Can you believe it that it is already July, which means we are already half way through the year? That's right, July 4th has just passed and the next holiday to look forward to is... Labor Day weekend. But before all of that, let's take a minute to look back at the first six months of the year and appreciate what we have seen already. I mean, we have seen a lot of changes in sports in just the last six months.
January: We saw an amazing College Football Championship game where the Crimson Tide proved once again why they are the best in the SEC Conference and overall in NCAA Football. Being number one in the final rankings and in the end.
February: The final time we Peyton Manning ever put on a football Jersey, and his last rodeo. It wasn't a pretty game for Manning. And in fact, I'm pretty sure its one that he would love to forget, but he lead his team (and when I say lead his team it was more from the bench because his defense was the one to win it for him) to victory that no one can ever take away from him. (Unless Eli goes back to the Super Bowl and wins one more.)
March: Ah, can you smell it? The March Madness was in the air, and what better way to start it off with a look at a few fights in the UFC? In UFC 196 we saw two shocking upsets. The first is when Miesha Tate choked out the then-champion Holly Holm, who was just fresh off her victory of one of the greatest upsets of all time on Ronda Rousey. The next shocker of the night was during the next fight when Nate Diaz shocked the world by applying a rear-naked choke on McGregor and making McGregor tap out.
April: What a way to finish off the craziest College Basketball Season with an unbelievable championship game. North Carolina vs. Villanova was the read deal in this year's championship game. I think there have been two games that I have seen that have been that close, but to win it with the game-winning three by Jenkins was unbelievable. By far the Best National Championship game that I have ever seen — not shooting-wise, but seeing the underdog win was awesome. In the NBA we saw the impossible become possible. The Golden State Warriors' quest for 73 wins was accomplished on the final day of the regular season. But was eclipsed by the final game of the Mamba Kobe Bryant. Kobe scored 60 points in his final game and helped his Lakers win his final game by going Mamba on the Utah Jazz.
May: Can't say there was too much, although the 142nd Kentucky Derby took place, and we were hoping that there would be a Triple Crown winner, but that was halted by the victory of Nyquist. The NBA playoffs had a few good conference championship series, especially when the Cavs handled the Raptors in six games. But in the wild, wild West, the Warriors had to come back from a three-games-to-one deficit, only to foreshadow what we were going to see in the next month.
June: The last month on this six-month journey that we have gone on gave us quite a few things to talk about. For instance, the NHL Stanley Cup Finals happened, during which Pittsburgh had a reason to be happy once again, for their Penguins ruled the ice and proved why Sharks don't do well in the cold weather. Also, since we already mentioned this in May, we saw another team come back from a three-games-to-one deficit and claim the crown for a city that has been crown-less for a long time. LeBron James and company took out the best team in the NBA history to claim his third ring overall but Cleveland's first-ever.
This first half of the year has been incredibly great to us, giving us memory after memory. Day after day we are constantly talking about something new in the sports world. But the one thing that I have noticed this past half year is that if you end on top in the regular season, somehow you don't end up there in the end. The Warriors and North Carolina both experienced that almost the same way. It came down to one possession that in the end allowed the other team to make a better play than you. Even the Panthers saw that as well, when they faced the best defense in the league, and had the Sheriff break 'em down piece by piece. This year has been great, but thankfully it's not over with and we have six more months to create new memories.
