Like paper towels, hand sanitizer and common sense, superlatives were in short supply this year. Did you ever say “that was the best” play or sporting event you’d seen? Living in retreat, frustrated by the vacancy of it all, we learned it just wasn’t feasible.
Some nice things did happen, though. Here’s one man’s list of the 10 Best Sports Stories of the Year, certainly not exclusive and in no particular order:
1. The 49ers went to the Super Bowl. Forget the exasperation of defeat and the fractured season that followed; this was pure validation for head coach Kyle Shanahan, general manager John Lynch and a franchise revitalized. The 49ers didn’t so much beat the Green Bay Packers as they trampled them, led by Raheem Mostert’s 220 rushing yards and four touchdowns. The 37-20 victory was so impressive, Ronnie Lott told the Chronicle he liked the 49ers to beat Kansas City for the title. Not quite — but the buildup was a special time for the fans.
2. Arriving under a cloud of suspicion for a number of reasons, Gabe Kapler did an admirable job replacing Giants manager Bruce Bochy. The team was fun and exciting, barely missing out on the playoffs, and Kapler’s new-age theories were viewed with open minds. New faces abounded on the staff, including Alyssa Nakken, the first woman to be a full-time coach on a Major League Baseball team.
3. It was a breakthrough year for women in several ways. The Miami Marlins made Kim Ng the first female general manager of a Major League Baseball team. Blake Bolden became the first female scout for an NHL team. And Sarah Fuller, an accomplished soccer player at Vanderbilt, kicked two extra points against Tennessee to become the first woman to score points in a Power 5 football game.
4. It was nearly incomprehensible that Alex Smith would return to football after a gruesome leg injury and complications that led to 17 surgeries and talk of amputation. The quarterback once cast aside by the 49ers — in favor of Colin Kaepernick during their 2012 Super Bowl season — didn’t just get back in uniform. At the age of 36, playing with a titanium rod in his right leg, he orchestrated a four-game winning streak that put the Washington Football Team in playoff contention. Smith has been out since Dec. 13, when he injured his right calf against the 49ers, and his status is uncertain with WFT needing a victory against Philadelphia Sunday night to reach the postseason.
5. As the sport of tennis lurched through tournaments bereft of atmosphere or meaning, Wimbledon took a pass, refusing to settle for an empty product. Best of all, it had the foresight decades ago to take out a pandemic insurance policy. Of the roughly $100 million paid out to offset losses, $12 million was distributed to the players — more than 600 in all, including Wheelchair competitors and those well outside the top 300 rankings. The gratitude overflowed.
6. Just a year removed from finishing his studies at Cal, 23-year-old Collin Morikawa won the PGA Championship at Harding Park, a smoothly-run event that was held without major complication. Morikawa shot 64 on the final day, including a stunning eagle on the 16th hole that saw him drive the 293-yard par-4 within 7 feet of the pin.
7. In the face of rampant fear and skepticism, the NBA pulled off its bold attempt to finish the season in a “bubble.” Over the course of a restarted season running from late July through mid-October in Orlando, the league didn’t register a single positive test among the players. The Black Lives Matter movement got widespread exposure and there was a towering figure in LeBron James, who supported the leaguewide walkouts after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, became an influential figure in the decision to resume play (after a three-day break) and led his Los Angeles Lakers to the title.
8. At the age of 71, Dusty Baker took on the responsibility of managing the cheatin’ Houston Astros, found to have illegally stolen signs during the 2017 and ’18 seasons. Empty stadiums minimized the scorn, but there was plenty of contempt from opposing teams and media. Amid that swirl of derision, Baker’s Astros won playoff series against Minnesota and Oakland and rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to force a Game 7 against Tampa Bay. Baker, a man most baseball fans find impossible to dislike, had given them a reason to care.
9. So long considered a second-class program in the shadows of Cal and Stanford, San Jose State was the Bay Area’s best college-football story. The Spartans went unbeaten (7-0) for the first time since 1939 (13-0), including a convincing victory over Boise State in the Mountain West Conference championship game. In recording its all-time second-highest ranking (19) in the Associated Press poll, San Jose State accepted an invitation to play in Thursday’s Arizona Bowl against Ball State.
10. Virus-concerned fans kept their distance from the NFL, but there was one game in particular that stirred the soul. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had gone to the locker room for an extended time (with cramps, he later explained), and appeared to be out of a Monday night football game against Cleveland. With about two minutes left — just as his backup, Trace McSorley, had to depart with his own injury — Jackson came bounding out of the locker room in time to take the snap for a crucial 4th-and-5 play and throw a 44-yard, game-clinching touchdown pass. “Stranger than fiction,” said Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh. “Like a movie,” said one of Jackson’s teammates, J.K. Dobbins. Almost like old times.
Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1
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December 31, 2020 at 04:42AM
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From 49ers’ Super Bowl to Gabe Kapler’s debut season, 2020 sports had its moments - San Francisco Chronicle
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