Thursday, December 30, 2010

'10 Again: Top CO Sports Moments

1-Just a handful of teams have never had a no-hitter, and the Colorado Rockies, forever pitching deficient and playing in a slap happy park, seem destined to be mired on that list for eternity. Until a non-descript April night when Ubaldo Jiminez absolutely dealt a variety of heat to the Atlanta Braves for the franchise’s first non-no.


2-CU students say it best: We Black Out. In an electric environment versus a SEC power, the Buffs held on during a game that honored the 1990 National Championship for a 29-27 win over the Dawgs. UGA WR AJ Green made some spectacular plays in the contest, but LB BJ Beatty clinched it late with a forced fumble.


3-Tebow mania hit its apex in a post-Christmas Day game that saw Tim Tebow rally the team from a 17 point deficit and scamped in for the game winning TD with three minutes left. All year could be Tebow-worthy, from the draft to training camp to his Wildcat formations.



4-Down by nine runs in the ninth inning? That’s a “let’s get to the car early” moment. On a June night, the Rockies stormed back from the deficit and won 12-9 on a Seth Smith 3–run walkoff homer by Seth Smith. Aided by Cardinal walks and an error, the Rockies etched their biggest 9th inning comeback ever.


5-The CU nation knew it needed to emerge from the mess of the Hawkins’ years with a coach who would bring the fandom together. It got that with their “family” pick of former tight end and Coloradoan Jon Embree. The new head man immediately sent the message that CU was in the business of back to winning.


6-The Avs qualified for the NHL playoffs as a #8 seed and played toe to toe with the San Jose Sharks early in their first round series. An own goal by the Sharks in Game Three gave the Avs a series lead and had people talking hockey in the region for the first time since the early decade
glory years .


7-It’s been awhile since the fair state of Colorado won a championship, and thanks to the Colorado Rapids on a frigid night in Canada, we have our latest. A pretty decent MLS CUP saw the Rapids rally for a 2-1 win over FC Dalas and bring the title to Colorado.



8-For years there was an undercurrent that the west-leaning University of Colorado needed the Pac 10 conference (and vice-versa) and in June the school became it's 11th member. CU joins a conference that it fits into culturally, academically, socially as it leaves the Texas-centric Big 12 behind.


9-Vail's own Lindsey Vonn went into the Winter Olympics in Vancouver as America’s new “it” girl. She delivered with gold in the downhill and a bronze in the Super G. Equally important, we got to see more pictures of her in snow bunny bikinis for the next few months. USA! USA! USA!



10-Carmelo had brought the Nuggets a Tourney of the Americas and Olympic gold, but one of Colorado’s own, Chauncey Billups, brought the state a World Championship Gold this summer. Chauncey was a veteran presence and starting point guard on the USA’s first Championship since 1994.


CO SPORTS BACK IN THE DAY:
2009 Tops
2008 Tops
2007 Tops
2006 Tops

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