The best live sport you saw in 2009

Without any doubt Gallas's goal against the Irish in Paris. Hilarious!!!
What followed was even better (33rd team in SA!!!) and then complaining that there was laughter when Blatter anounced their request to the press. Priceless!!!

Maradona's goal against England in Mexico does not quite seem as hilarious now hey????

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3. Watford v Sheffield Wednesday, Football League, Vicarage Road, October

"20 quid getting there, 25 to get in, 25 more drowning sorrows. Everything about the night was dreadful - the spineless capitulation, the 4-1 thrashing, the death-metal band that played in the pub afterwards and the train back to London that decided to travel at 5mph for the entire way and so extend a 25-minute journey to two hours. I didn't even need to go - the match was on Sky. One of the most depressing Friday nights of my life"


Give me the Job then id be more than happy to go and watch Watford or any football for that matter!

Plus Watford played some great football that night!

Good Blog

Up the Orns!

For me it was watching Mark Cavendish romp through multiple wins in the Tour De France along with his explosive win on the Champs-Elysees, and a nail biting finish up Mont Ventoux to see how high in the standings Wiggins would finish.

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I am really confused, I thought this was a good and interesting article and some good choices in the top 3 and bottom 3 but I am now looking for the so-called racist undertones. Very strange comment by post number 7.

Anyway, my favourite was watching my son play his first rugby match this year (he was 6 at the time) and ran over the try line and didnt know what to do with the ball until 10 30something parents shouted "put the ball down". He did and I celebrated like Usain Bolt.

Arise, Sir Lorik - what on earth are you talking about? Have you been celebrating the 2nd Test result a little too hard? There is nothing remotely racist in the Tom's blog. Quite possibly the stupidest comment ever posted on a BBC blog.

Without doubt the best sport of 2009 was Rossi v Lorenzo & Stoner & Pedrosa. The Barcelona GP has to go down as one of the best motor races of any kind of all time, I've shown re-runs of it to lots of friends who aren't especially into bikes and it's blown all of them away. Absolutely stunning!
And of course young Bradley Smith finishing runner up in the fiercely competitive 125 class was great news, the best world championship finish by a British rider since Sheene in 1978. Big props to Smith, Redding & Webb... and roll on April!!

I had two wonderful days watching English cricket.

Firstly at the Oval on the Friday seeing Broad rip through the Aussie batting to set up the win.

Secondly the England ladies beating the Aussies in a last ball thriller at Wormsley

Top sporting moments I've witnessed..........ok.

1. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso fighting for 19th place at the British Grand Prix, with Alonso eventually beating Hamilton. I watched it from Stowe and it was pure class from the two best drivers in F1.

2. Wolves beating Southampton 3-0 at home in April, we were so close to promotion after a dodgy couple of results and we showed what a worthy championship winning side we were.

3. Nadal v Djokavic at the O2, Novak won but it was incredible seeing Rafa try and run down every shot and not give up, even after losing the first set in a tie break. Then, after beating Nadal, Djokavic still fails to make it out of the round robin stages.

Worst sporting event I've seen this year?

Nadal v Soderling at the French Open in May was shocking, not so much the actual match (although seeing Nadal lose so badly was pretty hard to take) but the way the crowd reacted to the Spaniard, I've never seen or heard anything like it - they were actually chering when he missed shots - I've never witnessed that at a tennis match before.

Some of the best moments were the 5-set men's tennis major finals: Nadal beating Federer in Australia, Federer beating Roddick at Wimbledon, and Potro beating Federer in New York.
The worst were any women's finals involving world number 1 Dinara Safina.

Federer winning his fifteenth slam was a pretty remarkable moment in sporting history.

Best live moment however could only have been Bolt.

i) Freddie bowling on Ashes Monday at Lords when he bullied the Aussies into losing when there was a slight possibility they may still win themselves.

ii) definately Broad on Friday at Oval when it was clearly tipping point for the match

iii) for nail biting, Torquay at Histon in Conference play offs 2nd leg when 200 Cambridge fans helped cheer us on to hold out from their vantage point on the main road overlooking the ground having earlier qualified for the play off final

Bolt's 200m was superior to his 100 to my mind. On the bend he made world class athletes look pedestrian despite those athletes being smaller and more suited to bend running than the tall Bolt. Michael Johnson, who knows a thing or two about 200m running said it was the best bend ever run. Bolt's transition out of the bend though was not perfect- he'd drifted wide in his lane toward the end of the bend. Further, he looked tired over the last 20m. But those imperfections are what makes that run so breathtaking. He obliterated Johnson's world record with a run that can be improved upon. I cant wait for next year to see him do it.

The 2009 ashes was poor quality cricket. Not sure how any cricket from that series makes anybody's top 3. That is why it didnt capture the public imagination, not because it was on Sky.

Bolt has completely destroyed any such discussions about best of the year, and even best of the decade. His performances over the last couple of years have been so sensational he's overshadowed everything else. Makes you wonder if we'll ever see anybody this good again

Zenyatta in the Breeders Cup Classic, Kauto Star in the King George, Sea The Stars - may be horses but still brilliant sport - oh and Usain Bolt!

Colin Point 7: Agree overall the cricket poorer than 2005 but there were moments of brilliance that shone out and made the difference from Freddie and Broad.

Carter Point 18: This decade has been filled with some great sportsmen and women (Bolt, Phelps, Hoy, Warne, Woods). Not sure we will see their like again. Careers are certainly now shorter but burn brightly....

