2006 Year in Review: Ben Valentine
Listed in: OtherIt’s time to look back.
Yes, I know people normally do this at the end of the year but I never found that to make much sense. No one evaluates a President until he’s officially out of office. Heck sportswriters give their team grades after the season is over.
So in that vein, I’m doing my top ten columns on the first day of the New Year. Unlike David, this is a top ten format; I like assigning rank to my work since I’m my own harshest critic. The reason for why the piece made the top ten are listed, but it goes without saying these are my favorite ones for the year 2006.
So here they are, the Ben Valentine Top Ten of 2006:
10. Shaka N’ Awed: My response to the Trinidad draw against Sweden that opened the Soca Warriors’ World Cup. It was the piece that in truth, took years to write, since Trinidad’s run to the Cup had been that long in the making. I still look back at that one game and smile; it forever made my 2006 WC memory a positive one.
9. Moon Shine: Warren Moon; all time great. But for some reason people disagree, even as Moon was enshrined in Canton. My reasons for why they’re wrong are outlined in this piece.
8. How Can You Pinch Hit For So Taguchi?: Baseball dominates the list, and this is one of my all time favorite pieces of writing just because of the irony of what I said in August and how things turned in October. And no matter how many times you play Game 2 over again for me, I stand by my title.
7. Not Kidding Around: My shot at Jason Kidd’s defense before it became fashionable to take shots at Jason Kidd’s defense. It’s even more pertinent now, considering the Nets are one of the worst defensive teams in the league. By the way, even though I haven’t written about them, I am a Nets fan.
6. The Birthday Wish List: Sports, wishes, silly-ness and Jessica Biel = me having fun. And really isn’t that the reason why people blog? If you like this, the 2007 edition is coming in less than two months.
5. It’s Been a While : Every so often we can get reflective, this was that for me. It’s amazing how much can change in a relatively short period of time. Just imagine if I’d done based off my teams winning championships rather than the postseason. (Hint: it would be ongoing)
4. Two Sides of the Same Coin: I’ve made many Barry Bonds comparisons, defenses and that jazz, but I felt this one was the most comprehensive. And nobody’s ever answered how come when Barry Bonds defies conventional wisdom it’s because he’s cheating and when Lance Armstrong does it it’s because he’s a freak of nature with like a one in a million condition or something like that. (Rather than the more simple “if he wins in a sport where everyone dopes, then yeah, he probably dopes too.”)
3. The Assault On .500: I thought I’d tick off Philly Phans when I wrote this series. As it turns out, I got most of my compliments from them. Nunez was that bad people. By the way, I’m seriously thinking about trying to start an internet campaign to get Nunez elected to the All Star Game in 2007. Suck-age like his deserves recognition. Who’s with me?
This by the way, is my one actually cataloging the worst seasons of the decade.
2. Free Baseball: What do you get when you have two sports fans, on opposite sides of the country, both dateless on a Friday night? If Tony LaRussa is managing against Dusty Baker in an extra inning game, high class entertainment.
1. Derek and Alex’s Mythical Journey: 6/25 Outside of the Ballad of Isiah, no one Sportszilla piece drew as much reaction as my attempt at “definitively” proving the A-Rod/Jeter clutch theory to be mere myth. I had tried this before, but it wasn’t nearly as well broken down as this one. The stats heavy nature made it an even more bitterly contested debate. This piece was so hot at one point, it got mentioned in the San Jose Mercury News’ “On the Web” Section.
If I could, I’d write that well more often.
And let’s hope that I do. 2007 is a new year; new possibilities, new opportunities, new topics, new debates and of course, new controversies. All the stuff that makes for great stuff to write about. So it’s a new year at Sportszilla.
Hope you guys (and gals) spend some of it with us.
