By Jacob Perelman
January
College Football Playoff National Championship (CFP): Georgia Bulldogs v. Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs
Every winter, the CFP pits the best teams from every conference, like the PAC-12, the Big 10, and the ACC against each other. They meet in a bracket-style tournament, with the winning teams from each side meeting in the CFP Championship. In the finals, the Georgia Bulldogs faced the TCU Horned Frogs in a thrilling, early scoring game. The Bulldogs routed the Horned Frogs 65-7, setting a new record for “biggest blowout” in the College Football Playoffs, with a margin of 58 points.
February
Super Bowl LVII: Kansas City Chiefs v. Philadelphia Eagles
I’d personally call this the Kelce Bowl. Jason Kelce, center for the Eagles, faced off against his brother, Travic Kelce, the tight end for the Chiefs. The Chiefs emerged victorious, winning 38-35, led by quarterback and Super Bowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes.
The two teams ended up scoring a combined amount of 73 points, the 3rd highest- scoring Super Bowl of all time. While this might not seem like much, let’s put it into perspective: the highest-scoring Super Bowl of all time reached a combined 75 points, back in 1995.
March
World Baseball Classic Finals: Japan v. United States
I’m surprised I didn’t remember the World Baseball Classic (WBC) faster than I did. The World Baseball Classic is like the World Cup of Baseball. Baseball players from all over the world and from different levels play for their home countries during the month of March, once every 4 years. Pretty special, right?
The WBC culminated in what will go down as one of the best at-bats of all time, in my opinion. Mike Trout, one of baseball’s super stars, played against his Los Angeles teammate, Shohei Ohtani who is known as the “Japanese Babe Ruth.” It was the final inning, two outs, and the U.S. is down by a single run. If Trout hits a home run, the game goes to overtime— otherwise Japan wins.
Ohtani pitched and struck out his former teammate, winning the WBC for Japan, and creating one of my favorite baseball moments ever.
April
March Madness 2023
Yes, I know, it says “March Madness” and I put it for April, but the finals were in April, so I’m counting it.
The March Madness tournament is a single-elimination tournament, which means if you lose a game, you go home. 68 teams compete across 7 rounds, leading to the Final Four, and eventually the Championship Final. This year, the University of Connecticut Huskies took home the trophy.
Granted, this isn’t an event on the scale of the Super Bowl, or even the World Baseball Classic. However, the only other events which occurred in April were the PGA Tour and MLB Opening Day, and of course, I would not write about golf.
May
Ohtani Makes History (Again)
I mean, seriously, this guy just doesn’t take a break. Once again, he lived up to being the “Japanese Babe Ruth.”
On May 10th, Ohtani recorded his 502nd career strike out, passing Babe Ruth’s previous record and taking the title for the most career strikeouts while also having more than 100 home runs in their career.
Ohtani doesn’t have nearly as many home runs as Babe Ruth did… but, I mean, give it time. Ohtani’s done some other crazy things in his career, but that would take a whole other article for me to write about. (Hey, there’s an idea).
June
Domingo German’s Perfection
Domingo German of the New York Yankees, (the team to which I’m faithful) was benched for alcohol issues, but not before making history.
On June 28th, Domingo German threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history. This was a very unlikely event because German was the 3rd string pitcher. He was good, but no one could have predicted the history he made that game. I certainly wouldn’t have bet on him. Unfortunately, he’s been benched, so we won’t see him pitching in a Yankees uniform anytime soon. In my opinion, I think the perfect game was a stroke of luck. They played the Oakland Athletics, who finished the season with only 50 wins. That’s Detroit Pistons bad.
As you can tell, this article only includes the first 6 months of the year. Come back to read Part 2 in the coming weeks.
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