2016 is almost completely in the books and what a year it has been.It saw anniversaries,curses broken,comebacks,milestones,last-gasp heroics,legends going out with a final hurrah,future legends coming in with a bang,grizzled veterans going “All right that’s it I’m gonna take you on my back now and we are gonna win this”,underdogs,record-breakers,clutch moments,and especially the always memorable “Oh my god how the heck did that just happen” moments.I will give a month-by-month rundown,and then count down my top ten moments of the year.

January:

The year began with the NFL playoffs and the Australian Open.The playoffs began with the Kansas City Chiefs’ Knile Davis returning the first kickoff for a 106-yard touchdown against the Houston Texans.Davis’ Chiefs ended up winning 30-0.For the first time since the playoffs expanded to include 12 teams in 1990,all the road teams won in the wildcard round.The seed 5 Chiefs win,combined with the seed 6 Steelers,seed 5 Packers,and seed 6 Seahawks winning,made the weekend historic.The Chiefs blowout was the only game without much excitement.The Packers’ 35-18 win over the Redskins however,was a blowout by score,but the Packers first four drives were:punt,safety,punt,punt.The Redskins led 11-0 in the 2nd quarter,until the Packers reeled off 17 unanswered to lead at halftime.The Redskins took one last lead on a Kirk Cousins run before allowing the Packers to put up 18 unanswered to end the fabled “You Like That!” campaign.The Steelers pulled off a late win over their rivals the Bengals thanks to one of the dumbest fumbles ever by Jeremy Hill in Steeler territory up 16-15 with less than two minutes to go.Then the Steelers moved the ball to the Bengal 47,before two penalties gave the Steelers 30 yards and a chip shot 34-yard FG which Chris Boswell converted with 18 seconds left for an 18-16 victory.In Minnesota,the Vikings were ready to celebrate a playoff win before usually reliable kicker Blair Walsh missed a chip shot 27-yarder as time expired to send the Vikings home in tears with a 10-9 loss to Seattle.The Divisional playoffs saw all the home teams win,with Denver edging Pittsburgh 23-16,New England beating Kansas City 27-20,the Carolina Panthers holding off an incredible comeback to win against Seattle 31-24 after allowing 24 straight points,and arguably the best game of the season in which Green Bay needed a Hail Mary to force OT against Arizona before the Cards scored in three plays to win 26-20.The championship games saw the final edition of Brady-Manning saw two late fourth-down turnovers by the Denver D and a pick to seal the game on the final two-point conversion for a 20-18 Denver win.In the NFC the Panthers pummeled the Cards 49-15,setting up a date with Denver.The Aussie Open ended as expected on the men’s side,not so much on the women’s.No.1 seed Novak Djokovic defeated the No.2 Andy Murray 6-1,7-5,7-6(3) to take the men’s title,while No.7 Angelique Kerber,who faced a match point in the first round,stunned No.1 Serena Williams 6-4,3-6,6-4 to take the women’s crown.Alabama also beat Clemson in a 45-40 thriller for the college football National Championship.John Scott,a skater with a total of 6:18 in the ice,was voted onto the NHL All-Star Game as part of a social media joke.

February:

Not much happened in February,other than Super Bowl 50,which(as I predicted)was won by the Denver Broncos 24-10 over the Carolina Panthers to see Peyton Manning go out with a bang.

March:

This is where the year really got started.March Madness saw many incredible moments,including buzzer-beaters by teams like Wisconsin and Northern Iowa.The season saw the first No.10 seed ever(Syracuse)make the Final Four,and the championship game?It was really the first “Oh my god how the heck did that just happen” moment of the year.With 4.7 seconds to go and trailing 74-71,North Carolina’s Marcus Paige made an incredible three in which he did a double juke shimmy in midair.The very next play,Villanova’s Ryan Arcidiacono,who won the Most Outstanding Player,made a great assist to Kris Jenkins for a buzzer-beater three to win 77-74.The women’s tourney ended with UConn setting a women’s record for consecutive championships(4),and tied a record for most championships men or women(UCLA men,11).Coach Geno Auriemma set a record,men’s or women’s,for titles by a coach(11).

April:

The NBA and NHL playoffs began,and so did the MLB season.The NBA went accordingly in the first round,with Golden State,San Antonio,OKC,Portland,Cleveland,Atlanta,Miami,and Toronto advancing.The only team without home court advantage to win was Portland,who came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 4-2 against the LA Clippers.In the NHL,the first round was mostly about pesky teams showing perennial superpowers what they could do.The Florida Panthers and the New York Islanders traded wins until New York clinched the series 4-2. The Tampa Bay Lightning held off the Detroit Red Wings to win 4-1.The NHL’s best team by points,the Washington Capitals,ousted the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 after being up 3-0 ,dropping the next two,and winning 1-0 in Game 6 to clinch.The Pittsburgh Penguins dominated NYC’s Rangers 4-1 while the West’s top team by points,the Dallas Stars,edged the feisty Minnesota Wild in six.The St. Louis Blues held of the Chicago Blackhawks comeback from 3-1 down and 2-0 down in Game 7 to win the game 3-2 and the series 4-3.The Nashville Predators stunned the Anaheim Ducks in seven,while the Sharks dominated the LA Kings in 5.Danny Willett won the Masters for his first major victory. His previous best result at a major was finishing a tie sixth at the Open Championship.

