By: Rashad Milligan
This year in Sportz definitely stood among the best in my memory. Although no national titles were claimed by my favorite squads, progress remained eminent. So to commemorate just a little of this year’s magic, allow us to take a trip down memory lane looking back at my top 10 personal 2015 memories in Sportz!
10) Floyd remains unbeaten/Rousey’s talk falls short
Arguably the best and most hated athlete of our time Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally faced Manny Pacquiao in 2015. This was a fight I’ve been waiting for since I was about 13 and when the fight was officially announced I was no longer a teenager. Years of Mayweather bashing was partially stopped after Floyd controlled the fight, just as much as he did in his previous 47 fights, beating who most experts called his toughest opponent. Both the fighters were pretty old at that point of their careers, so just to set in stone even more he’s the best athlete of our generation, Mayweather fought up-and-comer Andre Berto and won again to step out of the ring with a 49-0 record.
“Muhammad Ali may have been the greatest, but I’m The Best Ever,” Mayweather infamously said, a lot in 2015. If the numbers never lie, it’s extremely difficult to go against the man’s claim if anyone is talking about All-Time welterweight greats.
Now that the in the ring bases have been covered, onto what made this specific combination of stories intriguing enough to make my top 10 memories of the year.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a net worth of $650 million and he has no intentions of hiding that fact. Whether he’s making it rain, training to win again, throwing private parties for himself or just visiting a TV show, Floyd Mayweather Jr. makes it very clear that Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s net worth is $650 million. That, other than the fact no current welterweight can beat him, bothers a lot of people: including 2015 icon Ronda Rousey. Rousey gained most of her notoriety after she defeated Cat Zingano in a UFC record 14 seconds. After the fight, Rousey appeared on movies, TV shows and commercials as one of this year’s biggest Sportz stars. Rousey cruised the train of glory the entire way and decided to get in a back-and-forth with Mayweather, taking shots at his domestic violence past, only to lose and admit to her own past with Domestic Violence.
Moral of the story: You can try to act like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or try to bring him down, but you’ll never be The Best Ever.
9) Super Bowl night
Katy Perry gets a lot of props for bringing out Missy Elliot at halftime. I experienced this night in Primetime Sportz's very own Jared Oliver’s room, with him rooting for the Patriots and myself rooting for the Seahawks. Marshawn Lynch gave the media a fun-filled season and Russell Wilson took the ultimate W for nice guys worldwide. The Patriots, on the other hand-were just cheaters. After Jermaine Kearse made a catch off of his feet, I began screaming in Mr. Oliver’s face about how cheaters never win. The championship match of the year came down to one play, where head coach Pete Carroll called for the Seahawks to throw the ball within feet of scoring a touchdown, instead of handing it off to one of the best running backs in the world at that moment. But boo-hoo, that’s the chaos of Sportz and in this case, the cheaters did win.
After the match, the memories were all wings, music and dancing until every visitor realized they had class the next morning. Great night and a bittersweet memory.
8) RJ’s return to Atlanta
This night couldn’t have been scripted any more perfect. During Georgia State’s Thanksgiving Break, the school’s Men’s Basketball all-time leading scorer R.J. Hunter returned to the city of Atlanta as a professional. GSTV General Manager Joey Redman and I made the trip to see the familiar face as members of the media. Our first professional event that we have covered in our career field.
This was also the night Dikembe Mutombo was having his No. 55 jersey immortalized for the Hawks, so Phillips Arena was packed. The first person I saw as I exited the restroom before the game was Mike Fratello, which assured any thoughts in my mind on if I was dreaming or not. TNT covered the game and legends in Atlanta and the NBA showed up to the event. Mr. Redman and I stood on the court to witness the African-like drumming performance and take pictures on our phones, like Reggie Miller was doing to our right. After the performance, Redman and I walked back to the press room with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Hawks CEO Steve Koonin before hearing Mutombo drop gem-like quotes in his press conference.
