Last year I was able to zip through this intro by essentially utilizing the prior years' descriptions. In hindsight, 2015 was a pretty stagnant year, so it was fitting that even the little summary at the top of the yearly post was shortcut. There wasn't much to say. Why spend the time?
This year? Not so much. Over the past decade there have been bits and pieces that gave me the "I guess this is growing up..." feeling, but 2016 was the year that was fully realized, I believe. I'm getting married. I bought a house. I got unreasonably angry at basically everything on the internet. In short, I'm an old man. That happened quickly.
While the real world was streaking by, pop culture also surged on (for better or worse). What follows next is my yearly attempt to recap all of my favorite pieces of the year. Admittedly, I was slacking this year in movies and TV. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on those below. For this year, at least, I will proceed without those categories. With some minor dedication, I hope to bring them back in the future. [In the meantime, hit up the resident experts on the topics on Twitter, if you wish. Movies: @A_Yacina or @HolyTriFootball TV: @MrFries69 They know more on the two disciplines that I could ever hope to.] In order to make up for those exclusions, I've supersized the categories that I do have. I hope you enjoy the deep dive. Now, without further ado, let's check out the best of 2016, Music & Sports...
Top Albums of 2016
Honorable Mention: St . Paul & The Broken Bones - Sea of Noise; Tacocat - Lost Time; Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Live A Levee; Mystery Jets - Curve of the Earth; Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
An extremely talented collaborator (he worked on Dr. Dre's Compton), Paak is at his best on Malibu when he singles himself out. The tracks that he writes and produces, keeping one singular focus, are the standouts.
Essentials:
The Bird
While the Parquet Courts quirks still shine through from time to time, most of Human Performance is reigned in, more mature sounding, indie rock.
Essentials:
Berlin Got Blurry
The founding member of The Grateful Dead set out to write an album of "cowboy songs", with the result as satisfying a collection of acoustic works as I can recall in recent years.
Essentials:
Only A River
One More River To Cross
Using his experience in San Fermin as a springboard, Tate delivered a debut of songs that would slide seamlessly into Ellis Ludwig-Leone's songbook.
Essentials:
At Ease
Presenting a decidedly different mood than his first two full lengths, The Colour In Anything sees the artist relinquishing some producer controls to the great Rick Rubin & Justin Vernon to pretty amazing results.
Essentials:
Radio Silence
I Need A Forest Fire
This record peaks with the nearly perfect Shut Up Kiss Me (quite possibly the best song of the year), but overall Olsen does an admirable job following up the success of her last album.
Essentials:
Shut Up Kiss Me
Sister
The best soul release in a year full of great ones, this is a record not to be missed.
Essentials:
One More Night
Cold Little Heart
Dead set on never making the same album twice, Justin Vernon incorporated electronic sounds in a way never before seen from Bon Iver, to varying results.
Essentials:
33 "God"
22 (Over S∞∞n)
The album so good that the Grammys changed their qualification rules to allow it in. Pencil this one in for best rap album next February.
Essentials:
No Problem
All We Got
If MoBo's last effort was the typical sophomore slump, then this was the triumphant comeback. At some point (while I wasn't looking) Modern Baseball shoved to the forefront of the emo revival.
Essentials:
Everyday
Wedding Singer
Featuring members of Future Islands, this Baltimore based outfit performs their live shows dressed as snails. A perfect compliment to an album of songs about living like one of the animals.
Essentials:
Tight Side of Life
Snails Christmas (I Want A New Shell)
Radiohead's folk album is one of the most consistent offerings of the year, featuring a surprise for longtime fans at the end.
Essentials:
True Love Waits
Burn The Witch
These New Jersey kids dropped the debut of the year in the rock genre, coupling some classic indie traits with some country leaning tendencies.
Essentials:
Old Friends
Cadmium
Price has been on the verge of a potential breakout in Nashville for a few years, but she caught her turning point this spring, performing material from Midwest Farmer's Daughter on Saturday Night Live.
Essentials:
Hurtin' (On The Bottle)
Since You Put Me Down
No disrespect to Pinegrove, Margo Price, and the other first timers listed above, but americana songwriter Brent Cobb had the best debut record of the year.
Essentials:
Shine On Rainy Day
Solving Problems
A retreat to earlier works, this record bears a much poppier sound than 2013's Hummingbird which helps keep it fresh.
Essentials:
Fountain of Youth
Villany
Without hesitation, I'll tell you that this is one of the best records Tom Petty has been involved in throughout his career. And that is saying something.
Essentials:
Dreams of Flying
Trailer
Welcome to Hell
Kanye started the year by releasing a track on New Years and slowly melting down more and more until The Life Of Pablo finally made it to us in February. Antics aside, the guy keeps killing it with his releases.
