The Portland Freelancer Sports Moment of the Year

It's time to do one of those end of the year review things, and there's always plenty to choose from in the world of sports. I thought the way Tiger came back after the death of his father was very powerful. I thought the Steelers win in the Super Bowl was very heavy given what the franchise had already accomplished. It's one of those words that doesn't sound right, but they are a storied franchise. Then there was the older vets on St. Louis finally tasting victory, althought the Series was marred by the pitchers on Detriot who made one error after another. The Miami Heat won after Dallas looked like they were going to run them out of the gym. That was one of the bigger mysteries - how they figured out how to defeat the Mavericks' speed. I'm sure there were plenty of other sports stories I can't think of right now.
Balls were thrown, balls were kicked, and if you were standing around in the outfield waiting for play to resume, balls were scratched.

The biggest sporting moment of 2006 has to be when Zidane blew the World Cup by head-butting the Italian dude. The remark that set it off couldn't have been that bad - it was supposed to be about his sister, or mother, or grandmother or terrorism. Perhaps all 4. Wait, I know what set the Frenchman off. The other player said that fish can be served with red wine, and it's okay. Maybe the remark was that intolerable, but was it bad enough to blow your country's chances at soccer's ultimate prize? I think the French would say, "Non." Besides this was a legendary soccer player in his final match - do you really want to go out like that?

For all these things, Zidane wins the Portland Freelancer Sports Moment of the Year. For many years the name Zidane will sort of be linked with "moron" and that's too bad for him. Not to mention his grandmother, his mother, and his sister.