Live: Wayne Riley scoring the winner for Northwich Vics against Charlton in the FA Cup 1st Round.

TV: Usain Bolt 100 and 200 metre finals, awesome.

Have to admit I haven't seen too much sport live in the flesh this year. Best moment I have seen is Kevin Nolan's last minute winner as Newcastle beat Doncaster Rovers 2-1. After 89 minutes of mediocrity it meant my kids had something special to remember from their first ever football match. My 5-year old son also enjoyed taunting the opposition fans with the "Who are ya?" chant. Think I'll have to keep an eye on him ...

My Best

3. Barcelona 2 Man United 0

Not because they beat United, but simply because Barca were irresistatble.

2. Brazillian GP 2009

Jenson Button seals the World Drivers Championship with a great drive after a horrible qualifying. The race was more exciting than pretty much every other race this season combined, and we saw the debut of Kamui Kobayashi who almost single handedly reminded everyone how to race.

1. Usain Bolt

I can't choose between the 100m or 200m performances. Both were absolutely stunning.

Have to agree Tom - I had a season ticket for the World Athletics Champs - best thing I have ever been to live ..and well worth the 550 euros for the tickets.

The atmosphere was fabulous and the joy of seeing British success warmly received by the hospitable Germans...far different to the Atlanta Olympics which i attended in 96 ...

As for USSSAAAIIINNN? A truly phenomenal effort and something we may never see again ...

2) Watching France beat NZ in Dunedin at Union. As supreme underdogs, a display of quality and heart and fastastic defending to stun the Kiwi nation.

1) Only bested by the experience of seeing the Haka live before it. So emotional and so memorable.




My worst are any of the many Liverpool performances I've been to this year.

I think Usain Bolt was the first time I actually raced home from work to watch athletics. You even knew who would win but you wanted to see how cool he would be, the joking with the cameras pre race and if he could break the record. Barcelona winning the Champions League was amazing for a team that won everything scoring over 100 goals in the league and just totally outclassed probably the next best side in the world. The best live sport I've seen this year was either the Challenge Cup Final first half (which see sawed with some cracking tries) or the Aussie Kiwi Rugby League match at the Stoop. Probably the toughest and fastest game I have ever seen!

Tom

Great blog as ever, and very interesting to read about someone else's sporting highlights over the last year. As a student I dont get to many sporting events live due to financial restrictions, but ill have a go at my best and worst...

Best:

1. England vs Australia (5th Test, The Oval, Day 4)

I considered myself the luckiest man alive on getting a phonecall off my uncle telling me he had a spare ticket to day 4 due to a friend of his breaking his leg playing football! This was just after the close of play at the end of day 3! With that I was in the car on the way to London, and not even 24 hours later I was inside the oval to witness England win the ashes. I dont think anything will ever top that...maybe the football world cup!


2. Leeds vs St Helens (Grand Final)

Great day out and good to see Leeds win the trophy again. Not a huge rugby fan but went along with a few friends and it was a fantastic occasion! I will be going to watch much more of them!

3. Man Utd 2-2 Porto (Champions League Q Final)

Although not the result we went there expecting it was one of the best games of football ive ever watched. The ball never seemed to go out of play with attack after attack from both teams. Fantastic game, Fantastic atmosphere, Fantastic night.


Worst:


1. England vs West Indies (Headingley, ODI)

We turned up at 10.30 in the morning and not long after it was a beautiful day with the sun beating down. Waiting for play to start we went to the bar to wait for an update. We heard nothing to suggest that the game would be called off, which is exactly what happened at 3pm, cue the journey home! Miserable, miserable day!!

2. England vs Australia (Headingley, 4th Test, Day 1)

I may have been one of the 25'000 that you nearly saw cry Tom! To numb the pain we had a drinking competition which led to an extra day of misery...thanks to a stinking hangover! At least the day 4 tickets were refunded!

3. Man Utd 1-4 Liverpool (Premier League)

The less said the better. Just a terrible day all round!

Standing at the finish line in the Gold Coast cheering like mad whilst Alistair Brownlee of Yorkshire and Great Britain, destroyed the opposition to win the World Triathlon Championship Final. Having previously won 4 in a row of the World Championship races. The best triathlon results for the GB Team ever and completely forgotten by the BBC, really shameful.

Without doubt the best sporting moments were the British & Irish lions tests they were nothing short of phenomenal; full of passion, desire and absolute desperation leading to huge emotion for everyone involved - players, fans and entire countries. What other sporting event can get the most passionate rival countries brought together under one identity so effectively bringing about massive pride, dedication and unity all within 7 weeks?!. None as all the rest are just sports; rugby and the lions is much, much bigger, more than a game or sport. Tears were shed and blood was spilt all for one cause, uniting people how lucky we are to have it still in the professional era and how unlucky non-followers are not to have the way of life that is the Lions and Rugby Union.

For me that's why the lions series and rugby as a whole was the best sporting event this year without question.

My personal best moment has to be GB's brilliant effort at Eurobasket in Warsaw. We didn't win but we came closer than we had any right to given that it was our first appearance at the tournament since 1981 and Spain were tournament favourites(and went on to win it). It would have been the biggest sporting upset you'd have never heard of given the limited coverage of basketball in the media.

I can say I WAS THERE and I hope the BBC will offer some coverage of GB's qualifiers for 2011.

I have to agree with Junkmale, the last lap of the Catalunya Moto GP still gives me a shiver whenever I think about it, the pass by Rossi on the final bend is what sport, and life, is all about.

Also Australia V New Zealand Rugby League world cup - what a game!

