Why 2016 Was the Best and Worst Sports Year Ever
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," wrote Charles Dickens in his famous piece A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens, unknowingly, essentially described the 2016 sports world.
Legends, icons and pioneers from different industries passed away, some far too soon. Other all-time great athletes called time on their careers and ushered in new eras for teams and sports leagues. Mismanagement and also alleged acts of corruption affected organizations located in North America and elsewhere around the world.
Sports also gave us many reasons to smile over the past 12 months.
Leicester City cemented themselves as the most unlikely Premier League champions, to date, in history. Cleveland, Ohio became a city of champions in less than half a year. The Chicago Cubs, the lovable losers of sports franchises within the United States, won the World Series.
A plethora of memorable moments, some good and some bad, occurred in 2016, and how you'll remember this sports year may be determined by your favorites teams, favorite athletes and even where you live.
What grade would you give the 2016 sports year? What did we miss in our reasons for why 2016 was the best and also the worst sports year ever?
Worst: State of U.S. Soccer
1 of 10
United States soccer programs around the country had a bad year.
The United States women's team failed to win a medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics after the Americans lost to Sweden in the quarterfinal round. Hope Solo, one of the top stars on the team, earned a six-month ban and had her national team contract terminated after she referred to Sweden as "cowards" following the loss to Sweden, per Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated.
The men's national team also had a year to forget, one that included a 2-1 loss to rivals Mexico on home soil and a 4-0 defeat at Costa Rica during World Cup qualifying this fall. Those results, as Sam Borden of the New York Times explained, resulted in U.S. Soccer parting ways with head coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Things aren't all that much better on the club side of American soccer this holiday season. Sports Illustrated's Brian Straus reported in early December the North American Soccer League, currently the second division within the American and Canadian soccer pyramid, is fighting for its survival after several clubs defected to the United Soccer League and other teams, most notably the New York Cosmos, are allegedly facing financial hardships.
According to Christopher Harris of World Soccer Talk, "the average viewing number" for Major League Soccer regular season games in 2016 was 276,689. To compare, MLS matches that aired on ESPN2 during the first nine weeks of the 2015 season drew an average of 266,000 per Paul Kennedy of Soccer America.
Best: Conor McGregor
2 of 10
Conor McGregor is an odd combination of Muhammad Ali and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair placed inside the body of one of the best pound-for-pound UFC competitors on the planet.
McGregor is unafraid to cut promos on just about anybody, from opposing fighters to WWE performers, as Bleacher Report's Steven Rondina explained this past August. The man who began 2016 as featherweight champion has a history of walking the walk inside the cage as well as talking the talk away from it, as he became the first fighter to hold titles in two UFC divisions simultaneously this past November when he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight championship.
McGregor isn't only a great fighter and entertaining personality. He's the biggest star, by far, in the sport. Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting reported the UFC 202 show headlined by McGregor fighting Nate Diaz set a record for pay-per-view buys per estimates (Meltzer added "the UFC does not usually release pay-per-view numbers). Bloody Elbow's Iain Kidd, using addition numbers provided by Meltzer, offered the following on McGregor's drawing power:
"2010 was the UFC's best year ever. It had 8.8 million buys, and had (Georges St-Pierre) and Brock Lesnar at the height of their popularity. Conor McGregor is going to draw more PPV buys in 2016 than the two biggest draws in UFC history did in the UFC's best year ever...Combined. In 2010 GSP and Lesnar fought 4 times and drew around 3.5m buys. Conor is on track to draw 4.5 million buys in 2016 from just three fights.
"
Worst: Russian Doping Scandal
3 of 10
We don't yet know, for sure, how bad this story will get come 2017, and that's a big reason why it makes the list.
Per Kate Samuelson of Time, Canadian law professor and sports lawyer Richard McLaren explained to reporters on Dec. 9 that Russia is allegedly involved in an "institutional conspiracy" regarding doping in sport that benefited over 1,000 athletes from 2011 through the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and up to 2015. McLaren's news conference coincided with the release of the second part of an independent report into allegations made against Russia.
