July:
Howard Webb was the first Englishman to referee a World Cup final since Jack Taylor in 1974. Spain, who lost 1-0 to Switzerland in the opening round of the tournament, became the first team to win the World Cup after losing their first match.
Representing Slovenia, Merlene Ottey ran at the world athletics championships in Barcelona aged 50 – 30 years and three days after she ran for Jamaica at the Moscow Olympics.
Emile Heskey represented his country 62 times and scored just seven goals before retiring from international competition. No England striker with more than 20 caps has averaged fewer goals per game.
On a personal level, holiday plans were severely curtailed by the need to spend copious amounts of money on domestic projects. Rebuilding a retaining wall which was five years overdue, ancillary hard and landscape projects were thrown into the melting pot. An additional deck was constructed to house a hot tub which my wife had been planning for over 10 years. Good things come to those who wait, and money helps too! The financial plan was to delay purchasing the tub until 2011.
August:
Doug Fieger, lead singer of the pop group “The Knack,” who sang on the 1979 hit “My Sharona,” died. He was 57. It was great pop song and I never quite understood why they remained a one hit wonder.
The rise of the Tea Party continued unabated. Comprising a loose coalition of grassroots groups, aided and in some cases funded by experienced Washington players, it transformed itself into a major political force and sent dozens of candidates carrying its anti-tax, anti-healthcare reform message to Washington.
Our financial plan and economic forecast were tossed unceremoniously to the four winds, and we purchased a hot tub with all the bells and whistles; jets, waterfalls, a hi-fi music system, strawb lighting and two plastic ducks. It was two weeks before it was operational since the new deck required three coats of wood stain to protect it from 400 gallons of water.
September:
The Atlanta Braves made the playoffs for the first time in five years but lost in the first round to eventual World Series winners San Francisco. Bobby Cox finally retired five years too late. Cox managed the Braves for over 20 years and managed to win only one World Series in 1995. This was a very poor return when you consider he had 3 future Hall of Famers (Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux) in his starting rotation for almost 10 years.
A proposal to build a mosque within an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero caused a furor, as (mainly) Republican politicians seized on the issue around the time of the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Meanwhile Terry Jones, a Florida pastor with a congregation of 50 people, sparked an international outcry with his “Burn a Koran Day. “
The Milliband brothers fought each other for the poison chalice that is loosely disguised as the leadership of the Labour Party. Much to the surprise of his elder brother, Red Ed won the contest and David decided to throw his toys out of the pram and went to sulk on the backbenches.
October:
Europe retained the Ryder Cup in Wales which prompted Graeme McDowell to exclaim: “That was absolutely amazing. That was bananas. Compared to that, the US Open was like playing nine holes with my Dad at Portrush.” McDowell had earlier won the US Open in June and secured the final point for Europe’s winning team.
Welshman, Gareth Bale, scored a second-half hat-trick at the San Siro Stadium but still ended up on the losing team when Tottenham Hotspur team lost 4-3 away to Inter Milan in the Champions League.
Ryo Ishikawa, aged 18, made history at Quail Hollow in North Carolina with a score of 58, the lowest score ever recorded on a major golf tour event.
Bolton Wanderers striker Kevin Davies became England’s oldest debutant for 60 years when he faced Montenegro at the age of 33 in a European Championship qualifier
Thirty three miners in Chile were rescued after spending 70 days 2,300 feet below ground following an accident at the San Jose copper-gold mine. A country rejoiced, the men’s lives were changed forever and on the night of the rescue the world was able to believe in miracles again.
November:
Republicans regained the House of Representatives and reduced Democrats’ majority in the Senate. Obama’s Democratic Party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Nov 2 polls, as the Republicans won 63 seats in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate; the largest swing for two generations thanks chiefly to the stagnant economy and soaring government spending.
Manny Pacquiao became the first man in history to win world boxing titles at eight different weights when he defeated Antonio Margarito.
Ed Milliband jumped on the Obama wagon when he decided to beat a good horse to death with his philosophy on change: “I am talking about change as profound as the change new Labour brought because the world itself has changed massively, and we did not really change fundamentally as a party, or come to terms with the changes, and have not done so since 1994.” Is this what people mean by piss and vinegar?”
Ronnie Heap, my former golf partner and works associate, passed away aged 67. We enjoyed many rounds together attempting to conquer the nuances of Bobby Jones golf course in Atlanta. We never had a cross word on the course, so it was regrettable that conflicts at work tarnished our relationship.
Once upon a time there was a Welshman, a Dutchman and a Frenchman who helped put one over their London team’s greatest rivals for the first time for17 years. Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul scored as Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal away for the first time in the league since 1993.
December:
Atlanta enjoyed a white Christmas for the first time in 118 years as my wife and I basked in our hot tub surrounded by snow and the melodic tones of Sinatra, Dean, Bing and Satchamo; holding a glass of champagne in one hand and a turkey leg in the other. What can be better at Christmas?
The Atlanta Falcons failed to beat the Super Bowl Champion, New Orleans on Monday night football in the Georgia Dome and had to wait until the last Sunday of the season to beat the worst team in the NFL, Carolina Panthers, to clinch the Division title and No 1 seed in the playoffs. I wonder if the big stage worries them which would not augur well on the road to the Super Bowl.
Geraldine Doyle, the woman known as “Rosie the Riveter” after a famous photo was snapped of her during World War II, died at the age of 86 on Sunday, December 26.
No wonder 2010 passed by in a blink of an eye.
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