I believe that after this game, the Americans are now poised as legitimate gold medals contenders.  I think it’s completely realistic to consider them the favorites for the gold (they are definitely mine at this point).  It’s my hope that Americans rally around this team and settle in around their TVs over this net week and prepare for some of the most exciting and meaningful American hockey in three decades.  I’ll leave you with this Ricky Stanzi-ism: USA! If you don’t LOVE IT, LEAVE IT!

• After Lindsey Jacobellis’s failure to win gold again as a huge favorite, Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis, and Shaun White made me regain my faith in the American athlete as they all won golds in their respective disciplines.  Even better, was the fact that Julia Mancuso joined Vonn on the downhill podium earning a silver, and Chad Hedrick got the bronze in the 1000m with Davis to put the United States back in the lead of overall medals.  They now lead overall golds with five and are leading the Germans by four in the overall count.
• USA men’s curling lost their second straight match after leading going into the 10^th end.  At this point, skip John Shuster has missed three relatively simple game-winning shots.  I haven’t seen someone mess up that badly while wearing red, white, and blue since Scott Norwood .  I always love when I can work in a 1990’s Buffalo Bills reference.
• I watched the double luge yesterday for the first time in my life, and I’ve decided that it’s even gayer than men’s figure skating and their sequence leotards.
• US men’s and women’s hockey are both rolling.  I’m predicting a combined victory of fifteen goals as they defeat Norway and Finland, respectively today.  Actually, all the hockey games in general have been points of interest for me regardless of the teams playing.  Yesterday, Teemu Selanne tied the all-time Olympic points record as Finland beat Belarus, 5-1.  For those who missed any of the great action on the ice, here’s the top 5 from Wednesday as assembled by NBC.  Personally, the number 3 highlight was my favorite.
• Skeleton qualifying runs start today.  So just in case luge didn’t look crazy and dangerous enough, the event where athletes sled down hills headfirst with no steering or braking mechanisms at 80+mph and experiencing 5G should appease your appetite for that.  Zach Lund looks to have a good chance to medal for the American men (the best since Jimmy Shea in 2002).  Noelle Pikus-Pace is the women’s best chance, but my pick for gold is 2008 champion, German Anja Huber.
• Saturday will bring us the 1500m men’s speed skating finals.  Shani Davis will be the huge favorite for that as well.  After watching how impressive Shani was in the 1000m, I’m guessing a another victory will come his way, the more interesting part will be if Stephen Colbert will get his requested shout-out from Davis.
• Later today, Gretchen Bleiler goes for gold in the women’s snowboarding halfpipe.  Fellow Americans and competitors (Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter) have won the last two Olympic golds, I think it’s Gretchen’s turn this time around.  And even if she doesn’t, she is ridiculously hot.

Usually, Americans would overlook most of these mishaps, because most likely the Americans would be medaling.  However, 2010 hasn’t been too kind luck-wise to the USA, or it could just be lack of preparation and talent, and maybe some overconfidence.  Take a look at some of these failures by the Americans so far:

• Lindsay Jacobellis comes to mind first of all when you think of epic failures.  After trying to showboat in the medal round of the snowboard cross in Torino and biffing her way from gold to silver, she looked to redeem herself.  Unfortunately, in the semis this year she went off course and DQed herself.  An even bigger fail was her post race interview (fast forward to the 4:30 mark).  I seriously have never heard anyone use the words ‘like’ and ‘you know’ that many times in an interview.  Mix that with her awful explanations and nonsensical answers and it’s one of the worst I’ve seen.
• The US curling teams had high hopes coming into these games, but their play in both the men’s and women’s draws have been abysmal.  As I write this they are working on losing their 4^th of 4 matches.  The women blew what looked to be a sure win against Japan giving up two 3 point rounds, and the men had a give-me win in the 11^th end, just needing to land a stone to get the win against the Norwegians, but did this instead (fast forward to the 3 hour mark).
• Then there are the sports where the Americans haven’t even been a factor in like the biathlon, ski jumping, and cross-country skiing.  With as many citizens over the Mason-Dixon Line that the USA has, better representation should be expected in these events.

I will however point out some positives that hopefully the US can build on as these Games continue:

• Johnny Spillane won the first American medal in the Nordic combined, taking silver.
• Sean Wescott repeated, taking gold for the second straight Olympics in the snowboard cross.
• Bode Miller redeemed himself with a bronze after his medal-less performance in Torino as a heavy favorite.
• And of course, there’s Apolo Anton Ohno, who won silver in the 1500m, making him the most medaled short track athlete ever and the only person in the world to win six Olympic medals and Dancing with the Stars.

Let’s hope the latter type of performance continues and eliminates some of the poor tastes that the early stages of the Games have left any of us.

Isabelle Jordansson

Who she is:  She’s an 18 year old forward who suits up in the #12 jersey for the Swedish national hockey team.

When you’ll see her:  Isabelle and her fellow teammates will christen hockey play when they take the ice at noon Vancouver time (all times listed are PST) on February 13^th against Switzerland.  The Swedes will play Slovakia on the 15^th and Canada on the 17^th.

Will she medal:  Sweden is currently ranked 3^rd in the world behind Canada and USA.  They will most likely finish as runners up to Canada in Pool A and face USA in the medal round semifinals.  Expect them to follow up their silver in Turin with a bronze this year.

Anna Sidorova

Who she is:  The 19 year old curler throws the third stone for the Russians.

When you’ll see her: The first time you can catch her with a broom in her hand will be February 16^th at 2pm when the world 8^th ranked Russians take on the co-8^th ranked Germans on Sheet C.  After that, the Russians along with all the other 9 nations will play every day until February 25^th, with only four teams qualifying for the medal rounds beyond that.

