Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day 5

On the fifth day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me:

Five Lasting Images
Four Things to Think About
Three catastrophe staches
The Finest Holiday Duet in History
And One Hell of a bloggy Par-ty

Making a list of the best sports pictures of 2012 is a bit of a quixotic task. Do you go for action, for amazing moments of physical achievement? Is emotion more your thing - do you focus on those instants of joy or despair or rage or inspiration? Does size and scale matter - is an Olympic gold-winning moment more important than a youth soccer match? It's truly in the eye of the beholder, at the end.

And so we give you one blog's interpretation. Here are five sports photos that mattered to us in 2012. Ours are heavy on individuals and emotion, light on action. If we did this again in a week, we might well find five different ones (well, four - our favorite photo of the year is indelible). Happy Gheorghemas.

British Prime Minister David Cameron reacts after Chelsea's Didier Drogba scored late in regulation to tie Bayern Munich in the Champions League final. Chelsea would go on to stun heavily favored Bayern in penalty kicks to win the Champions League. We love the juxtaposition between the reactions of Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. U.S. President Barack Obama seems to be getting into it, as well, which is just more fuel on the fire for those who think he's not an American.

Sure, Linsanity rapidly became overplayed, overcovered, and over. But we loved Jeremy Lin's perspective on the whole thing, and we really identified with the amount of joy he seemed to get from the game.

U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney wasn't thrilled (or impressed) when she failed to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics in the vault, an event in which she was an overwhelming favorite. What we most loved about this photo was her reaction to the internet meme that quickly went plaid. A moment that might have been one of the worst in her sporting career became a lesson in the power of humility and sense of humor. Gheorghe: The Blog is impressed

Washington Nationals' outfielder Jayson Werth celebrates the team's improbable National League East title. As a (mostly) DC-based blog, G:TB couldn't help but get caught up in the Nats' worst-to-first run. The team's youthful goofiness played a substantial role in their appeal - and with a roster that remains nearly intact, the Nationals are poised to stay relevant for years to come.

Without question, this photo of Mo Farah capturing the 5000m gold medal in the London Games is our favorite sports photo of 2012. Farah's win was his second of the 2012 Olympics, coming after his victory in the 10000m. Our second favorite sports photo of the year may well be one of Farah and Galen Rupp of the U.S. embracing after the close friends and training partners finished 1-2 in the 10000. For a blog that celebrates the joyous in life along with the silly, it doesn't get much better than this.

BONUS ACTION SHOT

A pair of unidentified badasses complete a Super Spartan obstacle race in Leesburg, VA. Giggling helped the runner in the back make it through the grueling 10-mile, 75-obstacle event.

26 comments:

zman said...

Nicely done roberto. You are the master of captioning and joyous sport content. But you included no photos of Big Gheorghe disallowing G:TBers from posting him up? It'd be a lot cooler if you did.

rob said...

do we have such photos? would happily append them.

rob said...

here's the mchale/garnett moment mark mentioned last night. powerful stuff.

http://sbn.to/Tj5QIS

T.J. said...

tiny captions from a tiny dictator

rob said...

had never received a holiday card that featured a family in full toga ensembles. until today. most excellent. if the gtber responsible would send me the pic, we'll show the world.

Mark said...

I've said it on here before but it bears repeating: One of the most underrated things about living in a beach community is the surf wear sample sales. Just picked up an obscene amount of clothing for a little over $100.

rob said...

way to ruin the xmas surprise for your gtb friends, mark

Mark said...

They weren't selling any XXS items, Rob. So you're not included in this round of presents.

Mark said...

I love my brother in law. We just exchanged giddy text messages about Rubio's return tonight. Followed by some other texts reveling in Dwight's issues with the Lakers.

Also, he's my papal ballot provider. And he delivers!

TR said...

Watching the Stones show at a friend's house. The host said "this will be the greatest rock and roll event of all time."

We'll see about that.

Mark said...

Big game for Florida tonight at undefeated Arizona. I'm a believer in this Florida team due to their depth and defense but this a really big test.

TR said...

Strong "Get Off of My Cloud" to open. Would be cool if they moved chronologically w/ the set list.

TR said...

Lady Gaga: sounded great, looked like Danny Devito as the Penguin.

TR said...

John Mayer, Springsteen, Black Keys so far. Very strong show. Keith refuses to move if he doesn't have to, but is hitting his notes.

zman said...

Jagger is the only one who isn't stationary at this point.

zman said...

Tonight I drank for the first time moonshine from Montenegro. I do not feel well.

zman said...

Is it too early to say hi Gheorghies?

Mark said...

So um...that sucked.

T.J. said...

Hi Gheorghies (early)

rob said...

hi gheorghies! (slightly later)

Danimal said...

laettner sighting last night at local steakhouse.

Mark said...

Woke up this morning and remembered how bad Florida's collapse was last night. Immediately angry. Still better than waking up to Justin Bieber's 'Baby' though.

rob said...

teej has filler that'll cheer you up. two words: penis apron.

zman said...

Montenegro moonshine will fuck you up. Kicks like a mule, bites like a crocodile.

T.J. said...

filler up. it's awesome.

amanda young said...

Wow! great job! kudos to you! Amanda Vanderpool CEO