Nothing compares to Cardiff for a great sporting atmosphere, especially in the Millennium Stadium as it is ideally placed in the centre of the city nightlife. You essentially fall out of the stadium into the pubs! I think you illustrate this very well with two of the three top events being in Cardiff! Result!

As I got out to Berlin the day after the 200m, I'll have to say Berlino's 100m dash with Bolt looking on was great!

Second was watching Alistair Brownlee win at the Hyde Park Triathlon. What a talent.

Top of the pile was Simeon Jackson's 89th minute header against Shrewsbury at Wembley in the play off final. A moment of disbelief before euphoria.

Worst I saw live was England v Australia at Twickenham in November. Yawn fest of rugby

British Touring Car Finale at Brands Hatch. Round 30, Last race of the day and Season, and 3 drivers- Jason Plato, Colin Turkington and Fabrizio Giovanardi- all still in with a title chance. After an early safety car, Gio's team mate Matt Neal leads the pack, deliberately slowly in order to keep Gio, in 3rd, as close as possible to Turkington's BMW. By Lap 8 Turkington's had enough, and eases Neal wide at Druids, taking the lead but sustaining rear whell damage in the process. Meanwhile Plato has worked his way up from 7th to 3rd, and, as Giovanardi loses momentum trying to pass an ailing Turkington, He sweeps round on the outside to take 2nd, before taking the lead from Turkington round the outside at the very next corner. Gio slips back another place to 4th. Turkington hangs on to 2nd to the end though to secure the title by just 3 points from Plato.

That lap when all 3 championship came by side by side was mesmerising, 35000 fans on their feet cheering. Certainly the best motorsports of the year. Search BTCC brands hatch 2009 race 3 into YT you'll see what I mean!

This might be a bit bizarre but my "in the flesh" highlight was taking my (9yo) son to watch the final of the VodaCom Challenge between Kaiser Chiefs and Man City at Loftus back in Jul. City had a severe case of "close season belly" and were humbled by a team that lives on its name rather than its talent. It wasn't the game or the (ageing) stadium that did it. It was the sheer passion and noise generated by the Chiefs fans. Something to bear in mind in Jun when WC2010 comes to town.

The same son went to his first game of cricket this year too - England vs South Africa at Centurion in the ICC Champions trophy. Its not often you see a batsman hit 121 in a ODI and lose as Graeme Smith did. A great game and a son that is now well and truely bitten by the cricket bug.

The worst - listening to Southampton playing everyweek in League 1!

Great blog - check mine out at - https://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/benham/

New Zealand v Autralia in the Rugby League Four Nations - pace, power, passion, skill, tries, big hits and more! Best game of the best game by a country mile

i think the best of 2009, was when england trashed croatia @ wembley and england winning the ashes woo, usain bolt how fast can he go? wat a gd 2 years he has had

also jenson button winning the f1 ... i always knew us brits were fast on the road

1. manny pacquiao vs ricky hatton , an amazing fight to watch considering not many people had heard of m.p then he comes out with his amazingly quick fire punches and destroys hatton within a few minuites then later in the year we see him again defeat manuel cotto with ease, look forward to his fihgt against mayweather hope it goes ahead and they get this drug test stuff behind them

2. tiger woods and phil mickelson , us masters augusta, paired together on the final days play by coincidence no.1 and 2 respectively in thw world, chasing down the leading pack all the way and looking like on of them was going to do it until a few mishaps on the closing holes, great to watch thgough

3. amir khan knocking out that guy in 'sizzeling 76 secodns' was incredible to watch until i then realised i jus spent £15 on a one minuite fight that took place at 2am :)

Hands down, worst live moment of the year - Chelsea-Barca at the Bridge.

1. Barca played like drains. At least if you are going to lose to them, Messi and co might have had the decency to put on a show.

2. Chelsea finished like drains. More on the ref later, but the Blues finishing, with one exception from Essien, was woeful.

3. I had some sympathy with the Kojak ref until he missed the Piquet handball which was as stonewall a penalty in the history of stonewall cliches.

4. The Barca avalanche over Guus Hiddink was pure filth.

5. Drogba. See 2 above. That and other stuff.

6. No beer on sale.

On the plus side, had I been watching the game at home, I probably would have broken our new HD TV.

Ive not been to enough live sport this year, something I have to fix next year, however I will give you a couple of my best and worst moments.
Best:
Watching Pep Guardiola's run down the Stamford Bridge touchline after Iniestas winner in the Champions League semi final. A magical moment from the worlds best manager.
Ryan Babel's goal for Liverpool away at Lyon in the Champions league group stage. I have never before heard the sheer explosion of noise me and my dad made when the ball hit the net. Sadly, this moment also leads onto my...
Worst:
Lisandro's equaliser for Lyon in the same match. For such utter joy to suddenly be muted was crushing.
Without doubt my absolute worst though, was watching Morne Steyn's winning penalty for the Springboks in the second Lions test. The local rugby club fell completely silent. My father and I stayed, heads in hands, for fifteen minutes after the final whistle.
It's cruel but brilliant old sport is.

I think the French win with a handball was ironic, reflecting back to 1986. I however like the irish folk but wish they would stop hating the English because of the potato famine hundreds of years ago, IT WAS NOT ME and it was not my father or his fathers before him! I was cheering on the Irish.

Two sporting moments stand out for me far above all others this year.

The Superbowl between Arizona & Pittsburgh with Santonio Holmes miraculous catch with just seconds remaining to steal the win for The Steelers.