Will she medal:  It’s highly unlikely that she and team will medal with the usual domination by the Canadians, Swedes, and Finns, and now adding the emergence of the 2009 champion Chinese to the mix.

Marina Nigg

Who she is:  A Vaduz native who at 25 will be Liechtenstein’s only female representative in alpine skiing.

When you’ll see her:  On February 24^th she will be skiing her giant slalom qualifying runs from 10-11:45am trying to get to the afternoon medal rounds.  She will again take to the slopes on February 26^th for the ‘regular’ slalom qualifying runs 10-11:45am.

Will she medal:  The real question here isn’t whether she will medal, but if she will even finish the course.  No woman from Liechtenstein has ever completed her respective disciplines at the Olympics.  And considering I wasn’t able to find any websites about her that weren’t in German, I’m guessing she’s pretty low on the alpine skiing radar.

Katja Haller

Who she is:  The 29 year old Italian will be making her second appearance in the Olympics in the biathlon.

When you’ll see her:  The one event that she will be competing in will be the 7.5km biathlon sprint.  Sometime between 1:00-2:10pm on February 13^th is when you can catch Katja skiing and shooting her heart out.

Will she medal:  She finished in 53^rd, two minutes and 44 seconds out of the medals in 2006.  She doesn’t get many shooting penalties, so some quick skiing could see her finishing in the top 20.

Gretchen Bleiler

Who she is:  This 28 year old American snowboarder hails from Aspen and is no newcomer when it comes to media exposure, appearing in magazines, live TV interviews, and taped shows, all while picking up three gold medals during her X Games career.

When you’ll see her:  February 18^th is when you can watch her excel at her specialty, the half pipe.  Qualifying rounds start at 12:30pm with the medalists being decided by 7pm.

Will she medal:  Chances are very good that she will medal, being the defending silver medalist from Turin.  However, fellow American Hannah Teter (who won the gold in 2006) will most likely get in the way of Gretchen’s quest for the top of the podium.

Heather Moyse

Who she is:  The 28 year old grad of the University of Waterloo won’t be running sprints or playing rugby this time, but rather participating as the brakeman for the two-woman Canadian bobsled team.

When you’ll see her:  Her first two heats will take place February 23^rd between 5-7pm, followed by her final two heats and medal presentations the next day at the same time.

Will she medal:  She set the start record in Torin, but only managed to finish 4^th with her old teammate, Helen Upperton.  Her new teammate, Kelly Humphries and she currently hold eight bobsled start time records on tracks around the world.  They got silver in 2009 World Championships which were held on the same track as this Olympics.  I’m predicting at least silver for Moyse and Humphries this Olympiad.

Maija Tiruma

Who she is:  At 26, she’s one of Europe’s top lugers, representing Latvia.

When you’ll see her:  The first two heats for women’s luge will occur on February 15^th from 5-7:55pm, and the following day will host two more heats and the medal presentation between 1-4:10pm.

Will she medal:  She won gold in the 2008 European Championships following a 17^th place finish in the 2006 Olympics.  After two of the three Germans who swept the medals in 2006 retired, I’m giving her a fifty percent chance to get bronze.

Hege Bøkko

Who she is: The 18 year old Norwegian speed skater competes in all five distances.

When you’ll see her: Hege will be active, first taking to the ice February 14^th for the 3000m.  Following that, you will see on the 16^th for the 500m, the 18^th for the 1000m, the 21^st for the 1500m, and finally on the 24^th for the 5000m.

Will she medal:  Here are the times that medaled in the Turin games: 40.87 in the 500m, 1:16.11 in the 1000m, 1:56.90 in the 1500m, 4:04.37 in the 3000m, and 7:00.57 in the 5000m.  And here are Hege’s personal best times: 40.32, 1:19.04, 2:02.43, 4:24.59, and 8:11.03 respectively.  Based on those times, I’m giving her a decent chance to medal in the 500m, a slight possibility in the 1000m, and  three probably not’s in the other longer distances.

Lydia Lassila

Who she is: This 28 year old Australian is a freestyle skier from Melbourne who graduated from Methodist Ladies College.  She also has a history of injuries.

When you’ll see her:  Lassila competes in freestyle aerials, with qualification taking place on February 20^th from 10-11:30am and the medal round beginning February 24^th at 7:30pm.

Will she medal:  This will be her third Olympiad, and her hopes are high after getting silver in the 2007 World Cup.  In the 2006 Games, she had the third best score after the first round, before blowing out her ACL on her second jump.  Fellow countrywoman, Jacqui Cooper may be her biggest competition who got the gold in Turin.  Regardless, I really like Lydia’s chances at a medal this year barring injury again.

Elene Gedevanishvili

Who she is: The 20 year old figure skater was born in the Tbilisi, Soviet Union and now competes for the nation of Georgia.

When you’ll see her: She will make her first appearance during the ladies short program on February 23^rd from 4:30 to 9pm.  She again will appear for her free skate and chance at a medal on February 25^th from 5-8:55pm.  If she medals, you will see her for an encore in the exhibition gala February 27^th at 4:30pm.

Will she medal:  Elene is coming off a bronze medal in the 2010 European Championship, so it’s unlikely that once the rest of the continents are added to the mix that she will still medal, but at least she looks to be competitive.

10.  2004 Boston Red Sox.

-98-64 record, second best in the MLB that season.

-2, post-season series sweeps (3-0 against the Angels in the ALDS and 4-0 versus the Cardinals in the World Series, although the seven game victory of the Yankees in the ALCS was probably sweeter for their fans).

