Sports Awards 2006






The top sports awards for 2006 as compiled by yours truly. Video warning: Just a word of caution- Many of the links contained in this post are linking to youtube videos. So, if you are on a dragging computer, you might want to stay away from those….otherwise, enjoy!
Top Single Game Performance By Player: 2006 started out with a bang by giving us our top single game performance on just the 4th day of the year. Vince Young amazed America with his performance in the 2006 Rose Bowl in what many called the greatest single game performance in college football history. Not only did Young throw for 267 yards, he also ran for 200 yards and 3 TD while single handily leading the Texas Longhorns to a 41-38 victory in the National Championship game. Click Here to watch Young run for the game winning touchdown.
Honorable Mentions: Kobe Bryants 81 points, Anibal Sanchez No Hitter
Play of the Year: There were a lot of fantastic plays in 2006. Vince Young had several award winning plays in the Rose Bowl alone. How about Aaron Rowand’s bases loaded catch during which he broke his nose running into the wall? Maybe you enjoyed Jamal Crawford’s amazing game winning shot vs. Denver back in November? How about this nasty reverse layup from Bobby Jackson? Antwaan Randle El throwing a TD in the Super Bowl maybe? There are tons of great plays to choose from but the most amazing play was 5′9″ Nate Robinson rejecting 7′6″ Yao Ming. Nate was pretty impressive in the 2006 dunk contest as well. Nate was also heavily involved in last weeks fight. This Tri-fecta of achievement earns Mr. Robinson dual awards for play of the year, and under 6 foot athlete of the year.
Top Sports Commercial: Sports commercials are getting better and better each year. 2006 gave us plenty to choose from. The Lebron series that Nike has been running has been funny at times as well as giving us a sneak peak into the personality of Lebron James. My favorite Lebron add has to be the pool commercial though. Just a totally smooth commercial with a perfect choice of music. Notice there is almost no splash. A lot of great commercials debut during the Super Bowl as well. Remember the streaking commercial from Super Bowl XL? I still laugh at this Alltel Wireless commercial everytime I see it….they call me the bus driver kid, and I’m about to take you to school! HA HA! The Man Law commercials are pretty good….heck, I like anything with Burt Reynolds in it! Most irritating commercials of the year? For me, the Nike “football is everything” ads do the trick. I don’t know what it is….maybe it’s my lack of understanding why high school kids are playing with pros? Or maybe it’s that….football isn’t everything? Or maybe it’s because I know a high school team with multiple NFL stars wouldn’t need one play in the 4th quarter to win a game. I dunno…these commercials just started to get on my nerves. Anyway, all of the above commercials are good, but the award for top sports commercial goes to the gatorade “winning formula” spot. Personally, I got chills watching Dwight Clark drop what came to be known as the catch. Just a wonderful concept to take 3 amazing sports plays, and show how it might have looked had plays not been made. I remember going to the gym with my buddy Mike and saying…”how did they do that?”. Well, here is a really cool interview that describes how this fantastic commercial was actually made!
Top Movie Award: I must admit, I’ve only seen two movies amongst the ones I am about to list. Here are your 2006 Sports Movies: We Are Marshall, Gridiron Gang, Invincible, The Benchwarmers, Chasing 3000, Everyone’s Hero, Glory Road, Nacho Libre, Talladega Nights, and Rocky Balboa. I’ve seen the two highlighted movies, and plan on seeing a few of the others. That doesn’t leave me much to choose from, but I thought Talladega Nights was hilarious. I am a huge Will Ferrel fan, and being from North Carolina, I love to make fun of Nascar supporters. This is one of the funniest scenes of 2006….You have to watch the movie to actually get the meaning of the kiss, and check out after the kiss when Sacha Baron Cohen says, “You taste of America”….just classic comedy. Naming this movie the “top sports movie” is not meant to imply that Nascar is an actual sport. Input on this category would be great, since I have not seen most of these movies.
