Fitz’s top 2007 sports stories

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 02/01/2007

 What a year it was in sports, where winning and losing again tested in many ways the reality of the saying, “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” It was a sad year locally, disappointing and frustrating for the fans of the Vikings, Twins, Timberwolves and Gophers, all of them failing to make the playoffs.

 At least the hockey team, the Minnesota Wild, returned to the playoffs — but for sports fans locally, that was about it.

 The Twins’ losing season prompted longtime, highly respected General Manager Terry Ryan to resign, and tightfisted owner billionaire Carl Pohlad allowed seven-time Gold-Glove two-time All-Star centerfielder Torii Hunter to exit in free agency and sign with the Los Angeles Angels for $90 million. Some thanks for helping the Twins get a new ballpark.

 For the Timberwolves, the awful combination of delusional owner Glen Taylor and General Manager Kevin McHale stuck with losing Coach Randy Wittman, teaming up to wreck a professional NBA sports franchise by trading former league MVP Kevin Garnett, the icon basketball star, to the Boston Celtics. The Celtics have won 24 of their first 27 games with Garnett, while the Timberwolves have lost 24 of their first 28 games without him.

 The Vikings with seven Pro Bowl players, second-best in the NFC, missed the playoffs for the second straight year under Head Coach Brad Childress and have yet to beat the Packers (0-4), who ran away with the NFC North. Since Dennis Green left in 2001, the year Korey Stringer died tragically in Mankato, the Vikings have made it a habit of missing the playoffs.

 Yes, I’m keeping score in terms of making the playoffs. Green was 8-2, Mike Tice was 1-3, and Childress is now 0-2.

 Gophers football in year one of Tim Brewster’s coaching was awful: 1-11, the worst season in school history. However, the basketball program is in good hands; the great Tubby Smith has brought us a winner, off to an 8-1 start, the best start since the 2000-01 season.

 In my travels covering sports nationally, here’s how I rated the top stories:

 No. 1 — The gambling scandal in the NBA by a league official. This was the single biggest national sports story for me, with the very integrity of the league brought into question.

 No. 2 — The Mitchell report finally putting a face on Major League Baseball’s steroid use; 85 users, in fact, other than Barry Bonds. Can you say Roger Clemens? And by extension, Commissioner Bud Selig and the owners were flat-out accused in the report that cost $27 million toward cleaning up the sport.

 Tied at number two is San Francisco star Barry Bonds becoming the new MLB homerun king, breaking Henry Aaron’s longstanding homerun record with 756. Bonds was later indicted on federal perjury charges.

 No. 3 — Michael Vick getting convicted and jailed for 23 months for dog fighting — and killing dogs.

 No. 4 — Super Bowl XLI with Black head coaches Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, Dungy the first Black head coach to win the Super Bowl.

 No. 5 — Tiger Woods winning the Inaugural Fed-Ex Cup playoffs, his 13th career Major. He was the PGA Championship and PGA Player of the year for the ninth time in 11 years and became a father for the first time. His scoring average was a record 67.79, a full stroke and a half better than number-two Ernie Els. That’s a six-shot gap over 72 holes.

 No. 6 — The San Antonio Spurs winning the NBA Championship in a sweep over LeBron James, and Cleveland winning their fourth title in nine years.

 No. 7 — The Boston Red Sox winning another World Series title with former Twin David Ortiz leading the way, their second in four years.

No. 8 — The University of Florida winning the NCAA Basketball Championship for the second year in a row, and the football team routing Ohio State to win the BCS title.

 No. 9 — The New England Patriots with former Viking Randy Moss and quarterback Tom Brady becoming the first team under Bill Belicheck to have a perfect 16-0 regular season.

 No. 10 — Sylvester Croom taking Mississippi State to the 2007 Liberty Bowl game. Croom, the first Black coach in the history of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), led the Bulldogs to a 7-5 season in the nation’s toughest conference.   

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.