Things in 2021 I Enjoyed
Finally the Year in Review you’ve all definitely waited weeks for!
Look, we’ve all put 2021 behind us already because, well… it was a pretty downer of a year, and also it’s January 18. There’s no need to dwell on all that however.
It was also an incredibly long year, a lot happened.
I’m sure it’s all been covered elsewhere, the likes of the boat getting stuck in the Suez Canal, Bean Dad, the various memes and trends we all forgot about — or repressed.
However, upon some reflection, there were some really great and historic moments in 2021 on my beat that I’d like to recognise.
So, here’s to a magnificent 2022 and let’s look back on some of my favourite sporting — and broader entertainment — moments of the year.
Leicester City win the FA Cup
When Leicester won the Premier League title, everyone was rightly amazed. Relative to that, the FA Cup win was a much more routine process. However, following up that historic win by cementing further success is actually quite impressive.
Not only that, but it did take some impressive victories along the way to secure the crown.
A 2–1 win over Manchester United in the quarter final, and the 1–0 win over Chelsea in the final were both hard fought, but well deserved victories.
This was also a crowning achievement for Brendan Rodgers. Sure, he won in Scotland, but did anyone take those trophy wins as seriously as this?
Not to undermine what he did for Celtic, but winning Leicester’s first ever FA Cup, back in front of their fans after a historic absence, will likely forever be his biggest accomplishment.
The return of fans
Speaking of fans, in 2020 we got used to the sound of silence at sporting events. Fake crowd noise was pumped in to assuage our uneasiness, but it never ever felt nearly as good as the real thing.
When the crowds finally returned and that authentic sound of joy, disgruntlement or something in between was a great reminder of something we entirely took for granted.
The celebrations definitely meant more those first few weeks of full stadiums and it was a wonderful occasion to witness.
Super League goes up in smoke
The first true sign of fans congregating together again was during the tumultuous 72 hour period where the Super League was real.
The image of Chelsea fans celebrating wildly outside Stamford Bridge, like their side had won the Champions League final already, when the news broke of their club pulling out was magnificent.
Following that was the domino effect of everyone else abandoning ship, Ed Woodward announcing he was leaving Man United and the wonder of what could happen next.
Ultimately, there wasn’t to be a massive fallout from this, the clubs went relatively unpunished. But, for a magical few hours, everything felt possible again and people power showed that the masses have more strength in numbers than they realise.
Italy’s Euro 2020 win
International football hasn’t been the highest standard of football for quite a long time now. It’s probably not been true since sometime in the 20th Century.
Recent tournaments have been rather droll, with boring winners who played effective football, but that was about the best compliment they were worth.
Italy showed there was still fun to be had.
The English journey to the final was fun in its own right, and a home victory would’ve been nice for those who don’t make massive fools of themselves everywhere they go.
But Roberto Mancini’s side were just so easy to root for. They played with a swagger and verve that was so much more entertaining than the likes of previous big tournament winners France, Portugal and Spain.
Lille win Ligue 1
France, much like Spain, Italy and Germany — and to a large extent England — is only supposed to have one champion. Paris Saint-Germain utilises such a vast amount of wealth, so much more than any other of their competitors, that they should be impossible to stop.
Yet, Lille showed it can be done.
Christophe Galtier did a magnificent job with the resources he had available to him, and that Lille has dropped like a stone since his departure is telling.
It is also damning of PSG that this is the second time in recent seasons they’ve lost out to a much better run club, with Monaco winning the title as recently as 2017.
Now, for a few non-football moments that I also thoroughly enjoyed
Discovering AEW (or how I learned to stop watching WWE and become All Elite)
Wrestling hasn’t been massively popular now for over 20 years. A large reason for that has been the WWE’s stranglehold on the industry and their own staleness combining for a really uninteresting selection of products in the Western market.
But All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has shown that it is possible for another wrestling brand to exist in the market and become successful.
It is a well run show, with an emphasis on actual wrestling and storytelling that doesn’t constantly patronise or flat-out insult its audience.
The in-ring product is extremely strong, and growing, and in 2021 they brought in massive household names that got the lapsed WWE fans — such as myself — back into wrestling.
Dynamite and Rampage are now weekly pursuits of mine. For any former WWE watchers, they are completely worth checking out. And for newbies, the programming is very easy to get into and well worth your time.
Succession is still the best show on TV
The two-year hiatus of Succession, delayed due to Covid-19, meant there was a lot of pressure on Season 3 to deliver.
Seasons 1 & 2 were critical hits, but now the show had gone mainstream. Could it deliver on the excellence the audience had gotten used to?
The show answered pretty quickly that it didn’t miss a stride during the extensive time off.
In particular, the final few episodes really took the show to another level. It had some of the absolute funniest moments I can recall on TV, while also effortlessly creating rich character arcs and amazing dramatic twists.
I am already highly anticipating its return for Season 4.
A new Men’s Grand Slam winner
Novak Djokovic crushed the first three tennis Grand Slams of the year. He caught up with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer and, at the US Open, he was going for the extremely rare achievement of the Calendar Slam — winning all four in one year.
All that stood in his way was a lanky, 6ft5 Russian.
However, Daniil Medvedev was one challenge too far. Finally, someone else won one of the big ones.
While the ATP 500s and 1000s of this world had been earned by the younger guys over the years, the Big Three still held a vice-like grip on the four Slams.
Dominic Thiem won the US Open in 2019 in front of no fans.
That Medvedev followed that up by winning one for himself showed the next generation do have what it takes to win the biggest trophies.
Seeing new faces make history and achieve their dreams is wonderful for the sport given how long the same three guys have dominated. We’ve appreciated their excellence for over a decade. Now, it’s time for someone else to lift the big ones.
Hopefully, this is just the beginning.
A new F1 World Champion
Lewis Hamilton has had a similar effect on the Formula One world. Himself and Sebastian Vettel made up for nine of the 10 championships won in the 2010’s.
So, seeing Max Verstappen win his first title, and potentially usher in a new dawn for F1 in the 2020’s, was magnificent.
The Dutchman has the potential to win many more. But, given the route the sport has chosen, with budget caps and engine homologation, then hopefully this is the beginning of a new era of the sport.
The dominance that we have seen from Mercedes cannot be tolerated any further.
Competition from multiple teams is too healthy and needs to be encouraged more.
In 2021, we finally got someone worthy enough to take down the Death Star. Going into the new regulations in 2022, hopefully this will just be the start of a new set of champions breaking through over the next five years.
Alonso on the podium at last
I’ve long admired Fernando Alonso. My first F1 memories are of his championship battle with Michael Schumacher, and his stint with Ferrari cemented in my mind his greatness.
So, to see him struggle at the back of the field in a rudderless McLaren for so long was extremely disappointing.
His return to the sport with Alpine, following a two year hiatus, didn’t start off too well. A cycling crash in Switzerland saw him seriously damage his jaw.
But Alonso didn’t let that slow him down.
It did take a few races to get back up to speed, but some of his driving in the middle of the season showed the old man still has it.
He missed out on a few chances for a podium, in Hungary and Russia, and it looked like the chance had gone.
But an exceptional drive in Qatar earned him a third place that was good enough for his first podium since 2014 — a long wait for the 98th of his F1 career.
What will 2022 hold for him and Alpine? Your guess is as good as mine. But, if he achieves nothing else throughout his comeback stint, then he’ll always have that one final podium and I’m grateful for that.