May:

Leicester!For the first time in their 132-year history,Leicester City F.C. won the English Premier League!And to think Cubs fans whine(or used to whine,more on that later)about a 108-year drought.They’ve actually won before!This team,which had 5000-1 odds to win the League,won it all.To put that in perspective,the same odds apply for you finding the Loch Ness monster or finding Elvis alive!Wow.In the NBA,the Warriors,Thunder,Cavs,and Raptors advanced while in the NHL,the Lightning,Penguins,Blues,and Sharks lived to play another day.The Conference Finals saw the Warriors come back from 3-1 down to nip the Thunder in Game 7 while the Cavs got the better of Toronto in six.The NHL conference Finals saw Pittsburgh beat Tampa Bay in a hard-fought series which ended in seven,while the Sharks upset the Blues 4-2.The French Open began,seeing Novak Djokovic win his first title at Roland Garros along with Garbine Muguruza on the women’s side.Djoker’s win was pretty straightforward after he lost the first set 6-3 against Andy Murray,as it looked like Roland Garros would elude him yet again.Undaunted,he won the next two sets in dominating fashion,6-1 and 6-2 respectively.He closed out the match in the fourth for a final score of 3-6,6-1,6-2,6-4.4th seeded Muguruza faced No.1 Serena,in a rematch of their Wimbleldon final the year before,won by Serena.This time,an inspired Muguruza played hard and defeated Serena 7-5,6-4.Another highlight was right-handed Mets pitcher Bartolo Colón(now with Atlanta Braves)slugging the first homer of his career at 42 years young.The blast set the record for oldest player to hit his first home run,breaking Randy Johnson’s record.Real Madrid edged Athletico Madrid on penalties to win the European Champions League.

June:

One of the greatest,if not the greatest NBA Finals ever in my book saw the Warriors go up 3-1 against Cleveland, a deficit which no team had ever overcome in the Finals.Undaunted,the Cavs,spurred by  LeBron James’s heroics,came back to win a Game 7 thriller in Oakland.Against the NBA record 73-9 Warriors,the Cavs dropped the first two games in Oakland 104-89 and 110-77 respectively.They managed to cut the deficit to 2-1 courtesy of a 120-90 blowout at home,before a 108-97 loss took the Warrior lead to 3-1,a deficit which had never been overcome in the Finals.The city of Cleveland had not won a Big Four(NFL,NBA,NHL,MLB)championship in 52 years.The drought looked set to continue,but  a suspension to Warriors power forward Draymond Green helped the Cavs to take the next two contests 112-97 and 115-101 respectively,setting up Game 7.Game 7 was a wild affair in which the Warriors led 49-42 by the half,but the Cavs kept it close,and the score was 89-89 with 4:39 left.Neither team was able to score for a period,highlighted by LeBron James chased down Andre Iguodala and slamming his would-be layup of the glass to keep the score tied.Kyrie Irving hit a three with 0:53 left to take a 92-89 lead,and with 0:10 left,LeBron James went to the line after a a hard foul by Green which left him on the floor in pain.James missed the first free throw,leaving him with one chance to win the title.If James missed his next shot and the Warriors sunk a three to send it to OT,they would probably win against a hobbled LeBron James and the Cavs.But James made it and the Cavs won 93-89.LeBron won MVP after leading both teams in minutes per game,points per game,assists per game,rebounds per game,blocks per game,and steals per game.Nobody had ever done that in the Finals before,but leave it to The King to rule teams in record-breaking fashion.The Stanley Cup Finals went to the Pittsburgh Penguins after a six-game series.MVP honors went to Sidney Crosby after he scored the Cup winning and sealing assists.The Copa America Centenario(English:Copa America Centennial )was the 100th anniversary of the first Copa America.The tournament was won by Chile after a controversial win over Argentina on penalties in the final.A Chilean player shoved Argentina striker Lionel Messi down in the Chilean penalty area,but the yellow card shockingly went to Messi for diving. If Messi had converted the penalty Argentina would have won. Chile went on to win the penalty shootout 4-2 after scoreless match play.In Euro 2016,the big story was the success of smaller nations like Wales and Iceland,who reached the semifinals and quarterfinals respectively.Iceland tied future champs Portugal and Hungary in the group stage,before beating Austria 2-1 on the last kick of the game to finish second in their group,causing a priceless reaction from an Icelandic broadcaster in which he literally choked himself after screaming in joy.That set up a round of 16 date with England,which they went on to win in a huge upset,2-1,before falling to hosts France 5-2.Wales beat Slovakia 2-1,fell to England 2-1,and crushed Russia 3-0 to finish first in their group.They edged neighbors Northern Ireland 1-0 in the round of 16,then stunned Belgium,ranked second in the world,3-1,before losing to Portugal 2-0.Portugal went on to edge France in the Final 1-0 in extra time. Dustin Johnson won the U.S. Open for his first major championship victory on June 19.

