host" revealed that Brett Favre sent her unwanted text and picture messages when Brett was playing for the Jets. The league has not make a decision against Favre.

Vick's comeback
Michael Vick started as a backup - now he is leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a playoff run after making a comeback in 2009.

Duke Wins NJCAA Mens Tournament
Duke wins NJCAA Mens Basketball Championship by defeating Butler 61-59 and ending Butler's 25 game winning streak. This year also saw Coach K tying Dean Smith for second place on the all-time wins list in College hoops after the Blue Devils defeating Elon 98-72 on December 20.

And the streak continues
In Women's College Basketball, the UConn Huskies beat Florida State 93-62 on December 22 to extend their winning streak to 89 and topped the 88 winning streak set by UCLA men's team from 1971-74

There goes the perfect game
Umpire Jim Joyce blew a call with 2 outs in the night and denied Armando Galarraga a perfect game in June. Joyce admitted he blew that call after watching the replay and apologize to Galarraga.

Africa as one nation
The World Cup - the soccer event that happens every four years that brings together the best soccer nations in the world. It happen this year in South Africa where everyone set aside their differences to enjoy this beautiful game. Sure there were a lot of things that happen, superstars were made while some fell, the demise of the French soccer team from greatness to embarrassment. Korea represented by both North and South. But one thing is certain, Bafana Bafana showed the world unity and grace in hosting the World Cup.

Longest Tennis Match Ever
This year, we saw the longest tennis match ever. The match, started on June 22, was between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. It went for more then 11 hours of play over three days during Wimbledon. In the end, Isner won with the last game lasting eight hours. The match is the longest Grand Slam match, the fifth set was the longest ever to have been played, most number of games ever played, longest match at Wimbledon, longest set at Wimbledon, record number of aces.

Lakers win Back to Back
Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics to win back to back NBA Championship on June 17. (A Special Day)

The 'King' heads to Miami
The 2009-2010 NBA season hasn't even ended yet when the 'Where's Lebron heading' took over the NBA buzz. Teams managers and president from New York, New Jersey, Miami, and Cleveland presented their proposal to Lebron and his agency on why he should play for their team. Rumors swirled that he was coming to play for New York, or he was staying in Cleveland with the firing of coach Mike Brown but in the end, he picked Miami Heat to team up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in the hopes to bring another NBA championship to Miami. Cleveland fans felt they were betrayed and owner Dan Gilbert blasted Lebron in an open letter to fans.



Entertainment

The showbiz buzz was abound this year.

Sandra Bullock
After winning the Golden Globes for "The Blind Side." Sandra was blindsided when husband Jesse James admitted to being unfaithful. She filed for divorce in April while announcing that she will be a single parent to her adopted son. Then her first public appearance was during the MTV Movie Awards to which she shared a kiss with Scarlett Johanssen.

Rise of Coco
January show the end of the turbulent tenure of Conan O'Brien on the Today Show when he agreed to a buyout by NBC. But that didnt stop him from having a talk show gig as TBS signed him to host on that start last November entitled Conan. During his first episode, he jokingly said that he aptly name the show "Conan" so that they could not replaced him.

Betty White
It sure was the year of Betty White. At age 88, Betty Betty stared in a Snickers ads during Super Bowl. Then a Facebook campaign aptly named "Betty White to Host SNL (Please)" was launched and sure enough she hosted SNL on May 9. The SNL episode garnered the show's highest rating since 2008. It also brought in her seventh Emmy winning the Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She now stars in TV Land's Hot in Cleveland and has guest roles in 30 Rock, Community, and The Middle.

Lindsay Lohan
She was sent to jail, then rehab, then sent back to jail for failing a drug test.

Charlie Sheen
The highest paid TV actor trashed his hotel room in NYC and was sentenced to rehab center for a month.

Bye Bye Simon
After six years are judge in American Idol, Simon Cowell announced he was leaving. American Idol also lost Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi but got replaced this upcoming season with Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.

Love Parade canceled..forever
Disaster struck the Love Parade in Duisburg, the longest running electronic dance music festival, on July 24 when a stampede occurred at the entrance to the venue resulting into 21 deaths and as least 500 injured. Due to this incident, the organizers have decided to to cancel the Love Parade and Festival permanently. DJs Armin van Buuren, Paul Oakenfold and Paul van Dyk collaborated together to produced "Remember Love," a single to which all the proceeds went to those who were affected by this tragedy.

The Year of Armin
It was the year of Armin. The Dutch DJ won the DJ Mag Top 100 for the fourth straight year. His show, A State of Trance, has 15 million listeners and he just started a new radio show on Sirus XM called A State of Sunday, a 24 hours of ASOT. He also completed in fourth artist album, Mirage, and is now on tour which is known as Armin Only.

The year of Glee
Glee broke out its second season with 13 million viewers, 19 Emmy nominations and a sold out tour. We are now all Gleeks!!


Stephen Colbert was in the political spotlight this year. In Sept, he testified to the Subcommittee on Immigration using his experience as a day laborer for a day. Then he was back in Washington in October, this time in the National Mall, as he and John Stewart hosted the 'Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear.'

Lost is lost forever
After six seasons, Lost aired its finale on May 23. Everyone thought they would finally get the answers from the show but nope. The finale ended with questions left unanswered as JJ Abrams is known for doing with his series or films.

South Park controversy
The 200th episode of South Park sparked controversy when it was aired on April 14. It depicted Muhammad as a bear which enraged the Muslim community and a NY based radical Muslim group claimed that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the show's producers, "will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh."


Notable Breakups
Courtney Cox and David Arquette, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, Billy Ray Cyrus and Trish, Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman, Melissa Etheridge and Tammy Lynn Michaels, Al and Tipper Gore, Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva, Shania Twain and Robert Lange, LeAnn Rimes and Dean Sheremet, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, Kelsey Grammer and Camille Grammer

Sports and Entertainers we lost: George Steinbrenner, Brittany Murphy, Sparky Anderson, Manute Bol, Dixie Carter, Gary Coleman, Tony Curtis, Corey Haim, Dennis Hopper, Lena Horne, Leslie Nielsen, Bobby Thompson, John Wooden

Sources: Yahoo! 2010 in Review, Wikipedia, Twitter, Infoplease

No comments:

Post a Comment