Columnists, Sports

Why We Play: A look back on 2016

2016 was a banner year in sports, capped off by the Cubs' World Series win. PHOTO COURTESY ARTURO PARDAVILA III/ FLICKR
2016 was a banner year in sports, capped off by the Cubs’ World Series win. PHOTO COURTESY ARTURO PARDAVILA III/ FLICKR

As 2016 winds to a close, the internet is becoming saturated with content discussing the virtues and shortcomings of the past year. The consensus? 2016 was a rough one. But what about in the sports world? 2016 was a year filled with all of the best and worst that sports have to offer, and will be remembered. So without further ado, I would like to showcase the good, the bad, and the ugly in the “2016 Simon Kienitz Kincade Sports Year in Review.”

Rio’s Summer Olympics immediately boosts 2016 above a normal year in terms of sports interest. And despite concerns over the sanitary conditions, the Zika virus and the displacement of Brazilian residents, the athletic competitions did not disappoint.

The world watched two of the most dominant Olympians of all-time, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, go out on top. Phelps won five more gold medals and one silver medal and gave us one of the most enduring and wonderful memes of 2016 sports with his pre-race “Phelps face.”

The exploits of young phenoms like gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ledecky reminded us of everything we love about athletes. And Ryan Lochte’s gas station scandal reminded us of everything we hate about them.

Of all the games that happened this year, there were three that stood out to me.

The first was the NCAA men’s basketball championship game between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Villanova University. The game was closely contested and intense, with both teams boasting deep teams full of three- and four-year players, a rare treat in the age of one-and-done college hoops. But it was the game’s final two plays, culminating in Villanova forward Kris Jenkins’s three as time expired, that will cement it as one of the greatest March Madness finals ever played.

The second game is also of the basketball variety: Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Again, the game would come down to the final minute, but an emphatic chase-down block from LeBron and a 3-pointer from Kyrie Irving gave the Cavs an improbable victory, and the city of Cleveland a professional sports championship for the first time since 1964.

My third choice also involves a long winless streak being broken.The Chicago Cubs, long ago established as baseball’s lovable losers, captured a World Series title after 108 long years of waiting following a legendary battle against the Cleveland Indians.

This Game 7 went back and forth, with offenses scoring runs in every way possible, from wild pitches to home runs by 39-year-old backup catchers. In the eighth inning, the Cubs lead was erased by a dramatic home-run from Indians outfielder Rajai Davis, and it seemed that the Cubs might fall short of breaking their century-long curse. In the end it was a seemingly poetic rain delay that allowed the Cubs to regroup and come away with an 8-7 extra-innings victory.

With the Cavaliers and Cubs victories, (as well as a certain Nov. 9 surprise that I have no wish to discuss here), 2016 seems to have been the year of the upset.

But while the Cavs and Cubs both brought victory to their long-suffering fan bases, the biggest Cinderella of 2016 did not come from the United States.

That honor belongs to Leicester City, the plucky English soccer club that somehow managed to beat out billion-dollar giants like Chelsea and Manchester United to take home the English Premier League title.

Their odds at the beginning of the 2015-16 season of taking home the Premier League Cup were a staggering 5000-1. To give that some perspective, bookmarkers gave the same 5000-1 odds that Elvis Presley is still alive somewhere, but if 2016 has shown us anything, it’s that nothing is too far-fetched.

2016 said goodbye to some of the most revered sports figures of our era.

Quarterback Peyton Manning retired following another Super Bowl victory, cementing his legacy as arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

The NBA said goodbye to Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant, who retired with 11 championships between them, and some of the longest and most illustrious careers in basketball history.

In baseball, Red Sox slugger and Boston hero David Ortiz played his final game, and Vin Scully called his last broadcast after 67 years as the Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play announcer. This columnist was lucky enough to attend Ortiz’s final game, and watching him walk off the field, I felt truly touched by the connection an athlete can build with a city and its fans.

2016 also saw the passing of some of sport’s all-time legends.

Pat Summitt, the winningest coach in college basketball history and a women’s hoops pioneer, died at age 64.

Arnold Palmer, one of the most successful and influential golfers of all time as well as the inventor of a fantastic beverage, passed away at 87.

And baseball was devastated in September by the death of 24-year-old Cuban pitcher and rising star José Fernández in a boating accident.

But the most significant loss of 2016 came with the passing of Muhammed Ali, considered not only the greatest boxer of all time, but one of the most electrifying and important athletes in American history.

All in all, sport continued to brim with new accomplishments, heroes and narratives worthy of the past and promising for the future. And in a year that gave us a seemingly endless stream of political and social turmoil, sports provided a haven, a place to go to celebrate cooperation, determination and positive achievement.

I’ve been honored to be able to cover even a tiny sliver of the athletic world this past semester.

It has brought me joy as a fan and as a person. And although I may not continue my writing in this capacity, I will always retain my love of what sports contributes to the human experience.

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