And The amazing run out of Ricky Ponting in the 5th Ashes test by Flintoff to set off the collapse on that 4th afternoon to win us back the Ashes.

for me best sporting moments were on the lions tour. all 3 games were excellent adverts for rugby, although the lowpoint was ronan o'gara killing the series in the dying throws of the 2nd test. lewis hamilton's excellent win in hungary was notable as were both Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton's drives in Brazil. To be honest in the six nations, france v wales was a much better game of rugby than the wales ireland game. one of the biggest lows was seeing newcastle and perhaps more importantly, seeing alan shearer get relegated from the premier league.

@ 1

"Maradona's goal against England in Mexico does not quite seem as hilarious now hey????"

Well yes it does, actually - it's one of those sporting moments where the comedy is intrinsic and resilient. It just doesn't date. Only gets funnier with time. I think we'll be laughing just as hard in a hundred years as we did then, and as we do now.

My number one has to be watching Dominic Cork role back the years and take four wickets for Hampshire as the Hawks beat Sussex in the Friends Provident Trophy Final at Lords.

The worst would be Bournemouth against Rotherham United at Dean Court, never have two teams negotiated a draw so soundly before, the ambition of both teams meant neither ventured into their opposing teams penalty area. It was lousy.

All boxing fans have heard of manny pacquiao. Has been one of the best in the world for many years.

Didnt see any of Bolt's races live, so I already knew the result when I watched them later. Cant list it as my favourite sporting event.

Will therefore have to go with Barca v Manchester United. An absolute dominant display by Barca.

Scotland vs Australia rugby

1 point victory, missed last minute penalty, it had everything. Blood,Sweat and Tears

Bosnia vs Portugal play off
Unbeliable atmosphere and great to watch the Portuguese players offering their shirts to the crowd after the final whistle.

Top Three
1. Watford v QPR - After 10 years Lloyd Doyley's first professional goal.
2. Watford v Sheffield Wednesday - Cleverley and Lansbury destroyed the owls
3. Dubai Rugby 7s World Cup Final leading the chants of Taffy Taffy Taffy in the main stand as Wales won the trophy

Bottom Three
1. England v Australia - land at heathrow at 7am and take Dad to the game as a birthday present. Socks would have been better!
2. England v Argentina - I actually fell asleep!
3. Dubai 7s world Cup - England v Samoa - Great from Samoa, complacent from England and the world cup went begging

My top 3:

3. Amsterdam Tournament
Watched my team beat Sunderland and Ajax to lift this friendly cup

2. Everton 0 - 2 Benfica
Would have been happy with a draw but this was a great result, and amazing atmosphere our our section. Waving '5' at the Goodison crowd was also quite funny.

1. Benfica 1 - 0 Porto
Not particularly the best games, but this was probably the biggest win of the year! And as always electrifying atmosphere in the stadium of light despite the heavy downpour.


Don't really have a worst live event as the rest I attended were all wins :) (makes up for the 10+ consecutive non-winning matches before 2009...)

No mention of the fairy tale that was Jenson Button taking a team that didnt exist three weeks before the start of the season to two world titles!! Seriously how can it be ignored.

Dave

As ever a bunch of football fans have hijacked a blog and assumed its all about them! #45 got it pretty spot on. Jensons drives in Australia, Monaco and Brazil were world class. The Lions were fantastic in SA but some vital decisions went against them, but a great advert for the game, and the ashes squad were fantastic.

Of course you realise your request for best and worst sporting moments, but only those witnessed in the flesh, means the chances are the suggestions you get are going to get are likely to be the ONLY live sporting events most of us have seen. We aren't all lucky enough to spend our time watching live sport...

Consequently, and bearing in mind that this year, my experience of live sport has been limited to watching England get bt by the Windies at the Oval in the world cup Twenty20, and going to the Twenty20 semis and finals at Edgbaston where Kent were beaten in the semis, I am unable to make a suggestion. If I'd been there though, my suggestions for top 3 would be Usain Bolt's 100m in Berlin, Jessica Ennis victory at the same venue in the heptathlon, and today's victory in Durban (and particularly yesterday's performance).

Have to agree with the comments on Bolt - he's a phenomenon and watching him destroy world records has become the norm.

Pacqiaou is a living legend and I believe he would beat Mayweather too given the opportunity.

However, for me the best sporting moment was watching one the greatest teams ever collect all before them this season with pace, flair, quality and desire. For me in the 08/09 season they were probably the best club side I have ever seen and I don't think any amount of money could better it. Iniesta, Xavi and the genius Messi are from another planet at times -as shown in the biggest games (Man United CL Final and Real Madrid recently at the Nou Camp) - plus I can't remember celebrating a goal as much as I did when Iniesta arrowed the ball in the top corner at Stamford Bridge!

Guardiola's achievements this year are unprecedented and cannot be spoke of highly enough.

Best sport:

Race 30, the finale of the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch. Never experienced such an atmosphere at Motor racing, been going all my lifee but that day was something special. The tension in the crowd as the 3 best drivers battled it out in the final race for the title. The veteran Plato, the master Giovanardi and the underdog Turkington battling it out in front of 35,000 mesmorised fans. Even with damage, the fans favourite Turkington brought it home. The delight and feeling in the crowd is something thats has never been matched at football, cricket, rugby matches. Truly amazing experience.

