Wow. 2008. It was a pretty good year. I got a nice promotion at work. My wife gave birth to our second child and without getting an epidural. The election was awesome to follow and was pretty darn historic in its outcome. Nice year.
Not quite. My dog-brother Grizz had to be put down. My Grandma Dillier died. Our baby boy was nearly killed a day after his birth by a silly mistake. Then, unthinkably, my mom died. The best part of 2008 for me is that it is now over without any further shit.
Anyhow, I love all the top ten lists of stuff from the previous year, so I had to come up with my own. I give you my TOP TEN SPORTS MOMENTS OF 2008!
JOHN DILLIER’S TOP 10 SPORTS MOMENTS OF 2008
10. My Rare Athletic Feat: The Frisbee Toss
If I were as good at playing sports as I am at watching them, I would be very, very wealthy. As it is, I only have rare shining moments of sports glory. This year I attended GEEX: the Gaming and Electronics EXpo with some buddies from work. One of the booths handed out some foldable floppy frisbees. We decided to attempt to toss them up into the opening atop KSL TV’s trailer. My toss curved up and away from the trailer, then bent back down and straight into the hole. All were impressed with my skill. I would never be able to duplicate the feat if I tried, but I was a sports stud for that one moment in time.
9. Real Salt Lake Makes the Playoffs
This one would be ranked higher, except that I didn’t actually get to see it. It was on cable, and, due to cutbacks in the Dillier household, we didn’t have cable anymore (we now do have basic analog cable back). I had to read about the outcome of the RSL vs. Colorado Crapids season-ender after the fact. Yura tapped in a rebound from a Andy Williams blast that was deflected by the goalie. This happened in the 90th minute of the game and gave RSL the draw and point that it had to have to make the playoffs. After three disappointing first seasons, MLS playoff soccer had arrived in Utah.
8. Helmet Catch Guy
We had a fun get-together at our place for the annual Super Bowl party. Super Bowl XLII was supposed to be a blowout and the crowning of the first undefeated team since 1972. But, the Giants weren’t going to cooperate in the Patriots’ coronation. The Patriots held a slim 7-3 advantage going into the fourth after three quarters of defensive goodness. The Giants would score a touchdown and then the Patriots would answer, taking a 14-10 lead with 2:42 remaining. Eli Manning (who earlier in the season was making me wonder how he could possibly be Peyton’s brother with how sucky he played) drove the Giants down the field. On a 3rd and five, after somehow avoiding a sack, Manning threw up a prayer to some dude (David Tyree, but I totally had to look up that guy’s name) who caught the ball on his helmet for a 32-yard completion. The Giants would go on to score the winning touchdown. I still can’t believe that they won that game.
7. The Jazz Send Tracy McGrady Home Again
In their opening round playoff series, the Jazz took the first two games in Houston. Everyone started talking sweep, but then Houston took game three in Salt Lake, just the Jazz’s fifth home loss all year. The Jazz won game four but were then embarrassed with a 26 point loss in Houston in Game 5. The Jazz came home and won the series in Game 6, though, sending McGrady home with yet another first round elimination. He still has never won a playoff series in his career.
6. The Sierra Mist Goal of the Year
My brother J.P. and I attended the second ever game at Rio Tinto Stadium as F.C. Dallas came into town to face Real Salt Lake. The game was huge for RSL as they had to get a win in order to have a shot at getting into the playoffs. Dallas scored first and quickly. Yura Movsisyan equalized for RSL in the 35th minute. Then, at halftime, I bought my first ever beer at an RSL match (actually, J.P. bought it). I was still getting the beer started when, in the 54th minute, Will Johnson scored an unbelievable goal. He got a pass from outside the area, flicked it one time in the air, and then volleyed a rocket into the goal. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. On the MLS website it was voted as the goal of the year. The goal gave RSL the lead which they wouldn’t lose, winning a match they had to and making the last game of the season the next week in Colorado a very, very important one.
