So I did the Jewish Christmas thing today.  My Mom went to the movies and my Dad, sister and I watched the Lakers/Celtics game.  Funny story from my Mom going to the movies.  She went to the Landmark Theaters where they have assigned seats and who's sitting directly next to her?  My girlfriend and her family (whom I have not yet met).  What are the odds of that in a city as big as L.A.?  Sorry, I thought that was a pretty good coincidence, but back to sports now.  So I watched the Lakers win, then continued Jewish Christmas by going with my family and our close friends who we go out with every Christmas to a restaurant in Chinatown.  Afterward, I came home, flipped on the television and faced a major dilemma.  ESPN was airing the best Sportscenter ads of all-time and ESPN Classic was airing the Israel Vazquez/Rafael Marquez fight from earlier this year.  I wound up watching the fight and flipping to the Sportscenter special during commercials.  Then I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall with my sister and that was my Jewish Christmas.

Getting back to the dilemma in front of the television though, a few thoughts came into my mind.  First, I love the end of the year because you always get to watch random "best of" specials that are otherwise not shown.  Second, that Vazquez/Marquez fight was the fight of the year.  Some people may think Pacquiao/Marquez or Cotto/Margarito was the fight of the year, but I promise you, Vazquez/Marquez was the early favorite and was not surpassed.  Finally, that got me to thinking, what was the best game of the year (by game we include matches, tournaments, etc.)?  So I sat down and have decided to pound out my Top 10 Games of the Year.  The criteria for the games goes as follows:

1.  Level of excitement throughout.
2.  Exciting finish.
3.  Magnitude of the event.
4.  Star power.

I'm sure there is some other subconscious factor that goes in there, but you get the picture.  The honorable mention includes Usain Bolt being the fastest man ever, Sergio collapsing in the British Open against Padraig Harrington, again, Western Kentucky over Drake in March Madness, and New York Giants over Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship.  On to the RW Top 10.

10.  Wimbledon Final - Nadal over Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-7 (10-8), 9-7

For those of you who are tennis enthusiasts I'm sure this ranks higher, but I watch tennis at most twice a year.  I watch the U.S. Open because it's an excuse to root for Americans and I watch Wimbledon, sometimes.  Otherwise, there is a zero percent chance of my flipping to a random tennis match.  Clay is for ceramics, not sports.  But back to the match.  I do know enough about tennis to know that these are the best two players alive and there is not a close third.  I know that Nadal has not been able to topple Federer in a major that wasn't on the clay surface.  I know that Federer probably already had his "humble" victory speech planned for after this match, filled with backhanded compliments for Rafa.  But he'd be giving the concession speech this day.  This match was twice interrupted by rain and had an ebb and flow that you wouldn't believe.  I remember watching this and counting both guys out of the match at least three times apiece.  I never realized how much momentum there was in tennis and how quickly it could change.  I remember back to the Sampras/Agassi days, but this was something else.  Nadal was on cruise control and then Federer turned into Federer and you assumed he'd pull it out like he did last year.  But then Rafa pulled off that amazing passing shot in the 4th set tiebreak (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUkHnNTtUFY) and it started to look like Federer might actually lose.  But Federer came back and forced a fifth set and ultimately took the match past regulation.  Nadal finally broke at 7-7 in the deciding set and closed out the match on his serve with Federer putting a ball into the net.  Just an amazing match.

Here's the highlight reel set to Rocky music:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIavt_IKbHw)

You could set a video of me taking my dog out for a walk to Rocky music and I would get goosebumps. 

9.  Texas Tech 39 - Texas 33

Coming into this game, both teams were undefeated and this turned out to be one of the knockout rounds for the road to the BCS Championship.  Texas Tech took the early lead and looked like they were going to run away with the game.  Graham Harrell was an unstoppable force.  But then Texas decided that they wanted to stay at #1 and started the comeback.  You know when a Cinderella team is pulling off an upset and they're cruising against a #1 team and then there's the turning point and things start to go downhill.  Well, that was the whole second half for Texas Tech.  With a couple of minutes in the game left the inevitable happened.  Colt McCoy decided that he wanted the Heisman, took Texas and marched down the field for the go-ahead touchdown.  Only, in Graham Harrell's words, "they left us too much time."  Harrell came right back down, side-stepped a sure INT with a Texas drop, and threw a perfect pass to the best player in college football to cap off the game of the year. 

