Like I said, so many moments, so many players, so many pieces to the puzzle.
The following stand out to me: George Bush throwing the first pitch at Yankee Stadium after the 9/11 tragedy; all the Reggie Bush "Holy goat cheese, did he just do that?" moments; the Michael Crabtree catch; January 3, 2003 Fiesta Bowl + January 4, 2006 Rose Bowl + January 1, 2007 Fiesta Bowl ... (need I say more?); the historical college basketball game (Syracuse vs. Connecticut) that went into 6 overtimes; George Mason's 2006 cinderella run in the field of 65; the '01 Duke basketball team + '05 Carolina basketball team; (Note: I would give up an arm, literally, to see those two teams play a 40-minute game of basketball.) Continuing ... Super Bowl 34 (best Super Bowl "game" I've seen in my lifetime), 38, 42, and 43; the Al Davis volcano that continues to erupt in Oakland (sorry Raider fans ... had to do it); Brett Favre; year 2000 Music City Miracle; Michael Jordan + Wizzards, Kobe + Lakers + Rings; Lebron; the 2002 Lakers-Kings playoff series; and lastly, Tiger, Lance, and Phelps.
There are several moments I have left out, but that's not what's important to me. What's important are the new revolutions and ideas around each sport. Now I will delve into those later on when I have some time in the lab.
The premise in answering the question 'How do you define this decade?' can be answered in a simplistic format from my view point.
My "larger than life" extra-long definition of the decade is this: a series of moments, a chain of extraordinary athletes -- some retired, some still playing, a link of new scandals, glimpses of greatness, pure success stories, and a magnitude of failures all locked into vault, safely. The decade can be decisively explained in one sentence. An emergence of new-founded innovation. That's it. That's how I define the decade in sports. And guess what? It's likely to be the same definition in 2019. Why? Because the sports world, like any other aspect in life, progressively develops to generate new ideas.
Of course you can pick specific "things" that stick out to you in the decade, but this was simply defining the 00's, and I hope I came up with a clear understanding.
