Top 60 sports games of the decade: #57

September 21st 2019: Wisconsin pummels Michigan 35-14

College football is a funny sport. Only twelve games per year, and out of those twelve only 2 or 3 in a given season qualify as big games that really excite you. When an entire seasons identity comes down to 2 or 3 games it really emphasizes the importance of those games. When #14 Michigan came to town this past season with the Badgers ranked number 8 it was just the 4th time in the past twenty years that the Badgers played a home game between two top 15 teams. Michigan was a slight 1 point favorite so the game was seen as a toss up. The Badgers came out and knocked Michigan in the teeth, jumping out to a 28-0 lead by halftime and cruising in the second half en route to a 21 point win. With the win coming early in the season it officially established that this could be a great season for the Badgers, much needed after 2018's wildly disappointing season. In retrospect, this game ended up deciding the Big Ten representative in the Rose Bowl. If Michigan had won they would have been in Pasadena while the Badgers would have been resigned to facing Alabama in the Citrus Bowl. But thanks to one of the most resounding wins against a quality opponent in Badgers history, a special season was born.

Top 60 sports games of the decade: #58

January 19th 2019: Wisconsin knocks off #2 Undefeated Michigan, gets program back on track.

The 2017-18 season was bitterly disappointing for Wisconsin basketball, as they missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1998, ending one of the longest streaks in the country. Heading into the 2018-19 campaign fans were eager to set the program back on the right path. The Badgers entered the game against undefeated and #2 Michigan on January 19th with a 12-5 record, a noted improvement from the prior year, but still on the bubble for the tournament as some were still skeptical this team was actually better than last year. All questions were answered with a resounding double digit victory against #2 Michigan, placing Wisconsin firmly back in the tournament after a one year absence, and declaring that last years failure of a team was just a one year blip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_KoFvTz7Rk

Top 60 Sports Games of the Decade: #59

August 1st 2013: Red Sox Vs Mariners

The entire 2013 Red Sox season was basically a fever dream. Six years later and it still stands as by far my favorite sports team of all time. After back to back disastrous seasons expectations were very low for the 2013 Red Sox. What ensued was a wild six month ride that included thrilling wins almost every night and a ragtag bunch of incredibly fun and likable players who were clearly enjoying every minute of it as much as the fans. The 2013 Red Sox will have six appearances on this list, moreso than any other single team.

First up is August 1st. Baseball fans will tell you when the calendar flips from July to August is when the season gets serious. On August 1st the Sox were deadlocked with the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the division, so it looked like it could be a fun, tight, down to the wire race. On August 1st, the Sox were heading for certain defeat to start the month. Trailing 7-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth, a loss seemed inevitable. Then a hit, another hit, and the hits just kept coming until eventually the Sox finished off an incredible comeback to win 8-7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REGssWEQo8Y

Top 60 Sports Games of the Decade: #60

I thought it would be fun to look at my sports teams and count down the 60 greatest games of the decade for my teams. Teams include: Red Sox, Brewers, Lightning, Magic, Badgers football and Basketball, and Packers. Eligible games are from January 1st 2010 through December 31st 2019. Lets start with number 60.


April 7th 2012: Lightning Vs Jets: Stamkos Scores 60th goal of the season.

Funny enough, the 60th greatest sports game of the decade is the game where Steven Stamkos scored his 60th goal of the season. It was the final game of the season and Stamkos was sitting on 59 goals. With the Lightning out of the playoff picture the only drama was whether or not Stammer could net one more and put him at 60. He did so halfway through the second period becoming just the second player in the last 35 years to score 60 goals in a single season. This is the only game on the countdown that focuses more on an individual accomplishment, and also the only game where my team lost as the Lightning did end up losing this game, but it was too hard to leave out what is definitely the single greatest individual accomplishment from any of my teams players this decade.

NCAA Week Three Picks

Not the best week, I went 9-4 in Big Ten Games, now 19-6 in those games, and 1-0 in inner conference games, now 2-0 there, but 1-2 for the second straight week in out of Big Ten games, and now just 2-4 picking those games.

Kent St @ Penn St: Pick: Penn St
Rutgers @ Kansas: Pick: Rutgers
Ball St @ Indiana: Pick: Indiana
Temple @ Maryland: Pick: Maryland
Troy @ Nebraska: Pick: Nebraska
BYU @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
SMU @ Michigan: Pick: Michigan
Miami (OH) @ Minnesota: Pick: Minnesota
South Florida @ Illinois: Pick: South Florida
Missouri @ Purdue: Pick: Missouri
Northern Iowa @ Iowa: Pick: Iowa
Akron @ Northwestern: Pick: Northwestern
Ohio St @ TCU: Pick: TCU

Outside the Big Ten
LSU @ Auburn: Pick: Auburn
Boise St @ Oklahoma St: Pick: Oklahoma St
USC @ Texas: Pick: USC

NCAA Week Two Picks

I went 10-2 picking Big Ten games week 1 (1-0 in conference games) and 1-2 outside of it.

New Mexico @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
Western Michigan @ Michigan: Pick: Michigan
Duke @ Northwestern: Pick: Northwestern
Eastern Michigan @ Purdue: Pick: Purdue
Rutgers @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St
Colorado @ Nebraska: Pick: Nebraska
Iowa ST @ Iowa: Pick: Iowa
Maryland @ Bowling Green: Pick: Maryland
Virginia @ Indiana: Pick: Indiana
Western Illinois @ Illinois: Pick: Illinois
Fresno St @ Minnesota: Pick: Fresno St
Penn St @ Pittsburgh: Pick: Penn ST
Michigan St @ Arizona ST: Pick: Michigan St

Outside the Big Ten
Georgia @ South Carolina: Pick: South Carolina
Clemson @ Texas A&M: Pick: Clemson
USC @ Stanford: Pick: USC

NCAA Week One Picks

It is hard to believe that I am gearing up for my seventh year picking college football games on this blog! Every year as I get ready to make week one picks I talk about how I adore this time of year and how I always am amazed that it has returned once again. This year is no different, college football is back! Lets get to it. As always I pick every Big Ten game and then pick the best games of the week outside the Big Ten

New Mexico St @ Minnesota: Pick: Minnesota
Northwestern @ Purdue: Pick: Northwestern
Utah St @ Michigan St: Pick: Michigan St
Western Kentucky @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
Oregon St @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St
Texas @ Maryland: Pick: Texas
Kent St @ Illinois: Pick: Illinois
Texas St @ Rutgers: Pick: Rutgers
Appalachian St @ Penn St: Pick: Penn St
Northern Illinois @ Iowa: Pick: Northern Illinois
Indiana @ Florida International: Pick: Indiana
Michigan @ Notre Dame: Pick: Notre Dame
Akron @ Nebraska: Pick: Nebraska

Outside the Big Ten
Washington Vs Auburn: Pick: Washington
Miami Vs LSU: Pick: Miami
Virginia Tech @ Florida St: Pick: Florida St

Playoff Picks
1.Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Penn St
4. TCU