July:

July saw the Tour de France won by Chris Froome of Great Britain for a second straight year. Wimbledon ended with Andy Murray defeating Milos Raonic in the final 6-4,7-6(3),7-6(2). The door was open for Murray ,the number two seed,to win the tournament after the number one seed Novak Djokovic lost in the third round to the 28th seed Sam Querrey. This was the first time Djokovic lost before the quarterfinals of a major tournament since the 2009 French Open. Murray won his second Wimbledon title,although more headlines were made by Raonic in making an impressive run,beating 7-time Wimbledon champ Roger Federer in the semis en route to the final.The sixth seeded Canadian reached his first grand slam final and was the first non-European to reach the Wimbledon final since Andy Roddick in 2009.Brit Marcus Willis,ranked No.772 in the world,upset No.54 Ricardis Berankis 6-3,6-3,6-4 before being dispatched by Roger  Federer.The Swedish Henrik Stenson won the Open Championship on July 17 to become the first Swede to win a major championship after a historic duel with American Phil Mickelson. With Jimmy Walker’s win at the PGA Championship all the major winners of 2016 were first time winners of major championships.

August:

The Rio Olympics began,and controversy ruled.The Russian team was banned from competition due to hundreds of members testing positive for certain drugs. Ryan Lochte’s Olympics were also marred by a controversial altercation at a gas station.The US topped the medal table by an overwhelming margin,46 golds to second place Great Britain’s 27,and  121 medals to second place China’s 70. The 2016 Little League World Series also took place. Maine Endwell won the title over the international champions East Seoul.The New York team defeated Warwick,Rhode Island in the first round;Goodlettsville,Tennessee in the second;Bowling Green Kentucky in the third,and Goodlettsville again to win the American bracket. The South Koreans defeated Curaçao  in the first-round;Canada in the second;but lost to Panama in the third. After winning the consolation bracket against Mexico, they went on to defeat Panama and move on to the Little League World Series championship. The final was close and low scoring, but the New York team defeated the Korean team 2-1 to win the championship.

September:

The 2016 US open saw number one seed Novak Djokovic lose to No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the final by a score of 6-7(1),6-4,7-5,6-3. On the women’s side, with Serena Williams loss to Karolína Plíšková in the semi finals, German Angelique Kerber clinched the number one ranking for the first time in her career, ending a record tying 186 week run at number one for Serena.Kerber ended up beating Plíšková in the final 6-3,4–6,6-4. Canada also won the World Cup of Hockey, edging the European team in a best-of-three series in the final,2-0. The 41st Ryder Cup saw the United States win for the first time since 2008 defeating Europe 17-11.

October:

The MLB postseason kicked off with the wildcard round. Edwin Encarnacion blasted a three run walkoff home run to beat the Baltimore Orioles 5 to 2 in 11 innings in what will forever be known as the Zack Britton game. Orioles manager Buck Showalter’s decision to rest his star closer Zack Britton who had 47 saves during the regular season came back to bite him as the Orioles were eliminated from the playoffs. In the National League wildcard game, the pitchers duel lived up to the hype as the Mets and Giants were locked in a scoreless tie through eight innings.Both starters: postseason god Madison Bumgarner of the Giants and long-locked Noah Syndergaard of the Mets dueled it out in an incredible showdown. In the top of the ninth the Giants Conor Gillaspie finally knocked a three run homer out of the park to win the game 3 to 0 for the Giants. In the division series the Chicago Cubs raced to a 2 to 0 lead over the Giants until the Giants took game three. In game four,the Giants led 5 to 2 at home in the ninth inning is the series looked headed towards a decisive game five. Suddenly the Cubs began to come back with the four-run ninth inning to win the game 6-5 and move onto the National League Championship Series.In the other NLDS, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington nationals split the first four games, taking the series to a  decisive Game 5. In Game 5, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, on short rest, played as a closer in the game when the Dodgers were up 4 to 3. Kershaw managed to get the save and the Dodgers moved on to face the Cubs in the NLCS. In the AL the Blue Jays managed to come up with the surprising sweep of the Texas Rangers. The Blue Jays however needed a walk off error by Elvis Andrus to score Josh Donaldson and winning 7 to 6 to clinch the series. The Cleveland Indians faced the Boston Red Sox and what would be David Ortiz’s last series. The Indians swept the Sox to move on to play the Blue Jays in the ALCS. The ALCS will forever be known as the series which had the bloody finger game from Trevor Bauer.Bauer got to start for a game three, but only pitched 1.1 innings because of an injury to his finger while fixing his toy drone. The Indians went on to win the game to go up 3 to 0 in the series, and eventually win the series 4-1. During the NLCS Game 1,the Cubs’ Miguel Montero came up to pinch-hit with the score tied 3 to 3,bases-loaded and two outs in the eighth inning. To put in perspective the magnitude of the at-bat there is a stat called leverage index which gives you an idea of the importance of a single at-bat to the outcome of the game the leverage index of an average at that is 1.00.The leverage for Miguel Montero’s at-bat was 5.38! Montero proceeded to hit a grand slam which was immediately followed up by a homerun from Dexter Fowler to all of a sudden put the Cubs up 8 to 3 in a game they would go on to win 8 to 4. After being shut out the next two games ,the Cubs  proceeded to win the next three and clinch the series and a ticket to the World Series.

