by Ryan Isley
Another 365 days has come and gone and with it goes yet another year off the calendar. As 2014 gives way to 2015, I thought it was time to sit down and figure out what were my top three good AND bad sports moments of the year that was.
My list will differ slightly from most in the Cleveland sports scene, if only because of my original feelings towards Johnny Manziel and because of my love of the New York Rangers in the NHL. And as a Cleveland sports fan, it is a lot harder to find three good moments than three bad moments.
Let’s start with the negative and end on a positive note, shall we:
The Worst Three Moments of 2014:
1) Cleveland Browns do Cleveland Browns Things in NFL Draft (May 8):
Going into the draft, the Browns had obvious needs as usual but held the No. 4 and No. 26 overall picks they seemed to have a chance to fill some holes. They had done the right things the previous season, trading Trent Richardson for that No. 26 pick, which might be a top-3 move that has been made by this organization since its return in 1999.
Most Browns fans fell in love with Texas A&M quarterback and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel. His trademark money sign celebration as already becoming a thing around Cleveland prior to the draft.
For me, the two picks I wanted were Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins at No. 4 and Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater at No. 26. Bridgewater, once thought of as a possible top-5 pick, was slipping due to a subpar pro day and what “experts” labeled as skinny knees and small hands.
Of course, the Browns saw Watkins sitting there at No. 4 and traded down with the Buffalo Bills to get the No. 9 pick and Buffalo’s first round pick in 2015. The Bills then took Watkins. Because of course. The Browns then traded the No. 9 pick and a fifth round pick (No. 145) to the Minnesota Vikings for the No. 8 pick. They used that pick on Oklahoma State cornerback Justin Gilbert.
The Browns would then trade No. 26 and a third round pick (No. 83) to the Philadelphia Eagles for the No. 22 overall selection. It was with that pick that the Browns did what the fan base wanted and took Manziel.
Watkins finished the season with 65 catches for 982 yards and six touchdowns. Those numbers would have been tops in each category for the Browns. Bridgewater – selected by the Vikings with the last pick of the first round (No. 32) – started 13 games for Minnesota. He completed 64.4% of his passes for 2,919 yards and 14 touchdowns, while throwing 12 interceptions.
2) Virginia Tech Invades The Shoe, Leaves With a Win:
In the second game of the season for the Ohio State Buckeyes, they found themselves hosting a Virginia Tech team that was ready from the jump and for the most part of the game, just outplayed Ohio State. When T.J. Barrett – who was making just his second career start – was intercepted by Donovan Riley and Riley returned to the house with under a minute to go, it put a wrap on the chances Ohio State would finish the season undefeated.
Of course, Virginia Tech would go out the next week and crap the bed against East Carolina and then again the following week against Georgia Tech, making the loss even look worse for the Buckeyes. When the Hokies finished the season 6-6 and barely eligible for a bowl game, it looked as if the loss by the Buckeyes in September just may keep them out of the playoffs.
Thankfully for Buckeye Nation, Ohio State was able to use the strength of an 11-1 regular season and a thumping of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game (see later in the column) to put themselves in a position to be one of the last four teams playing for the national championship.
3) Alec Martinez Beats Henrik Lundqvist in 2OT – Los Angeles Kings Hoist Stanley Cup (June 13)
It was a series that had pretty much been decided before Martinez grabbed a rebound in front and put it past a sprawled out Lundqvist, but that goal was the final nail. The fait accompli if you will.
The Kings had taken three of the first four games in the series but the Rangers fought back in game 4 to send the series back to Los Angeles. Game 5 went just as two of the first four had gone – tied through regulation. When neither team could break through in the first overtime, Martinez struck gold.
Martinez led the 3-on-2 break for the Kings with a Ranger trailing and passed the puck to Tyler Toffolli. When Toffolli’s shot was stopped by Lundqvist – his 48th save of the game – Martinez was there to clean it up and finish the game and series.
The Best Three Moments of 2014:
1) The Return of the King (July 11)
This one was pretty easy of course. The best sports moment of 2014 for me was the announcement that LeBron James would be returning home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. After playing four seasons for the Miami Heat and winning two NBA championships in four NBA Finals appearances, Akron’s native son was coming home.
For me, this one was most important for a couple reasons:
1) The obvious reason is that the return of LeBron made the Cavaliers a better team than the one that went 33-49 in the prior season.
2) The second reason is probably obvious as well to those who know me. As an Akron kid myself, it took about a year to get over the departure of LeBron in 2010. But once I saw that LeBron was still doing things for the community in which he grew up, I softened my stance on him leaving and began to root for his success. For as much grief as I took from people for rooting for LeBron while he played for the Heat, seeing him decide to return to Cleveland was that much more gratifying.
2) Martin St. Louis OT Goal Lifts Rangers in Eastern Conference Finals Game 4 (May 25)
With the Rangers leading the series against the Montreal Canadiens 2 games to 1 and needing a win at home to avoid heading back to Montreal in a 2-2 tie, St. Louis took a pass from Carl Hagelin and went top shelf glove side on Dustin Tokarski for the winning goal and a 3-1 series lead. The Rangers would eventually win the series in six games.
This may not have been the goal or the game that propelled the Rangers into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1994, but it is the most memorable goal to me from the playoff run that ended just three wins from a championship. For St. Louis, the goal came just one week after St. Louis buried his mother France after she passed away on May 8 of a heart attack.
It was not the only emotional goal for St. Louis in the postseason. He scored the first goal in the Rangers’ 5-1 Game 6 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins a series earlier just three days after the passing of his mother. The Rangers had trailed that series 3 games to 1 before rallying back to win the final three games.
3) Ohio State Manhandles Wisconsin 59-0 in Big Ten Championship Game (December 6)
No Braxton Miller? No J.T. Barrett? No Problem.
Down to its third quarterback of the season, Ohio State went into Indianapolis as a 4-point underdog and beat the living daylights out of the Wisconsin Badgers 59-0 to win the Big Ten championship and ultimately put the Buckeyes into the first ever college football playoff.
Cardale Jones carved up the Wisconsin defense to the tune of 257 yards on 12-of-17 passing and three touchdowns and zero interceptions in his first career start for Ohio State. 137 of those yards went to Devin Smith, who hauled in four passes – three for touchdowns – while averaging 34.3 yards per reception. Running back Ezekiel Elliott handled the ground game, amassing 220 yards on the ground on 20 carries and scoring twice, including an 81-yard scamper that put the Buckeyes ahead 14-0 in the second quarter.
The much maligned Buckeyes defense was stellar, holding the Badgers to only 258 total yards of offense. More impressively, they held Heisman Trophy finalist Melvin Gordon to just 76 yards on 26 carries. Gordon had run for 2,260 yards going into the game and had averaged 208.2 yards per game in his previous 10 contests. That included a 408-yard performance against Nebraska in which Gordon watched the fourth quarter from the sidelines.
Comments? Questions? You can leave them here or email Ryan at ryan.isley@morethanafan.net. You can also connect with him on Twitter @isley23.
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