Page 21 - Aruba Today

SPORTS A21
Thursday 31 December 2015

The Year In Sports:

Super Pick, Flubbed Kick Highlight Best Games of 2015

EDDIE PELLS in one case, not even line ever on YouTube. “That’s much for who lost at the then again two minutes
AP National Writer up at the Belmont. Ameri- why football is loved so end, as who won. The 2015 later. The United States
The games people play. can Pharoah finally broke much in America,” Michi- U.S. Open will be remem- scored four goals in the
There are around 300 in pro through. He started slow gan State coach Mark bered for both. There was first 16 minutes, capped by
football, 2,500 in baseball, and carried a two-length Dantonio said. “It’s be- Dustin Johnson’s hard-to- Lloyd’s shot from midfield,
1,500 in basketball and lead through most of the cause things like this hap- watch three-putt from 12 and went on for a 5-2 vic-
thousands in soccer ev- race. But then, he showed pen. Every now and then, feet that cost him the title tory. For a while after the
ery year — and that’s just the heart and speed of a they happen.” — a title that went to Jor- match, Lloyd’s Wikipedia
at the very highest levels. champion, pulling away dan Spieth, hardly a fluke page listed her as “Presi-
Most blend into each oth- over the last five furlongs to FOR OPENERS: The first in- winner in anybody’s book. dent of the United States.”
er. Only a few stand out. cross the finish line in 2 min- ning of Game 1 included It was the second major
Those that leave a lasting
impression do so because
of, say, a flubbed snap on
a punt, or a play call that
decides a title, or a near-
perfect, once-in-a-gener-
ation race to the finish line.
Those games and races
kept us at the edge of our
seats in 2015 — then even-
tually brought us com-
pletely out of our chairs
and made us shake our
heads upon realizing,
once again, that just when
we think we’ve seen it all,
we’re reminded that we
really haven’t.
A look at some of the best
games and events of 2015:

SUPER CALL: Seattle had In this Oct. 17, 2015 photo, Michigan State defensive back Jalen Watts-Jackson, lower right, falls into the end zone after
the ball at the New Eng-
land 1-yard line with two, recovering a fumbled snap on a punt in the closing seconds of the second half of an NCAA college football game in Ann Arbor,
maybe three, chances
to let one of the best run- Mich. Michigan punter Blake O’Neill fumbled the snap and Watts-Jackson pulled it in, cradled it to his body and ran 38 yards for a
ning backs in the game,
Marshawn Lynch, bull in touchdown. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
for what would have been
the winning touchdown. utes, 26.65 seconds — end- the first inside-the-park of the year for Spieth and RUGBY UPSET: It was sup-
Instead, Seahawks coach ing nearly four decades of home run in a World Se- he set it up with a 284-yard posed to be a tuneup for
Pete Carroll called for a close calls. ries in 86 years. Later, there 3-wood from the near-bar- perennial title contender
pass. Patriots defensive was a power outage that ren 18th fairway at Cham- South Africa. It ended up
back Malcolm Butler, a THE FLUB: All Michigan stopped play and knocked bers Bay that led to a bird- being “a rugby miracle”
one-time do-everything punter Blake O’Neill had the telecast off the air. The ie. Four days of listening at the World Cup, as the
employee at a fast-food to do was field the snap game lasted 14 innings to players grumble about TV announcers called it,
chicken restaurant, had and get off the kick, just and, at 5 hours, 9 minutes, conditions on the course, pulled off by none other
been focusing on that ex- as he’d done hundreds of was the longest World Se- then watching most of than 1,000-1 longshot Ja-
act play call during the times previously in prac- ries Game 1 played. Kan- them play down to their pan. The “Cherry Blossoms”
week in practice. He rec- tices and games. Instead, sas City hit a game-tying expectations, ended with only other victory on the
ognized it, stepped in front O’Neill fumbled the snap home run in the bottom 30 minutes of pure drama world’s biggest stage had
of the receiver and inter- and Michigan State’s Jalen of the ninth and went — and with Spieth cradling come back in 1991. This
cepted the pass to save Watts-Jackson pulled it in, on to beat the Mets 5-4. the trophy. time, they played South
the game for the Patriots. cradled it to his body and And if that wasn’t drama Africa toe-to-toe for more
Carroll then spent hours, ran 38 yards for a touch- enough, there was the FLURRY OF GOALS: In a than 80 minutes, and
days and weeks defending down. The Spartans won underlying story of starting rematch of the previous into extra time. Trailing
his play call, while Butler no 27-23, and because of that pitcher Edinson Volquez, World Cup final, the U.S. by three, Japan decided
longer had to worry about win, they are still in the hunt who pitched even though team played Japan, which against kicking for a tie,
returning to the chicken for the national title. Some his father had died only had beaten the Americans and instead got the ball to
joint. of the most memorable hours before the game. on penalty kicks four years replacement back Karne
reactions came from the earlier. Thanks to Carli Hesketh, who squeezed
TRIPLE CROWN: It had been heartbroken, close-to-tears THE 3-WOOD AND THE Lloyd, this game was any- into rugby’s version of the
37 years since Affirmed Michigan fans, a few of THREE-PUTT: So many ma- thing but a repeat. Lloyd end zone for the winning
crossed the finish line first at which were captured for- jors are remembered as scored in the third minute, points in a 34-32 victory.q
the Belmont Stakes to win
the last Triple Crown. And
over those 37 years, horse
racing and its fans had
seen 13 horses win the first
two legs, only to falter — or,