Another weird year for sports. Everything was back to normal, but oddly enough it was me that was no longer the same. Because of MLB’s broken system, it is hard for me to care about baseball. I still follow and I watch Pirates games, but it is no longer my favorite sport. Instead, college football has moved into that spot with the NFL close behind. It was also a weird year since the majority of my teams were just meh. Penn State football? Meh. Pens hockey lost in the playoffs. The Steelers. Meh. Pirates. Meh. Penn State wrestling had four champs, but lost the national championship to Iowa. So yeah, there were no great moments for my teams.
It was also a bizarre year because my hatred for Tom Brady evaporated. Over the years I have been hating him less and less. I respected him, but I hated him and the Patriots. Then he went to Tampa. I found myself rooting for him and the Buccaneers. I liked the idea of a guy older than me winning a Super Bowl.
But that was not my favorite moment. The best moment came during the Summer Olympics. I have been watching way more golf the past few years (I feel like there is a correlation between my frustration with baseball and my desire to watch more golf, haha). I was rooting for Xander Schauffele all year. I really wanted him to win his first major. That triple bogey at the Masters on #16, when he was in a good position to take the lead was heartbreaking.
Then to watch Matsuyama start coming back and Xander to begin to fall apart during the final round of the Olympics…it felt like the Masters all over again (slightly different circumstance, but whatever). He hit one into the trees, which ended up being found, but was still a scary moment. He held on though and took home the gold medal for America. It was a great moment and one of my favorites from the Olympics (even though I hated the format for golf).
