The stories that rocked sport in 2009

29 December 2009

The New York Times calls it an annual "meeting of minds" but their round-up of top-class opinion on the sports stories of 2009 just re-emphasises how our little corners of the planet see things so very differently.

That's why Japan winning at baseball was as huge there as Terry Henry's notorious handball was in France. Jean-Philippe Leclaire of L'Equipe puts it memorably when he says: "Hard to say what is best between being beautiful losers or ugly winners."

There's also plenty of Tiger, plus cycling, pole vaulting, F1 shenanigans, bad behaviour Down Under and success for some storied US franchises which allowed the writing of myriad redemption tales.