Focusing back on Hunter, meeting him in the locker room was like seeing him in the Lofts dorm a few months prior. The attention of being an NBA player, and money that comes along with it, appeared to not change him in the slightest of ways. Hunter had a career-high 12 points, which also led all Boston scorers coming off the bench and the Hawks won in blowout fashion. A night that made me eager for similar in the future.
7) Steph Curry’s family
First off, allow me to clear the air and say I’ve been a fan of Stephen Curry since his 2008 NCAA Tournament run and even more so when he did this parody of Asher Roth's "I Love College." Curry is probably the most like-able professional athlete because of his innocent looks, his talent, his values and his personality. He had one of the greatest runs in NBA history last season, being the best player on the best team and winning the league’s regular season MVP Award. All of this winning eventually led to Curry’s decision to allow his daughter, Riley Curry, to accommodate him at the post game conference podium, only to win the internet’s hearts as well. I have no shame in admitting that I have spent various spans of time surfing the web on boring days admiring Steph’s dad, mom, brother, cousin, sister and wife. They represent beauty on the inside and out when they step into the public eye and give their family a great name.
So while yes, in 2015, we watched Stephen Curry become the greatest basketball player in the world, more importantly we got to see one of the more adorable families in the spotlight. Here’s to you, Steph, wishes for many more 24-game win streaks to begin your seasons’ and more laughs with Drake.
6) Serena and Cam Newton rise to the top of their games and never change
Serena Williams and Cam Newton owned their respective professions in 2015 and the domination did not come without criticism. Last summer, years of mumbling about Williams body type came to mainstream media attention, but she kept her composure and had one of the best athletic years in recent memory. Williams remained the same woman from Compton, California and the same woman who crip walked on the court during the Olympics.
Atlanta, Georgia native Newton also stayed true to his roots and hometown by dabbin’ and hittin dem folks his way to a 14-0 season start with the Carolina Panthers. Every week, criticism of Newton’s lack of professionalism grew due to his animated celebrations, however, Newton didn’t change a thing and for that, we salute you Mr. Newton
On a serious note, 2015 racial tensions remained extremely high and the fact that these two black athletes were scrutinized for expressing and being themselves, pressured into conforming to ways that don’t “showboat” too much, only added fuel to the fire. Newton and Williams made bold statements in 2015, whether they were spoken or not, they made the statement that they are black and they are proud to be who they are.
5) Falcons end Panthers perfect season
All due respect to my guy Cam, the 2015 Atlanta Falcons had one more moment to be proud about. If you’re reading this in say 2017, the 2015 Falcons began the season 5-0 before having a collapse only Atlanta teams could have. The week they faced the Panthers in Atlanta, the team’s record was 7-7 and Carolina just blew the brakes off the Falcons 38-0 two weeks prior in Charlotte, which led to the infamous team dabbin photo. Panthers cornerback Josh Norman was emerging as the league’s best at the position and exchanged words with media member Rodney Harrison about not being able to shut down Julio Jones. Well, Jones was shut down the team’s first match up and Norman continued to talk, before moving on to his historic meeting with Odell Beckham, Jr. After the battle in New Jersey, when Jones are Roddy White were asked about Norman, they called him an average player and the rivalry week heat began.
The Falcons came out with intensity they lacked for most of the second half of the season and Julio Jones made one of the best plays I’ve seen from a wide receiver given the circumstances of the moment. The win was celebrated with a handful of dabs, by the way if you are reading this in 2017 the dab was really popular this year, including the legendary dab from Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
4) Swanson gets drafted No. 1/Traded to Braves
If any team needed a trade like this in the winter of 2015, it was the Braves. After years of trading away the team’s best players and seeing no positive immediate results, hope for the past, present and future appeared to be lost for Braves Country. Until hometown kid, my high school classmate and current favorite player Dansby Swanson became the first No. 1 pick traded before his first full year under contract. Swanson is coming off a remarkable college career, making nightly SportsCenter highlights, leading Vanderbilt to two College World Series appearances and one championship MVP to top it all.
