#5 Liverpool outs Manchester United
This much we know for sure — Manchester United will not be winning the FA Cup this year.  A week after knocking out the defending champs, Manchester City, ManU found themselves on the outside thanks to a tough Liverpool team that may now be the odds-on favorite to take it all.  Although the match was nowhere near so controversial as the last time these two teams met, it was one that Liverpudlians will remember for a long time.

#4 Lindsey Vonn Almost Sweeps
Point zero three seconds is too short to measure by the human eye.  Yet that miniscule span is all the separated Lindsey Vonn from sweeping all three skiing events this weekend.  Still, she put on quite a show and looked good doing it, as always.  A spectacular run by defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch denied Vonn the weekend triple crown, but Vonn is still leading the field by a healthy 387 points heading toward the World Cup.

#3 Heat beat Knicks
You think the Miami Heat missed Dwayne Wade?  Yeah, me too.  I think we can safely say that Wade’s ankle is all better.  The Knicks – Heat matchup was a hot one and it looked like the Knicks would be able to keep up for the first three quarters.  But the Wade-powered Heat were better than the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks by 10 on this night.

#2 NHL All-Star Weekend
Pat Kane’s belly-flopping, cape-flapping goal on the breakaway challenge was a thing of pure beauty.  Carey Price demonstrated faith and class with his in-goal Tebow.  And then there was Zdeno Chara’s impossible, record-breaking 108.8 MPH slap shot.  All that a day before the NHL All-Star Game even started.  The NHL is definitely the class of the major sports when it comes to fan-friendly All-Star action.

#1 Novak Djokovic outlasts Rafael Nadal
Once in a while — once in a great, long while — a tennis match comes along that really captures the attention of the whole sports-loving world.  The final match of the  Australian Open between #1 Novack Djokovic and #2 Rafael Nadal was that epic match for this era.  The five-set match see-sawed back and forth for a record-setting five hours and 53 minutes before Djokovic finally claimed his third Australian Open title.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

#5 Boston Celtics at Washington Wizards
This may seem like a strange pick for a game to watch. The Boston Celtics must have lent their lucky leprechaun to the Patriots, because he hasn’t done them a bit of good this season. At 4-8, the Celtics have a long, uphill battle ahead of them if they’re going to even have a shot at the playoffs. The Washington Wizards, on the other hand, are just awful. Absolutely the worst team in the NBA. Fully deserving of their atrocious 1-12 record. This sounds like a recipe for a highlight reel game to spur the Celts on toward better days.

#4 Columbus Blue Jackets at Detroit Red Wings
In a little best-vs-worst action, the woeful Columbus Blue Jackets will drag their worst-by-a-lot 31 to Detroit to face the best team in the Western Conference. This should be worth watching just for the sheer brutality of the smackdown that the Wings should put on their overmatched opponents. Unless you’re a Columbus fan…

#3 Oklahoma City Thunder at New Jersey Nets
The Oklahoma City Thunder has won seven in a row en route to an NBA best 13-3 record so far in this shortened NBA season. The New Jersey Nets are looking lost and hopeless at 3-11 so far and showing little prospect for improvement. Will this be a game that OKC overlooks? Will the Nets find the fire they’ve lacked all season? Put this one down as an Official Buzzer Eagle Upset Special.

#2 New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers
NFL fans all across the Fruited Plain are now becoming aware of what regular readers of Buzzer Eagle have known for the last 10 weeks or so. The San Francisco 49ers are quietly among the elite of the National Football League. Now they’ll have a chance to prove their elite-ness with a trip to the Super Bowl. But, of course, the surging New York Giants may have a thing or two to say about that.

49ers tight end Vernon Davis gave the G-Men some great bulletin board material when he told reporters that he prayed the Giants would win. Even though he tactfully tried to ameliorate the comments later in the week, you can’t un-ring a bell. It will be a teed-off New York team that makes the cross country trip to face Davis (pictured) and company this weekend. The better team punches their ticket to the Super Bowl.