Note:  Why didn't Leach go for 2?  The extra point made it 39-33 with the kick-off still to come.  What if Texas takes it to the house?  They only have to kick the extra point for the win instead of maybe sending it to OT.  Leach is lucky that nobody ever brings this up.

Here's the end of the game:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY7z_MIRMx8&feature=related)

8.  Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez III - Vazquez by Split Decision (114-111, 113-112 for Vazquez, 114-111 for Marquez)

For those of you non-boxing fans, this was the end to a trilogy with the whole thing culminating in six months.  These are two of the Top-10 pound for pound fighters in the game.  Two warriors cut straight out of the Mexican tradition.  They were born to square off and those of us who are diehard boxing fans were rewarded for suffering through the death of the heavyweight. 

The first two fights were split between the two, both ending in knockouts.  When this third fight was announced for Showtime, I had to watch it.  So I went over to my uncle's house and enjoyed the festivities.  The fight was nonstop action from Round 1.  Vazquez got dropped in Round 4, which has to win Round of the Year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM0d4W1VfrQ).  He got dropped with a minute to go in the round but bounced up with a vengeance and came back with a flurry to land some serious shots to end the round.  Marquez won the early rounds but Vazquez started to gain ground and then Marquez was subjected to a questionable point deduction for a low blow.  Somehow the fight made it to the 12th Round and based on the judge's scorecards, the fight was in the balance.  What followed was unbelievable.  Watch it for yourself.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWR_yP4ysPY)

I have no idea how Marquez didn't get knocked out but he did lose the fight by getting knocked down with 4 seconds to go in the fight.  The fight was just unreal, hearkening back to Corrales-Castillo I,  and it made sense to have the same announcers that had announced Corrales-Castillo I.  These fighters were two experts at their trade trading and ducking shots in the middle of the ring for the entire fight.  I actually had Marquez ahead on my scorecard but no matter.  Just an unbelievable spectacle.

7.  NBA Finals Game 4 - Celtics 97 - Lakers 91

The Lakers were up by 24.  Then they lost.  Search youtube yourself if you want a clip.  Even after the Christmas day win yesterday, I'm still not over this. 

6.  UEFA Champions League Final - Manchester United def. Chelsea 1-1 (6-5 Penalty Kicks)

For those of you stateside who don't follow the world's most popular sport, this is the most prestigious tournament  when it comes to professional teams.  The top teams in Europe and Asia qualify in their leagues for spots in this tournament and then go through more qualifying action before getting to the knockout round of 16.  The final wound up being between two top English clubs who had built up a big rivalry in the English Premier League with Chelsea finishing second during the regular season behind Manchester United. 

This was an unbelievably exciting game with Ronaldo putting a header in to take the lead 1-0.  Then, just before injury time in the first half, Lampard, whose mother had recently passed, got through the defenders after a deflection and put home the rebound just before Van der Sar could grab it, tying the game at 1-1.  The score stayed the same and the game couldn't have ended any other way than going to penalty kicks.  To start the PK's, Tevez came up first and knocked his kick smoothly to the lower right corner for Man U.  Ballack followed for Chelsea and hammered a ball to the right past a diving Van der Sar.  Carrick kept the momentum going for United with a strong ball to the left as Cech guessed wrong again.  Belletti came on for Chelsea, put in strictly for the PK's, and passed the ball easily to his right away from a diving Van der Sar.  Now here's where it got interesting.  Cristiano Ronaldo, the world's best player and penalty kick taker for Man U during the season stepped up with the score tied at 2 apiece.  Ronaldo staggered his approach per usual and struck the ball directly into Peter Cech.  Edge to Chelsea.  Frank Lampard came up and struck the ball swiftly, knicking the ball off of Van der Sar's fingertips for a 3-2 edge to Chelsea.  Hargreaves (England's only successful PK taker in the World Cup) came up, needing a make and kicked the ball squarely off of Cech's elbow, deflecting the ball into the top of the net.  Man U was still alive.  Ashley Cole followed suit for Chelsea and lucked one in off of Van der Sar's arms.  4-3 Chelsea.  One player left for each.  Nani came up for Man U and maybe it was the youngster's lucky touch, but the ball went right through Cech's arms to square the match but Chelsea still had John Terry, longtime Chelsea captain, left to win the match.  Van der Sar guessed left.  Terry went right, but slipped in the rain and clanked one off the post and out.  Tie game.  Sudden death time.  Anderson, with nerves of steel, nailed one straight up the middle right where Cech had been standing and about 2 inches from a diving arm.  Kalou calmly tied things up at 5 and now it was old man Giggs' turn for Man U.  Calmly to the right, Cech to the left and Man U had a 6-5 lead with Anelka, Chelsea's newly signed striker needing a goal to send things to another round.  But alas, he struck it right to an outstretched Van der Sar and Manchester United with Sir Alex Ferguson at the helm would be champions again.