I’m excited for Swanson and the other top Braves prospects because I can only imagine how elated he is to play for his favorite team, in his favorite state and bring his contagious winning attitude into the clubhouse.
I’m ecstatic about this trade and situation because I believe….if everything remains fine…that this is the piece that will ultimately lead the city of Atlanta out of its championship drought *gasp!*
Welcome home Dansby “Three-point” Swanson!
3) GSU Football wins at Southern
These guys needed four consecutive wins to save my behind, my mentor’s behind and coach Bill Curry’s behind on the preseason bold prediction that Georgia State would win around five games and contend for a bowl game. To that point, the season looked like a mirror of last season’s, a handful of “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve”’s and minimal victories. Trent Miles surely looked from week-to-week to be a dead man walking as far as his job security went. Fans in the Georgia Dome and on my Twitter mentions were fed up and were ready to give up on the team, including myself.
This team, however, still played. This team still played as hard as they had all season week in-and-out for themselves and the respect of others. The team won three games in-a-row, but now faced its toughest task to date: to win against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Georgia.
The Eagle faithful packed the stadium and brought the noise for a game they claimed to not consider “a rivalry.” Fans screamed profanities and boos at the Panthers all day long and even began to target Pounce, Georgia State’s mascot. Panther fans were forced to sit in the upper corner of the stadium, so the Southern student section would be allowed the necessary space to yell more expletives at Pounce and Donovan Harden.
Touchdown-by-touchdown, score-by-score, the stadium grew more quiet and the Panthers team grew more loud, to the point where they tallied unsportsmanlike penalties they no longer cared about. Seeing the late season transformation and Trent Miles three-season plan effect in-person almost brought tears to my eyes on the night of Dec. 5, our boys were goin’ bowlin’!
2) GSU Basketball run
Nothing beats the original emotion of the moment. The one shining moment. So, here’s a link with another link about how I felt about this situation, to go along with the ultimate link of my sit down with Mike Holmes about how he felt with the situation.
This one moment forever changed the value of my degree and career. This team affected so many lives all season. The Sun Belt tournament, regular season championship, the shot, were all so perfect and special it was almost a blur. I’m glad and proud to say I was at Georgia State University in 2015 as a sports journalist and as the school’s sports editor during the fall half of the year.
I just want to say thank-you to everyone.
1)Hawks make the Eastern Conference Finals
Speaking of being grateful and saying thank-you to everyone, allow me to thank my Atlanta Hawks for 2015. I bleed and cry the Hawks colors. The 19-game winning streak, four all-stars, coach of the year, Kyle Korver, shutting Paul Pierce up, the season was a dream come true. Due to all of the attention the team received, my name appeared on Grantland before it’s destruction in 2015, I met and networked with some of the best in the business, who all came to watch the Hawks-excuse me, my Hawks play live.
The team was the definition of just that-a team. A team that shared the ball, didn’t have one player score 20 a game and it didn’t matter in the least. The team won 60 games, exactly a decade prior when the same franchise won 13 games. The light could not become spotted at the end of the tunnel, but the team rebuilt and rebuilt and found the formula for at least one season to becoming an elite threat in the NBA. Unfortunately, the team peaked too early in January and the rest of the season was a slow decline from there, despite making it the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals.
Thank-you Hawks for becoming the city’s hot ticket, for giving the city something to cheer about, a tradition to be proud of by honoring Dominique Wilkins and Dikembe Mutombo, making us cool by letting Young Jeezy and Two Chainz perform during our games, thank-you for the media hospitality, thank-you for keeping the Sixth Man section alive, thank-you Hawks-for winning.
What a 2015. What a Time to Be Alive. Let’s make it even a better 2016.
Sportz!!