-86, years since their previous World Series Championship

-10 and 105, minimum number of wins and strikeouts that all pitchers in their rotation (Pedro Martinez, Tim Wakefield, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, and Bronson Arroyo) ended up with, all with winning records to boot.

-2, guys with 40+ home runs amd 130+ RBIs, Manny (43-130) and Big Papi (41-139).

-6, regulars in their lineup with at least 15 HRs and 70 RBI (Ramirez, Ortiz, Varitek, Millar, Bellhorn, and Damon)

9. 10.  2004 New England Patriots.

-17-2 record, Super Bowl XXXIX champions.

-6, Pro Bowlers (Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi, CoreyDillon, Larry Izzo, Richard Seymour, and Adam Vinatieri).

-437-260, points for versus points against for an average margin of victory of 11 points.

-7, games ahead of the second place team in the AFC East

-3, Super Bowls won in 4 seasons.

-1, years of experience for their starting cornerbacks, including second year Asante Samuels, rookie Randall Gay, and wide receiver Troy Brown.  Imagine the domination with actual starters.

8. 9.  2004-2005 North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball.

-33-4 record (16-3 against ACC teams).

-4, lottery picks in the following summer’s NBA draft (Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Sean May, and Rashad McCants)

-6, total players in the NBA from that team.

-5, players who averaged double figures (May 17.5, McCants 16.0, Jawad Williams 13.1, Felton 12.9, and Marvin Williams 11.3)

-17.8, average margin of victory.

-50, field goal percentage.

7. 8.  2008 Trinity College Bantams athletics.

-11-0, record in football en route to winning the New England Small College Championship (since they don’t compete in D-III playoffs, a lot like the Ivy League in the FCS).

-44, win streak in baseball, ultimately beating Johns Hopkins in the D-III championship after losing to them, finishing 45-1.

-11, consecutive National Championships won in squash thanks to this season undefeated team.

-202, matches won in a row in squash, dating back for multiple past seasons.

6. 7.  2006 Italy World Cup soccer team.

-6-1-0 (W-D-L) World Cup record, only one draw versus the USA in pool play prevented absolute perfection.

-1, losses in UEFA qualification and World Cup play, just a loss to Slovenia marred their perfection.

-2, goals allowed by Gianluigi Buffon in 7 matches.

-9, clean sheets by Buffon in the World Cup and UEFA qualification.

-7, members of the 23 named to the All-Tournament team (Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Francesco Totti, Luca Toni, Gennaro Gattuso, and Andrea Pirlo).

5. 6.  2008 USA men’s Olympic basketball.

-8-0, 5-0 in pool play.

-32.2, average margin of victory, their largest since 1996.

-0, number games where their opponent finished within double digits of them.

-9, appearances in the NBA finals in the decade by players on the roster.

-6, different players who lead this very balanced team in scoring (Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Dwight Howard).

5.  2007-2008 Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling team (thanks to Lucas B. for the heads up on this one)

-21-1 record, 8-0 in the Big Ten (the following season they would go 24-0).

-7, wrestlers that were All-Americans.

-2, individual champions (Mark Perry at 165 and Brent Metcalf at 149) to compliment the team championship they won (the two additional individual championships is the reason I put this team on the list instead of the undefeated 2009 team).

-38.5, margin of victory between them and second place (117.5-79) when they won the team championship.

-22, National Championships the university has won after repeating in 2009.

4.  2001-2002 Detroit Red Wings.

-116 points, 51-14-10-4 (W-L-T-OTL), Stanley Cup Champions.

-15, more points than the next best team.

-2, players who made first team All-NHL, (Nickolas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios), Brendan Shanahan also made second team honors.

-5, players in the top 10 playoff scoring (Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov, Brett Hull, Lidstrom, and Steve Yzerman).

-4, players are already in the Hall of Fame (Yzerman, Hull, Igor Larionov, and Luc Robitaille) and 5 more are shoe-ins once their waiting periods after retirement are over. (Chelios, Lidstrom, Shanahan, Dominick Hasek, and Fedorov)

-6, playoff shutouts by Dominick Hasek.

3.  2001-2002 Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball.

-39-0 record.

-5, starters drafted in the first 6 picks of the WNBA (Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi, Tamika Williams, and Asjha Jones),  drafted 1^st, 2^nd, 1^st, 6^th, and 4^th, respectively.

-17.5, average margin of victory in the Final Four, including a 23 point defeat of Tennessee.

-10, ranked opponents defeated over the course of the season and NCAA tournament.

-1, rank for the ratings of the championship game against Oklahoma among women’s basketball on TV.

-3, straight National Championships won starting this season (2002-2004)

2.  2008 Penn State Nittany Lions volleyball

-38-0 record, which they again repeated in 2009.

-102, consecutive victories since 2007 and still counting.

-3, National Championships won back-to-back-to-back since 2007.

-6, All-Americans (Nicole Fawcett, Christa Harmotto, Megan Hodge, Alisha Glass, Blair Brown, Arielle Wilson).  The first four were first team.

-2, back-to-back Players of the Year (Fawcett and Hodge).

-114-2, sets won and lost.

1.  2001 Miami Hurricanes football.

-12-0 record, (7-0, in the Big East)

-32.92 points, was their average margin victory, as they outscored teams 512-117.

-5, ranked teams defeated by an average of 32.8 points.

-6, First team All-Americans (Phillip Buchanan, Joaquin Gonzalez, Bryant McKinnie, Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, and Todd Sievers).

-13, First team All-Big East (all the above plus: Martin Bibla, Freddie Capshaw, Ken Dorsey, Clinton Portis, Brett Romberg, and Jonathan Vilma).