Here are the goals from regulation:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOLWgP8klwI)

5.  U.S. Open - Tiger Woods def. Rocco Mediate (19-hole playoff)

This may have been the most amazing finish to a golf tournament in my lifetime, and yes, that includes the 1999 Ryder Cup and the 6-man playoff at the L.A. Open in the rain that I went to several years ago.  Tiger Woods, playing with a torn ACL as we would later learn stalking Rocco Mediate, a happy go lucky guy smiling and chatting his way down the fairways at Torrey Pines, hoping to win the first major of his career.  Every time it looked like Rocco was out of it, there he came.  Rocco scrambled his way to the clubhouse lead at the end of Sunday's round with Westwood and Woods one back heading into the par-5 18th hole.  Both players mangled the hole, normally an easy birdie.  Westwood missed his attempt to tie and Tiger had about 15-feet left for his putt to try and force a playoff.  Even with the limp, this was still Tiger Woods.  The putt never looked quite right but sneaked in the side door for an unbelievable cap to a storybook tournament, and we weren't even to Monday yet.  Monday's playoff between Tiger and Rocco (watched by me in my cubicle at work.  Sorry to my bosses, but there was a zero chance of too much work getting done that day) figured to be a blowout, even with Tiger's knee.  The players traded the lead three times on the front nine.  But then, Tiger had his lead to three and it looked like the tournament was done with 8 holes remaining.  Then, out of nowhere, Rocco came through with three straight birdies and squared the match.  Rocco took a one stroke lead into the 18th but it was Tiger and he birdied 18 again to send the match into sudden death.  Rocco sent his ball into jail on the first extra hole and miraculously bogeyed.  But Tiger parred to cap off the greatest golf tournament of my lifetime.

Here are the highlights of the playoff:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU3mv6dLt64)

4.  ALCS Game 5 - Boston Red Sox 8 - Tampa Bay Rays 7

I came home from dinner and turned on the television to find the Sox down 7-0 in the middle innings.  I really don't like the Red Sox so this seemed like a nice finish to the evening.  And then Big Papi came up and I remembered that he's pretty good at baseball, especially in the playoffs.  Did I mention that I hate J.D. Drew too?  The Sox were trailing 3-1 in the series and figured to be done, but they weren't.  Down 7-0 in the 7th!  How does that happen?  I don't want to write about it anymore.  MLB sucks so there aren't any youtube clips on this, but I don't feel like writing anymore about this one.  Sorry.  It was ridiculous though.  I still can't believe Tampa Bay came back and won the series after that one.

3.  NCAA Championship - Kansas 75 - Memphis 68 (OT)

Yes, my Memphis and the under play got killed by that Mario Chalmers shot.  I was not a happy camper.  As a UCLA fan, I was wondering why Memphis picked the last 2 minutes of the National Championship to all of a sudden realize that they were one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country.  Watching Bill Self outcoach anyone was completely unnerving.  Memphis and Kansas ran the same dribble weave offenses against each other and relied on athleticism throughout the game, which made for very exciting basketball.  Even with Memphis actively trying to lose the game in the last two minutes and Joey Dorsey doing his best 50 Cent impression, I still thought that Memphis had the thing in the bag.  Then Mario Chalmers decided to lift up in Derrick Rose's face and drain the shot whose snapshot would be framed in every house in Kansas the following week.  Kansas rode the momentum into OT and Kansas got to celebrate its first championship in two decades.  It's not often that you get to see a team come back from 7 down with 2 minutes to go, have the other team's best player fail to ice the game at the line with 10 seconds left, and then tie the game with 2 seconds left on an unbelievable three without the benefit of a timeout.  Watch it again and I'm sure you'll agree.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDvbTrE8VBo)

