Ali Adair

Every year at about this time we take a look back at the year that was. Ups, downs, ins and outs of a year that will be remembered for many things. As the new sports columnist, I decided that I would take a look back at 2004 for all the wonderful, and maybe forgettable things, the sports world had to offer.

Let’s start with the good, shall we? The women of the United States Olympic team proved to be more successful than the men this year. The softball team lived up to expectations and didn’t allow a run scored until the championship game against Australia. They also outscored their opponents 51-1. The men’s basketball team, however, proved like Shaq and Kobe that too much talent on the floor and not enough willingness to share can only lead to a bad ending. The women’s basketball team won the gold medal again. Misty May of the U.S. beach volleyball team proved that you can be 5’6″, block like a man and win a gold medal with a teammate almost twice your size all with a broken ankle and a wedgie. Michael Phelps did win an ungodly amount of medals in swimming, but who else was there? Paul Hamm won the gold, but not without controversy and most will say, “Who’s Paul Hamm?” If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you. Enough about the Olympics, I’ve already provided more coverage than NBC did all summer.

One thing still on everyone’s mind, how did the Boston Red Sox do it? Their amazing comeback against the New York Yankees will go down as the greatest sports comeback ever. Not just because they were down three games to one, but because they did it against the Yankees. Leaving the Yankees to wonder, who can we buy next season to guarantee we win another series? David Ortiz? Not yet. Randy Johnson? We’ll take him. Unfortunately for me, and as I am sure many of you, this series came smack-dab in the middle of midterms. So as much as I wanted to study, I am afraid my test scores had to suffer. Game seven was just too much, sorry Mr. Paulson. The most important , though, was that the Red Sox won the World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals, Boston’s World Series opponent, got embarrassed four games to none. So the curse was lifted, Curt Schilling had surgery and Chicago Cubs fans can breathe a sigh of relief because maybe next year their curse will be lifted too. Cubs’ fans rejoice and say good-bye to the goat.

Here is a quick look back at some other things you might have missed, or maybe forgot or wanted to forget.

The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl behind the sure-footedness of SDSU alum Adam Vinatieri. I guess Tom Brady did all right too winning MVP or something like that.

Kobe Bryant finally got his wish and the sexual assault charge against him was dropped. Shaq moved all the way across the country to the Miami Heat. Just like that, they both were gone.

Louisiana State University was the national champ on the football field according to the Bowl Champion Series. The University of Southern California was still frustrated because the elusive outright national title still evaded them. How quickly things can change within a year. Who can forget the year of the University of Connecticut Huskies? Both the men’s and the women’s basketball teams were national champions.

How about those Detroit Pistons? National Champions to an 18-14 record. Something is seriously wrong here. It must have been great while it lasted. You can’t let something like Ron Artest ruin your season. He’s too busy trying to sell his CD.

One name: Lance Armstrong. Do you have your yellow bracelet?

Last but not least we can’t forget the all-important decision that rocked our little world in 2004. SDSU’s move to Division I. Time can only tell how things will pan out for us at this new level of competition, but I guess we have another year before we will find out.