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Names- Games- Shames- and Fames of 2004 (Part III of III)

900 words to conclude my series.

I hope you enjoyed 2004 as much as I detested it.So we embark on the final stage of this three-part series.

I have told you my predictions from last year and my guarantees for the upcoming year. I made you laugh or I made you chuckle, or maybe I went right over your head. Or maybe you missed the first 2 parts.

But Part III is really different. I have to award my awards.

And being that I like to categorize things, there will be 4 categories: Names, Games, Shames, and Fames.

Let us begin.

Names

Most Criticized Name: Latrelllllllll Spreeeeeeewelllll! But you gotta sympathize with him. He has to feed his family, or else he’ll be standing in line to get food stamps in 2004.

I Want “Pete Rose” to be my New Name: Jeremy Roenick. Gotta feel bad for the guy. 6-figure gambling problem and now he is only making $10,000 a month. I do sincerely hope he gets over his problem though.

Don’t Ask Me to Spell This Name: As always (except when the Rams won the Super Bowl and last year when that Steelers’ fullback won), gotta go with Coach K, Mike Krechesvzgi (Mike Krzyzewski?).

OK, I’ll Spell this Name: John L. Smith, Michigan State. Can it get easier?

Forgiven Name: Bill Buckner and Ken Caminiti. Time and history vindicated the first and the people the second.

Forgotten Name: So many people make this list, unfortunately I cannot think of any of them. So many forgotten through time.

Games

Best Game: Most may say the Super Bowl or an NCAA Final Four thriller, but none of those come close. It came down to a few things, but the best was when Iraq played their bronze medal soccer match. Yes they lost, but that game was more symbolic than anything else was this year.

Worst Game: Iowa 6, Penn State 4. No, that was not Women’s Soccer. That was a football score. Need I say more?

Least Talked About or Watched Game (major sports only): MLB All-Star Game.

Happiest Game: Watching the Lakers go down in Game 5 to the Pistons.

Saddest Game: Ivanisevic (OK, new nominee for the spelling name) going down in the third set to Hewitt in the third round in the third Wimbledon since his championship.

Tuck Rule Game: One-point safety in Texas A&M @ Texas. This was a no-brainer.

Worst Use of the Word “Game”: This morning when Mike Greenberg referred to professional baseball as “the game of baseball.” A “game” is not played for real money. Monopoly is a “game”; High-school baseball is a “game”. Not baseball.

Shames

Family of Shame: Joe Pa insists that he stays on. Losing has even rubbed of onto his son, who lost his bid for the House from Pennsylvania.

Most Shameballs: Ricky Williams. “I’m retired. No, I’ll come back. Screw that I’m retired. Wait, I’ll consider. Oh eff it, I’m still done.”

Inductees to the Hall of Shame: Jeremy Foley and the former AD and former president at Auburn. Also gotta add in the Rangers pitcher who threw a chair into the stands. He does not deserve the time it takes for me to look up his name. Finally, failed Illinois senate candidate Alan Keyes who refused to congratulate Obama for his win and blamed the media for his loss. By the way, he lost by nearly 50 points. Hmmm. Maybe it was himself.

Reinductees to the Hall of Shame: Latrell Spreewell and Ron Artest. They now each have a room for themselves. No coaches or food stamps in Latrell’s room; no rap albums in Artest’s.

Avoiding the Shame: Jason Giambi. At least he came clean, even though we already knew he was on ‘roids.

Without Shame: Me. I have no shame for all the people I have insulted or criticized, except those not making $13,000,000 a year.

Fames

Deserved Fame: Michael Phelps and his Olympic counterparts from all around the world.

Missing Fame: Phelps’s Olympic counterparts from all around the world.

Undeserved Fame: The Irish priest who interrupted the Olympic Marathon. Don’t forget the people in charge of the computer bowls for the BCS. They deserve no fame at all. Any reality TV Show qualifies as well.

Rookie to Gain Fame: Ben Roethlisberger (another hard to spell name). He deserves it.

Veteran to Gain Fame: Carl Pavano has earned it, and now he is the creme of the Free Agent crop. Martin St. Louis has earned it the last 2 years playing for the Lightning. Drew Brees has come into his own playing Quarterback on the left coast.

Wrong Reasons to Gain Fame: Dick Ebersol. It wasn’t his fault, but it is sad to here what happened to the head of NBC Sports. Hopefully he recovers. He was the mastermind behind NBC’s decision to go 24-hours-a-day of Olympic coverage.

Kinda Funny that a Buccaneer Beat a Bronco into the Hall of Fame: Congrats Elway on becoming a Hall of Famer, the first Bronco to earn the award.

Well, that is it. I told you the Names, Games, Shames, and Fames of 2004.

Before that I gave you my guarantees for 2005.

And before that I recapped for you my predictions of 2004.

So I hope you enjoyed this epic three-part series. I sure did. Until next year take care.

In the mean time, enjoy sports and more informal banter. I’ll hang around.

Good luck everyone.

Good luck Dick Ebersol.

Take care and good night.

By bsd987

I have written for SportsColumn.com since 2004 and was named a featured writer in 2006. I have been Co-Editor of the site since January 1, 2009. I also write for BleacherReport.com where I am a founding member of the Tennis Roundtable and one of the chief contributors to both the Tennis and Horse Racing sections.

I am "Stat Boy" for Sportscolumn.com's weekly podcast, Poor Man's PTI.

I am currently a Junior at Rice University majoring in History and Medieval Studies. My senior thesis will focus on the desegregation of football in Texas and its affect of racial relations.

Please direct all inquiries to [email protected].

Thanks,
Burton DeWitt
Co-Editor of Sportscolumn.com

2 replies on “Names- Games- Shames- and Fames of 2004 (Part III of III)”

Brilliant This was the best one yet. although pt. II was a bit rough, you bounced back and came up with an amazing column.

Thank you Your compliments are always well taken. Good luck with your articles.

I also want to thank everyone who has put up with me for the last 2 months. That alone deserves an award. I’m sorry I did not give anyone the award. I may have to make a Part IV of III, but I don’t think I’m THAT crazy.

Thanks to everyone and good luck.

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