2.  Super Bowl XLII - New York Giants 17 - New England Patriots 14

Here's the thing, if not for the last 5 or so minutes of this game, it would have gone down as one of the most boring Super Bowls in history.  Up until the finish it was basically Super Bowl XL between Pittsburgh and Seattle minus all of the bad calls.  Actually, now that I think about it, it was like the Rams-Titans Super Bowl.  Here's how I remember Super Bowl XLII.  I had the Patriots and gave the points, so for the first three quarters I was waiting for the Patriots offense to wake up and for Randy Moss to go Randy Moss on us.  But by the time the 4th quarter came around it hadn't happened, the Giants got the lead and the spread was done, so I started rooting for the Giants.  You've been there before.  You take the Goliath in a David vs. Goliath, you realize they can't cover, so you root against them for losing you money.  That's where I was.  I was beyond mad when the Pats took the lead with a few minutes left on a Randy Moss touchdown no less.  They did not deserve to win.  There's nothing worse than betting a team and having them win without covering.  Nothing.  So Eli Manning ran around, chucked the ball up for grabs, and the magnet inside of David Tyree's helmet caught the ball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-aKfTK2LiM).  Eli then threw it up to Hole in the Leg Burress and the Pats were 18-1.  Tom Brady had to go home and cry to his supermodel girlfriend.  Robert Kraft had to buy a new pink tie for good luck and that was the end of that.  This game sits at #2 because of all of the story lines, not as much for excitement.  The finish did make up for the other 3 and a half hours of painful football, but when you have an undefeated team getting upended by a 14-point dog in the last minute of the Super Bowl, it should count for something.  And it does.  2008 would be remembered for this game if not for Eli Manning's twin brother . . . Michael Phelps. 

1A.  Gold Medal 4x100m Mens Freestyle Swimming Relay - U.S.A.
1B.  100m Mens Butterfly - Michael Phelps

Here are the youtube clips for your enjoyment before we go over the decision:

Butterfly:  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHsxJgOZbw)  Ignore the comatose announcer.  It was the only English version I could find.
Relay: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVZrne7X5ww) . . . "Who's talking now?"

I spent a lot of time thinking about which of these two events to rank number one and I couldn't settle on one.  Here were my issues:

1.  The French were talking trash to us before this relay, and they're the French.  As long as World War II veterans are still alive, French people are not allowed to talk trash. 

2.  The Americans were dead in the water (pun intended) going into the last leg of the relay with the best freestyler in the world getting in the pool first for the French.  The Americans still looked dead in the water with 25m left when Jason Lezak decided to crank up the NO2 in his system and close like the aquatic version of Secretariat.

3.  Jason Lezak is a Jewish guy from Southern California.

4.  The Butterfly came later in Phelps' chase for eight golds.

5.  The Butterfly was Phelps' event and nobody could fathom his losing at that point.

6.  Phelps was getting killed in the Butterfly and then went Lezak in the last 25m.

7.  The finish to the Butterfly will never be duplicated.  I still don't get how he hit first because he used that full length stroke at the end.

8.  0.01 seconds.

Objectively I'd have to give the nod to the 100m Butterfly but the relay involved French people talking trash and having it shoved in their faces and a Jewish guy doing the shoving.  Either way, these events had the entire world on the edges of their seats and I don't think I'll ever forget where I was when I was watching both of them.  Phelps and these two events will be talked about for the next 10 Olympics at least.  I know a lot of people are upset that the Super Bowl finished second to a couple of swimming events, but honestly, nobody outside of Boston or New York really is going to care all that much about that Super Bowl in five years.  You know what Super Bowl moment I remember most in the last two decades?  Leon Lett losing the ball to Don Beebe.  The Michael Phelps chase and the hoopla surrounding it on the other hand made me happy to be an American, increased my loathing of French arrogance, and put a Jew in the limelight for something that didn't involve movies or money.  Sorry, I'm going with the goofy looking swimmer over the goofy looking QB this year.  Either way, it was a great year for sports.