Top 10 Games of 2005

It's that time of year, time for all of the year-end lists and bests of. So here are my top 10 games of 2005:

10. Aussie Rules Semifinal, Geelong vs. Sydney. It looked bleak for the Sydney Swans, trailing by 22 points with 10 minutes left. But Nick Davis would have none of it. He led a thrilling 4th quarter comeback scoring 4 goals, including the game-winner with less than 5 seconds left. Needing a goal to win, Davis temporarily gathered the footie and was about to turn and kick when he lost control. With the ball lose, Davis kicked it out of the air and through the goal to give Sydney the dramatic victory. Sydney went onto win their first grand final since 1945.

9. US Women's Open, Final Round. The final round at Cherry Hills was a sign of things to come in women's golf. The week started out as Annika's to lose, but instead turned into a showcase for the young guns. Michelle Wie and Paula Creamer were at the top of the leaderboard, but it was amateur Morgan Pressel who held up under the pressure, giving herself a chance to win. But the tournament was taken away from her when Birdie Kim holed her greenside bunker shot, which ultimately gave her the victory. Pressel and the rest of the golf world watched in astonishment as Kim, who had only made 9 cuts in her pro career and had converted less than 40% of possible sand saves, won the biggest prize in women's golf.

8. NFL Week 5, Patriots/Falcons. In a must-win game for the depleted Patriots, Tom Brady was Tom Brady. 22/27, 350 yards and 3 TDs, along with 106 yards rushing from Corey Dillon were just enough as the Pats held off a stunning 4th quarter comeback from Atlanta. Atlanta was without Michael Vick, but Matt Schaub stepped in nicely (18/38, 298 yards, 3 TDs), including a TD pass to Dez White, along with the 2-point conversion tied the game at 28 with 4 minutes left. But Brady calmly led the Pats back down the field, leading to Adam Vinateri's game winning field goal with 17 seconds left.

7. US Open Men's Quarterfinals, James Blake vs. Andre Agassi. Who do you root for? There's Blake, who was coming back from a crippling and life-threatening illness and was playing the best tennis of his career. Then there's Agassi, who was pulling out all the stops to make one last run at a major. Blake came out and took the match to Agassi, winning the first two sets easily. After Blake went up a break early in the 3rd, it appeared as if the changing of the guard was at hand. But Agassi raised his game. Let's make it clear, Blake's level of play didn't fall, Agassi raised his that high. Agassi won the 3rd and 4th sets, gaining the crowd and momentum. The 5th set was classic. When one player looked as if he had turned the tide with a big shot, the other came right back with a big shot on the very next point. Agassi won in the 5th set tiebreaker, which ended a little past 1am in front of a crowd that had predominantly stayed. When you have 20,000 people still in the house past 1am at a tennis match on a weeknight, you know it was good.

6. 2005 Rose Bowl, Texas vs. Michigan. Vince Young's true coming out party. 16/28, 180 yards passing, 1 TD, plus 192 yards and 4 additional TDs rushing, 3 in the second half, which included a 60-yarder. What made it even more special was this was against Michigan, not Baylor. Despite his great performance, Michigan matched them score for score. Chad Henne threw 4 TD passes, 3 of them to Braylon Edwards. When was the last time both teams' superstars played so well in a bowl game??? It came down to who had the ball last, which was Texas, who got a 37 yard field goal from Dusty Mangum to win it.

5. NLDS, Braves vs. Astros, Game 4. You know I don't watch many baseball games, but this one got my attention. The Braves appeared to have sent the series back to Atlanta for the 5th and deciding game after Brian McCann's homer put them up 6-1. But Houston came back in the bottom of the inning with a Lance Berkman grand slam which cut the lead to 6-5. Then with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Brad Ausmus went yard to deep center, sending the game to extra innings. Both teams then played on through the afternoon and into the early evening as the game remained tied. In fact, Roger Clemens was forced to enter in the 15th inning as he was Houston's last pitcher. The Rocket threw smoke and kept the Braves at bay, allowing for Chris Burke's theatrics in the 18th inning, a homer which won the game and sent the Astros to the LCS.

