Kobe Bryant was a first team All-NBA selection seven times in the decade and led the Lakers to NBA titles to start and end the decade.
As we near the end of 2009 and thus the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, Sports Then and Now is looking at some of the athletes and moments that shaped the decade.
When the decade started many were wondering how the NBA could overcome the retirement of Michael Jordan. Of course Jordan did come back for two seasons during the decade as a member of the Washington Wizards, but he really was more of a footnote in the decade rather than a main player.
The decade belonged to two powerhouse teams, the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs. There were other teams with good runs, but those two squads were consistently contending for NBA titles.
Some are still looking for the next Michael Jordan, but while it is doubtful there will never be another MJ, as the NBA heads into the new decade it has a plethora of talented young stars poised to lead the league into the future.
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Below is a look at our picks for the top 10 NBA players over the past decade:
Watching old highlights of Larry Bird helps illustrate just how amazing a player he was.
On the program “Outside The Lines”, ESPN recently did a feature about the lack of American born white players in the NBA. This got me thinking about the amazing career of one of the great American born white players of the last 30 years, Larry Bird.
Bird is also back in the forefront lately through the new book he co-wrote with Magic Johnson entitled, “When the Game Was Ours.” Click here to read a great review of the book recently posted by Joe Gill. Also, if you sign up to receive daily updates from Sports Then and Now or the sites for Boston, Chicago or Baltimore between now and January 15, 2010, you will be automatically registered for a drawing where you could win one of two copies of the book.
As part of our occasional series remembering the careers of some of the greats of the game through Youtube videos, I’ve picked several videos that depict Bird’s legendary career.
Watching these videos, I was absolutely amazed at just how great Bird was. At the time he played, we all new Bird was great, but seeing his many amazing passes and shots, it is clear that he was one of the all-time greats and will never be duplicated. There are certainly many great players today, but none (regardless of color) who have quite the package of greatness embodied by “the Kid from French Lick.” Enjoy.
On December 16, 1973, O.J. Simpson rushed for 200 yards against the New York Jets to become the first player in NFL history to pass the 2,000-yard rushing mark for a single season.
In the wake of the continued dismantling of the Tiger Woods persona, I can’t help but think of another prominent African-American athlete who like Tiger was once an advertising force and one of the best known and most popular sports figures in the country.
While I am certainly not comparing anything that Tiger has been accused of doing to what led to the downfall of O.J. Simpson, I do think there are obvious comparisons in both the swiftness of the fall and the subsequent revelations that the public persona was really little more than a false facade.
This week marks the 36th anniversary of the greatest on-the-field accomplishment of O.J.’s Hall of Fame football career.
On December 16, 1973, Simpson rose to a level of greatness that had never previously been reached. In the final game of the regular season against the New York Jets he not only broke Jim Brown’s single season rushing record of 1,863 yards, but went on to become the first player (and only in a 14-game season) to eclipse the 2,000-yard rushing mark for a single season.
While I recognize that it is now difficult to separate the on-the-field greatness of O.J. with the off-the-field actions, I do still believe that his 2,000-yard season was one of the greatest individual performances in the history of professional sports.
In another installment of our occasional series looking at great athletes and moments through video, here is a look at O.J. Simpson’s march to a 2,000 yard season.
Posted on
November 25, 2009 by
John Wingspread Howell
The consumate underdog, in just a matter of weeks the Sky Blue FC went from last place to WPS Champions.
It has been a year of mixed emotions for incurable fans of the underdog. On the downside are ultimate victories by ultimate bullies such as the Steelers and the Yankees. Atypically, March Madness produced no Cinderella stories. Perennial underdogs, the Cleveland Cavaliers choked on their best opportunity yet to win an NBA Championship, faltering in the Conference finals, with Orlando.
On the upside are the overlapping individual and team stories of Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals, the parallel stories of two soccer Cinderellas, and a Warner-like comeback in the golf world.
Doug Flutie scrambled out of pressure before launching the game-winning pass against the University of Miami.
Hard to believe that it has been 25 years since Doug Flutie captivated the sports world with a special performance that culminated in one of the most memorable endings in sports history.
In a nationally televised game on CBS the day after Thanksgiving, Flutie solidified his candidacy for the Heisman Trophy by dueling with Bernie Kosar throughout the high-scoring affair.
However, in the final seconds it appeared that Kosar and the defending national champion University of Miami would edge Flutie’s Boston College squad.
With just enough time for one final play and with the ball sitting on Miami’s 48-yard line, Flutie rolled out to his right and launched the ball from his own 36-yard line (64-yards from the end zone) into the waiting arms of receiver Gerard Phelan.
The “Hail Mary” gave BC a shocking 47-45 victory and made Flutie a household name. He went on to receive the 1984 Heisman Trophy.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of this amazing moment in sports, below is a YouTube video recapping the game and Flutie’s amazing pass.
The Lakewood Lancerscelebrate after ending the 15-year conference winning streak for Poly High. (Long Beach Press Telegram Photo)
I had this all planned out. I knew what I was going to do if it were one outcome, and if it were the other.
People who do this for a living call it contingency. As a graduate student closing in on a couple of degrees that I hope will make my employment situation secure like those safes from Dunbar Armored, I knew the the ins and outs of a strong, fail-proof contingency plan.
And my contingency plan went into effect the moment I stepped out of my house at approximately 4:00 p.m. on Friday, October 9, 2009.
I was not even born when my alma mater, Lakewood High School, last defeated the flagship school of the Harry J. Moore League, Long Beach Polytechnic High. But I knew about the heritage, their reputation as the “Home of Scholars and Champions” (or “Den of Gangsters and Criminals,” depending on your side of 1600 Atlantic Avenue) in other sports and disciplines on and off the field, and I knew that this was originally destined to be my school of choice.
The Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Month is one of the most underappreciated wide receivers in NFL history, despite boasting a career that spanned 16 seasons and saw him excel as one of the league’s premier deep threats. Known for his speed, route-running, and ability to make plays downfield, Harold Jackson left an indelible mark on the game during an era that was not yet pass-heavy. Standing at 5’10” and weighing 175 pounds, he defied expectations of size to become a dominant force on the field. Over the course of his illustrious career (1968–1983), Jackson totaled 10,372 receiving yards and 76 touchdowns, placing him among the top receivers of his time.