This year in Sportz definitely stood among the best in my memory. Although no national titles were claimed by my favorite squads, progress remained eminent. So to commemorate just a little of this year’s magic, allow us to take a trip down memory lane looking back at my top 10 personal 2015 memories in Sportz!
10) Floyd remains unbeaten/Rousey’s talk falls short
Arguably the best and most hated athlete of our time Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally faced Manny Pacquiao in 2015. This was a fight I’ve been waiting for since I was about 13 and when the fight was officially announced I was no longer a teenager. Years of Mayweather bashing was partially stopped after Floyd controlled the fight, just as much as he did in his previous 47 fights, beating who most experts called his toughest opponent. Both the fighters were pretty old at that point of their careers, so just to set in stone even more he’s the best athlete of our generation, Mayweather fought up-and-comer Andre Berto and won again to step out of the ring with a 49-0 record.
“Muhammad Ali may have been the greatest, but I’m The Best Ever,” Mayweather infamously said, a lot in 2015. If the numbers never lie, it’s extremely difficult to go against the man’s claim if anyone is talking about All-Time welterweight greats.
Now that the in the ring bases have been covered, onto what made this specific combination of stories intriguing enough to make my top 10 memories of the year.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a net worth of $650 million and he has no intentions of hiding that fact. Whether he’s making it rain, training to win again, throwing private parties for himself or just visiting a TV show, Floyd Mayweather Jr. makes it very clear that Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s net worth is $650 million. That, other than the fact no current welterweight can beat him, bothers a lot of people: including 2015 icon Ronda Rousey. Rousey gained most of her notoriety after she defeated Cat Zingano in a UFC record 14 seconds. After the fight, Rousey appeared on movies, TV shows and commercials as one of this year’s biggest Sportz stars. Rousey cruised the train of glory the entire way and decided to get in a back-and-forth with Mayweather, taking shots at his domestic violence past, only to lose and admit to her own past with Domestic Violence.
Moral of the story: You can try to act like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or try to bring him down, but you’ll never be The Best Ever.
9) Super Bowl night
Katy Perry gets a lot of props for bringing out Missy Elliot at halftime. I experienced this night in Primetime Sportz's very own Jared Oliver’s room, with him rooting for the Patriots and myself rooting for the Seahawks. Marshawn Lynch gave the media a fun-filled season and Russell Wilson took the ultimate W for nice guys worldwide. The Patriots, on the other hand-were just cheaters. After Jermaine Kearse made a catch off of his feet, I began screaming in Mr. Oliver’s face about how cheaters never win. The championship match of the year came down to one play, where head coach Pete Carroll called for the Seahawks to throw the ball within feet of scoring a touchdown, instead of handing it off to one of the best running backs in the world at that moment. But boo-hoo, that’s the chaos of Sportz and in this case, the cheaters did win.
After the match, the memories were all wings, music and dancing until every visitor realized they had class the next morning. Great night and a bittersweet memory.
8) RJ’s return to Atlanta
This night couldn’t have been scripted any more perfect. During Georgia State’s Thanksgiving Break, the school’s Men’s Basketball all-time leading scorer R.J. Hunter returned to the city of Atlanta as a professional. GSTV General Manager Joey Redman and I made the trip to see the familiar face as members of the media. Our first professional event that we have covered in our career field.
This was also the night Dikembe Mutombo was having his No. 55 jersey immortalized for the Hawks, so Phillips Arena was packed. The first person I saw as I exited the restroom before the game was Mike Fratello, which assured any thoughts in my mind on if I was dreaming or not. TNT covered the game and legends in Atlanta and the NBA showed up to the event. Mr. Redman and I stood on the court to witness the African-like drumming performance and take pictures on our phones, like Reggie Miller was doing to our right. After the performance, Redman and I walked back to the press room with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Hawks CEO Steve Koonin before hearing Mutombo drop gem-like quotes in his press conference.