4. Ford Championship, Final Round. Finally, we had our dream golf matchup: the resurgent, intense Tiger Woods vs. the ever-smiling, go for it Phil Mickelson. Tiger had won earlier in the year at the Buick in San Diego, but didn't look like the old Tiger. The old Tiger showed up at Doral, as he went into the final round trailing Phil by 1, pairing them together in the final round. Tiger missed two early birdie putts, but caught a break when he made a lengthy par putt at the 4th while Phil missed a short birdie try. Tiger tied Phil the very next hole after his approach hit the flagstick, setting up a short birdie. They remained tied until the par-5 12th, when Tiger reached the green in 2, then made the eagle putt to take a 2-shot lead. In years past, this would be where Phil would go away, but instead he came right back with birdies on 13 and 14 to retie Tiger. Phil had chances on 15 and 16 to take the lead away from Tiger, but couldn't take advantage of them. Then on 17, Tiger drained a long birdie putt to take a 1 shot lead. On the last hole, Phil hit his approach over the green, forcing him to chip in to have any chance of a playoff. Phil almost did just that, getting his chip online, but the ball went in and out of the hole.

3. Game 5 NBA Finals. In the only competitive game of the series, Big Shot Robert Horry hit the game-winner with 6 seconds left in overtime to give the Spurs a 96-95 win and send them back to San Antonio with a 3-2 lead in the series. Horry was bothered by a bum shoulder, which seemed to magically go away as the game went on. Horry scored all of his 21 points in the last 17 minutes of the game. The Pistons looked to have it won after a Rasheed Wallace jumper put them up 4 with 1:43 left, as Detroit basketball had taken advantage of shockingly erratic play from Tim Duncan down the stretch (missed 6/7 free throws, plus 2 turnovers). But Horry answered with a dunk, and after Chauncey Billups missed shots on consecutive possessions, the Spurs and Horry got their chance. On the last play, Horry inbounded to Manu Ginobli, who was immediately double-teamed, leaving the most dangerous guy on the floor, the inbounder, who's often forgotten about, wide-open. And it wasn't your ordinary inbounder, this was Robert Horry, the guy who's made big shots his whole career. When he got the ball back with a wide-open look, you knew it was going in.

2. USC at Notre Dame. It's tough for games to live up to the hype in this day and age. This one did and then some. Unlike in previous weeks, the Trojans came out fired up and ready to play. But that didn't stop the Irish from taking a 21-14 halftime lead, led by a 60 yard punt return by Tom Zbitkowski. Reggie Bush answered early in the 3rd with a 45 yard run to tie, then a 5 yard run with 5 minutes to go to put SC up 28-24. But Brady Quinn was cool, calm, and collected, and led the Irish right back down the field to take a 31-28 lead after he ran in from the 5. USC had time to answer, but were up against the wall, facing 4th and 9. Matt Leinart audibled at the line of scrimmage, then hit Dwayne Jarrett in stride for 61 yards, putting SC in field goal range. USC wasn't about to settle for a field goal, they drove inside the 5 when Leinart tried to run it in himself. As he turned the corner, he was hit from behind and the ball came out as the clock ran out. For a split second, it appeared ND had won, but the ball had gone out of bounds, putting 3 seconds back on the clock, giving SC time for one more play. Leinart, instead of spiking the ball and going for the tie, sneaked and was stopped on his initial surge, but with a little help from Bush, Leinart rolled his way into the end zone giving SC a 34-31 win. This was the equivalent of Duke/Kentucky's basketball game, the drama and the ending unbelievable.

1. NCAA Regionals. I tried not to be biased, but honestly, were there 4 better games than the NCAA Regional Finals???? It started out west where West Virginia and Kevin Pittsnoggle appeared to be running away to St. Louis. Down 20 in the 2nd half, Louisville turned up the pressure D, forced the game into overtime, then won it. If that wasn't enough, later that day, Arizona was doing the unthinkable. They played 36 minutes of perfect basketball in Chicago, in front of the Orange Crush, leading by 15 with 4 minutes to play. But Illinois had one last miracle in their dream season left in them. Sparked by Deron Williams, Illinois came back, forced the game to overtime, then won. The next day, after North Carolina's "boring" 7-point win over Wisconsin, a game that was nip and tuck until the last 5 minutes, Michigan St. and Kentucky played another thriller. The Spartans seemed to be in control, leading by 8 with 5 minutes left, when the fighting Ashley Judds started shooting their way back into it. Down 3 in the closing seconds, UK missed two good looks when a long rebound came out to Patrick Sparks. With the buzzer about to go off, Sparks could only flip the ball to the basket, which after hanging on the front rim for what seemed like forever, dropped in, sending the game to overtime. UK led by 4 in the overtime, but Michigan St. was too much, winning by 6 in the end.

If you disagree, let me know where I went wrong.