Best 6 for 06 – Sporting Events

Being a sports fanatic I’ve compiled a list of some of the most memorable Australian sporting moments of 2006. I’ve excluded international greatness from the list because I don’t really follow every sport overseas and for example I wouldn’t know anything about NFL or NHL etc (I’ve included some in the mentions). I’ve even tried to suppress my bias in this post as those who know me will be able to tell.
Well here we go:

6) Queensland defeats New South Wales 16-14 in the dying stages of the match to take out the State of Origin series. A horrible performance by NSW allows for Qld to touch the trophy again, after so many years of NSW dominance, it is the first time since 2002!

5) The Commonwealth Games held in March 2006 saw Australia take home a extremely large amount of medals and topped the medal tally (Well did you expect anything else?)

4) Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup win the Bathurst 1000 for Ford after a 7 year drought. They also pick up the inaugral Peter Brock Trophy, in memory of the great driver himself. 7 years… I say nothing.

3) West Coast Eagles beat the Sydney Swans in the AFL Grand Final by one point, 85-84. A thriller right down to the last second, the Eagles get their revenge from the Swans after the previous grand final. The number of close games between the two teams in recent times has surely created a rivalry between the clubs.

2) The Ashes whitewash, Australia smashing England 5-0 and add to that Warne’s 700th wicket and the departure of many from the Test team, leaves for one memorable series and has shut the mouths of many English supporters.

1) How could we forget the biggest event of the year? The event which brought a whole nation together and resulted in late nights and hungover days at work the next day. Australia qualifies for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 32 years and play their first game against Japan. So much hope and anticipation! All of which is dampened when Japan score the first goal. Then in the dying minutes of the game, Cahill pulls some magic not once, but twice and Australia win the game 3-1! Hope is restored! People start talking about making the next round. The rest, as they say, is history.

Honourable Mentions

Kobe Bryant scores 81 points. The second highest amount of points in a game in the history of the NBA. Quite an incredible feat.

Liverpool beat West Ham Utd to claim the FA Cup title after an equalizer in stoppage time brings the score to 3-3. They then go on to win the penalty shootout and the Cup. Fans say it is the best FA Cup Final ever, all I know is its the first one I didn’t get to watch for 5 years. Typical.

Well it was quite a great year for sport. We await for what 2007 has in store…