Nick Hope of BBC Sport reported on Dec. 13 Latvia is boycotting the 2017 bobsleigh and skeleton world championships scheduled to occur in Sochi. According to a different BBC Sport story, British Olympic Association chairman Sir Hugh Robertson said that organization will support any boycotts of future events in Russia.
Russia is currently scheduled to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. We'll see if that changes at any point in 2017.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Best: Summer Olympics
4 of 10
The 2016 Summer Olympics provided two weeks of compelling television and entertaining sporting events.
Michael Phelps proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he is the greatest swimmer to ever compete at the Olympics. As Allyssa Lee of Fox Sports explained, Katie Ledecky won four gold medals and a silver to establish herself as the top American female star of the pool.
The Brazilian men's soccer team won gold for the first time and did so on home soil. American gymnast Simone Biles won four gold medals, including the all-around title. Usain Bolt showed, one last time, he's the fastest (recorded) man who ever lived.
Perhaps the best moment of the Olympics involved a pair of athletes casual fans wouldn't recognize. Distance runners Abbey D’Agostino of the United States and New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin became forever linked when the two accidentally collided with each other during a 5,000-meter qualifier. D’Agostino helped Hamblin to her feet, but the American then fell back to the ground due to an ankle injury. Hamblin returned the favor and assisted D'Agostino, and the two finished the race together.
Both runners won the Fair Play Award for their actions on the track per Olivia Blair of the Independent. Sportsmanship, it turns out, remains alive and well even after a crazy roller-coaster year.
Worst: Lochtegate
5 of 10
It's unfortunate some out there will remember the 2016 Summer Olympics for the "Lochtegate" scandal that involved American swimmer Ryan Lochte and three of his teammates.
We may never know exactly what happened the night Lochte and his teammates originally claimed they were robbed at gunpoint in Brazil. As Salon's Scott Eric Kaufmann explained in detail, Lochte eventually contradicted his first story about the matter, and the controversial swimmer left the country seemingly in a rush and before Brazilian authorities detained teammates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger.
Lochte later took to Instagram to apologize for his actions and claim "responsibility" for his role in the events of that fateful evening.
The story, on its own, embarrassed Lochte, the other three American swimmers and the United States team. Coverage of the saga among national media outlets overshadowed the Olympic events for days, to the point those of us who watch the Olympics for the competitions were thankful when the story finally disappeared.
In fact, let us never again speak of Lochtegate after this sentence.
Best: Chicago Cubs
6 of 10
The Chicago Cubs won the World Series. How many passionate supporters of the club out there still don't believe it really happened this past November?
Odds are even casual sports fans know some information about the Cubs' history. Chicago won titles in 1907 and 1908, and then the club failed to again win a World Series until the fall of 2016. Nothing came easy for the Cubs during the series, as Chicago fell into a 3-1 deficit vs. the Cleveland Indians. Chicago also had to win the final two games of the series in downtown Cleveland.
SB Nation's Grant Brisbee called Game 7 of the 2016 World Series "one of the best baseball games ever." Cleveland fans may disagree with that assessment, but those who watched the contest likely won't forget it anytime soon.
The Cubs jumped out to a 1-0 advantage when Dexter Fowler hit a leadoff home run, and the visitors held a 7-4 lead at the start of the eighth inning. Cleveland tied the game in the bottom of that frame after Brandon Guyer drove home a run and Rajai Davis blasted a two-run homer.
Rain delayed the game for 17 minutes after the bottom of the ninth, and the Cubs used that break to regroup between the dugout and the clubhouse as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune explained. We can only assume what would've happened had the rain skipped northeast Ohio on that night.
Worst: Retirements
7 of 10
Multiple all-time great athletes retired as active competitors in 2016.
Peyton Manning, one of best quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL, walked away from the sport as a Super Bowl champion. Manning wasn't his dominant self during his final two seasons, and it was somewhat fitting a defense helped carry him to a championship considering all he did for his offenses over his legendary career.