Another highlight in the BTCC was Paul O'Neill, the fans favoruite, driving a 5 year old car grabbing a podium at Snetterton. After being diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago and unsure if he would race again, he came back this season in a slower car with a small team, but rung the neck of the car every race, racing well higher than he should be and battling the established big teams and drivers. He do or die attitude won the fans over in the shedload and culminated in the podium he so gratefully desevered, after poor luck robbed him off wins/podiums earlier in the season. Seeing him burst into tears on the podium and the emotion of him and his team that day hasnt been beaten, never before or since has i seen a sportsman so emotional.

Also Samir Nasri's goals against Man Utd in the league, biggest roar ive heard at the Emirates to defeat the biggest rivals at home. Awesome stuff.

Worst sport:

Arsenal v Man Utd, champions league semi final second leg, after supporting arsenal for years, watching lots of games live, this was my first champions league match and the excitement was over whelming. The tension, thinking we could overturn the deficit and get into the final. Up pops Cristiano Ronaldo to break our hearts, dump us out. We kept singing till the end, but my did it hurt. Still hurts 7 months later.

Facemandave - It's for sporting events that have been seen live and unfortunately not many can say they saw JB's amazing victories in Oz, Spain, Monaco etc. I'd like to win the lottery and change that!!

The best thing I saw live this year was England winning the IRB London Sevens at Twickenham in May.

At half-time in the final we were 19-0 down against New Zealand and looked dead and buried, but a stirring second half comeback saw us force extra time and then snatch the victory thanks to Mickey Young's try. The fact that the extra time period was sudden death made it all the better, and the atmosphere was one of the best I've ever experienced at Twickenham despite it being only half full.

After watching England at Twickenham I'm more used to leaving with a sense of frustration or disappointment so it was nice to leave on a high for a change. After all, it's not often you get to watch an England team (in any sport) win a tournament on home soil!

Watching Federer beat Murray at the O2 was also special, simply for the fact that I can now tell my grandkids that I watched the greatest tennis player in history play live...

The best sporting event I watched this year was the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Tipperary - two of the greatest hurling teams of all time. Kilkenny had won the previous 3 All-Irelands and Tipperary were becoming far more consistent than they had previously been. Two of the all-time greats, Eoin Kelly and Henry Shefflin fully demonstrated their credentials and Kilkenny showed everyone that they were arguably the greatest team of all time.

hilarious! was it... do you think were all some sort of idiots over here in ireland... thanks for encouraging me to support everyone against england this summer and to laugh in your face when your crying over losing when it was your "God-given right to win"!!!!

ignorant brit

I only went to five sport events in the flesh in 2009, we'll quickly gloss over Yorkshire beating Derbyshire in a 20/20 at Chesterfield. I wont even mention attending the Blades third Play Off final defeat without scoring a goal against Burnley, and concentrate on my number one sport, the NFL, in particluar the Oakland Raiders.

I attended three games on the trot across America, travelling about 4000 miles, and these are the worst three sporting events I attended this year.

Number 1. Raiders v Broncos, 26 - 3 Defeat. Before I set of I thought this was the one we could win. Flat wrong. The mood in the Coliseum was ugly in the second half, and as the writer in the Oakland Tribune said, the Quarter Back JaMarcus Russell was chased of the field by an angry mob. As I said to my friend who joined me for this game on the way out, `I can't believe I've got tickets to watch this cr*p for the next two weeks.' It got worse.

Number 2. Texans v Raiders - 29-6 Defeat. Some old Texan showed me a picture of their cheerleaders (very nice they were too), and said they could beat the Raider's, I suspected he was right. He was. The eight hour drive to Mississippi after this game was a joy in comparisson.

Number 3. Giants v Raiders - 44-7 Defeat. The Raider fan next to me in the first quarter turned up at 7-0 down, and had enough by the end of the first quarter (28-0 down at that stage) and went home. Don't blame him. I wasn't the only one in the front row wearing black hurling abuse at the Raider players and coaching staff at the end of the game. They deserved it.

Ho Hum 4000 miles cross country for a combined 99-16 beat down.

Decades Best for this Tartan Army footie fan was:

1. France 0 Scotland 1. Proved the 1st win was no fluke. This was one-in-a-lifetime stuff. Absolutely brilliant.

2. Scotland defeat Netherlands 1 - 0 in Euro 2004 play-offs. Written off against a team who were considered among the favourites for the tourney, a young James McFadden scores a 1st half winner.

3. Scotland beat Ukraine 3 - 1 in Euro 2008 group. That day, Scotland would have probably beat any team at Hampden 2 - 0 up in 10 mins and Faddy seals the win in style after shevcenko pulls one back.

...And the worst:

Scotland 0 - Norway 1. World cup 2006 qualifier.
Without doubt, Scotlands worst home performance in a generation. In a bus that contained 23 fans, 8 left before half time. Another 6 left at half-time and I sat down to read my programme with 25mins to go.
Just awful.

Norway 4 Scotland 0. 2010 world cup qualifier that most of us reckoned we could easily get a win....!
The night a team and it's manager, in footie terms, died

Holland 6 Scotland 0. Euro 2004 play-offs and 1 nil up from 1st Leg.
Nothing left to say really.

I'd have to say the Tour de France this season. Loved every minute of it (nearly). From Columbia breaking the peloton in half in the early days, to Cavendish winning stages like they were going out of fashion, to Wiggins attacking the big names up the slopes later on....And for a non-British performance Cancellera breaking early on stage 15 (if I remember right) and then after being caught he still gave his all for his team at the front of the group. That was an amazing display fo strength.


...and Tottenham beating Wigan 9-1 of course.

1. Simeon Jackson's last minute header at Wembley to put Gillingham back in League One against Shrewsbury. The ball had barely crossed the line and I was already on my feet celebrating.