-11, players drafted by the NFL that spring (McKinnie, Shockey, Buchanon, Reed, Mike Rumph (all in the first round), Portis, Bibla, Najeh Davenport, James Lewis, Daryl Jones, and Gonzalez).

-25, total players from the team in the NFL (the above 11 plus: Willis McGahee, Frank Gore, Kellen Winslow, Andre Johnson, Dorsey, William Joseph, Vince Wilfork, DJ Williams, Vilma, Jerome McDougle, Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, Vernon Carey, and Eric Winston), 16 of which were drafted in the first round.

1. Means to an End January 1, 2007.  Boise State Broncos vs. Oklahoma Sooners, Fiesta Bowl.

Hook and lateral on 4^th down for a game tying 50 yard touchdown, direct snap for a wide receiver pass option touchdown in overtime on 4^th down, and the statue of liberty for a two point conversation to win by one.  WOW!

Clutch: 10+1. Boise gets a bonus point since it was a combo of three amazing plays, all in the closing seconds and on 4^th down, and all in game-tying or game-winning situations.

Rarity: 10+1.  Not only was it one play executed perfectly that you just never see, it was three.

Impact: 8. Secured an undefeated season for the Broncos, won the Fiesta Bowl for them, and proved non-BCS teams can take down giants.

2.  Two Small Steps for Holmes, One Giant Leap for Pittsburgh February 1, 2009.  Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals, Super Bowl XLIII.

Ben Roethlisberger tosses the game-winning touchdown to a diving and heavily defended Santonio Holmes, who just barely gets the tips of his toes in the end zone.

Clutch: 9. It was a pretty astonishing grab, but the Steelers still had 35 seconds and two downs if they really wanted to sweat it.

Rarity: 9. A play that great doesn’t happen too often.  Would’ve been a ten, if Mike Wallace wouldn’t have just done the same thing to the Packers last weekend.

Impact: 10.  Won the championship for the Steelers, in arguably the best Super Bowl ever played.

3.  One Yard Short January 30, 2000.  Tennessee Titans vs. St. Louis Rams, Super Bowl XXXIV.

Steve McNair passes to Kevin Dyson on the last play of the game as they try to tie the game, but Rams’ linebacker Mike Jones preserves the title for St. Louis with his game winning tackle.

Clutch: 9. Ended up being the last play of the game, but if the TD was good, there still would have been an extra point and a potential overtime.

Rarity: 7. Guys make game saving tackles at the end a lot, this was for the Super Bowl though.

Impact: 10.  HUGE Super Bowl winning tackle, just a yard shy of the end zone.

4.  That’s Using your Head February 3, 2008.  New York Giants vs. New England Patriots, Super Bowl XLII.

Eli Manning escapes a sure sack, scrambles out and finds David Tyree over the middle to keep the drive alive on 3^rd and 5.  Tyree acrobatically catches the ball by pinning it against his helmet.

Clutch: 8. Part of a Super Bowl winning drive, but they still needed a fourth down run by Brandon Jacobs and a game-winning TD catch by Plaxico Burress.

Rarity: 8. The combo of Eli Manning actually being elusive for a play and a hand plus helmet football sandwich of a catch make this a very rare feat.

Impact: 9. Didn’t win the Super Bowl for the Giants on this play, but if Eli is sacked or even if the pass is incomplete, chances are pretty good that the Patriots go into the history books as the only 19-0 team.

5.  Lateral-palooza October 27, 2007. Trinity College vs. Millsaps, D-III regular season.

Seven of the eleven Trinity players touched the ball on this unbelievable collection of laterals for the game-winning kick return touchdown.

Clutch: 8. Last play of the game, but its only D-III regular season.

Rarity: 10.  Fifteen laterals in 62 seconds…it will never be accomplished again.

Impact: 6. Helped the Bantams stay undefeated, although they wouldn’t end the season that way like they had from 2003-2005.

6.  Music City Miracle January 8, 2000.  Tennessee Titans vs. Buffalo Bills, AFC Wild Card Playoff.

Frank Wycheck fields the kickoff and passes a very controversial lateral to Kevin Dyson which he runs in for the game winning touchdown.

Clutch: 10.  Last play of a playoff game on the kickoff facing elimination.

Rarity: 7. Teams throw across the field or at least try to as a final prayer often.  This time it worked.

Impact: 6. Won the game, and allowed the Titans to make a run at the Super Bowl so play #3 could happen.

7.  It’s Good! February 3, 2002.  New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams, Super Bowl XXXVI.

Adam Vinatieri nails a 48-yard field goal for the 20-17 victory.

Clutch: 10. Can’t get more clutch than a field goal to win the Super Bowl with no time left.

Rarity: 3. It wouldn’t be the first or the last 48-yarder or last second FG made by Vinatieri.

Impact: 10. Won the Super Bowl for the Patriots, and in doing so, started their dynasty.

8.  Did he just do that?! September 10, 2005.  Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Southern Miss Golden Eagles, FBS regular season.

Brodie Croyle throws up a Hail Mary pass just before halftime and Tyrone Prothro catches it behind the defenders head and flips into the end zone still wrapped around the defender with the ball behind the opponent’s head.

Clutch: 7. Big play, but it was only 4^th down at the end of the first half.

Rarity: 9. One of the most acrobatic and difficult catches I have ever seen.  It will be hard-pressed to ever be replicated.

Impact: 4. Started Bama’s comeback towards a 30-21 victory after being down by 11 at that point, but all ten wins were vacated that season for recruiting violations.

9.  Tech-nical Knockout November 1, 2008.  Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Texas Longhorns, FBS regular season.

Graham Harrell throws a dart to Michael Crabtree as he tip-toes in the last five yards to break the tie and win 39-33.

