Chicago's Top Sports Stories of 2009
The 2009 Chicago Sports landscape has seen new stars emerge, others arrive in town, and some that fell flat. There have been amazing games, playoff series that defied logic, awards, injuries, teams changing hands, immortality granted, the perfect player (at least for one day), and as usual, disappointments.
When this year is looked back upon, it might be one of the most memorable even without a championship.
In 2010, we might see some coaches that have outlived their usefulness, teams that rebuild and others that make a run at their sport's pinnacle. At some point, as true Chicago sports fans, we will be waiting until next year.
For the second consecutive year, Northwestern finished 5-3 in the Big Ten. They slipped to 8-4 overall after a 9-3 regular season in 2008. The 2009 team will have the opportunity to win NU's first bowl since the 1949 Rose Bowl.
Northwestern has lost their last six bowl games. All have come since NU shocked the college football world by winning the Big Ten in 1995 when Gary Barnett took the Purple to Pasadena.
The 2009 team got off to a slow start. They lost some games they probably should have won and the team was not living up to expectations. Back-to-back losses to Syracuse and Minnesota in September dropped the Wildcats to 2-2. The 2008 team started 5-0 and then stumbled by finishing 4-4.
Sitting at a crossroads mid season, Northwestern traveled to Purdue. The Boilermakers took a 21-3 lead early in the second quarter, and NU's season seemed to be slipping away. A loss would have left NU 2-3, 0-2.
They crawled back in the game with 13 unanswered points in the second quarter to narrow the deficit to 21-16 at halftime. They continued to hold down Purdue and outscored the Boilers 11-0 in the second half to win 27-21.
Two signature wins highlighted the Wildcats' season.
Northwestern traveled to then undefeated Iowa with a 5-4 record. The Hawkeyes jumped out early with 10 points in the first quarter to take a 10-0 lead. A fumble recovery in the end zone and a TD pass put the Wildcats ahead 14-10 at the half, and they went on to win 17-10.
They finished the season with a wild 33-31 win over Wisconsin. Mike Kafka had one of his best games with 326 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The Wildcats closed the season by winning four of their last five to finish the season 8-4 and capture their second consecutive upper division finish in the Big Ten.
For the first time since the 1996 season, NU will play in a New Year's Day Bowl Game.
Derrick Rose Captures NBA Rookie of the Year
When the Bulls won the draft lottery in May of 2008, almost all of the Chicago fans wanted the Bulls to take hometown hero Derrick Rose. The debate at the top of the 2008 draft was between Rose and Michael Beasley.
Rose was eventually the choice and he helped the team improve by eight games in his rookie year. The Bulls won the right to draft Rose was despite having only a 1.7 percent chance in the lottery.
Rose started his rookie season strong. He was selected as the rookie of the month in November and December.
The Bulls muddled through the winter months before closing 12-4 to earn the Eastern Conference's seventh seed and a playoff matchup with the Boston Celtics.
Rose earned another rookie of the month award for March during the Bulls' strong finish.
In his first ever playoff game, Rose dominated the Celtics with 36 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists.
His 36 points tied the NBA's all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for most points by a rookie in his NBA playoff debut. In one of the NBA's most memorable series ever, Rose averaged 19.7 PPG, 6.4 APG, and 6.3 RPG.
Rose finished the regular season with averages of 16.8 PPG, 6.3 APG, and 3.9 RPG. He became only the third player in Bulls' history to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Michael Jordan won the award in 1985, and Elton Brand shared the award in 2000.
Milton Bradley's Repeated Meltdowns
When the Cubs acquired Milton Bradley during the 2008-09 offseason, many questioned the Cubs signing the mercurial outfielder.
Bradley was signed to a three-year $30 million contract. Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry was quoted as saying that he knew that the Cubs got their guy.
When Bradley was signed, he was considered to be a major piece for the Cubs to capture their first World Series in over a century. It seemed as if Bradley was ready to put controversy behind him.
In 2008 with Texas, Bradley hit .321 and led the Major Leagues in OPS. Bradley was quoted as saying he would do his best to not get emotional.
At the press conference to announce Bradley's signing, Jim Hendry said that the Cubs did their homework on their new right-fielder. "The opinion that he wouldn't be a good teammate or he would be a disruption in the clubhouse couldn't be further from the truth," Henry said.
Bradley was more his past than the promise that was made at his introductory press conference.
Bradley didn't waist much time getting into controversy with the Cubs. On April 16, Bradley bumped umpire Larry Vanover during a game and was suspended two games.
Other occurrences as the season went on included being told to go home by Manager Lou Pinella after a dugout argument and throwing the ball into the right field stands costing the Cubs two runs.
The final straw came in September. Bradley insulted Cubs fans, took himself out of a game without a pinch runner necessary, and criticized the culture of the Cubs specifically that they haven't won a World Series in over 100 years.
After an abysmal one-year stint in Chicago, Bradley was finally traded to Seattle in December for pitcher Carlos Silva.
