B A S E B A L L ' S P L A Y O F F S Ivan Rodriguez did everything but fly the charter plane in the Marlins' upset of the Giants. The A's once again choked in multiple big games. A Cubs fan may have cost his team a game. Aaron Boone's dramatic home run sent the Yankees to the World Series. Baseball's postseason was a thrill-a-minute, and for once nobody was complaining about games lasting into the wee small hours of the morning.
C A R M E L O A N T H O N Y
One year at Syracuse, one NCAA Tournament MVP, one national championship. Not a bad start for Carmelo Anthony, who has since begun a successful pro career. Still, his case is the exception, and points to a big problem with college hoops today — the best and the brightest players don't stick around, if they come at all.
M A U R I C E C H E E K S ' V O C A L A S S I S T
Cheeks was an all-star point guard in the NBA before becoming Portland's coach, but his best assist was the one he gave to 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert on April 25. Prior to Game 3 of the Mavericks-Blazers playoff series in Portland, Gilbert began to sing the Star-Spangled Banner before a crowd of nearly 20,000. But then she forgot the words and was left nervously shaking alone, until Cheeks walked over from his team's bench, put his arm around Gilbert and sang the rest of the song with her.
A N N I K A S O R E N S T A M A T T H E C O L O N I A L
Never has a golfer been under so much pressure at the first tee box of a tournament. Usually it's the later holes that induce the yips, but usually women don't play on the PGA Tour with television broadcasting hole-by-hole coverage of their rounds. On May 22, at the Colonial, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman in 58 years to tee it up with the boys, and she did quite well, finishing the first round at 1-over before missing the cut by four shots. Still, she was the tournament's biggest winner.
L E B R O N J A M E S : S U P E R S T A R
It was more than most 18-year-olds could handle: the nationally televised high school games, the $90 million sneaker deal, the expectations of being as good as (no, better than!) Michael Jordan. But the NBA's No. 1 pick has not only a world-class talent level, but a maturity that exceeds many of his pro hoops contemporaries. Despite a .414 shooting percentage and a good-but-not-godlike 18.1 scoring average for the suddenly must-see Cavaliers, we are as impressed by what we don't see (selfishness, unsportsmanlike conduct) as by what we do (an understanding of team, respect for the game).
T A M P A B A Y ' S T I T L E
That the Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl last season wasn't entirely shocking. It was how they did it that was most impressive: a three-game playoff run that saw them beat the NFL's best teams by 25, 17 and 27 points. Yes, Tampa had great talent — especially on defense — but such lopsided scores are a result of masterful gameplans and near-flawless execution.
T I M D U N C A N ' S F I N A L S
Bill Walton calls basketball the ultimate team sport, but one guy sure can make a difference. Against the Nets, San Antonio's Duncan had one of the most dominating NBA Finals performances ever, averaging 24.2 points, 17.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists, including a title-clinching Game 6 effort in which he came up two blocks short of a quadruple-double.
B A R R Y B O N D S
In a season in which he coped with his father's long illness and death, Barry Bonds continued to perform at superhuman levels. He won a record sixth MVP award despite missing 32 games (roughly one-fifth of the season). He led the major leagues in slugging percentage (.749), on-base percentage (.529) and walks (148) while batting .341 and cracking 45 home runs for the first-place Giants. Now it gets interesting, as Bonds chases Mays, Ruth and Aaron on the all-time home-run list, while the public continues to question whether today's juiced numbers — including Barry's — are attributed to illegally juiced muscles.
J E A N - S E B A S T I E N G I G U E R E ' S P L A Y O F F S
His Anaheim team lost to New Jersey in a seven-game Finals series, but Giguere became the fifth player from a losing team to be named the postseason's most valuable player. In 21 games, the goalie posted a 15-6 record with a 1.62 goals-against average and five shutouts. His .945 save percentage in the playoffs was sixth-best all-time.
R O Y J O N E S J R . , H E A V Y W E I G H T
For a change, a high-profile boxing match wasn't mostly sideshow. On March 1, former middleweight champion Roy Jones Jr. made history by capturing the heavyweight title from John Ruiz, to whom Jones gave away 33 pounds and seven inches of reach. Fighting at 193 pounds, 18 more than his usual in the light-heavyweight class, Jones showed superior skill in pummeling Ruiz en route to a unanimous decision. Critics said that Ruiz was a shadow of a real heavyweight champion, but Jones showed the elements that make boxing great: courage, speed and power.
B U C S S H O W K E Y S H A W N T H E D O O R
In 2003, we had college coaches gone wild, drug suspensions and suspicions, one infamous corked bat and a BCS mess. But we've had all those things before. The true new low in sports occurred on Nov. 18, when the Super Bowl champion Buccaneers informed their starting wideout, Keyshawn Johnson, that he was being de-activated for the rest of the season — not because of injury or poor on-field performance, but for basically being a pain in the ass. It was a bold, financially costly and generally celebrated move by the Bucs. Fans can only shake their heads when $56 million isn't enough to keep an employee happy.
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