Clutch: 9. Last play of regulation, although the game could have still gone into OT.

Rarity: 5. Crabtree made spectacular catch after spectacular during his time at Texas Tech.

Impact: 6. Knocked Texas out of the #1 ranking and got the Red Raiders primed for a BCS title, however, they would fall to Oklahoma, taking a lot of meaning away from what this play could have stood for.

10.  109.88 Yards to Glory November 4, 2007.  San Diego Chargers @ Minnesota Vikings, NFL Week 9.

Antonio Cromartie took a 58-yard Ryan Longwell field goal try back over 109 yards for the touchdown to end the first half.

Clutch: 4. It was only the end of the first half, there was still another 30 minutes left.

Rarity: 9. Sure, Devin Hester returned a field goal for a TD against the Giants, but Cromartie’s return was 109.88 yards.  That means someone else would have to work their way into the remaining 4.32 inches he didn’t use before the endline to try and break his record.

Impact: 3. It will go down as the longest touchdown in NFL history, but the Chargers didn’t even win the game.

10.  2009 USA men’s soccer team, Confederations Cup semifinals vs. Spain.  Spain came into game undefeated since November 2006 and ranked number one in the world.  They had just dominated their pool play and everybody was overlooking the Americans getting ready for a Brazil-Spain championship.  Regardless of what the soccer world thought, the Americans controlled the entire game and looked like the team that was supposed to be unbeatable.  Jozy Altidore scored at the 27 minute mark and Clint Dempsey netted a goal to put the USA up 2-0 in the 74^th minute.  Michael Bradley was sent off late in the game, and the red, white, and blue were still able to manage the W a man down.  The Americans continued their astonishing underdog play going up 2-0 at half over the Brazilians in the championship game.  However, the Americans would be brought back down to earth as Brazil came back to win 3-2 in the second half, and the heartbreaking defeat is the only reason this team isn’t higher.  Still, the impact here can’t be discredited as the Americans rallied an entire nation around a sport they usually don’t care all that much about.
9.  Gaston Gaudio, 2004 French Open against the field.  2004 marked the changing of the guard era in men’s tennis, as the Agassi and Sampras days were just coming to an end and the days of Federer and Nadel were starting.  Guys like Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick were trying to capitalize on these times and came into the French Open as top ten ranked players along with Federer and Agassi.  On the other hand, Gaston Gaudio was completely unranked, and had to make his way through the likes of 14^th ranked Jiri Novak, Hewitt, and #8 David Nalbandian on his way to the championship to face #3 Guillermo Coria.  This would be the third Argentine countrymen that he would have to oppose.  After dominating Hewitt and Nalbandian in straight sets, it looked as though Gaudio would now have to be on the opposite side of that result dropping the first two sets 6-0, 6-3 to Coria.  Gaudio’s only chance at preserving his French Open hopes would be to win the final three sets against the imposing Coria.  Gaudio would break serve once to take the third set 6-4, before running away with the fourth set 6-1.  The 2004 French Open came down to one final set between a top three player and an unranked miracle worker, and in the end Coria would be the first to lose his serve, allowing Gaudio to win his only major, 0-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 8-6.

8.  2004 Argentina men’s basketball team, Athens Summer Olympics.  A little more Argentina love here.  Ever since professional basketball players were allowed to play Olympic ball in 1992, the United States had never looked back…until now.  In Athens, they were no longer averaging a forty point plus margin of victory, for that matter, they weren’t even really averaging victories.  Not only did the US lose their first game since 1988, but they lost two.  This really opened up the field at the 2004 Games, but the Argentines didn’t seem to jump on it right away as they lost qualifying matches to Spain and New Zealand.  After limping through pool play, the United States crushed Pool A winner, Spain, and looked to be regaining their old form.  They now had to take on Argentina after their upset win over the host Greeks.  The Argentines (with their five NBA role players) prepared to take on the Americans and their roster full of twelve NBA All-Stars.  The Argentines wouldn’t just barely beat the Americans, but kept them from ever having the lead in the second half, beating them 89-81.  They went on to beat the hot shooting, three-point snipers from Italy to take home the gold medal.  It was the first time that people actually questioned if the NBA really played the best basketball in the world.

7.  2008 Japan women’s softball team, Beijing Summer Olympics gold medal game.  The United States women’s softball team would be Japan’s ultimate opponent.  Take some time to educate yourself on this matchup since I’m assuming most of you don’t know international softball all that well.  The United States had NEVER lost an international competition.  They had won the gold medal in 1996 and 2000.  In pool play in Beijing they were 7-0 and outscored their opponents 53-1.  In the double elimination semifinals, the USA had defeated Japan 4-1 in the first match.  After Canada and Australia were eliminated from gold medal contention, Japan again had to face the untouchable Americans in the winner take all gold medal match.  This time the result would be different; the Japanese took the lead early 1-0 and then 2-1 before adding one final insurance run in the top of the seventh.  The Japanese women were gold medalists for the first time and for the last time since the IOC decided to get rid of Olympic softball because of American ‘dominance.’