Essentials:
Ultralight Beam
Saint Pablo
Ten songs in 24 minutes. Sounds just like a Joyce Manor album. Except they managed to sneak in an acoustic track and a song over four minutes (both firsts for the band).
Essentials:
Fake I.D.
This Song Is A Mess But So Am I
Last You Heard Of Me
After reinventing the outlaw country genre in 2014, Simpson largely abandoned that route for a more traditional sound in the follow up, an album penned to his newborn son.
Essentials:
Sea Stories
Keep It Between The Lines
Call to Arms
Top Songs of 2016
Trying to rank songs is an absolute lost cause, so rather than doing that, this year's list is presented as a shuffle playlist. No ranking or order needed, but I hope you'll enjoy anyway.
Top Sports Moments of 2016
#25) Trevor Story's Hot Start - April: The Rockies' rookie made his MLB debut by hitting HRs in his first 4 games (the ever to do that). Story ended April with 10 HR & 20 RBI to win NL Rookie of the Month.
#24) Tour de France Banner Deflates/Falls - July 8: At the end of Stage 7, the inflatable 1KM banner overhanging the road deflates and falls onto the course, collecting leader Adam Yates in the wreckage. All involved received the same time for the stage.
#23) Auston Matthews Debut - October 12: Maple Leafs' rookie and 2016 #1 overall pick took the ice for the first time and promptly scored four goals against Ottawa. He became the third youngest player to score four in a game at 19 years old.
#22) Jordan Spieth's Meltdown - April 10: Despite leading after seven consecutive rounds at Augusta National, Jordan Spieth stepped to the 12th tee on Sunday at the Masters and absolutely imploded. After hitting his tee ball into the water, he chunked his drop into the same pond en-route to a quadruple bogey 7 and snatched defeat from the jaws of certain victory.
#21) Bartolo's Swing Swing - May 7: Bartolo Colon's swing is brutally awful. Sometimes his helmet falls off during it. But that didn't matter when the 43 year old pitcher connected on James Shields and deposited his first career long ball into the Petco Park seats. The internet may not have loved anything else more all year.
#20) David Ortiz Last Game At Fenway - October 10: The key piece of the Red Sox three titles in the past 12 years played his final game at Fenway Park, and ever, during the ALDS. He goes out with 541 HR, over 1,700 RBI and a near certain spot in Cooperstown in a few years.
#19) Vin Scully's Last Game at Dodger Stadium - September 25: Each member of the Dodgers' organization tipped their helmet toward the press box in honor of Scully throughout the game, but they saved their best tribute for last. Journeyman Charlie Culberson connected on a walkoff, division clinching HR in the bottom of the 10th to send Scully out while calling one more memorable moment in Chavez Ravine.
#18) Klay Thompson Explodes Again - December 5: Klay Thompson can certainly pour in buckets at times. The Pacers had no chance on this night as Thompson caught fire to the tune of 60 points in 29 minutes. Advanced stats show Thompson only possessed the ball for 88 seconds all night and dribbled a mere 11 times. That doesn't even seem possible.
#17) Mad Max Ks 20 - May 11: Max Scherzer has been among the most dominant pitchers in baseball over the past few years, but even he took it up a notch with his 20 strikeout performance, tying a MLB record, against the Tigers in May. It was Scherzer's first start against his former team since leaving Detroit in Free Agency.
#16) Daytona Duel - February 23: With teammate Matt Kenseth leading on the last lap of the Daytona 500, Denny Hamlin was able to make up ten car lengths, sneak by Kenseth and lock up with Martin Truex Jr for the final 500 yards. On the outside, and after 200 mph contact, Hamlin claimed victory by .011 seconds, the closest margin in race history.
#15) Coastal Carolina Claims Title - June 30: The Chanticleers took Arizona to a decisive third game of the College World Series and hung four runs in the sixth inning en route to the school's first national championship in any sport. Everyone loves a good underdog story.
#14) Middle Tennessee Busts Brackets Everywhere - March 18: Speaking of a good underdog story... Middle Tennessee State got the NCAA Tournament underway by dropping #2 seed Michigan State and blowing up office pools across the country. The Blue Raiders did drop their round of 32 game, but at that point, the damage was already done.
#13) The Rumble in the... Rodgers Center? - May 15: The brewing feud between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers really hit a tipping point in early May as Rougned Odor punched Jose Bautista in the face. It was perfect. Bautista is the worst. Waive the five year Hall Of Fame qualification period and get Odor there as quickly as possible. He's an American hero.
