5.) A Dynasty by the Bay
Essentially, the Giants became a modern era dynasty for a New MLB.
There are more playoff teams than ever. The Giants won the World Series in the
first year of 5-playoff teams per league in 2012. They won a World Series in
the first time that two teams that played in the play-in game made the World
Series, doing it this year against similar Wild Card born Kansas City. They
also won in 2010 when they were an ordinary good team beating two other good
teams (Philadelphia and Texas) to win a World Series.
What the Giants also did was win with three different rosters, and
two radically different ones. Buster Posey is the only player to start for all
three teams. Pablo Sandoval was essentially benched late in 2010, but at least
was on the team. Madison Bumgarner is the only constant in the rotation.
Lincecum went from the dominant starter in 2010 to a castoff in 2014. Matt Cain
went from consistently great in 2010 to injured in 2014. There was a Core-Four
in the bullpen of Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Javy Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt,
but it’s hard to get too excited about four relievers winning three rings.
The Giants also had the ignominy of missing the playoffs in the
two odd years, but that added a nice symmetry to what the Giants did. All
playoffs long, people talked about #RoyalsMagic. The Royals were the darlings,
a group of talented youngsters coming together all at once. They were led by a
idiot manager who was quickly adding a ‘savant’ to the end of that label. They
didn’t lose a playoff game until the World Series. Sadly for them,
#EvenYearMagic is more powerful. The Giants won a 9th straight
postseason series (10th straight if you include their Wild Card win
over Pittsburgh this year). They’ve done something special. Let’s see if it can
continue in 2016.
4.) Defense Still wins
Championships
Entering Super Bowl XLVIII, all the talk was about cold weather,
and a historic offense, and Manning’s ability to blow playoff games and all that nonsense. Some talk was on the
interesting dichotomy between the best offense people had seen in some time
(though they were more voluminous than efficient) and the best defense,
especially best pass defense, people had seen in years. Well, that second talk
ended up being a lot more important and very, very telling. There was no snow
(that came, in droves, the next day). There was little wind. The conditions in
New York were as good as possible. Still, the Seahawks defense smothered
Denver, and brought a Super Bowl back to the Pacific Northwest.
10 months later it is still hard to think 43-8 happened. It was
36-0 before Denver scored. The game really all ended on the first play, when
Denver center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball too early and it went for a
safety. Denver’s defense held Seattle to field goals early, but a series of
awful plays really ended the game. First was a Moreno fumble which turned a
first down into a 3rd and 7 (the ball was fumbled backwards, out of
bounds). Manning threw a bad pick on the next play. Next was the pick-6 where
Manning was hit was he was throwing, and Moreno, again, decided to just stand
there and watch Malcolm Smith race to the ball and take it back for a TD to
make it 22-0 and finally break it open. The dagger, though, was Percy Harvin
starting the 2nd half with a Kick-off Return for a TD. It was oddly the
2nd straight year the eventual Super Bowl winner took the opening
kick of the 2nd half for a TD. Unlike in Super Bowl XLVII, there would
be no blackout to get momentum back, just a fumble by Demaryius Thomas to end
another drive in plus territory. When it was over, it was the biggest Super
Bowl blowout by score since the Cowboys hammered the Bills 52-17. It was the 2nd
biggest ever, with just an even more humiliating Denver loss coming in worse,
the 55-10 loss suffered in Super Bowl XXIV. Defense beat offense, again.
It is easy to write the story as Manning choking, or Denver
failing. But it was more about the 2013 Seahawks playing to every bit of their
ability. Their defense absolutely destroyed the Broncos short passes, and
covered their normal deep receiver, Decker, perfectly. They totally swallowed
up any hope of a running game, and got constant pressure on Manning. It was as
if they had 12 guys on the field. Just a perfect gameplan by an already very
god defense that allowed them to win the matchups all over the field. The
Seahawks defense in 2013 may not be the best ever. It was probably not even the
best to recently win a Super Bowl, with both the 2002 Bucs and 2000 Ravens
having claims to be better, but against an offense that scored 606 points, they
allowed 8. What the Seahawks did that no one else could, is give us a truly
boring Super Bowl.
3.) Germany's Golden Generation
No team was so praised for continuing to fail at the last stages
of tournaments than the German National Team from 2006-2012. They had
reinvented themselves, reinvented their way of training, preparing and playing.
They had a bastion of old stars and young stars. They were great teams that
could at times play exceedingly attractive football. But they lost. They lost
to Italy in the 2006 World Cup Semifinal (in Germany), and the 2012 Euro
Semifinal (as heavy favorites). They lost to Spain (no big shame there) in the
2008 Euro Final, and in the 2010 World Cup Semifinal. Since this was Germany,
it was seen as continuing a run of incredible success in competing for major
titles. But this was not winning those titles.