6.  2003 Florida Marlins, 2003 MLB Playoffs.  The Marlins didn’t look like much of a playoff team for most of the season, and with the Atlanta Braves having a strangle hold on the division title, it was a race for the wild card for them.  The lineup had a few All-Stars in it, but outside of their ace Brad Penny, their rotation looked like a lot of young, untested players.  While the Giants, Cubs, and Braves were able to secure National League playoff spots by mid-September, the Marlins wouldn’t get their ticket until September 26^th.   The Marlins faced the heavily favored San Francisco Giants in the NLDS.  It would come down to the bottom of the ninth of the deciding Game 5, when Ivan Rodriguez tagged out the tying runner, J.T. Snow, at home to win the series for the Marlins.  The Marlins then moved on to play the Cubs, who seemed to have the entire city of Chicago and the baseball gods on their sides that season.  The Cubs looked poised to go to their first World Series since 1945 heading back to Wrigley up 3-2 with their aces Mark Prior and Kerry Wood on the mound.  This was before the baseball gods decided to switch sides though with just five outs left in the series, and a man named Bartman interfered with a ball about to be caught by Cubs leftfielder Moises Alou, and a man named Alex Gonzalez booted a routine double play ball to allow the Marlins back into Game 6, leading to eight runs in the inning and an 8-3 victory.  This game tied the series.   After some magic from their youngster pitchers Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett in the previous two games, their ace Brad Penny had to outduel Kerry Wood in Game 7, which he did.  Florida now, was even bigger underdogs in the World Series against the 26 time champion New York Yankees.  And yet again, the Marlins would prevail, relying on their youth as World Series MVP Josh Beckett would lead them to a 4-2 series victory and world championship.

5.  Y.E. Yang, 2009 PGA Championship against the field especially Tiger Woods.  Going into the final day of the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods had a two stroke lead on the field and Yang at Hazeltine in Minnesota.  Tiger Woods, the proclaimed Athlete of the Decade ordering to the Associated Press, had never lost a golf tournament after leading for three rounds.  This was a scenario Woods was more than comfortable with, accumulating 71 PGA Tour victories and 14 major wins in his career, opposed to Yang who had only won the 2008 Honda Classic since turning pro in 1996.   Yang didn’t even appear on the top ten leaderboard until the third round when he put in an outstanding round of 67.  Although, Woods would collapse a bit in the final round, it was on hole 14 that even with Tiger nailing a birdie, that Yang would one up him and hole an eagle to take his first lead in the tournament.  After 68 holes, Tiger saw another name on the top for the first time.   Yang wouldn’t look back though, as he sealed his victory in style on the 18^th and final hole when he putted in the winning birdie.  It was the first time in the decade that Tiger did not look invincible.  It ended up being quite the foreshadowing for just how far Mr. Woods could still fall.

4.  Rulon Gardner, 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics Greco-Roman wrestling vs. Alexander Karelin.  Karelin, the favorite out of Russia, was the defending gold medalist from the Seoul, Barcelona, and Atlanta games.  But just saying that isn’t enough to sum up his dominance, while winning those three gold medals, he had yet to lose a match in his thirteen year career, and hadn’t even surrendered a point for nearly ten years.  Communism had more losses in that span than Karelin.  Just to put into perspective how unfamiliar this ground was for Gardner, he hadn’t tasted victory to this degree since his 1991 junior college championship at Ricks College, and prior to that his 1988-1989 back-to-back Wyoming high school heavyweight wrestling state championships.  He was never able to get higher than fourth in the NCAA while at Nebraska.  So finally, at the age of 29, not only was Rulon Gardner able to finally point on the dominant Karelin, but beat him…for the gold and for his country.

3.  2007 New York Giants, Super Bowl XLII vs. New England Patriots.  This game was supposed to be the easiest of their four championships that would more than cement them as the team of the decade.  Super Bowl XLII was supposed to be the crowning moment on the New England Patriots’ 19-0 season.  They had already become the only team to ever go 16-0 during the regular season, and they didn’t just skimp by, they did it while outscoring their opponents by more than 2 to 1.  The Patriot players were destroying records, Tom Brady threw for 50 touchdowns and Randy Moss caught 23.  They were sending eight players to the Pro Bowl, and five of those were first team all-pro.  They were so good that prior to the AFC championship game against the San Diego Chargers, amazon.com was already selling preorders for the book chronicling New England’s undefeated season.  As for the Giants, they didn’t even win their division before entering the playoffs as a NFC wild card, which many thought was just a 1 in 6 chance to become the final line on the Patriots’ ultimate season.  It took a lot of underdog moments just for them to get to the Super Bowl, having to beat division rivals Dallas on the road, and then beating the surprising Green Bay Packers on the frozen tundra in an emotional game that many thought would be Brett Favre’s last if it was a loss.  After squeaking by victories of four and three points respectively, they accomplished another nail-biter of a win against the Patriots.  They did it with acrobatic heroics which made the victory all the better, which included Eli Manning escaping a sure sack before completing a 32 yard pass to David Tyree that became one of the most memorable Super Bowl moments ever, as he jumped up over the middle and came down pinning the ball against his helmet.

2.  2006 Boise State Broncos football team, 2007 Fiesta Bowl vs. Oklahoma.  It was the ultimate David vs. Goliath matchup.  The BCS bigwigs needed the Sooners of Oklahoma to put these non-BCS schools back in their place after Utah had upset Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.  Oklahoma was designated the home team and favored by 7.5 even though they already had a loss and the Broncos were undefeated.  Oklahoma had Heisman runner-up and all-around runningback freak, Adrian Peterson, and future pro and standout wide receiver, Juaquin Iglesias.  Boise on the other hand was respecting the WAC, and making the conference’s first appearance in a BCS bowl.  Boise had begun the season unranked and completely unnoticed.  That didn’t show much as the game began and the Broncos landed two quick shots on Goliath, taking a 14-0 mid-first quarter lead.  They were even able to build up as much as an 18 point lead as late as the third quarter when they led the Sooners 28-10.  But as the end of regulation neared, Boise State quarterback, Jared Zabransky who had been fantastic, tried to lead a winning drive with just over a minute left, but was halted when Oklahoma’s Marcus Walker picked him off and returned it for a score.  Facing incredible underdog odds on fourth down around midfield with only seven seconds left, Zabransky completed a fifteen yard hook to Drisan James before James lateraled the ball to Jerard Rabb who ran the ball the remaining 35 yards into the end zone to tie the game.  Immediately in overtime, the monstrous Peterson scored on a 25 yard run.  David would not go down with more of a fight and would reach deeper into his bag of tricks, as wide receiver Vinny Perretta passed for the touchdown that was outdone in just seconds when Ian Johnson took the ball three yards into the end zone for the winning two point conversation off the good ole-fashioned Statue of Liberty play.  Of course, that was outdone in seconds, as Johnson proposed to his head cheerleader girlfriend just moments later.  This game solidified the Broncos as a perennial powerhouse from this point forward and proved the non-BCS guys hanging with the big guys wasn’t just a one time thing.