Focusing back on Hunter, meeting him in the locker room was like seeing him in the Lofts dorm a few months prior. The attention of being an NBA player, and money that comes along with it, appeared to not change him in the slightest of ways. Hunter had a career-high 12 points, which also led all Boston scorers coming off the bench and the Hawks won in blowout fashion. A night that made me eager for similar in the future.
7) Steph Curry’s family
First off, allow me to clear the air and say I’ve been a fan of Stephen Curry since his 2008 NCAA Tournament run and even more so when he did this parody of Asher Roth's "I Love College." Curry is probably the most like-able professional athlete because of his innocent looks, his talent, his values and his personality. He had one of the greatest runs in NBA history last season, being the best player on the best team and winning the league’s regular season MVP Award. All of this winning eventually led to Curry’s decision to allow his daughter, Riley Curry, to accommodate him at the post game conference podium, only to win the internet’s hearts as well. I have no shame in admitting that I have spent various spans of time surfing the web on boring days admiring Steph’s dad, mom, brother, cousin, sister and wife. They represent beauty on the inside and out when they step into the public eye and give their family a great name.
So while yes, in 2015, we watched Stephen Curry become the greatest basketball player in the world, more importantly we got to see one of the more adorable families in the spotlight. Here’s to you, Steph, wishes for many more 24-game win streaks to begin your seasons’ and more laughs with Drake.
6) Serena and Cam Newton rise to the top of their games and never change
Serena Williams and Cam Newton owned their respective professions in 2015 and the domination did not come without criticism. Last summer, years of mumbling about Williams body type came to mainstream media attention, but she kept her composure and had one of the best athletic years in recent memory. Williams remained the same woman from Compton, California and the same woman who crip walked on the court during the Olympics.
Atlanta, Georgia native Newton also stayed true to his roots and hometown by dabbin’ and hittin dem folks his way to a 14-0 season start with the Carolina Panthers. Every week, criticism of Newton’s lack of professionalism grew due to his animated celebrations, however, Newton didn’t change a thing and for that, we salute you Mr. Newton
On a serious note, 2015 racial tensions remained extremely high and the fact that these two black athletes were scrutinized for expressing and being themselves, pressured into conforming to ways that don’t “showboat” too much, only added fuel to the fire. Newton and Williams made bold statements in 2015, whether they were spoken or not, they made the statement that they are black and they are proud to be who they are.
5) Falcons end Panthers perfect season
All due respect to my guy Cam, the 2015 Atlanta Falcons had one more moment to be proud about. If you’re reading this in say 2017, the 2015 Falcons began the season 5-0 before having a collapse only Atlanta teams could have. The week they faced the Panthers in Atlanta, the team’s record was 7-7 and Carolina just blew the brakes off the Falcons 38-0 two weeks prior in Charlotte, which led to the infamous team dabbin photo. Panthers cornerback Josh Norman was emerging as the league’s best at the position and exchanged words with media member Rodney Harrison about not being able to shut down Julio Jones. Well, Jones was shut down the team’s first match up and Norman continued to talk, before moving on to his historic meeting with Odell Beckham, Jr. After the battle in New Jersey, when Jones are Roddy White were asked about Norman, they called him an average player and the rivalry week heat began.
The Falcons came out with intensity they lacked for most of the second half of the season and Julio Jones made one of the best plays I’ve seen from a wide receiver given the circumstances of the moment. The win was celebrated with a handful of dabs, by the way if you are reading this in 2017 the dab was really popular this year, including the legendary dab from Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
4) Swanson gets drafted No. 1/Traded to Braves
If any team needed a trade like this in the winter of 2015, it was the Braves. After years of trading away the team’s best players and seeing no positive immediate results, hope for the past, present and future appeared to be lost for Braves Country. Until hometown kid, my high school classmate and current favorite player Dansby Swanson became the first No. 1 pick traded before his first full year under contract. Swanson is coming off a remarkable college career, making nightly SportsCenter highlights, leading Vanderbilt to two College World Series appearances and one championship MVP to top it all.