#1 Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots
Everyone is so impressed with The Hoodie and his New England Patriots that many observers are forgetting just how good the Baltimore Ravens are. Will the Ravens‘ smothering, dominant defense be enough to stop Tom Brady and those ridiculously good tight ends? No. But will the Ravens‘ smothering, dominant defense be enough to slow down Tom Brady and those ridiculously good tight ends enough to give Delaware alum Joe Flacco (Go Fighting Blue Hens!) and the Baltimore O a chance to win? Maybe.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

#5 Columbus Blue Jackets vs Anaheim Ducks
What could be so great about the two worst teams in the NHL playing for last place? More than you might think, it turns out.  Like scoring, lots and lots of scoring.  11 goals altogether.  Plus, one of the great accomplishments in the game of hockey – Corey Perry scored a hat trick, the fourth of his career, to propel the bad Anaheim Ducks over the worse Columbus Blue Jackets.

#4 The Other Three Wild Card Games
It was a rough weekend for the visiting team. And not so great for fans hoping to see some competitive football games, either. The Atlanta Falcons looked outclassed almost from the opening whistle. The Cincinnati Bengals never had a chance. The Detroit Lions were embarrassed in the second half. The higher seed won every game of the wild card weekend – handily in the case of the first three games played. The victorious New York Giants, Houston Texans, and New Orleans Saints will move on to face some presumably stiffer competition in the divisional round next week.

#3 The AllState BCS National Championship
The AllState BCS National Championship was everything you could want in a championship football game – if you really like defense and field goals.  Or if you’re from Tuscaloosa.  Who would have thought that Jeremy Shelley would be the superstar of the game?  The Alabama Junior contributed more points than everyone else from both teams combined.

#2 Thundering to Victory
The Oklahoma Thunder had themselves a nice weekend. They woke up Friday morning as a 5-2 team still stinging from back-to-back blowout losses to start the week. But a few days’ rest and a trip home did them a world of good. After dispatching Houston in back-to-back home-away games, they manhandled San Antonio on Sunday in their only scheduled set of three consecutive playing days this season.

#1 Mile High Miracle Part… I’ve Lost Count
Overtime is Tebow Time. I guess Tim didn’t feel like having much Tebow Time this week because it was over before half the viewers got back from the bathroom. The Denver Broncos got behind, but not by much, took the lead by what should have been enough, fumbled and bumbled their way to a tie, and then won the game on the first offensive play of overtime. Tebow’s pass was nice, but have you ever seen anything as pretty as Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas‘ stiff arm that added another 45 yards — and the all important 6 points — to the play? Don’t answer that if you’re a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

#5 Houston – Indianapolis
After losing the first 13 games of the 2011 NFL season, the Indianapolis Colts have improbably won two in a row. Indy’s by-the-seat-of-their-pants 19-16 victory over the 10-4 Houston Texans was the first time in NFL history that a one-win team defeated a 10+ win team. Peyton who? Just kidding.

#4 Chicago – Los Angeles
The Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers delivered an exciting, down-to-the-buzzer game on the opening day of the NBA season. While Kobe Bryant lit up the scoreboard with a game high 28 points, it was Derrick Rose’s final jump shot, with just under 5 ticks left, that gets top mention because it put the Bulls over the top to stay.

#3 Miami – New England
The Miami Dolphins jumped out to a 17-0 lead over their hated division rivals, the New England Patriots. But this is Tom Brady and the Patriots, not a team easily cowed. And this is the Miami Dolphins, a 5-10 team that isn’t even quite as good as those five wins might indicate. It was informative to watch the Pats put on an offensive clinic for the final half to storm back and win by three.

#2 Boston – New York
The New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics. It’s a storied rivalry that continues to delight and amaze fans. So it was apropos that the 2011-2012 NBA season, such as it is, kicked off on Christmas Day with a battle between these two franchises. And the actual game didn’t disappoint one bit.

Carmelo Anthony lead the Knicks in making a statement that they’re not going to be the Celtics’ whipping boys any more. New York outscored Boston by 10 in the fourth quarter to overcome a late deficit and take the first game of the new year 106 – 104.