2. Mitchell Johnson bowling loads of wides, this despite all the tosh about him being the best Test player this year.

3. Yelena Isinbayeva claiming she wasn't disheartened about losing in the pole vault in Berlin despite all her make up streaming down her face due to the tears.

It was live adn I was there - unfortunately not anything anyone else here probably saw but it was Swindon at home to Scunthorpe last season. Swindon trailled 2-0 at half time and there was discussions about just keeping tabs on the Premiership in the bar rather than subject ourselves to another 45 minutes of terror.
However we did emerge from the bar just in time to see the Scunthorpe captain sent off, Swindon score a couple of goals to secure an unlikely point before another Scunthorpe player was sent off and after 20 minutes of attack vs defence Swindon ran out 4-2 winners!
Just a great game and an incredible tunraround!

Best : Friday at the Oval test, sat next to two aussies who were progressively humbled through the day. The fact that both Jimmy and the Barmy trumpeter were immediately in front helped.........but it was the raw excitement of Stuart Broad's coming of age spell that will be the abiding memory.

Worst : Too many afternoons of numb misery at St James Park to select just the one.

Best of the year - Michael Owen in the 96th minute against City - never has a football ground heard a roar like that and seen the scenes in the stand as we celebrated!
Although did just see Barney throw a 9 darter which was pretty magical too!

Worst - not the Liverpool loss surprisingly, but the one against Fulham. Never have I seen us beaten so easily.

surely 1 of the best/funniest/most ill advised moments of sport had to be rafas rant!

My best sporting moment came just a few weeks ago when Forest thrashed Leicester 5-1. After 10 years of misery for Forest fans, becoming the only former European cup winners to drop down to the third tier of their domestic league things were starting to look a little bit brighter. We'd forced ourselves into the play off places but even the most optimistic of reds couldn't have forseen what happened that day. We were never in danger, we made a fellow promotion rival look like a non-league side. Even their goal was fortuitous, coming from a 25 yard shot which struck Wes Morgan's hand. Never in all the years I've been going to the City Ground have I seen such a commanding, attacking performance and I went away from the match believing for the first time that we have a chance of a real promotion push this season. Thank you Billy Davies.

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I have seen some great fights in Las Vegas this year. Without doubt the destruction of Hatton against Pacquaio is something that was disbelieving, yet compelling.
Pacquaio vs Cotto was a master class of boxing.

But looking forward to 2010. I am just counting down the days to England vs USA in the World Cup. The games I am going to offer lots of potential memorable moments.

My worst would be England losing to Holland in the opening game of the Twenty Twenty World Cup. Truly abysmal night! Wet, cold Lords, England still showing at that point absolutely no idea of how to play T20.

The best, watching the NBA at the O2. Great finish to the game, even if they weren't the best teams this year.

Top Events I've witnessed

Ireland vs Wales Six Nations
About time the Irish won the Grand Slam. Such a talented bunch of players and justice after numerous years of trying.

Usain Bolt
Just unbelievable. How can he run that fast!!

Ashes
Just incredible. Lords in particular with Freddie and his 5 wicket haul and the last day at the Oval with Broad and his wickets and that throw from Freddie.

The worst event I've seen
Sale vs Wasps
Postponed because of 'unsuitable pitch'. Will never get over that!

Haven't seen that much sport this year, but my vote goes to Tom Watson at the 2009 Open at Turnberry. He's already a great and had nothing to play for except the claret jug, and he made the rest of them look like a set of amateurs in the wind at the age of 59. I've never been so in support of an American.

best- 3rd Lions test in Jo'burg - I know De Villiers made some changes, still SA - Monye's try made up, almost, for the worst, see below.

Worst-
1,2nd test in Pretoria- 11 points up with 20 mins left, but couldn't get the ball and missed two crucial tackles, both led to tries for Habana and Fourie.
2Even then got it back to 25 all, Ronan, why not kick to touch?
When I watched it on TV in hotel next day, was probably the best rugby match I've seen live.
3,Shaw's interview post match, poor bloke, played the game of his life and to lose in 81st minute

ooh. Just got goosebumps watching Bolt run the 100m.

I had the privilege of watching Leicester beat South Africa. Sure, SA had sent a depleted team to Welford Road, but Leicester also had injuries in key positions and didn't have a recognised fly-half on the pitch. It was an incredibly tense game up to the final whistle when South Africa were camped on the Leicester 5-metre line for 5 minutes of overtime and finally lost the ball, at which point we kicked it out and won the game. It was the first game of rugby I'd seen live and it was a doozy!

Can't think of any more right now, the memories of that night are coming back...

Thanks for putting that link up to the Ashes Fourth Test Day One disaster.

I've just have some good laughs reading through some of the comments there. Pride really does come before a fall, eh? :)

53. At 2:05pm on 30 Dec 2009, facemandave wrote:
As ever a bunch of football fans have hijacked a blog and assumed its all about them!

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And you assume its all about what you want - Football is by far and away the most popular sport in the country so it is natural to assume there will be more than a fair few football fans commenting. However, I didn't think this this thread was particularly football biased, relatively far more weight to minority "sports" like car pointing (or F1 as the t!ts who follow it refer to it).

Top five sporting moments of 2009:

5) Ireland hang on for the Grand Slam in the chaotic finish in Cardiff.

4) The Wimbledon epics. Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka holds up Newsnight and the Final that would never end.

3) Arsenal 0 Chelsea 3. Annihilation

2) Stuart Broad bowls 5 for 37 to destroy Australia at the Oval.