#12) Henrik Breaks Through - July 17: Henrik Stenson finally got on the board as a major winner by prevailing in an amazing Sunday battle with Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon. Stenson shot a final round 63, just besting Mickelson's 65 to win the tournament by three. Those two were 11 strokes clear of everyone else thanks to a masters class in golf on Sunday afternoon,
#11) Iceland Takes Europe By Storm - June: Euro 2016 was notable for a few reasons, not the least of which was Iceland shocking the entire continent with a quarterfinal run. After gathering five points from a group that included eventual champion Portugal, the underdog side handed England one of the worst defeats in the country's history before eventually succumbing to France in the quarters.
#10) Phelps Is The Best Ever - August: Returning for one more Olympic games, Michael Phelps made it count, tallying six total (five gold) medals in Rio. Phelp's leg of 4x100 freestyle relay changed the complexion of that race entirely and put gold in the Americans' hands. The most decorated Olympian of all time swears he's done for real this time.
#9) Durant Picks Golden State - July 4: The NBA dove even deeper in to the superteam era this summer when Kevin Durant chose to leave Oklahoma City and take his talents to the Bay Area in one of the more controversial choices of the year. The rich get richer.
#8) Mamba Out - April 14: Thankfully the 2016 Lakers were one of the worst teams in franchise history, giving Kobe a blank slate to keep chucking up shots on his last night at the Staples Center. Mamba jacked 50 shots in total, accounting for 60 points and scoring the winning basket in the Lakers' 17th win of the year that would have otherwise been extremely forgettable.
#7) Peyton Wins Another - Despite missing time midseason, Peyton Manning was the one to hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy on the first Sunday in February. The Broncos defense overwhelmed the Panthers from the start and the game was a relative dud. That's irrelevant. It's all a footnote to the exclamation point on Manning's career.
#6) Kris Jenkins Lifts Villanova - April 4: Poor Marcus Paige is all but forgotten in this game, even though he hit an impossible 3-pointer with just a few seconds left to tie the National Championship game. Kris Jenkins got a look from 30 feet and buried it. Zeroes. That was cold blooded.
#5) Leicester City Conquers Premier League - May: Somehow, in a year of improbable champions, Leicester City is the most unlikely. The Foxes never broke under the pressures of a long season and cashed in on one of the sporting miracles of a generation. The only thing keeping this from the top spot is the ease with which they seemingly won the season title.
#4) Jose Fernandez Dies in Tragic Boat Accident - September 25: The morning of September 25th was a terrible one for the entire sports community, as we all awoke to the news of Marlins' pitcher Jose Fernandez's death in a boat accident in Miami. The circumstances surrounding the crash are still murky, but that does not change the fact that a transcendent talent was lost that morning with so much life left to live. In the Marlins' first game after the accident, teammate Dee Gordon launched his only home run of the year in his first at bat, creating an emotional scene.
#3) Muhammad Ali Succumbs to Parkinson's - June 3: It was easy to forget how intimidating Muhammad Ali was in his career. That version of the man stands in stark contrast to the one we have seen for the past few decades as his health slowly deteriorated due to Parkinson's Disease. In June, the disease finally claimed his life. He was the Greatest and he wasn't afraid to tell you about it. The outpouring of respect from the sports community in the days following his death was spectacular. We were all reminded that The Rumble in the Jungle and The Thrilla In Manila were possibly the best boxing matches ever. We saw that Ali's mixture of strength and speed was never seen before and may never be seen again.
#2) Believe-land - June 19: Lebron James fulfilled his promises and brought Cleveland their title. Five decades of torturous Cleveland losses were wiped clean in a matter of minutes as James and the Cavaliers celebrated their first NBA title on the floor at Oracle Arena. The long suffering Cleveland finally had their championship. Lebron had finally shed that weight from his shoulders. They did it in one of the most dramatic ways possible, erasing a 3-1 series deficit against the best team in NBA history. I'd say they earned it.
#1) Cubs Win! Cubs Win! - November 7: Cleveland gonna Cleveland, I guess. Five months after the basketball team shook off a seemingly insurmountable series deficit, the Indians did the exact opposite, allowing the Cubs to claw back and force Game 7 after the Tribe lead 3-1 in the series. This was an absolute classic. The Cubs threatened to boat race Game 7, but the Indians got to Aroldis Chapman and scored three runs in the 8th to get back to level. Rajai Davis provided the big shot, a twp run bomb off Chapman with two outs in the inning. After forcing extra innings, a rain delay stopped the game for roughly 20 minutes, allowing the Cubs to compose themselves a bit and halting the Indians momentum. Out of the delay, Ben Zobrist doubled to score Albert Almora Jr, and Miguel Montero singled Zobrist home. Three outs later, and Mike Montgomery locked down the Cubs' first World Series title in 108 years. Just like they drew it up!