#1 A Bad Day for the Ryans
A two-for-one tops our list this week. Rex Ryan and his New York Jets had a high stakes game against cross-town rival New York Giants on Saturday. Brother Rob and his Dallas Cowboys had the chance to get a leg up in their division in their game against the Philadelphia Eagles a little later the same day. Neither game went well for Buddy’s boys. Rex’s Jets self-destructed late in the game, giving up a safety when their offense was needed the most and lying down for the Giants when their defense was needed the most. Rob’s Dallas defense was a turnstile for Mike Vick and the Eagles’ receivers all afternoon, despite Ryan’s laughable post-game assertion that holding Philly to 20 points represented some sort of redemption.

#5 New York at New York
There’s something fascinating about a matchup between the two teams from New York. Something deeply insulting about having to use the visitor’s locker room in your own stadium. Something special about bragging rights in the Big Apple. Sunday the New York Giants travel to Metlife Stadium, normally their home turf, as the visitors to play the New York Jets. Both teams were embarrassed last week. The Jets were blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants lost to the lowly Washington Redskins. Only one can find a measure of redemption this week.

#4 Get your hockey fix Friday
The NHL is taking the weekend off to celebrate Christmas, so get your fix on Friday. There’s a pretty full slate of eleven games on Friday night. So get warm up your channel flipping finger and get ready.

#3 Denver at Buffalo
Tebow-mania has swept the land. Denver QB Tim Tebow did just enough in the blowout loss to the New England Patriots – and handled the aftermath with such class – that he actually rose in the estimation of at least one big Denver Broncos fan: John Elway. Elway gave his strongest endorsement of Tebow yet, which isn’t really saying much as he’s been lukewarm on the quarterback since his debut.

Sunday, Tebow and the Broncos will travel to cold, blustery Buffalo to play the Bills. We’ve seen Tebow roll off a win streak. We’ve seen him lose badly. Now the nation will watch to see how he bounces back after that beating.

#2 Boston at New York
The NBA is back! And if you’re going to tease us with a half a season, you’d better start it with something good. Something like the Boston Celtics at the New York Knicks on Christmas Day. Last season’s top rated defense against the NBA’s 2nd most potent offense. A rivalry as old as the NBA itself. Yeah, that’ll do.

#1 Chicago at Green Bay
The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have a rivalry as old as… the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Now the Bears are 7-7 after a four game losing skid. The Packers are sitting pretty at 13-1. The Bears couldn’t possibly fall below .500, could they? But there’s no way the Pack could drop two in a row after rattling off thirteen straight, right? Something’s got to give at Lambeau on Sunday. Cue Faith Hill now, because I’m just waiting for Sunday night.

#5 Philadelphia Prominent
In a game of “my green, white, and silver team from the Northeast can beat your green, white and silver team from the Northeast,” the Philadelphia Eagles looked like the Dream Team they were advertised to be as they punished Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets all afternoon. Too little, too late for Philadelphia, whose playoff hopes are somewhere between slim and none after a miserably disappointing season to date. On this particular Sunday, however, the E-A-G-L-E-S handily beat the J-E-T-S.

#4 Preseason Play
It’s been a long, long time coming. This weekend we were treated to a slate of nine NBA games. The effort wasn’t there. The scores don’t count. There were mistakes and sloppy play and unnecessary fouls. But it was professional basketball. Seven days and counting until the scores count.

#3 Peyton’s Presence
The Indianapolis Colts will not join the 2008 Detroit Lions as losers of every game in a 16-game season. Indianapolis had gone two weeks short of an entire year without a victory. In fact, it has been 14 years since the team has won a game without a certain Mr. Peyton Manning under center. All that changed on Sunday. The Indianapolis, lead by the greatness-that-is Dan Orlovsky, overwhelmed a mediocre Tennessee Titans team to win their first game of the season and avoid the ignominy of a winless year.

#2 Patriots Pound
What everyone thought would happen, happened. Tom Brady and the 2011 New England Patriots proved themselves to be better than Tim Tebow and the 2011 Denver Broncos. Tebow and the Broncos weren’t equal to the task of defeating the mighty Patriots, but they weren’t awful, either. That won’t matter much to many of my peers who are salivating over the prospect of trashing Tebow for the crime of losing a single game. Let the onslaught of media gloating and “I told you so’s” begin.