David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez experienced two different types of retirements. Ortiz, who had a stellar final season with the Boston Red Sox, continued to contribute in the Boston lineup through the club's final playoff game, while Rodriguez and the New York Yankees parted ways after he played his final game for the team on Aug. 12.
Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, two of the greatest players of their generation, retired in 2016. Bryant left the sport a five-time NBA champion and third on the league's scoring list. Duncan, known as "The Big Fundamental," won five titles from 1999 through 2014.
SI.com offered a list of other noteworthy retirements from the past year.
Best: Cleveland Becomes a City of Champions
8 of 10
The Chicago Cubs went over a century without winning a single World Series, but local fans who cheer on other professional sports teams located in the city haven't been hurting all that much over the past 31 years. The Chicago Bulls, Chicago Bears and Chicago Blackhawks all won titles in the past three decades, and the Bulls were an NBA dynasty of the 1990s.
Cleveland fans weren't so lucky, as the city began 2016 in the midst of a title drought that began after the Cleveland Browns won the NFL championship in December 1964. The Browns, Cleveland Indians, and Cleveland Cavaliers all found ways to break the hearts of passionate Cleveland fans over the decades, and the Browns even moved to Baltimore in the 1990s.
Critics and late-night talk show hosts routinely cracked jokes about the city and referred to Cleveland as "the mistake by the lake." That changed, however, starting in May of 2016.
Stipe Miocic, a lifelong Cleveland sports fan and a product of the region, won the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 198. The Cavaliers erased a 3-1 deficit vs. the Golden State Warriors and won the NBA Finals. AFC Cleveland won the National Premier Soccer League national title. The Indians won the American League pennant and came to within a game and a run of defeating the Cubs to win the World Series.
Cleveland fans appreciate all they were able to celebrate these past seven months. That's probably one reason some are planning a "perfect season" parade to commemorate the Browns going 0-16 if the club fails to win one of its final three games of the season as Jen Steer of Fox8.com reported.
Those fans can now enjoy a laugh and remember the good times they enjoyed in 2016.
Worst: Those We Lost
9 of 10
It's impossible to discuss this sports year as a whole without remembering the many legendary and important figures who passed away.
Muhammad Ali, one of the most famous individuals on the planet and the most important boxer in the history of that sport, died this past June. Ali's promos and interviews will forever serve as inspiration for anybody looking to make significant amounts of money in combat sports, and he may truly be the greatest heavyweight boxer to ever enter a ring.
Arnold Palmer, the face of golf for a generation who helped make that sport must-see television, passed away at the age of 88 years old. Gordie Howe, nicknamed "Mr. Hockey" and a man who belongs on any Mount Rushmore dedicated to all-time great players, died in June. Miami Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, 24, lost his life in a tragic boating accident this past September. Pat Summit, arguably the most important figure in the history of women's college basketball, passed away in late June.
Newsday.com offers a list of what the website refers to as "notable sports deaths" in 2016.
Best: Leicester City
10 of 10
Leicester City may be the best sports story of the past century.
The Foxes seemed headed toward sure relegation in the spring of 2015, but Leicester managed to remain in the England top flight following a remarkable run of form as Liam Corless of the Mirror explained. English bookmaker William Hill nevertheless listed Leicester as 5,000-to-1 odds to win the Premier League for the 2015-16 campaign per ESPN's Paul Carr, and it seemed in August 2015 Leicester were more likely to suffer a drop down to the Championship than to win the title this past spring.
Leicester not only pulled off the unthinkable. One of the minnows of English football left no doubt they were the best club in the country for 2015-16, losing only three league contests throughout the season and finishing 10 points ahead of second-place Arsenal in the table. While bigger clubs such as Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City struggled to retain winning ways for established periods of time, Leicester continued earning positive results up through the start of May.
As Sam Borden of the New York Times explained, Leicester had a payroll approximately a quarter of Chelsea's when the Blues won the Premier League for the 2014-15 season. Money cannot produce form on the pitch, and it couldn't buy a Premier League title for at least one year.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
