Nine Things I'll Remember About 2009

If you know me at all, you know that I love lists and being sentimental! The following are not necessarily the biggest sports stories of the year but more of the stories that I will remember from year 2009!

9. Six Overtimes! Syracuse vs. Connecticut in the Big East Tournament

Quite simply a basketball fans dream; six overtimes between two rivals in a meaningful game on basketballs biggest stage at Madison Square Garden!

8. Y.E. Yang beats Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship

Y.E. Beat Tiger in the 2009 PGA Championship. Tiger appeared human for the first time here. It was the first time Tiger ever has lost a major golf tournament when leading going into the final round. Tiger was 14-0 before little known South Korean Yang beat him!

7. Highland High School Wins The Boys Golf State Championship

Twenty-seven years since my school had last won the Championship! Oh how I wish it could have happened two years prior while I was still playing. None the less it is an awesome accomplishment for my friends and former teammates!

6. February 26- Utah State Basketball vs. Hawaii

The Aggies win their first outright regular season WAC Conference Championship! Front row seats, the team cutting down the nuts, and storming the court for my first time ever!

5. Phillies Return to the World Series

My favorite baseball team back competing for the world championship! Just a few mistakes away from being back-to-back world champions and probably a little higher on this list. It was really fun to watch them throughout the season.

4. Tom Watson in the British Open

It was a missed eight-footer on the final hole of regulation that separated 59-year-old Tom Watson from golf immortality. If he had made the putt he would be the oldest person ever to win a major but old Tom missed the putt and eventually lost the four hole playoff to first time major winner, Stewart Cink. This story has inspired hope in all of us who think it may be impossible to do something, that it is possible.

3. Utah State Basketball vs. Nevada & Being Ranked

On January 29 the Aggies were in the midst of a long winning streak when they welcomed rival Nevada into Logan. The game was close until Stavon Willams did this. Quite possibly the loudest I have ever heard an arena. Period. It gave me chills, and still does! The next week, when the top 25 polls came out the Aggies were ranked and gaining respect from the nation. To me, it is one of the coolest things to see your schools name with a number beside it. I can't wait till it happens again!

2. Tiger Woods Scandal

Simply amazing on the golf course, simply a terrible person. In my last post on this topic I said I thought I could support Tiger again, once he got his life turned around. Now, after thinking about it, I'm not so sure. I am much more likely to root for a good family man such as Phil Mickelson over Tiger. Tiger did amazing things throughout the past ten years and was rightly named AP Athlete of Decade. Being such a big player, how could he not.

1. December 2- Utah State Basketball vs. BYU

Ah.. Beating our arch rival on my birthday.. Definitely something I will always remember. Winning team, losing team, winning team, losing team. In the end it was bitter sweet as this was the last win of the Aggies 37-game home winning streak. If the streak had to end I'm sure glad that this win was a part of it.

Bowling? Next Year!

It's that time of the year again. The Holidays. A time for family, friends, and meaningless college football games! As much as I hate the current system in place for the college football post-season, I would like to see the system continue (and I'm sure it will) for at least one more year. Why? Because I'd love to go watch a bowl game that the Aggies are playing in! (more on how I think the BCS should change in a later post)

The Aggies this last year finished with a 4-8 record, their best record since 2002. The Aggies were a mere two games away from a bowl qualifying record this year. Three times this year the Aggies lost by four points or less. Two of those three losses coming at the hands of bowl-bound teams, Nevada(32-35) and Fresno State(27-31). In all the Aggies played seven bowl teams this past year. They played respectably in each of those games.

There is no reason the Aggies can't be in a bowl next year. It is clear that Coach Gary Anderson has his team on the right track and with many star skill players returning, such as quarterback Diondre Borel and 1000+ yard, running back Robert Turbin, the Aggies should be a legitimate WAC contender.

It has been years since the program has been truly respectable; next year with the talent and coaching in place, the 2010 season should be a program changing year leading to a great decade of Aggie Football! See you in Albuquerque, Boise or maybe even Honolulu for the bowl game!

Monday Night Miracle

It's weird how someone can get emotional about something they hardly have any control over. Yet last weekend, when I was on the verge of missing the playoffs in my fantasy football league, I truly was sad!

A mere month ago I was atop my league, on a three game winning streak and, in theory, a win away from clinching a playoff spot. Then my world, fantasy world that is, came crashing down. It was a perfect storm of poor management decisions, player suspensions, and facing good opponents!

With only the Monday night game remaining to be played of Week 14 of 2009 NFL season, my weeks fantasy game had already been determined. It would be my fourth straight loss, dropping my record to 6-6. The only way I could make the playoffs was through tiebreakers. And the only tiebreaker that was still a possibility for me was to have the Treemiesters defeat Team Searle. Yet the Treemiesters were down by two with only one player to play, while Searle had two remaining players including his consistent quarterback Kurt Warner.

