2016: The Best Year in Sports – Ever

Aliyu Saadu, Staff Writer

There have always been great sports stories and memorable sports years, but we have never seen a year like 2016 for great sports moments.

From the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series and ending the longest championship drought in sports at 108 years, to Villanova’s Kris Jenkins hitting a buzzer-beater to stun North Carolina in the NCAA National Championship game, to LeBron James winning the NBA Championship for his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, 2016 was off the charts for important moments.

In addition to these amazing team moments came some top individual performances including Simone Biles winning four gold medals at the Rio Games and Simone Manuel becoming the first African-American to win swimming freestyle gold in Rio and you’ve got quite a bevy of memorable moments.

The number 1 top sports moment in 2016 is the Cubs winning the World Series. The Cubs ended the 108-year drought in perfect dramatic fashion as they took Game 7 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians after trailing in the series 3 games to 1.

The franchise has gone through so much in this 108 years including – most recently — the Steve Bartman game in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in 2003, the black cat in the Cubs’ dugout in 1969 when the Cubs had 9 ½ lead over the Mets with only 25 games left and blew the lead. This franchise had so much bad luck and so many unexpected turns, that it really was special to see them win the World Series

The number 2 sports moment in 2016 is Villanova’s Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beater to beat North Carolina. This shot will go down as the greatest shot in college basketball history. To refresh your memory, with the game tied at 74 with 4.7 seconds remaining, Jenkins got the pass from Ryan Archindono at the top of the 3-point arc and nailed the game winner as the clock hit zero and the confetti fell. There have been some great shots in NCAA Tournament History like the Christian Laettner shot in 1992 at the Elite Eight when Duke beat Kentucky, Indiana’s Keith Smart’s game winning shot in the 1987 NCAA National Championship Game, but there has not been a shot like Jenkins’ buzzer beater to win title.

The number 3 sports moment in 2016 is Lebron winning the NBA Championship in his hometown. This moment was great because he came back home to win a championship and he finally did it. James’ 29.7 points-per-game, 11.3 rebounds per game, and 8.9 assists per game in the finals shows how he came up big in the finals, especially Game 7 when he blocked Andre Iguodala’s shot with 1:50 remaining. If Iguoldala had made that shot, the Warriors would have had the lead.  Plus, on the next play, Kyrie Irving hit the 3 to give the Cavs the lead and give the Cavs a win for their first NBA Championship in 52 years.

The number 4 sports moment in 2016 is Simone Biles winning 4 golds in Rio with three individual medals and a team gold. Her individual medals came in the all-around, vault, and floor exercise. She set a new American record for most gold medals in a single Olympic games.  Also, Biles joins Mary Lou Retton in 1984, Shannon Miller in 1992, and Nastia Liukin in 2008 as the only American gymnasts to win 5 total medals in a single Olympic games. Biles and her teammate, Gabby Douglas, are the only African-American female United States gymnasts to win both the individual all-around gold and team gold at the same Olympics, which Douglas did in 2012.

The number 5 sports moment in 2016 is Simone Manuel becoming the first African-American to win freestyle gold in swimming. This was a special moment because a lot of African-Americans do not swim, and the sport has a dearth of African-American swimmers. A USA Swimming report in 2010 said that 70 percent of African-American children can’t swim, which puts them at a very high risk of drowning. Also, a lot of African-Americans don’t watch swimming on TV, especially the Olympics, as other sports such as track are seen as more exciting. While Manuel’s achievement may not be the multi-gold level of Biles’, it is still a top moment because, in this world, anything is possible.

While most lists stop at five for the top moments, I’ve decided that this list has space for a special moment at number six. The number 6 sports moments in 2016 is when Army beat Navy for the first time in 15 years. This was special because of all of the misery Army has been feeling over the last 14 meetings in this rivalry. Army students stormed M &T Bank Stadium after ending the longest losing streak in this storied rivalry. This was the year Army had to beat Navy as it had the benefit of having three weeks to prepare to Navy’s one. Also, Army was playing for somebody – former cadet Brandon Jackson, a young man killed in a car crash on September 12. With the extra time, inspiration, and determination, Army finally turned the tide in this rivalry.