#1 Packers Pounded
That wasn’t supposed to happen. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the previously-unbeaten Green Bay Packers? Kyle Orton outplayed Aaron Rodgers? Exactly no one gave the 5-8 Chiefs a chance of derailing the Packers’ quest for a perfect season.
Sure, the Packers were handicapped with both their leading receiver, Greg Jennings, and their leading rusher, James Starks, nursing injuries. But the Chiefs, a sub-.500 team, were playing behind new interim coach Romeo Crennel with nothing but pride on the line. Somehow, KC got the lead and then ran out the clock by pounding the rock to hold on for the big win.

(Photo: U.S. Air Force)

#5 Triple Crown Trisected
That’s the last we’ll pay attention to horse racing this season. No horse claimed the Triple Crown – again. In fact, as usual, the crown was shared among three horses. The winner at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday – Ruler on Ice – was a surprise long-shot that at least provided us with the joy of seeing the ‘experts’ confounded.

#4 200 MPH Bumper Cars
The 5-Hour Energy 500 itself was entertaining. But the real show was the bumper to bumper grudge match between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. The two somehow managed to finish the race (in 5th and 3rd place, respectively) without violating their mutual probation from their last scuffle. If these two are this willing to push and shove at 200 mph now, things should be very interesting next week in Michigan, their first race together after their probation ends.

#3 The Mavs Roll
To misappropriate a misquote of Sarah Palin – the team from Dallas has looked downright mavericky in their bid to unseat the Team of Destiny from Miami. Dirk Nowitzki has his team within one win of the NBA Championship. LeBron James has looked overwhelmed and overmatched against the Mavs. But neither is a one man team and James, Wade, and the boys aren’t out until they’re out. Which may be tonight… (Editor’s note: The Mavs took the NBA Championship last night, with a 105-95 win over the Heat.)

#2 The Bruins Bounce Back
The Boston Bruins got mad. And mad is good in the NHL The Bruins’ two wins upon returning to their home ice were absolutely domination. Then the Canucks returned to their stingy defensive ways once back on the northern side of the border. Home ice has never looked as important as it has in this series. Back to Boston for one more then – if the trend continues – one more in Vancouver to close things out.

#1 Inside the Park Home Run
Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays pulled off the rare and elusive inside the park home run on Sunday. Not only was it an unusual individual accomplishment, but those two runs came in very handy in a hard-fought 9-6 victory. And it will be a nice addition to the third baseman’s eventual Hall of Fame highlight reel.

#5 The Lombardi Trophy
No, no one will actually be claiming the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl each year, this weekend. But the secret talks – closed to the press and lawyers – between the NFL Owners and Players Association give us hope that someone will be hoisting the trophy in February 2012.

#4 The Pocono Trophy
The winner of the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway this weekend will receive the Pocono Trophy, but most eyes will be on the competition between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Busch was attacked by owner Richard Childress after last week’s Truck Series race. NASCAR put the full blame on Childress, which was the right move. But I doubt that Chldress’ top driver – who has had his own run ins with Busch in the past – will see it that way. If one of these guys is out of contention and the other is in the thick of it on Sunday, things could get ugly between the two.

#3 The Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is easily the best soccer tournament of the year for the simple reason that the USA actually has a chance to win it. After dispatching Canada with relative ease this week, the US team will play Panama on Saturday. If the US can beat Panama, then only Guadeloupe (is that a country?) will stand between them and a perfect record going into the Quarter Finals.

#2 The Larry O’Brien Trophy
If Dirk Nowitzki is this good in the Finals when he’s sick, imagine how dominant he can be when he’s healthy. As of this writing, the series is all tied up. The Dallas Mavericks have something to prove. The Miami Heat have the weight of expectation. This weekend will reveal the last team standing.