1) England 5 Croatia 1. Revenge is sweet (again).

Coming from India, your rules restrict my choice because there is very little sport in our country that has an impact on the world stage.

Except Cricket. We have the IPL. :P

1. Delhi Daredevils v/s Mumbai Indians - IPL 1.

The situation was simple. The team that lost would not make the semis. Mumbai came on to bat with their formidable pair of Jayasuriya and Tendulkar. Their blitzkrieg set Mumbai at 60/0 in a little over 5 overs. Then, amazing happened. Yo Mahesh came on to bowl. Sachin was out. The stadium erupted. A far cry from the hush that follows this god's dismissal in a country where people worship his effigies. The match had a lot more moments though. Mumbai struck 177 in their allotted 20 overs having lost 8 wickets.

After smashing Shaun Pollock for 18 runs in 4 balls, Sehwag's leg stump was knocked over 2 balls later by soon to be teammate Nehra. A largely shaky Gambhir soon followed alongwith TK Dilshan (for a duck) and this generally equals to Delhi losing. But 3 unfamiliar heroes rose that day. Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Karthik and Fervez Mahroof set up a thrilling win for Delhi with just a ball to spare.

Madness ensued as we exchanged a few colorful comments with the owners of the Mumbai Indians, reminding them of how they would never make it to glory that year.

2. Bayern Munich comes to India.

While this could be a yearly event in some European competition, in India, such a team coming is means the gods are smiling at us.

Robbed of the chance to see the likes of Ribery and Schweinsteiger who didn't travel, nobody really cared as one of the best teams in Europe was playing one of the oldest football clubs in the world in what was Oliver Kahn's last game for the Bavarian giants.

It was hardly a sporting spectacle, but it was amazing to see how puny our players look against the likes of ze Roberto and Christian Lell. Bagan was missing it's key players, no that it would have made a lot of difference. As is tradition in India, an unnecessary fracas at the end of the game took place which was embarrassing to say the least. Munich won 4-0.

Best moments in the last 10 years.

My higlights for 2009
3. This year's Tour de France with the Manx Express dominating the sprints and winning 6 stages and Bradley Wiggins' emergence as a all-round threat.
2. Jenson's Button & Brawn's F1 world championship although I do think Jenson will play 2nd fiddle to Lewis Hamilton this year.
1. As a (ice)hockey fan watching my team(Pittsburgh Penguins)lifting the Stanley Cup after an exhilarating deciding game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings. Marc-Andre Fleury's diving save with a couple of seconds on the clock and than the explosion of joy...absolutely brilliant!
My lowlights
3. Man United losing to Barcelona in the Champions League final although credit to Barca. United were outplayed for 80 minutes and totally deserved winning the game. It probably should have been an United-Chelsea final though.
2. Thierry Henry's handball....I'm not Irish but enough said I suppose.
1. The death of Sir Bobby Robson
Happy New Year

3) Anyone for another unbelievable Wimbo final and Federer becoming indisputably the greatest of all time?


2) In terms of personal joy (as an irishman) it had to be the grand slam win. It was a long 61 years coming!


1) Bolt. Ridiculous. Sublime. They haven't invented the superlative to describe this man. Definitely sportsman of the decade.

Sorry the only LIVE sporting moments I got close to this year, was bumping into Jenson button in the pool in Monaco, and checking out the bikes before the tour de France.
Did get to see the IRON MAN in Nice which is pretty impressive too actually.
Some of you lot must be on amazing salaries to have seen what you claim to have seen

73. At 8:04pm on 30 Dec 2009, Ste Thomas wrote:
Top Events I've witnessed

Ireland vs Wales Six Nations
About time the Irish won the Grand Slam. Such a talented bunch of players and justice after numerous years of trying.

Usain Bolt
Just unbelievable. How can he run that fast!!

Ashes
Just incredible. Lords in particular with Freddie and his 5 wicket haul and the last day at the Oval with Broad and his wickets and that throw from Freddie.

The worst event I've seen
Sale vs Wasps
Postponed because of 'unsuitable pitch'. Will never get over that!

---------------------------------------------------------------------
If it was postponed how did you get to see it?

Happy New Year from NZ. Got to be there live! So Vesnina v Wozniacki QF @ Auckland almost a year ago for excitement in a corporate won in a competition. Looking forward to more WTA 2010.

Completly agree with 23. Barcelona provided the best in football for a generation and I am surprised that it is not included in the list. Their demolition of Man U should provide an eye-opener to all who concentrate on watching the EPL and believing the hype.
A team that incluedes 3 of the top UEFA and FIFA players of the year should be included here.

PS. I saw them play 10 times at the Nou Camp this year...

87: you are supposed to have witnessed it live, not on TV that's why it's not included. Either the stadium was empty or the fans just don't read this blog.

It was good to see lots of comments about cricket as being the best sports seen. But I didn't see any T20 matches listed. That should put the debate on comparisons between T20 and tests to bed. Long live Test cricket - especially when we are winning!!

Some people here seem to think that seeing 'live' means watching the event happen on the telly as it happens, not quite what Fordyce meant I think!

Personally my year of watching live sport has been extremely limited so here are my top 3.

3. Paul Casey holing his 2nd shot for eagle on the 13th at Wentworth at the PGA

2. My overweight goalkeeper friend Luke getting chipped for Wrington FC Reserves more than once in the same match.

1. My first hole-in-one back in April. 2nd hole at Mendip Spring GC, 143 yards, 8 Iron. It never looked like it was going anywhere else!

