The Charlie Sheen "Winning" Award- This is presented to the best championship team of the year. The contenders this year were the Green Bay Packers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Mavericks, and St. Louis Cardinals. All four teams were the champions in their respective sports, so which team will we remember 20 years from now when talking about 2011. As impressive as the Packers and Cardinals were, neither had a defining moment that sticks out in the fans mind so I'm eliminating them. This leaves us with the Bruins and Mavs. As a Boston fan I'm tempted to pick the Bruins, they had a historic run through the playoffs and won a Stanley Cup final in seven games. As much as a I liked watching them though, they fall just short to the Dallas Mavericks as the best championship team of the year.
Winner: Dallas Mavericks......Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, Shawn Marion, Peja Stojakovic, Tyson Chandler, Jason Terry, and Caron Butler are the reason that they are winning this award. The absolute height of my sports fanaticism was between the years of 2001 and 2006. During those years the NBA was dominated by the men listed above (with the exception of Butler). I was so thrilled to see not only Kidd and Dirk, future 1st ballot hall of famers, but Shawn Marion and Peja Stojakovic, severely underrated and under-appreciated players that most wouldn't guess were one time MVP candidates, win a title. For me, seeing the Mavs raise the trophy was the feel good moment of the year. (It also didn't hurt that they beat the Heat to do it, suck it Lebron)
Ashton Kutcher "Free Agent Pickup of the Year" Award- In honor of Ashton once again being a free agent, I've named this award after him. The nominees are: Albert Pujols, CJ Wilson, Tyson Chandler, and Jose Reyes. These were the four biggest signings of the year and, oddly enough, they all came at the same time in the year. To pick a winner you have to look at what the point of signing a free agent is, and then which one of these four hits that point. For me, there are several reasons to sign a big time free agent: Put a team over the top for a championship, revive interest in the team, be the centerpiece to build around, or sell merchandise. The man that fits all of these areas is our winner and he is...........
Winner: Jose Reyes. Pujols and CJ are both going to the same team, simultaneously lowering the impact of each. They make the Angels better, but they were already a great team and neither is going to get the credit that Reyes will if the Marlins turn it around. Tyson Chandler is a big signing for the Knicks but he's their third best player and could very well end up injured before the season is over. Reyes has the opportunity to be the star for a Marlins team that is moving into a new ball park and has a pitching staff that will make them competitive. Reyes is going to be responsible for drawing the fans, selling merchandise, and being the teams best player. That makes him the best free agent pickup of 2011.
We Remember The Stars That Left the Party in 2011
Anthony Weiner "Worst Decision of the Year" Award- For those of you who don't remember, Weiner was the politician who tweeted pictures of his junk for the world to see. The nominees for the award are: Billy Hunter for his handling of the NBA lockout, Ron Artest for changing his name to Metta World Peace, Colts management for giving Peyton Manning a 5 year 90 million dollar contract, and David Stern for vetoing the Chris Paul trade. Picking a winner from this is actually pretty difficult. Ron Artest changing his name was one of the least surprising moments of the year, but what he changed it to was the surprising part. For a guy that charged into the stands in Detroit back in 2004, I would've anticipated a name change to something like "He Hate Me" or "One Man Gang", but Metta World Peace.....really? Peyton Manning re-signing with the Colts might kill the Indianapolis franchise, because his neck seems pretty screwed up, but the other two might kill an entire league. Billy Hunter handled the lockout in possibly the worst way possible, but was outdone by our winner......
Winner: David Stern for vetoing the Chris Paul trade. This one act pushed a league that was just coming out of a lockout and was less than 3 years removed from finding out one its refs was cheating, even closer to the WWE-lite claims. Vetoing a trade that had been agreed to by two teams and appeared to be a fair trade will not go down as David Stern's best idea. Good luck trying to rebuild the good faith that was starting to come back after the, unexpected, resolution to the lockout.
The Blake Griffin "Breakout Star of 2011" Award- Blake Griffin was the 2010 breakout star of the year, and this year we are looking at another great crop. The 2011 nominees are: Justin Verlander, Derrick Rose, Aaron Rodgers, and Tim Thomas. All four guys were already stars in their respective sports, but they all took a giant step towards becoming household names this year. Verlander and Rose had amazing regular seasons culminating in Verlander being awarded the Cy Young award and Rose becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history. Being great in the regular season makes you a star, but the playoffs and finals are where legends are made and these two both came up short. Aaron Rodgers took the final step out of Brett Favre's shadow by winning the Superbowl and then following it up with one of the greatest statistical seasons in the history of football. He comes up short in this contest though to our winner........
Winner: Tim Thomas. Not only did he lead the Bruins to their first Stanley Cup Finals victory since 1972, but he did so in record setting fashion. Never has someone come up so big in so many games during the same playoffs. I had never been much of a hockey fan, but I watched the playoffs to see what Tim Thomas would do next, that's a star. Not to mention he had a great beard.
Betty White "Lifetime Achievement" Award- No nominees for this one, as there's really only one person who can win it. Derek Jeter is the recipient of this award. This year he got to 3000 hits, the 3000th coming on a home run at Yankee Stadium, and signed on with the Yankees for 4 more years. He has 4 World Series titles and was still good enough to make the all star game. He's a surefire first ballot hall of famer and even this Red Sox fan can acknowledge that Derek Jeter is the best shortstop I've ever watched play. (Sorry Nomar).
Happy Trails-We saw a lot of great stars send in their retirement papers this year. Shaquille O'Neal is probably the biggest star to walk into the sunset this year. The Diesel leaves behind a 19 year NBA career in which he won 4 NBA titles, 1 MVP award, and took three different teams to the finals. The Shaqtus joins Chris Webber and company as an analyst for NBATV. Other stars retiring this year include Peja Stojakovic, Brandon Roy (unfortunately due to injury), Garrett Anderson, and Rocco Baldelli (illness). These players will all be missed by their fans.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this. Leave a comment, go back and read all my other entrys, follow me on twitter @joshviola19, and Happy New Year.
-Josh
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