Team of the Year: The only qualification I’m going to put on this is a championship must have been won. The candidates are plentiful starting with the Texas Longhorns football team. I find myself wanting to vote for Texas, simply because they upended USC in the National Championship game…..but I need a greater body of work. The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the season with an 8 game win streak but their wildcard status and some spotty Super Bowl officiating makes me pass on them. The Florida Gators had a magical NCAA tourney run, but in all honesty, their National Championship was anti-climatic when stacked against the rest of last years tourney. The Miami Heat? Well, I admit, it was great to see Shaq win a title without Kobe, but that series versus the Mavericks became a “foul-a-thon”. Duane Wade was anointed the best player in the NBA because he was adept at drawing fouls. Lets see…..There was the St. Louis Cardinals, but again, it seemed anti-climactic to see them win the World Series after watching the Tigers magical run. I’m sure my uncle would love me to pick Appalachain State as the best team. I do think they were magical but just not enough for me to pick em….Hmmm….the only major sport I’m really left with is World Cup Soccer…nah, not gonna do that to ya…..The NHL baby, and the Carolina Hurricanes get the Team of the Year crown. Ok, I admit, this is a complete homer pick but watching the Canes make a run to the Stanley cup last season was a truly magical experience for me. Carolina had an exciting season, lost Erik Cole, fought through Montreal and New Jersey, and then played 2 classic 7 game series vs. Buffalo and Edmonton. Being at many of these games, including both game sevens was an experience that I will never forget. Here are a few videos I put together during last years playoff run:
Justin Williams Empty Net Goal
Best Game of 2006: Again, quite a few to choose from. I’m gonna have to go with the 2006 Rose Bowl again, as #2 Texas beat #1 USC 41-38 for the National Championship. That game had it all….it was hyped as much as any game in history. It had the players, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, LenDale White, and Vince Young. Lots of scoring, over 1000 yards of offense, a dominant performance from Young, a comeback as Texas rallied from 12 down in the 4th quarter, and finally an upset for the Longhorns. Truly one of the greatest games in history. This is a fairly good video recap of the game if you can stand the music.
Honorable Mentions: Ohio State 42 Michigan 39 (#1 over #2), Suns 161 Nets 157 (2 OT), Chargers 49 Bengals 41 (Chargers rally from 21 point deficits….TWICE) AFC Playoffs, Steelers 21 Colts 18, (Big Ben Game Saving Tackle)
Feel Good Team of the Year: There are multiple candidates in this spot that is usually reserved for over achievers and under dogs. Nothing has changed this year. The 2006 NCAA Tournament was filled with sleepers as Bradley, Wichita State, and George Mason all made the Sweet 16. George Mason ended up knocking off Wichita State (We will all always remember “the shockers”) and then beat #1 seed Uconn to become true darlings and earn a trip to the final 4. Their dream season ended when they were knocked off by eventual National Champion, Florida. The Detroit Tigers made an improbable run to the World Series. The usually lowly Tigers led the American League Central all year until blowing the lead in the final days of the season to the Minnesota Twins, backing into the playoffs. That earned them an ALDS chance vs. the mighty Yankees, and the Tigers promptly blew the first game, 8-4. Enter Kenny Rogers. Rogers came on to pitch brilliantly vs. New York and the Tigers won 3 games in a row. Rogers was again perfect in the ALCS, as were the Tigers, in sweeping Oakland. Rogers (I’ll get to the cheating incident a little later) was the winner in the Tigers only win of the World Series as well, they ended up falling to the Cardinals 4 games to 1. Rutgers toyed with us for a couple of weeks, beating Louisville, and giving fans hope that they could throw a serious wrench in the BCS plan only to totally blow their chance by losing to Cincinnati. Yeah, all those teams were great to watch but none of them had to overcome what the New Orleans Saints have. The NFL season is still in progress but the Saints win the title as the feel good team of the year. The emotion of the Saints return to New Orleans after Katrina was amazing, and the Saints have totally ran with it to a 9-5 record and a good shot at a first round playoff bye. Of course, the additions of Reggie Bush, Drew Brees, Sean Payton, and Marques Colston haven’t hurt.
