2009-2010 Best Moments of the Year

Expansion looks like it's fizzling out. School has been out for a month. Football is still a good two and a half months away. What the hell else is there to do?

In my largely futile quest for some new material, I remembered a segment I did on my old radio show at BC: at the end of the year, my co-host and I gave our five big sports moments of the season. Granted, that was college AND pro, but I can make a slight modification for this article. This is kind of like a BCDraft article, except there's only one of me.

I'll give you my top five Boston College best moments of the year. You may feel free to disagree.

5. Co-ed sailing wins national championship

I can't do all revenue sports, you know. In fact, the two big money sports provided several of the items for the next article (and you can guess what that is). Anyway, you can't watch this team, you can't follow this team, and you don't even really know how this sport works, but dammit, when a BC team wins a national championship, they should be recognized. Aside from hockey, this doesn't happen around here very often, so it's surely one of the best things that happened in BC sports this season.


4. BC's come-from-behind win over Miami in the ACC Baseball Tournament

BC baseball had an average season. Sure, they won their Baseball Beanpot, but these young men ended up providing us with one exciting moment last month. As usual, the Eagles' bullpen imploded late in the ballgame, eventually putting BC behind 10-5 going into the bottom of the 9th.

Boston College got a few hits and closed to within 10-7. There were two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and John Spatola was the tying run. Spatola hit a game-tying three-run home run to center field and sent the game to extras, where Andrew Lawrence hit a two-run walk-off bomb to give BC their only ACC Tournament win of the season.

Why did I pick this moment, you ask? For one thing, having watched this team since I was a student at Chestnut Hill, I'll submit that that was the most dramatic finish to a BC baseball game I've seen. More importantly, however, was the fact that this game showed the character we want BC teams to have: they didn't quit despite long odds. This is the same team that went toe-to-toe with the #2 team in the country in the NCAA Tournament for 25 innings last year, and this year, they kept fighting, even though the results weren't as good. This moment in BC sports was the last bit of excitement we had this season.

3. Hockey wins Beanpot

Any day BU hockey loses is a good day. Any day BC hockey beats BU hockey is a better day. Any day BC hockey beats BU hockey to win the Beanpot is even better than that. That's precisely what happened in early February: the Eagles took back the Beanpot trophy for the 2nd time in three years after winning a close game at the TD Garden.

And Chris Kreider, the freshman sensation, did this:

2. Herzlich declared cancer-free

I tried thinking of great football moments this season to put on this list. Lord knows there weren't any great basketball moments aside from the occasional Reggie Jackson posterizing dunk. What could that moment be? BC's win against Wake Forest? No; they should have won in regulation, and if it weren't for Riley Skinner's turnover, they would have lost. How about Montel Harris lighting NC State up for five touchdowns? Nice, but not as nice as what I picked.

It dawned on me that the best football moment of the season came in October when Mark Herzlich announced he was cancer-free and finished chemo. He is a remarkable young man with a remarkable story, and like the baseball team, he exemplifies the BC spirit. He was faced with long odds as well, but he did not give up. Unlike the ballclub, however, he was fighting for his life and not some game. Herzlich fought the fight of his life and won that battle. His victory was also ours; one that all Superfans, college fans, and ordinary people can respect.

1. Hockey wins national championship

What else can we say about this hockey team that hasn't already been said? Not much, so watch the video:

The next article will be the not so good.