Top 10 of 2010

Because another year is coming to a close and because everyone loves lists, here's my top 10 of 2010.

10) George Steinbrenner dies. The leader of the Evil Empire (that's the New York Yankees for non sports fans) passed away in 2010. Apparently Satan decided it was time to come collect his soul. I jest of course as I was taught never to speak ill of the dead. Seriously though, "The Boss" had a major impact on sports and is probably one of the major reasons sports has gone from a recreation to a business. Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees for about $10 million in 1973 and at the time of his death the value is somewhere in the billions. For better or worse, George Steinbrenner was one of the most influential people in sports, and business history.


9) North Korea Shells South Korea. In fairness this probably deserves to be higher on the list, but as it was pretty recent we are not sure exactly how this will play out yet. Can it be resolve peacefully? Will it lead to war? Will North Korea just be the next country the United States turns into a crater? These events will just have to play out in 2011.

 8) Tiger Woods' apology. Surely we all know the story of Tiger's misdeeds, so no point rehashing them here. His personal life drama led to this bizarre press conference apology. It sort of reminded me of a cheesy 80s wrestling promo...strange blue curtain, low budget stage and poor camera quality. It has been parodied everywhere from South Park, to SNL, to Youtube. Though it seems that the drama is finally over and Tiger is getting back to what he does best, sex with strange women golfing. Here's hoping he gets back to his dominant form when he actually made golf exciting.

7) Technology. 2010 saw the release of some pretty cool toys. The Ipad and Iphone 4 showed how touch screen technology can be fun. Xbox Kinect may have changed gaming forever (though I'm not sure of gaming without controllers....) for better or worse. In fact, talk of the Ipad 2 has already started. Looking back to just 10 years ago, tech has come light years in such a short time. Personally I can't wait to see what's next.

 6) Sports. This year saw some sports droughts come to an end and some deserving first timers get crowned. For the first timers, long time underachievers Spain, finally managed to win the World Cup on the back of their 2008 Euro win. It looks like La Roja is finally ready to step up as a European powerhouse along with Italy and Germany. The New Orleans Saints also managed to end their decades of futility by winning the Super Bowl. Just 5 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city and forced the Saints to play their entire 2005 season on the road, they managed to win their first title and rejuvenate a fan base and city. The San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Blackhawks each also ended near 50 year championship droughts, the Giants winning their first World Series since moving to San Fran from New York in 1954. The Blackhawks' Stanley Cup win puts an end to their drought and now puts the Maple Leafs (thanks for that...), the Kings and the Blues on watch as the longest without a Stanley Cup win. 

5) Eyjafjallajökull (what?!??!!!?) eruption. The volcanic eruption in Iceland was something I will never forget. First off i found out that there are volcanoes in Iceland (who knew?) and also learned of the destructive power of volcanoes beyond the obvious. That's right, I'm talking about the resulting ash cloud that shut down all European air travel for days. This was one of the biggest flight groundings since 9/11 and cost the airline industry an estimated US$200 million a day during the disruption.

 4) Canada 3 - United States 2 (OT). Come on....you honestly thought that I wouldn't have this on the list? Canada's hockey gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics, along with gold in 2002, solidified them as the first nation of hockey. Throw in the fact that Canada won the most gold medals overall in 2010, and it can be argued that they are right now the most dominant winter sports country. But maybe I'm biased....hehe. This was also their first win on home soil, and the first host country to win since the United States 1980 gold in Lake Placid. Not a bad start to the year at all.

3) Haiti earthquake. The devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake caused widespread damage and even resulted in a small tsunami shortly after. The earthquake dominated the headlines for days and appeals for charity came in from everyone from the president, René Préval, (thank you, Google), to everyones favorite Haitian, Wyclef Jean.

2) BP oil spill. In 2010, we witnessed one of the biggest oil spills in history. This environmental disaster will have an impact for years to come, after the spill took a shocking 3 months to cap. Fear not, however, because Kevin Costner came along to save the day. Don't worry, its not a script for Waterworld 2. Although, that would be outstanding.....

And the number one moment of 2010 is............

 1) The Chilean Miners rescue. Millions watched around the world as the 33 trapped miners were rescued. It gave us some of the greatest photos and video of 2010, as well as a saga that lasted over 2 months. We cried and felt relief as the miners were brought up one by one to be reunited with their wives and mistresses. Now we sit back and wait for this ordeal to be transformed into the blockbuster movie of 2011.