5. The BYU Game
I was extremely nervous about this game. We had lost to stupid BYU the previous two seasons. They are a good team. They kept things close, making it a just a three point Utah lead in the third. But then the wheels fell off the Cougar-mobile. The Utes would go on for an easy 48-24 victory after scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the forth. Some BYU fans had scored the seats next to ours (nice people by the way, and not afraid to swear at their team which I like to see), and they disappeared without a trace about halfway into the last quarter. Utah earned their undefeated regular season, and it was great to see everyone storm the field yet again this year (like after the Oregon State and TCU games). The best part was that I didn’t have to sweat over another Utah game in the final minutes.
4. Trevor Time One Last Time
The San Diego Padres had a horrible season. Heading into their final series of the year, they had to at least beat the Pittsburgh Pirates once in order to avoid 100 losses for the season. We made our annual trip to San Diego the week of that last series. They lost the first game of the series. We had tickets for the second game. In that game, the Padres scored three runs in the 1st inning. Woo hoo! They wouldn’t score again. The Pirates scored once in the 3rd and again in the 8th to make the score 3-2 going into the ninth inning. For a long time in San Diego baseball, a slim lead in the ninth meant one thing: TREVOR TIME. Trevor Hoffman came out to AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells as he had for years. He was able to get the save, giving the Padres the win they needed to avoid the dreaded 100-loss mark. Since then the Padres have retracted their contract offer to Hoffman, which means we likely saw his last ever save in a San Diego uniform.
3. The Oregon State Game
Oregon State came into Rice-Eccles Stadium the week after they knocked off number one USC. The game was pretty back-and-forth. Brian Johnson was horrible in the third quarter. The fourth quarter wasn’t much better, and Oregon State scored a touchdown with 2:18 left to go up 28-20. Fans around us got up and walked out at that point. You know, the state of Utah has a lot of jackass sports fans. Anyways, I myself also figured the game was over, but I didn’t consider leaving when we were only a touchdown and 2-point conversion away from tying the game. The problem was that I didn’t trust Johnson to get a first down, much less a touchdown. Well, Brian played out of his mind, drove the Utes down the field, and scored a touchdown. His pass for the 2-point conversion was incomplete, but Oregon State was called for Pass Interference, and we scored on the second try, tying the game. The Utes held the Beavers to three-and-out on their next possession, and then were able to drive down into range for the Louie (LOO-EEE!!!) Sakoda game winner. Wow, what a game!
2. Rio Tinto Stadium Opens
Having a permanent home for our top tier soccer team was a dream come true for me. Real Salt Lake is here to stay. Walking inside the stadium and into the seats was one of my favorite sports moments ever. The field was beautiful (and only soccer lines!). The sight lines were amazing. This is what watching a soccer match is supposed to be like. The rest of the night was a bit rough as our children were difficult, and RSL could muster only a draw against the Red Bulls. I will never forget walking into that stadium for the first time, though. OUR major league soccer stadium. Thanks, Salt Lake County tax payers!
1. The TCU Game
The much-hyped “blackout” game. TCU went up 10-0 in the first quarter. Things looked pretty grim at that point. Utah managed a couple of field goals before halftime to make it a 10-6 game, but I was very worried about our chances. The end zone seemed like a dreamland we would never see this game. Nobody scored in the third and for much of the fourth. TCU missed two seemingly easy field goals after the Ute defense stepped up to stop TCU drives. The second miss gave Brian Johnson the ball at the Utah 20 with 2:48. He drove the team down, including a season-saving 4th down conversion, to score the winning touchdown. Once again, Utah had won a game that I had given up on. I got a little emotional about it, which is lame, but understandable considering what was happening in my personal life at the time. It was a bright moment of happiness to replace much sadness. I was mourning a huge personal loss, and I had already begun to mourn the loss of Utah’s perfect season before they pulled this one out for me.
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