Conclusion - I need to watch more live sport in 2010!

thierryinsa; doing the world of good for anglo-irish relations there. It's good to see that the spirit of sporting behaviour is still going strong, personally (being an Irishman), following your derogatory comments, I'll be looking forward to England's complete capitulation in the latter stages of the competition upon which blame will be placed firmly at the feet of some poor soul (ref; David Batty & David Beckham). Only time will tell who that unfortunate individual will be, but one thing is sure, the vast population of football supporters will be left laughing at the country who apparently spawned the game but struggle to play it anywhere near as well as they should.

Best of luck, "mate".

Worst (or most annoying): Make your mind up between Ryan Giggs winning the player of the year or Ryan Giggs winning sports personality of the year.

Makes a mockery of both awards as they aren't meant to be lifetime achievement awards.

Yes, he's a nice guy and has been consistently good for almost 20 years but no, he wasn't the Premiership's best player last year - and he certainly wasn't Britain's best sportsman of this calendar year.

Scotland V Australia at Murrayfield. Giteau misses last second conversion to win the match.

RE: 88 I was actually also there in Rome...but my point was really that it is a shame that this is very anglo-centric. Clearly the team that won everything they entered deserve a mention.

For the record..the best I saw them play was either the 4-0 demolition of Bayern (QF of the CL) or the second half of the Barca-Real game a few weeks back. Probably the best live football which has been witnessed in europe for quite some time.

The specification that it has to be 'something you saw in flesh' killed all my budding ambition. 'gallows humour' at Cardiff Test and how Jake got to the Oval Test are very enjoyable descriptions in the blog.

But for the stipulation mine for the worst would have been Chelsea vs Barcelona at Stamford Bridge where one man relentlessly and inexorably preempted 22 men from arriving at a fair result.

Thanks Tom, just be less demanding in future.

The best sport that I saw in 2009 was the British and Irish Lions three test matches against South Africa, with the second test the pick of the three. The Lions had been smashed for the first 60 minutes of the first test, but came back very strongly and very nearly won. For the first 60 minutes of the second test the Lions dominated and then a series of crucial injuries gave the Springboks the opportunity and they took it. The Lions lost both their props which meant uncontested scrums. Up to that point the Springbok pack had been under great pressure which was suddenly lifted. Their back row became much more influential. The Lions also lost what had begun to look like the best centre pairing in the World. They had been immense in attack and defence, and one could imagine that the Fourie would not have scored his try if O'Driscoll and Roberts had been on the field. The Lions were hanging on thanks to penalties from Jones, but some wrong decisions and great goal kicking by Steyn snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Immense, intense great sporting occasion. How the Lions picked themselves up after both near misses, and with half the team injured and won the third test is one of the reasons I am delighted that McGeechan has been knighted.

Living in Austria means I don't get to see too much top class sport, but I did get to see an incredible event back in late Jan. The World Cup slalom ski race in Schladming is held in the evening under floodlights, and is normally a fertile place for the top Austrian skiiers, and 2009 didn't disappoint, with Reini Herbst and Manfred Pranger making it an Austrian 1-2 in front of almost 50,000 drunk and crazy Austrians! For sheer atmosphere alone, the evening was right up there with going to the Nou Camp, or the Sydney Olympics, with so many flags and cowbells and heavy snowfall it really was quite an evening!

3-Lions second test against South Africa.We had ir and then suddenly it was over.Pride and Passion from every player which deservenely helped Mcgeechan to get a knighthood

2-Bolt 100m-Just incredible

1-Heinekan Cup semi final.It went to penalty shoot out! we wont see that for a while

Worst

3 England - Argentina rugby.Put me to sleep

2 Henrys handball

1 Newcaslte relegation -should never have went down( p.s im not a newcastle fan

Top 3...

1. I couldn't get tickets for the Ashes but the closest I got was Sussex v Australia. Sitting in a deckchair at Hove in the sunshine on Day 1 and Sussex actually did pretty well.

2. Quins RL v Leeds Rhinos at The Stoop. The away support was brilliant and so was the performance. So nearly hit the 50 points which would have had Phil Clarke walking home!

3. The first half of Man Utd v Tottenham at Old Trafford. I had to hitchhike from Stoke to Manchester after my coach broke down, got there in time for kick off and watched Spurs dominate the first half and storm into a 2-0 lead.

Worst 3...

1. Leeds Rhinos v Salford at Headingley where Leeds somehow managed to be beaten by one of the worst teams in Super League.

2. The Friends Provident Trophy Final - Sussex v Hampshire where Sussex lost their first game in 12 limited overs matches I think, very disappointing performance.

3. The second half of Manchester United v Tottenham, thanks largely to a certain Mr Howard Webb.

Hoping 2010 will be a brilliant year for live sport. In Whistler for the 2010 Winter Olympics then back in the UK for a summer of cricket, rugby league and then the 2010/2011 Premier League season. Bring it on!

As per my favorable sports events from world sports,watched,listened,written many comments on sports page-606- and in sports blogs, for me the following sports events,players action,audience watch,good umpire decisions, crowd behavior,arrangements,sponsors are the following orders.-
1.England!s first match cricket against Australia.
2.Memorable wins against Australia by England in cricket match.
3.Very wonderful Olympic games at Chinese capital, excellent reporting,analysis and coverages from our BBC world Services reporter,M/s.Mishal Husain,
4.Great tennis final.
5.Latest football matches.
6.Great display by Andy Murray in Tennis matches,even though not won in final stages.,