10 Important Sports Moments and Storylines From the 2010s
1) “Try Not to Suck”
The Cubs win the 2016 World Series
Few franchises have been more synonymous with losing than the Chicago Cubs, whose championship draught lasted 108 years. In that span, America witnessed 18 Presidents and two World Wars.
Their hapless state was so great, that it became part of pop culture lore — most notably in Back to the Future. Even worse for Cubs fans, they’d had to watch the Red Sox shed the proverbial monkey of their backs in the 2000s and morph into a title-winning machine.
Fortunately, the north side faithful won’t have to wait another decade. The Cubs dramatic, Game 7 win over the Cleveland Indians erased generations of futility and passed the dubious mantle of longest title drought in professional sports to…that’s right, the Cleveland Indians.
With a young nucleus and a bright front office led by Theo Epstein, the Cubs seemed poised for a multi-year run. As it turns out, the celebration ended up being short-lived. Even Joe Maddon, their iconic manager, was fired after the 2019 season.
2) He’s Backkk
Tiger wins the 2019 Masters
No athlete OWNED the 2000s like Tiger Woods did. The record-setting golf assassin/Michael Jordan heir apparent dominated the PGA Tour while simultaneously dragging the sport’s popularity along for his meteoric rise.
Unfortunately, as is too often the case, the lofty standards were juxtaposed by tremendous pitfalls, making the inevitable tumble from grace seem infinitely more precipitous.
A decade and a few injuries later, and you could have literally buried Tiger in a landslide of columns and quotations lamenting the end of his career as a star athlete.
Naturally, Woods turned back the clock with a scintillating comeback win at — where else? — Augusta, the place that put him on the map 20 years ago.
“It’s overwhelming,” Woods said afterward. “Because of what has transpired.”
No kidding.
3) “No, you broke the rules”
Cheating remains rampant
Cheating has been a part of sports since the dawn of time, but the transgressions seem magnified in an era of social media and wire-to-wire coverage — not to mention with so much money on the line. Here are a few of the decade’s biggest incidents:
Tin Can Alley: In 2019, the Houston Astros organization was rocked by allegations of cheating. The biggest and most-damning accusation was using an outfield camera to relay pitching signs to the dugout, after which players would bang on trash cans to indicate certain pitches.
Deflategate: The New England Patriots are seemingly constantly embroiled in some scandal or another. In 2015, they were charged with illegally-deflating footballs during the 2014 AFC Championship Game. It resulted in a four-game suspension for quarterback Tom Brady and even made the Patriots fodder for cultural barometer South Park.
A-Roid: Major League Baseball has made at least a half-hearted attempt to clean up its game. That hasn’t stopped players from trying to game the system. The most notable of those caught this decade was Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Other notables included Manny Ramirez (2011, second offense), Ryan Braun (2013), Dee Gordon (2016) & Robinson Cano (2018).
4) Cut Gems
Sports Betting becomes legal
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled to remove national laws that prohibited authorized sports betting. The groundbreaking ruling would allow individual states to make their own call on such gambling’s legality.
This paved the road for the construction of physical sportsbooks and extended a lifeline to online sites such as FanDuel and DraftKings, which had teetered on the edge of financial ruin (and even entertained the brief notion of a merger) after an insider trading scandal.
At the grassroots level, fantasy sports remain a cherished part of people’s lives. As television numbers continue to dwindle, gambling is in some cases one of the only variables keeping folks tuned in to certain games.
5) Dabo Saban
NCAA institutes a playoff system
After years of asterisk championships and overly-convoluted BCS formulas, the NCAA finally caved and instituted a four-team playoff system.
The advent has lent a better sense of finality to the season, also leading to some unforgettable regular-season showdowns as well (see this season’s epic showdown between Alabama & LSU).
Few names have become synonymous with the playoff era as Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney — likely the two most recognizable names in college football.
For the decade, the two schools have combined for an eye-popping record of 240–37 (.866% winning percentage). They’ve also combined to win all but one of the championship games.
6) NFL Playing Arena Ball
Passing reigns supreme in the NFL
On an otherwise nondescript Monday night, the Rams & Chiefs combined for 104 points and 1,001 yards of offense. Chiefs phenom quarterback Patrick Mahomes passed for 478 yards and tossed 6 touchdown passes…and LOST.
The game will go down as the exclamation point for a decade during which passing records fell like defensive backs clutching air, as the philosophy split between rushing and passing continued to tilt towards the latter. Here are just a few single-season records to fall this decade:
Quarterbacks
Passing Yards: Peyton Manning, 2013
Touchdowns: Peyton Manning, 2013
Passer rating: Aaron Rodgers, 2011
Completions: Drew Brees, 2016
Completion Percentage: Drew Brees, 2018
Wide Receivers
Receptions: Michael Thomas, 2019
Receiving Yards: Calvin Johnson, 2012
Running Backs
Receptions: Christian McCaffrey, 2019
Tight Ends
Receptions: Zach Ertz, 2018
Receiving Yards: George Kittle, 2018
7) Downtown Szn
Lead by Steph Curry, the NBA falls in love with the deep ball
In 2014, Ray Allen retired as the career record holder for three-pointers made. He had played 1,300 games over an 18-year career, during which he sunk 2,973 3’s. Second on the list is Reggie Miller, who made 2,560 3’s in 1,389 games. Stephen Curry, number three on the list, has hit 2,492 shots from downtown.
Curry has appeared in 698 games.
It’s not just him. The proliferation of analytics into the NBA has taught coaches that three really is better than two. For the 2019–2020 season, teams are averaging 33.7 3PA APIECE.
The movement was just taking shape when Curry entered the league in 2009. His deadly stroke and seemingly-endless range — coupled with his team’s success- have made him patient zero for the movement.
Whether or not the game is better off is another issue. Still, it’s clear that he’s helped usher in a tectonic movement.
8) 40–0
UCONN women’s basketball team dominates
I would be remiss not to include America’s most unsung dynasty on this list. All the UConn women’s basketball team has done this decade is compile a mind-numbing 327–17 record and four titles (in a row).
Thirteen former Huskies are currently on WNBA rosters. Three were selected first overall in the draft (Tina Charles, Maya Moore & Brianna Stewart). Their (along with players drafted before this decade) list of accomplishments go on and on in staggering fashion.
Compared to themselves, they’re in a mega-title drought (their last championship was in 2016). Still, it’s hard to feel too bad for Coach Geno and company; during that stretch, they’ve made it all the way to the Final Four those years.
9) Capital Gains
Alex Ovechkin wins Stanley Cup
Long considered one of the NHL’s premier players, the Washington Capitals center checked off one of the final boxes on his hall of fame resume when his Washington Capitals defeated the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals.
The image of a jubilant Ovechkin hoisting the cup finally provided lasting-validation for Caps fans who’d suffered through years of playoff heartbreak.
10) “The Block”
LeBron James saga comes full circle
It’s hard to believe the meat and potatoes of LeBron’s story arc played out during the course of this decade. “The Decision”, which happened in 2010, feels like many more eons ago.
After winning two titles in South Beach, James returned home, where he finally fulfilled the hopes and dreams of Cleveland fans that he’d put through the emotional ringer during his Miami heel turn.
The comeback Finals win in 2016 remains the Cavaliers; first and only title in their 50-year history. James also provided the signature moment of his career: a pivotal, chase-down block on a layup attempt by Golden State’s Andre Iguodala in crunch time during Game 7.