#1 The Stanley Cup
Somebody’s gonna win it. By the end of the week, either the Boston Bruins or the Vancouver Canucks will hoist the Stanley Cup. Home ice seems more important than usual, considering the Canucks outscored Boston 4-2 in two games at home, but fell 8-1 in the first game in Beantown. Boston will play the remainder of the series without Nathan Horton, who suffered that brutal hit in Game 3. Vancouver will be without the services of Aaron Rome, who delivered that concussive shot, for the rest of the year. With the additional motivation factored in, the advantage goes to Boston.

Baseball, Soccer, Hockey, Basketball,

#5 USA Soccer
No, not the Men’s team, which lost to Spain 4 – Nil in a game that was even more one sided than the score suggests. It was the US Women’s team that did the nation proud by beating Mexico 1-0. What passes for a regular season in soccer is over now and the team heads to Germany to start their World Cup run later this month against North Korea.

#4 Pujols’ Homers
Most players can only dream of hitting a walk off homer. Even the greats can only hope to do it a couple of times in a season. Albert Pujols of the Saint Louis Cardinals hit walk off home runs against the Chicago Cubs two nights in a row – the second one in extra innings for added dramatic effect.

#3 French Open
Same old, same old. Rafeal Nadal and Roger Federer in the final round of the French Open. This was the fifth time we’ve seen this in the French Open and they all ended the same way. Nadal holds the trophy, Federer goes home disappointed.

#2 Stanley Cup Finals
How can the Stanley Cup Finals get any better? How about overtime? When three periods weren’t enough to settle Game 2 between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, they had to go to OT – all 11 seconds of it. The Bruins didn’t fare very well in the Great White North, but the series shifts to Beantown for Game 3.

#1 NBA Finals
As predicted by me and… a lot of other people at the start of the season, the Miami Heat are in the NBA Finals. Not quite as many of us picked the Dallas Mavericks to be lining up across from them at tip off. We all expected LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade to be here, but who knew that Dirk Nowitzki would put the Mavs on his back and carry them to the promised land? And what’s more, have the series tied up after two games in the unfriendly confines of South Florida?

#5 The Winnipeg ???

The Atlanta Thrashers are no more. Atlanta just isn’t a hockey town. Thirty years after losing the Flames to Calgary, Hotlanta is exporting another NHL franchise to the Great White North. Will they be known as the Winnipeg Thrashers? Maybe, but probably not. We should find out more about the newest NHL franchise this weekend.

#4 The French Open
Barring any truly shocking upsets, top seed Rafael Nadal looks to be heading for the Final round of the French Open. Who he’ll meet there is a little more interesting. Number 2 seed Novak Djokovic hasn’t lost in his last 42 matches, and he surely doesn’t intend to start any time soon. But to get to the Finals, he’ll have to go through Roger Federer. The winner of that Semi (again, barring any shocking upset) will have get to face Nadal for the French Open title.

#3 Sebastian Zbik – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The apple didn’t far too far from the tree in the Chavez family. Now Junior has the chance to step out of daddy’s shadow (well, to a degree anyway) when he faces Sebastian Zbik. Despite the fact that Chavez, Jr. is more accomplished – his 30 knockouts matches the undefeated Zbik’s total number of professional bouts – Zbik is the one putting his WBC Middleweight Title on the line. Zbick has never fought outside of Europe before this bout. He should have a little extra room in his carry-on for the flight home because I think the belt is staying in Los Angeles with Chavez.

#2 Vancouver Canucks – Boston Bruins
The Canucks are well rested after making it look easy against a very good San Jose team. The Bruins are coming off a brutal 7 game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Is it better to be rested or on a roll? In this case, I think Boston has already seen the toughest competition that they will face this year. I know it is just semantics since most of the players on both teams are foreigners, but on a personal note: Go USA! Bruins all the way.

#1 Miami Heat – Dallas Mavericks
I said it here before the season began – anything less than the NBA Finals would be a disappointment for the New Look Miami Heat. After a long season of ups and downs and a tough Conference Championship against the Chicago Bulls, the Heat has arrived. But the Finals will not be a coronation. The Dallas Mavericks mopped up the competition throughout the playoffs and are ready to make their own claim for the title.