I had considered my season over earlier that day, but as I watched highlights of the Cardinals and 49ers late Monday night, I saw a ray of hope. Somehow, someway the 49ers defense completely shut down Warner and and his receivers! All the while the 49ers and Treemiesters own Vernon Davis was piling up yards and scoring touchdowns! It truly was a monday night miracle, one Vernon Davis outscored two of Team Searle/Cardinal players! Not only did he outscore them, he outscored them enough to give the 'Meisters a win and me a playoff birth! I was ecstatic!

The playoffs start this week and are sure to bring me a whole lot of emotion again for something that I have absolutely no control over! And my first round opponent? Robbie Schaap's Treemiesters, the same Treemiesters who won allowing me to make the playoffs! Talk about irony... Irony that is only going to be intenstified if I win!

"Cheetah" Woods

Tiger may be a good putter, but he sure is a terrible driver!

Do you know if Tiger Woods is gonna play 9 or 18 hoes this weekend?

Whats Tigers favorite course? Intercourse!

What STD did Tiger pass to his partners? Golf Clap...

What do baby seals and Tiger have in common? They are both afraid of being clubbed by Norwegians!

Why did Phil Mickelson call Tigers Wife? He wanted advice on how to beat Tiger with a 9-iron!

Poor, poor Tiger. He was on top of the world and in a matter of days it all has crashed down on him. Tiger was a man I looked up to. To myself and the rest of the world Tiger was a star, a role model. He was a person who had it all a picture perfect family, an amazing career. He made the sport of golf relevant, he was the first athlete to earn over a billion dollars. He had everything anyone could have asked for in this world but he had to have more.

Tiger isn't perfect, he is just a man, a man with a gift and"to whom much is given, much is expected." (Luke 12:48) The world expected a lot out of Tiger, he is global icon. I am sincerely saddened that he brought this on himself. I don't know what the future holds for Tiger, but forever onward his image will be tarnished.

Tiger will go on to pass Jack Nicklaus record of 18 major wins. The golf course is a great place to forget about the world. I'm sure the driving range will be his escape as he pounds bucket after bucket trying to forget the things he has done. While he's out there I hope he remembers his family and that he still has the chance to be a good father. He can't change the past, I can only hope he makes his own future better by realizing that life is not just about golf and being a superstar, doing whatever he wants but that life if about family, the ones you love, and the responsibility you have to them. Deep down, I believe, Tiger cares and knows that he is not living how he is supposed to. Hopefully Tiger will change and see what he has done is wrong. And when he does I might be able to support and cheer for him once again!

Beating BYU!

Simply amazing! The crowd, the game, the 71-61 win over our rival BYU! The whole atmosphere was so cool. I have never seen the line to get into a game be so long, the student section was filled to capacity within minutes. The signs and The Refraction were so rude, hilariously rude. For a while there it was scary as BYU jumped out to an early lead and was even winning at half-time. But the Aggies battled back, making it a night that will not be soon forgotten by all in attendance. The article below and the video above sums it all up! Go Ags!

Brad Rock, Deseret News
Hate not limited to 1 in-state rivalry against BYU

Wild. Woolly. Noisy. Intense.

And all those rude, overbearing fans.

But we're not talking about Max Hall and the Utes.

That's so November.

Wednesday night at the Spectrum, Utah State and BYU resumed their long basketball rivalry with a 71-61 Aggie victory. No, it wasn't particularly friendly. That happens when you start playing one another 104 years ago. A century is a long time to build up a dislike. USU and BYU didn't even play one another in 2007-08 thanks to a scheduling disagreement. So they're not bosom friends.

No real trouble actually occurred, unless you count the fat lip BYU's Jackson Emery got for getting too close to Tai Wesley's elbow. The hate was limited to the ever present Aggie crowd, which included a hefty, bare-chested guy who did an outstanding Chris Farley imitation.

...

Thus the Aggies pulled off another win in Logan, their 37th straight, where the crowd brings its "A" material for games against BYU.

"The signs come out, the craziness comes out," said Morrill. "Guy takes off his shirt. Hell, it all happens."

Added Morrill, "They might go over the edge a little, but that's OK with me. That might not be OK with everyone, but it's OK with me. They might have gone over the edge, so what?"

The fat guy had sung, having shown once again that when it comes to rivalries in Utah,there's plenty of hate to go around.

Ready to be "Classless"

Max Hall, BYU's starting quarterback, called the whole University of Utah "classless." After tomorrow night, it is my hope that BYU's basketball team is saying the same thing about Utah State.

The Cougars haven't visited the Spectrum since they lost here on December 22, 2005.. Nearly four years ago! And since then, the Aggies haven't beat the Cougars in major collegiate sports(men's basketball and football). A lot of Y fans don't even consider the two in-state schools a rivalry.

Tomorrow night that comes to an end. No more will we be the little farm school, forgotten about way up north in Cache Valley. The players and fans will show what it means to be an Aggie, and that Utah State isn't just "the second choice for kid's who couldn't get into BYU." We have the best basketball atmosphere this side of the Mississippi, it is about time we got some respect from that school down south.

The 'Re'Spectrum is already heating up. It's time to restore the rivalry and show BYU just how "classless" we can be!

Prediction: A thrilling game on my 21st birthday, Aggies win 64-57