I’m excited for Swanson and the other top Braves prospects because I can only imagine how elated he is to play for his favorite team, in his favorite state and bring his contagious winning attitude into the clubhouse.
I’m ecstatic about this trade and situation because I believe….if everything remains fine…that this is the piece that will ultimately lead the city of Atlanta out of its championship drought *gasp!*
Welcome home Dansby “Three-point” Swanson!
3) GSU Football wins at Southern
These guys needed four consecutive wins to save my behind, my mentor’s behind and coach Bill Curry’s behind on the preseason bold prediction that Georgia State would win around five games and contend for a bowl game. To that point, the season looked like a mirror of last season’s, a handful of “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve”’s and minimal victories. Trent Miles surely looked from week-to-week to be a dead man walking as far as his job security went. Fans in the Georgia Dome and on my Twitter mentions were fed up and were ready to give up on the team, including myself.
This team, however, still played. This team still played as hard as they had all season week in-and-out for themselves and the respect of others. The team won three games in-a-row, but now faced its toughest task to date: to win against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Georgia.
The Eagle faithful packed the stadium and brought the noise for a game they claimed to not consider “a rivalry.” Fans screamed profanities and boos at the Panthers all day long and even began to target Pounce, Georgia State’s mascot. Panther fans were forced to sit in the upper corner of the stadium, so the Southern student section would be allowed the necessary space to yell more expletives at Pounce and Donovan Harden.
Touchdown-by-touchdown, score-by-score, the stadium grew more quiet and the Panthers team grew more loud, to the point where they tallied unsportsmanlike penalties they no longer cared about. Seeing the late season transformation and Trent Miles three-season plan effect in-person almost brought tears to my eyes on the night of Dec. 5, our boys were goin’ bowlin’!
2) GSU Basketball run
Nothing beats the original emotion of the moment. The one shining moment. So, here’s a link with another link about how I felt about this situation, to go along with the ultimate link of my sit down with Mike Holmes about how he felt with the situation.
This one moment forever changed the value of my degree and career. This team affected so many lives all season. The Sun Belt tournament, regular season championship, the shot, were all so perfect and special it was almost a blur. I’m glad and proud to say I was at Georgia State University in 2015 as a sports journalist and as the school’s sports editor during the fall half of the year.
I just want to say thank-you to everyone.
1)Hawks make the Eastern Conference Finals
Speaking of being grateful and saying thank-you to everyone, allow me to thank my Atlanta Hawks for 2015. I bleed and cry the Hawks colors. The 19-game winning streak, four all-stars, coach of the year, Kyle Korver, shutting Paul Pierce up, the season was a dream come true. Due to all of the attention the team received, my name appeared on Grantland before it’s destruction in 2015, I met and networked with some of the best in the business, who all came to watch the Hawks-excuse me, my Hawks play live.
The team was the definition of just that-a team. A team that shared the ball, didn’t have one player score 20 a game and it didn’t matter in the least. The team won 60 games, exactly a decade prior when the same franchise won 13 games. The light could not become spotted at the end of the tunnel, but the team rebuilt and rebuilt and found the formula for at least one season to becoming an elite threat in the NBA. Unfortunately, the team peaked too early in January and the rest of the season was a slow decline from there, despite making it the franchise’s first Eastern Conference Finals.
Thank-you Hawks for becoming the city’s hot ticket, for giving the city something to cheer about, a tradition to be proud of by honoring Dominique Wilkins and Dikembe Mutombo, making us cool by letting Young Jeezy and Two Chainz perform during our games, thank-you for the media hospitality, thank-you for keeping the Sixth Man section alive, thank-you Hawks-for winning.
What a 2015. What a Time to Be Alive. Let’s make it even a better 2016.
Sportz!!