Hey all, editing together for easy consumption, it’s the OVERTIME year in review for 2017.
To help those of you with not enough time to listen to our massive 2 hour show, I’ve listed everything below in short form:
#10: ‘Gushue, King of the Rocks’
– Brad Gushue finally completes his Canadian Curling Triple Crown winning a national championship at home in St. John’s and dominating the world championship. A decade after he won his Olympic Gold Medal.
#9: ‘Dennis the Menace’
– Dennis Shapovolov captured the hearts and minds of Canadian Tennis fans by coming out of nowhere for several massive runs this year. Showing us once against that the new generation of Canadian Tennis Players still has lots to offer.
#8: ‘The GREAT Reds’
– Discussed before TFC’s victory. We discuss Toronto FC as the greatest MLS Team of all time. And what the consequences would’ve been if they couldn’t have sealed the deal. Luckily for us, Toronto proved that the season was not a fluke, as the most dominant MLS season in history concluded with it’s Crown Jewel.
#7: ‘Houston, we have a title’
– In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, the city of Houston was demolished. Looking for something to rally behind, the people of Houston were handed disappointment after disappointment as their sports heroes couldn’t deliver a moment. In the midst of all of that, the long beleaguered Astros finally broke through and gave a hurt city a moment worth celebrating.
#6: ‘Take a Knee’
– Colin Kaepernick took a stand against racial injustice by taking a knee during the pregame national anthem of all of his NFL games in 2016. Largely avoided by teams for his political statements, the issue took on a life of it’s own this year as players kneeled in solidarity of the absent Kaepernick. The media warped the narrative away from racial injustice to a hatred of America and it all culminated with the Golden State Warriors being barred from the White House.
#5: ‘Smashville and the Champs’
– Hockey doesn’t work in the south is almost a Canadian trueism. We have always hated that it felt like our beloved franchises were dragged to the desert where no one cares. Amidst all these negative feelings, community involvement and a huge marketing push created a team identity for the Predators. Long after they were created, we finally had a media eye on Nashville and we finally got to see what a well built franchise looked like. Paired up with the Goliath that was the defending champion Penguins, we got to enjoy one of the best and most fun Stanley Cup Finals in what feels like forever.
#4: ‘#VEGASSTRONG’
– “Sometimes a sports team needs to carry a city’. A violent mass shooting in Las Vegas cast a dark shadow over the debut of the NHL’s newest team. An expansion franchise built of mismatched parts, the Golden Knights have come together in a way that we’ve never seen a team come together before. Vegas refuses to lose, because the city needs them to win. Despite being injured and broken in a way that would destroy a team’s chance at success, Vegas is dominating an NHL that wrote them off before the season began.
#3: “The Fight of the Century?”
– Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather worked together to put on the pre-fight of the century. The fight itself was a mess but that didn’t matter, the fight was the sideshow. The actual event was the spectacle. The trash-talking was the point. It was an example of the two greatest wordsmiths in fight selling history just going after each other for the sake of comedy. It might’ve ended with a mediocre fight but it was built up to with some of the most ridiculous spectacles the fight world had ever seen.
#2: ‘Olympic Turmoil’
– The Peongchang Winter Olympics were in a state of crisis. No NHL at the games, North Korean threats, travel concerns and dwindling ticket sales made it look as if Asia’s first Winter Games since 1998 will be an unmitigated disaster. (Update: Since we talked about this story some pretty fantastic news has come out about these Winter Games so that’s nice.)
#1: ’28-3′
– Tom Brady will go down as the greatest quarterback to ever play football. Capped off by the 2017 Super Bowl where he led his Patriots back from 25 points down against the MVP Matt Ryan led Atlanta Falcons. Possibly the greatest championship comeback in all of sports history, the boxscore almost reads like a fever dream. Giving up an 82 yard Pick 6 early on it seemed as if Brady was off his game and outmatched. Despite being the odds on underdogs the surprisingly scrappy Patriots banded together for one of the greatest comebacks of all time.
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