1.  2005-2006 George Mason Patriots basketball team, 2006 NCAA Big Dance.  The NCAA Big Dance is  truly the spot for Cinderellas to strut their stuff.  Most Cinderellas’ dance only lasts a few nights, but the Patriots didn’t get this memo as they continued their dance all the way into the Final Four.  The Patriots lacked star power, their best player, Jai Lewis, not only wasn’t a highly touted player, but didn’t even start his college career until he was a 20 year old freshman.  George Mason wasn’t coming off an amazing season either, finishing second in the Colonial Athletic Association during the regular season, and getting upset in the CAA post season tournament by Hofstra.  They made it into the NCAA as one of the last at-large teams as an 11-seed and were slated to play 6-seed Michigan State.  After upsetting the Spartans 75-55, they got the reward of playing the defending national champion North Carolina Tarheels.  They again defeated the heavily favored Tarheels, 65-60.   Next, they dispatched Wichita State who was ranked as high as 8^th during the season, 63-55.  The Patriots now faced UConn, the regional number one seed and number two ranked team in the country, with a trip to the Final Four on the line.  In a classic game, they defeated the Huskies 86-84 in overtime to earn a trip to the Final Four in Indianapolis.  When they arrived there, their historic run would have to come to an end as they were beat by eventual national champ Florida Gators.  However, before they lost, they would tie the record for lowest ranked team (as an 11-seed) to reach the Final Four, and would beat four teams who had combined for eight NCAA men’s basketball championships in their pasts, including four of the last seven.  The reason they’re number one is because their very name is now used synonymously in place of Cinderella or underdog.

1. The receivers.  Cutler can try his best to make some amazing throws, but if when it gets to the receivers they merely drop it, there’s just not much else he can do.  Passes that hit the hands of Greg Olsen, Earl Bennett, and particularly a pass that hit Desmond Clark in the end zone come to mind.  One of the reasons Cutler was a Pro Bowler in Denver was because his receivers made catches for him, especially Brandon Marshall.  Think about this, coming into yesterday’s game, the Bears top four wide outs and Olsen (who plays a lot of slot) had a total of 2842 yards and 16 receiving touchdowns in their cumulative careers, while Marshall had 2899 yards and 15 touchdowns by himself.  A positive note about the receivers, which could be a better reflection of Cutler, was that last night’s game had two receptions of over thirty yards which is one more than the Bears threw all of last season.  The rookie, Johnny Knox had one of these, but also contributed to Cutler’s final pick when he got tripped up and stopped running his route.  That’s excusable for a rookie, but worse, was that the veteran tight end, Desmond Clark did that multiple times.  In time the younger receivers should gain some confidence and improve their route-running and catching as they get more practices with Cutler and game time experience in.
2. Brian Urlacher.  I’ve never doubted the man’s commitment to the team and his passion to play football, so when he’s sidelined with a wrist injury and doesn’t come out wearing a giant club for a cast, you know it’s got to be serious.  Without him in the game, the fans and even the players seemed to lose some confidence.  It’s a lot like the demeanor of the Patriots when they lost Tom Brady last season.  It made it even worse that the Bears had lost another linebacker for the game in Piso Tinoisamoa earlier in the first quarter.  Having to play Nick Roach and Hunter Hillenmeyer as your regulars for the rest of the game allowed the Packers to run the ball much more effectively, causing the Bears to play with eight men in the box for most of the second half.  And doing that lead to single coverage a lot of the time, especially on play action (I’m thinking of Nathan Vasher getting burned at the end of the game right now).  Cutler can’t do much for the gaping hole that will be left at linebacker now with Urlacher done for the season, so it’s up to the team management to bring in a guy like Derrick Brooks to solidify the D, in order that Cutler isn’t having to orchestrate miracles every week because the defense doesn’t hold up their end of the bargain.
3. Patrick Mannelly.  The long time long snapper was an integral part in the play that changed the games momentum.  The Bears had the lead with about eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter and Brad Maynard had been pinning the Packers deep in their territory all game, but with 4th and 11 on the Bears own thirty yard line, Mannelly changed the play to a snap to the upback, Garrett Wolfe.  I really didn’t understand that, I mean Mannelly has been in the league for twelve seasons and graduated from Duke, there’s really no excuse for a play that dumb.  Sure, if he would have hiked the ball right away when Wolfe pointed out there was a twelfth man on the Packers side they would have gotten to punt from around the 35, but it still wouldn’t have been anything close to a first down.  A very surprised Wolfe did the best he could with the snap, but there was no way he was getting eleven yards out of that with the way the Packers were lined up.  I did find a little humor in Brad Maynard’s impromptu fake catch of the snap.  That’s something a smart veteran does.  After the play was over, the defense came up with a big stop but Mannelly had already basically set the Pack up for a field goal to take the lead.  That said, it was a bad decision on Mannelly’s part.  But it was also the first game of the season, so I’ll let Mannelly’s stupidity go this time, but later in the season, Mannelly (and every player for that matter) needs to know the situation of the game.  That should help the Bears from having to play from behind and allowing Cutler to manage the lead instead of directing a comeback in distress.
4. 4.       Lovie Smith’s coach’s challenge.  This is another thing completely out of Jay Cutler’s control (unless he was standing next to Lovie telling him to make these challenges).  Lovie was making the Bears play with two timeouts each half because of his poor use of the replay challenge.  Lovie hasn’t been above average with his ability to do this, the league average for the coach’s challenge is around 37%, whereas Lovie came into the game at 35% and failed twice yet again. The second half challenge was totally inexcusable, and actually moved the Packers two yards closer to the end zone, yet you could see Lovie whispering into this headset, “We’re okay, we’re okay.”   They were far from okay, in a game as close as last night’s, every timeout is essential and they just can’t be wasted on challenges unless the play is just so obviously incorrect on the field that it beckons back to Ed Hochuli’s first week mistake last year.  You have to wonder if the Bears’ drives at the end of the first half or at the end of the game would have played out differently had they had that extra timeout each half.  Lovie and his staff in the booth just have to be a little more conservative about throwing the red flag in the future.  More timeouts will allow Cutler to have more options around the field when leading a drive in a late game situation.