Silva has a bigger contract and worse statistics, but getting rid of Bradley's attitude was worth it to anyone that cares about the Cubs.
Injury Ends Brian Urlacher's Season In the Opener
The Bears entered the 2009 season with high expectations after trading for Jay Cutler. Cutler was going to be the leader that would improve the Bears offense.
The Bears franchise always prides itself on defense. Urlacher has been the leader of that defense for the last decade. Through two coaching regimes and up and down seasons, Urlacher has been the face of the franchise. Entering this season, Urlacher was healthy for the first time in two years.
Urlacher was playing well against the Bears during the Sunday night opener. He had three tackles and broke up a pass in just over two quarters of play against the Packers. The injury seemed to occur earlier in the game, but Urlacher left after the first series of the second half.
The next day Urlacher sent a text message to the Tribune announcing his season was over. He had pins inserted into his wrist during surgery. The surgery required Urlacher to be in a cast for 10-11 weeks and would require another month of rehabilitation.
The Bears defense has never recovered. After getting off to a 3-1 start, the Bears have lost eight of their last 10. They haven't returned to the playoffs since making the Super Bowl after the 2006 season.
Bulls-Celtics Playoff Series
The Bulls improved by eight games from the 2008 season, largely because of the edition of Rookie of the Year, Derrick Rose. Even without superstar Kevin Garnett for their first round series match-up, the Celtics were still a heavy favorite against the inexperienced Bulls.
The Bulls opened the series with a bang.
Rose exploded for a rookie playoff debut record 36 points and the Bulls escaped with a 105-103 overtime win. The Celtics evened the series in game two when Ray Allen buried a three-pointer with two seconds left.
The Celtics seemed to take control of the series with an easy 107-86 win in game three. That's when the series got interesting.
With the Bulls down two games to one, they faced a must win game four at home. A loss would mean a 3-1 series deficit returning to Boston for game five.
After clutch shots by both teams, the Bulls eventually held on for a 121-118 double overtime win. Every Bull that played scored in double figures.
In a series that never ceased to amaze, game five needed overtime again. After a Paul Pierce shot put the Celtics up two with three seconds left, controversy took over.
Rajon Rondo fouled Bulls back up center Brad Miller hard. Bulls fans were shocked when a flagrant foul wasn't called. Should the Bulls have received two shots and the ball?
Miller received two shots to try and even the game and force a second straight double overtime game. Miller missed the first and then purposely missed the second.
The Bulls were unable to secure the rebound and the Bulls headed back home fighting for their playoff life down three games to two.
After five games, three that required a total of four overtimes, no one could have imagined what lied ahead for game six.
Fitting for the series, game six nearly doubled the four-overtime total of the first five games. The drama that occurred would have been dismissed as too unbelievable if it had been written.
Game six had enough drams and heroes to fill an entire series.
Ray Allen scored 51 points (three points shy of a team record) and Rajon Rondo had 19 assists for the C's.
John Salmons scored 35 points, Derrick Rose netted 28 and Joakim Noah pulled down 15 rebounds for Chicago.
The most memorable play of the 2009 NBA playoffs came from Noah in a most unlikely fashion. The Bulls center intercepted a pass and raced the length of the court to put the Bulls up late in the third overtime.
The Bulls' win sent the series back to Boston for game seven. They started out strong, but a 22-2 Boston run in the second quarter was the ultimately the difference in the game. The Bulls' loss dropped them to 0-6 on the road in game sevens.
Ben Gordon was amazing for the Bulls in the series.
He averaged 24.3 PPG and was the player the Bulls leaned on when they needed a big shot.
Rondo nearly averaged a triple double in the series and became public enemy number one in Chicago.
The series will go down as the most dramatic in NBA history.
The Blackhawks Resurgence
During the last ten years of the Bill Wirtz regime, the Blackhawks failed to generate much buzz in Chicago.
Their home games were not on TV and with only one playoff appearance they almost became an afterthought in the Chicago sports landscape.
When Bill died, his son Rocky inherited the team. Rocky instituted more modern practices of running an NHL franchise.
Behind young hot shots Jonathan Towes and Patrick Kane and a reawakening from Nikolay Khabibulin, the Blackhawks reached the conference finals for the first time since 1996.
Kane scored a memorable goal as part of a hat trick to help eliminate Vancouver in the second round. The Hawks also knocked off Calgary in the first round.
The season was their most successful in many years. They hosted the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on New Year's day and made their first playoff appearance in seven years.
For the first time in a long time, the Blackhawks mattered in Chicago. They went into the offseason generating excitement for their fans. The Hawks are on the verge of returning to the NHL elite for the first time since the mid-90s.
In the U.S., several Rust Belt senators, who are considered swing votes on the climate bill, have pushed for such a system to protect U.S. manufacturers from unfair competition from developing nations with no real emission limits -- and thus lower energy costs.