November:

The World Series’ main storyline was a tale of two title droughts: the Chicago Cubs 108 – year drought vs the Cleveland Indians 68-year.After the Indians took Game 1 in dominating fashion 6 to 0, the Cubs managed to even the series in game two with the five to one win. Then the series shifted to Chicago. For the first time since game seven in 1945, The Chicago Cubs would host a World Series game. They lost the first two games in Wrigley though fall behind 3 to 1. No team had come back from being down 3 to 1 since 1985 and no team had won the last two games on the road since 1979. After a close win in game five they crushed the Indians 9 to 3 in game six on the heels of Addison Russell’s six RBI.In Game 7,Dexter Fowler hit a lead off homer for the Cubs which was later answered by Carlos Santana’s one-run single.Addison Russell and Wilson Contreras drove in Kris Bryant and Ben Zobrist respectively to put Chicago up 3-1.Javier Baez then homered for a 4-1 advantage.Anthony Rizzo drove in Kris Bryant soon after.A Jon Lester wild pitch drove in two for Cleveland and cut the Cubs’ advantage to 5-3.David Ross,playing in the last game of his career,crushed a ball to straight away center.Cubs lead:6-3.Suddenly,after Brandon Guyer drove Jose Ramirez to make it 6-4,and after Joe Maddon brought Aroldis Chapman out of the bullpen for the Cubs,Rajai Davis crushed the ball down the left field line to tie things up at 6 in the bottom eighth.Outfielder Jason Heyward gathered everyone for a pep talk during a rain delay just before extra innings.In extra innings Ben Zobrist doubled home Albert Almora Jr. and scored himself off a Miguel Montero hit.In extra innings the Indians got on the board quickly,making it 8-7.Then Michael Martinez hit a slow grounder up the middle to Kris Bryant,who was literally smiling as he made the throw for the final out and Chi-town erupted in a celebration 108 years in the making.Elsewhere,in the World Chess Championship,World No.1 Magnus Carlsen and No.9 Sergey Karjakin played a best of 12 match to decide the World Champion.Half a point for a draw,one for a win,and zero for a loss.After tying 6-6 in the series,they played a rapid chess tiebreak ,which Carlsen won 3-1 to retain the title. The 2016 ATP World Tour Finals was won by Andy Murray in straight sets over Novak Djokovic in the final. Murray had to fight to get to the final though ,as his semi final encounter with Milos Raonic set the record for longest three set match in ATP Tour Finals tennis history. Dominika Cibulkova stunned world number one Angelique Kerber in the women’s WTA finals final to win the crown. Argentina pulled off an incredible comeback in the Davis Cup final against Croatia after being down 2-1 and Juan Martin del Potro being down two sets to love.

December:

In the International Premier Tennis League,the Singapore Slammers beat the Indian Aces in the final 30-14 to win the title .The 2016 FINA World Championships had the United States topping the medal table.  The 2016 Club World Cup ended in favor of Real Madrid who defeated Kashima Antlers 4 to 2 in the final. The Seattle Sounders won the MLS Cup over Toronto FC on penalties in an unbelievable finish.

Now it’s time for the countdown of the top ten moments in sports this year.

10.NCAA Football Championship Game 

9:Super Bowl 50

8:Stanley Cup Final

7:Euro 2016 

6:Copa America Centenario

5:Rio Olympics 

4.NCAAM Championship Game 

3:World Series 

2:NBA Finals

1:Leicester City wins Premier League 

There is almost no separation between the top three moments,but Leicester City comes out on top due to sheer unexpectedness.The NBA Finals also gets the nod due to the back-and-forth drama.The Cubs never trailed in Game 7.

Anyway,that’s it for this year in sports.Will anything top Leicester in 2017?We will have to wait and see!