- SAPpy Center
- Same Team, New Look
- “King [LeBron] ain’t got $#!t on me!!!” – Denzel Washington, Training Day
- If Video Killed the Radio Star, Modernity Killed the Sports Champion
- Avaya Stadium: What You’re Missing
- The Home Stretch
- Pitchers and Catchers
- The Warriors Wow
- The Seattle Seahawks Have Been Lying to You
- Harbaugh: a Preview of Coming Subtractions
The Top 10 Moments in Bay Area Sports in 2010
- Updated: January 4, 2011
Lists. People like lists. It’s easy, clean, debatable, wrong, right, fun, and quick. 2010 was a good year for Bay Area sports. Some days sports helps you get through the BS (Thanks Timmy!), sometimes the BS is sports (Friggin Zito…). Here are the Top 10 days in 2010 for the Bay Area sports fan:
10. April 9: It’s sunny in San Francisco, spring is here and at 3rd and King the Giants are in a 13-inning home opener battle with the Atlanta Braves. After knocking Tim Hudson out of the game and Billy Wagner blowing the save, the undefeated Giants win in the bottom of the 13th with Aaron Rowand’s headfirst slide-into-first infield single, and the celebrations of the sold out crowd spill out onto King Street as the Giants introduce the City to their 2010 season.
9. April 22: As the Giants cool off from their NL best start, the Sharks find themselves in Game 5 at the Tank against the Colorado Avalanche in the opening round of the NHL playoffs. After another slow start out of the gates and the series tied 2-2, the Sharks get by Avs goaltender Craig Anderson and pour it on thick, winning 5-0 with two goals from Logan Couture. Across the country, the 49ers are picking their first of two Round 1 draft picks for the 2010 NFL Draft. Anthony Davis and Mike Iupati are the two new building blocks of hope that are destined to beef up the offensive line and get the 49ers over the hump and into the playoffs for the first time in years. The Cal Bears send two players to the NFL in the first round – defensive end Tyson Alualu to Jacksonville and running back Jahvid Best to Detroit.
8. July 15: An era ends as Chris Cohan sells the Golden State Warriors to Joseph Lacob and Peter Guber. After putting up with years of a terrible product, fans welcome new ownership that appears devoted to winning and bring a fresh look. Meanwhile, the Giants open up the second half of their season at home with Lincecum shutting down the Mets 2-0, earning his 10th win of the season and 50th of his young career.
7. June 23: If the US is the world’s melting pot, then what is the Bay Area? The question demands an answer as the 2010 FIFA World Cup brought the world’s beautiful game to center stage, and the extremely diverse Bay Area celebrated all summer long at pubs, bars, city parks, and the homes of friends and family. Each day brought a game that welcomed national pride, and for Americans, that culminated in a stressful 7 AM kick-off in their final Group Stage game against Algeria. In a game they had to win to advance from the pitiful Group C, 90 minutes came and aggrivatingly went that included another called back goal and bundles of missed opportunties. But in stoppage time, Landon Donovan pounded home the game’s lone goal, and shortly after the match was final. The Americans would advance to the knockout round for the first time since 2002, and bars throughout the Bay Area matched the cries of joy of other American cities.
6. May 29: Finally. After enough fan angst and speculation, rookie catcher/first baseman Buster Posey is called up from the minors for a Saturday home game against the Diamondbacks. Posey gets a standing ovation and knocks three RBI singles in his season debut and starting catcher Bengie Molina immediately starts looking over his shoulder. Aubrey Huff jokingly calls Posey “Jesus Christ” after the 12-1 win – a Giant legend is born and Posey would play first base until settling in as the starting catcher in July. Oh, and Jonathan Sanchez throws a 2-hitter.
5. October 20: With the national media having thrown its legs and arms around the Phillies chances to blow past the Giants and into the World Series, the Orange and Black had something to say about that yet again. In a back and forth Game 4 at 3rd and King in which the Giants lost their lead in the 8th inning, Juan Uribe delivered a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th to allow Aubrey Huff to score the game winning run off of the trade-deadline ace Roy Oswalt who was pitching in relief, and the Giants took a 3-1 lead in the NLCS.
4. October 3: With only one win needed over three games against the visiting Padres to close out the season as N.L. West champs, the Giants wasted Friday and Saturday away and came to Sunday, the last game of the regular season. A third straight loss to the Padres would mean a confusing travel-heavy one (or two) game playoff against San Diego and then maybe Atlanta. But Jonathan Sanchez in pre-game warm-ups told the team to worry not, he would take the hill and get the team their first NL West crown since 2003 that day. Not only did ‘Chez throw a beauty, his bat chimed in with a 2-run triple in the third inning. Posey finished the season with a solo shot and Brian Wilson closed out the 9th for a 3-0 win. The Giants were N.L. West champions and were headed to the playoffs. This was nice way to end a weekend that had the 49ers losing to the Falcons earlier in the day when prized cornerback Nate Clements fumbled an interception that would have won the Niners their first game.
3. October 23: It was perhaps the best Giants game, ever. Game 6 of the NLCS started with headspinning frustration with the continued post-season struggles of Jonathan Sanchez who allowed two quick runs to Philadelphia. The Giants turned to a series of relievers to stop the bleeding, underscored by rookie sensation Madison Bumgarner. His catcher was the eventual 2010 Rookie of the Year, Buster Posey. Together they were one of the youngest batteries in the history of the post-season and had fans smiling at the next ten years. Bumgarner, Affeldt, Lopez, Lincecum, and Wilson scattered 5 hits over the 7 remaining innings to shut the door on the Phillies and send themselves to the World Series with a Juan Uribe 8th inning go-ahead home run.
2. November 1: After nailing down the Padres in the fial series of the season, escaping the Braves and their gift-wrapped errors, and pounding down the Fightin’ Phils and the national media that backed them at almost every outlet, the Giants finished the journey and sealed their fate with a Game 5 win over the Texas Rangers in the World Series. The Series itself was almost more of a victory lap for the Giants as the games were mostly uneven and uninteresting. There were certainly some flares of drama, but after the stressful and exciting six games against Philadelphia, the weaker arms and bats of the Rangers were noticable, and the Giants never let their foot off the gas. Edgar Renteria hit his homerun in Game 5 that served as the final blow, and soon every district in San Francisco was celebrating the new World Champions for the first time ever, 1,500 miles from its occurance in Dallas. The parties in the San Francisco streets went well into the night and may never be matched.
1. November 3: 
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