In 2014, they won that title. Germany was the best team in Brazil
this year from start to finish. They started their campaign with a 4-0
thrashing of Portugal. They finished by beating Argentina 1-0 in a game they
were the better team by some amount (it was as one-sided as Spain’s 1-0 win
over Holland in the 2010 Final). They were pushed at times. Ghana held a brief
lead in their 2nd group game (eventually it was a 2-2 draw), and
France kept it close. But Germany was the best team. They had the most talent
and, scarily, the most youth and depth. This Germany team gave a major trophy
to Miroslav Klose, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Per Mertesacker.
Those four guys were there in 2006. It also gave a major trophy to a bunch of
guys who aren’t even 23 yet.
The final was not the lasting memory of the tournament. The
lasting memory was how great it was in the Group Stage, easily the best in
recent memory. That memory will remain in our minds for four years. The other
such memory will be that score of ‘5-0’ through 30 minutes. Germany played
Brazil in the Semifinal. Brazil was missing captain David Luiz after he dumbly
got carded late in the Quarterfinal, and Neymar, who got hurt in that same
game. But they were at home… which probably hurt them. Germany cut them apart
with exacting precision. It was brilliant, it was merciless, it was awesome in
the literal sense of the world. Germany won by playing the best; a deserving
trophy in the midst of a German Golden Generation.
2.) The Spurs kill the Big 3
I wrote about this way too much. I actually wrote a three-part
series on the Spurs”
1.) The NFL shows how Not to Handle a Crisis
I did not write about the NFL’s bungling of the Ray Rice case and
then bungling of the Adrian Peterson case mainly because I did not think I was
qualified, and way too many people wrote way too much. I don’t think this will
have long term implications for the NFL. I think this is far less of a risk
than the concussion crisis was four years ago. I think this is far less of a
story than BountyGate and SpyGate. That all said, this was the first time the
NFL’s sordid dealings were seen by the nation as a whole. The NFL was given the
paparazzi treatment. The NFL was the focus of TMZ, and Comedy Central, and
everything else.
It all started with the innocuous Ray Rice incident in the
offseason. It wasn’t too memorable. It was quickly forgotten. Ray Rice was
going to go through the legal process. The NFL was going to adjudicate after.
Both things happened. Ray Rice’s charges were dropped to misdemeanor level
despite TMZ video of him dragging his then fiancée and now wife out of the elevator.
Roger Goodell gave him two games. Not out of line for players accused of
domestic violence in the past. But there was never video before. That little
TMZ video changed everything, and not for the better.
Immediately the discussions began. Was this too little, should Ray
Rice ever play again, is there any reason to ever hit a woman, what could Roger
Goodell know? That last one made the most impact, because it was assumed he
knew something the rest of the public did not, because if Ray Rice did knock
out his fiancée and drag her out of an elevator, two games was way too little.
In the end it seems Roger Goodell may or may not have known more, but what he
could have known did not change anything.
Honestly, to me, the bigger issue was how the NFL reacted to the
initial reaction. Setting up a panel of experts to come up with a more
stringent policy? Good. Having that policy set at 6-games and immediately
undermining it by the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson suspensions? Bad. Roger
Goodell’s press conferences where he had his usual terrible public presence?
Bad. The use of the exempt list? Bad. The ongoing domestic violence issue? Bad.
Basically nothing the NFL did worked to assuage concerns from outside and to
satisfy people inside. It was a mess, but the biggest question still remains
unanswered? How did Roger Goodell keep his job?
Roger Goodell has been commissioner for 9 years now, and the league
has no doubt grown in popularity. It is a giant behemoth. Truthfully, it was 9
years ago as well, but ratings have increased each year. Popularity has
increased. Nothing on TV sees ratings go up apart from AMC shows. The NFL did.
That’s the cynical way to say why Goodell kept his job. But it is the reason.
Under the stewardship of Goodell, the league has gotten better. The draft is
more fair. The league is competitive. Sure, offensive production has exploded
to somewhat uncomfortable levels, but that is a by-product of safety measures
as well. The league is healthy, and what Roger Goodell has done is provide a
bad enough public persona to somewhat take pressure off the league and shift it
to him. The NFL is the country’s largest sporting entity by far, and I don’t
think they’ve faced this level of examination from non-Sports entities before,
and they did not react well. But the NFL keeps going, it will keep going. The
NFL is bigger than Roger Goodell. His reduced power that was an outcome of all
of this is a sign of it. The league did not handle this case at all. But the
sport will go on.
