"Sports Naughty and Nice " by Three yards and a cloud of dust

Sports Naughty and Nice

December 21, 2010

With Christmas just a few days away I’ve compiled a sports naughty and nice list for 2010.   Or at least the top 3.

Naughty:

LeBron James – The Decision, need I say more?
2010 UT Sports – The baseball team loses to TCU on their home field in the Super Regional. Rick Barnes’ squad goes from being the top ranked team in the country in January to losing 10 of their last 17 games to limp into the tourney as a no. 8 seed and lost in the first round to Wake Forest. All of Mack’s horses and all of Mack’s men couldn’t put Colt McCoy’s shoulder back together again and the UT football team hasn’t been the same since the 10:54 mark of the first quarter of last seasons BCS Championship Game.
Kansas Basketball – The Jayhawks were a no. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but couldn’t escape the second round and Northern Iowa. Be honest, you’re bracket was ruined by the Jayhawks as was mine.

Nice

Armando Galarraga – Less than 24 hours after being denied a place in MLB history Galarraga came out of the Detroit Tiger clubhouse, delivered the lineup card to the umpire that blew the call and shook his hand. How many of us would have done this for Jim Joyce, hence Galarraga is no. 1 on my nice list.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton – As a child of the 1980’s I can’t remember the Saints being good, ever. Brees and Payton helped the Saints win their first Super Bowl by making clutch throws and a gutsy third quarter onside kick that worked. Not only winning, but doing so against the best quarterback of this generation and giving the city of New Orleans something to rally around five years after Hurricane Katrina.
Victoria East and West Football – Both teams finished better than they were predicted to in the preseason and won a playoff game. In East’s case they lost to eventual state champion Lake Travis in the regional playoff round.

And to encourage reader comments here is a toss up: Cam Newton, naughty or nice?

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