I do want to say that Cutler finally showed what the Bears passing offense could look like with some ‘balls’ as he aired it out multiple times and threw while scrambling, something Bears fans haven’t seen in ages.  Granted, some of these passes can’t be attributed to having balls, and were just plain stupid, which was the case for most of the interceptions.  Still, Cutler was just more fun to watch than the quarterbacks Bears fans have become accustomed to.  If the Bears improve on their receiver play, fill defensive holes, make smart on-field decisions, and conserve timeouts, and Cutler is able to cut down on the number of passes he throws off his back foot and into double, triple, and (even once into) quadruple coverage, then maybe, just maybe, the story will finally change.

Jerry Jones (portrayed by John Mahoney, the dad in Frasier), on January 3, 2010, watching from the owner’s box in the new Cowboy’s Stadium with a spot as NFC East division winners on the line as they play the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys are up by four late in the fourth quarter and needing to punt.  Packed full of adrenaline Cowboys’ punter Mat McBriar rears up for a massive punt to pin the Eagles back in their own territory with little time left on the clock.  However, McBriar’s powerful punt leaves his foot and rockets towards Jones’ gigantic over-the-field jumbotron.  The football perfectly hits a load bearing bolt, jarring the structure lose.  The entire Cowboys team focused on the Eagles returner fails to notice the jumbotron as it comes crashing down crushing every player on the Dallas sideline, leaving only the Dallas punt team alive on the active roster.  Will this vision make Jerry Jones move the jumbotron higher above the field?

Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones (portrayed by Mekhi Phifer), sometime in March, 2010, sees a flash of himself playing in the Rockford Metrocentre for the Rock River Raptors, a team from the Continental Indoor Football League.  Adam assumes this vision is because after getting a chance to play for teams in the AF2 and Indoor Football Leagues (both superior to the CIFL), he accidentally uses a form of social media networking, easily readable by all members of team management, expressing his disinterest in the franchise.  Jones decides that if his vision comes true, he will tweet about how Rockford sucks and how he will be in the NFL within the month.  He figures the worst that could happen is he could get cut yet again, but he’s heard good things about the German semi-pro league, and Dusseldorf would get him awfully close to Amsterdam and everyone knows what that means.

Cole Hamels (portrayed by Jim Parsons, the dude on Big Bang Theory), standing while watching the 76ers play an early March game against the Orlando Magic, witnesses Philly guard, Andre Iguodala miss the game-winning shot.  But the amazing thing is no Philly fans boo.  He pans the crowd and spots some fans wearing back-to-back World Series Championship shirts.  He realizes that two recent championships  after decades of only a 1980 World Series in Philly have finally caused Philadelphians to shed some of that hostile exterior and truly become the City of Brotherly, but all that hate must have been displaced somewhere.  The shot fades and focuses onto Chicago Cubs GM, Jim Hendry (played by Jeff Daniels) cowering in a corner, crying to himself.

Brett Favre (portrayed by Brett Favre), sees himself in his private jet in early February on the way to the Super Bowl in Miami.  Deciding that his ego is too big to fit on the Vikings team plane, he opted for his own way down, but then he notices that the flash isn’t of him landing in Miami, but rather crashing as he watches the rest of the Vikings exiting the team jet onto the runway.  Brett must decide whether to have a change of heart and assimilate himself into the Minnesota team dynamic before its too late.  However, regardless of if the plane crashes, he still plans on fake retiring one more time before returning to his true final season.

Tim Tebow (portrayed by David Boreanaz) receives a flash of himself at the NFL combines.  He looks down at his fingers seeing another championship ring with details of Florida’s undefeated season and BCS victory over Boise State.  Glancing up at the video boards, he realizes he has been dominating the pure athletic categories for QBs at the combines, but he ranks near the bottom for many of the passing drills.  Should he try his luck at H-back?  But who wouldn’t want to draft a two-time Heisman winning quarterback?

These are just some of the hypothetical situations surrounding the sports world that FlashForward could explore when it premieres in the coming weeks.  I’m assuming many of these flashes that occur in the show will test the main characters’ abilities to overcome their pride or shortcomings in order for them to change their lives and have a benefit towards the greater good.  These sports figures will have to face similar types of decisions, only in real life.