2006 was a year of triumphs, adversity
From Agassi to Bettis, Federer to Zidane, no lack of storylines this year
 Jamie Squire / Getty Images file Andre Agassi's tearful goodbye at the U.S. Open was one of the year's lasting images. |
For those who thought sports was about dealing with adversity, 2006 was for you. Almost no one came through it unscathed.
Not Tiger Woods, who put together one of the greatest second-half runs golf has ever seen, but only after before burying his father and dearest friend, Earl Woods.
Not Ben Roethlisberger, who won a Super Bowl in February, crashed his motorcycle in June and was laid up again by an emergency appendectomy just before the Steelers’ opener in September. Small wonder he struggled to regain his grip on a shaky team that likely won’t make the playoffs the season after winning it all.
Not Floyd Landis, whose too-good-to-be true comeback win at the Tour de France apparently was. Nor Justin Gatlin, who went from Olympic and world 100-meter sprint champ to chump when his drug test, too, came back positive.
And certainly not San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds. He passed Babe Ruth on the career home run list, but couldn’t shake suspicions raised by grand jury investigations and a best-selling book that he also was juiced when it mattered most.
Not Bode Miller, who partied like an Olympian but had a hard time skiing like one. Nor Italy’s World Cup-winning squad, which shrugged off a sordid match-fixing scandal back home and a startling head butt by French star Zinedine Zidane in the final — only to return and see several of its stars scatter to other leagues in Europe and a few top-tier clubs demoted to lower divisions.
Not even Barbaro was immune. The strapping bay colt steamrolled 19 other 3-year-olds at the Kentucky Derby, raising hopes the first Triple Crown since 1978 might be in the offing. Then he put a foot down wrong at the Preakness, fracturing his right hind leg, and the story was no longer about winning, but survival.
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That much seemed assured by year’s end as Barbaro prepared to leave the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center and return to the farm. Even a happy ending, though, couldn’t erase the haunting image of another breakdown in a racket that demands a steady supply of thoroughbreds testing their limits at an age when they’re as high-strung as teenagers and just as reckless.
“Put it this way,” recalled trainer Bob Baffert, a three-time Derby winner. “It’s the only race I’ve ever seen where they show the winner crossing the wire and almost nobody is acknowledging it. Everybody was in shock.”
So while nobody got off easy — isn’t that supposed to be the point of sports? — some had a smoother ride than others.
The Rose Bowl was the perfect backdrop for a coronation when Southern California dropped by in January to face Texas with a third straight college football championship on the line.
The game featured unbeaten teams on dizzying winning streaks, a collision that seemed ordained from the opening game of the regular season. It ended with two Heisman Trophy-winning stars on the Trojans’ sideline — quarterback Matt Leinart and tailback Reggie Bush — watching helplessly as Vince Young, the Longhorns’ one-man band, called the tune when it counted.
On the final play, out of options, Young tucked the ball under his bicep and took off for the corner of the end zone. Texas 41, USC 38.
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The same could be said about Leinart, Bush and Young, who soon scattered to Arizona, New Orleans and Tennessee as members of one of the best NFL drafts in memory.
Before they made their league debuts, the game gave a proper send-off to Jerome Bettis. A sketchy regular-season record put the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road for three straight playoff games, but by the time they reached Detroit, it felt like home. For Bettis, it was.
“The Bus” had logged 13 seasons by then and carried who-knows-how-many defenders on his back. But he’d never played in a Super Bowl, let alone one in his hometown. A year earlier, in the waning moments of New England’s win over the Steelers in the AFC championship game, Roethlisberger sought out Bettis on the sideline and promised to get him to Motown. Together, they rolled over Seattle 21-10.
“It’s been an incredible ride,” Bettis said, then retired on the spot. “The Bus’ last stop is here in Detroit.”
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