Biggest Disappointment of the Year: The Pittsburgh Steelers were running away with this award just a few weeks ago but have won 3 in a row to get to 7-7 and still have a shot at the playoffs. The Yankees and Red Sox are both candidates every year, but they don’t take home the honor this season because they did experience SOME success. Nope, this years award goes to the Carolina Panthers. Year in and year out the Panthers are a popular pre-season Super Bowl pick. That was definately the case this year as the Panthers returned a solid defense and newly aquired Keyshawn Johnson. I guess everyone forgot you have to be able to block, run the ball, throw the ball, and play pass defense to win. The Panthers have LIMPED to a 6-8 record and have a VERY SLIM chance to make the playoffs this season. A far cry from all those Super Bowl picks.
Biggest Scandal/Story of the Year: I used the word “story” because I don’t think most things Terrell Owens does are scandals. Owens has been a leadoff guy quite often in sports news this year, first with his reported overdose, and most recently with the spitting incident. Allen Iverson being traded to Denver has been the big deal lately, but doesn’t really hold water to the exposure that Kenny Rogers received for having a little pine tar on his hand. Of course, Barry Bonds and anything to do with steroids is always in the news. Despite all these gems the winner of scandal of the year has to be the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case. After an entire season has been cancelled, players have been indited, and the accuser drug through the dirt the rape charges were actually dropped this past week. This story has had everything, from crazy e-mails, a pregnant accuser, to failed DNA tests. I’ve tried not to speculate on the guilt or innocence of those involved but I think it is fair to assume that the case for the prosecution is falling apart.
Athlete of the Year: I could go on and on with multiple categories, and probably will at a later time, but I’m ready to finish this thing up with your Athlete of the Year. Cases could be made for Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, but to be honest, I don’t watch golf or tennis…..so, sorry. No one really stood out in the NHL, so that leaves the 3 big sports to battle it out for this one. Dwyane Wade got his finals ring, but he really doesn’t do it for me…I’d take Lebron over D-Wade any day of the week. Troy Smith won the Heisman but I wonder if he will even make it as a backup in the NFL. Albert Pujols was great, but I prefer Ryan Howard over him….That leaves me with only the NFL and Mr. Tomlinson. With 2 games still to play in the NFL season LaDainian Tomlinson has had the single greatest fantasy season I’ve ever witnessed. 31 total TD’s, 28 rushing TD’s, (both records), over 2000 yards from scrimmage, 8 straight games with at least 100 yards and 2 TD, his team on the verge of a #1 playoff seed, yes, Tomlinson is this years Wheaties cover boy. It doesn’t hurt that LT2 is one of the most classy players in the NFL as well. If Tomlinson is able to follow his magical regular season up with playoff success and a Super Bowl he could go down as the greatest season in the history of the NFL.
That does it for this years awards, here’s the rundown of the winners. Feel free to add things that I might have forgotten, it’s pretty tough to sit back and remember an entire years worth of sports.
Top Single Game Performance By 1 Player- Vince Young- 2006 Rose Bowl
Best Play- Nate Robinson Blocks Yao Ming
Top Sports Commercial- Gatorade’s “The Winning Formula”
Top Sports Movie- Talladega Nights
Best Team- Carolina Hurricanes
Best Game- 2006 Rose Bowl
Feel Good Team- New Orleans Saints
Biggest Disappointment- Carolina Panthers
Biggest Scandal- Duke Lacrosse Case
Best Athlete- LaDainian Tomlinson
2 Comments so far
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For best scandal, what about Duke rape scandal? It topped 2006 google searches for scandals.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2006/current.html
Ummmm, that did win-
Despite all these gems the winner of scandal of the year has to be the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case.