Competition and change has defined sports this year. With the success of traditionally scrub pro teams, the reaching of destiny, and even the change in public perception of the Varsity Blues football program, 2009 has been an exciting year for sports thus far.

Here are the professional and amateur sports stories that caught our eye.

Singing the Blues

There were two very different though significant continuing stories in Toronto these past six months.

On the one hand, how abysmal has the performance been for two of the highest paid Toronto Blue Jays? Vernon Wells and Alex Rios have been comically inefficient this season.

There was a wrinkle in time, possibly in late May, where the Jays were the cream of the baseball crop. They had the ball and ran with it…right into a wall. Linking the team’s troubles to two individuals may seem unfair, as it’s a team sport. But neither Wells nor Rios have made me feel like this team could contend at all.

There was one glaring signal of their stingy offensive skill: in early June, Rios struck out five times in a home game.

On the other hand, the Varsity Blues are a sight for sore eyes.

Looking back on the past school year, Liz Hoffman, U of T’s Director of Athletics, can finally start to reap what she has sown with Varsity football. Her top-down decisions, including the hiring of coach Greg DeLaval, have helped the team finally break out of its losing streak.

Also being appointed the President of the Golf Association of Ontario in January, Hoffman has been a busy woman.

But the success of the Varsity Blues has been widespread this year. In April, cross country runner Megan Brown and swimmer Colin Russell were named University of Toronto’s T-Holders Male and Female Athletes of the Year. Their numbers were too impressive to ignore.

Brown won every race this past season and, for the second time with the Blues, won individual titles in the OUA and CIS. She won the OUA title by 34 seconds and the CIS title by 22 seconds.

As for Russell, his swimming achievements are impressive. Coming off of an Olympic appearance in Beijing, he swept all the freestyle events at the CIS, breaking records in the 50-, 100-, and 200-metre events.

Blues fans should be proud of the body of work so far. Let’s cross our fingers for a Blues football contender this fall.

Pittsburgh Pride

Pittsburgh is glowing right about now. The Penguins and Steelers becoming champions of their leagues has set the tone for two leagues known to always seek parity and change among the teams.

While the Penguins won a championship that many pundits thought was destiny for Sidney Crosby, many were boggled at the pandemonium that was the 2008-2009 NFL season. There has never been an era of American football where the margin between best and rest was so narrow.

Considering their team history, the emergence of the Arizona Cardinals was the face of the ultimate parity in the NFL. Around since the 1890s, the Cardinals needed a championship and it looked like this might have finally been the year. That is, until the Steelers swiped the NFL title in the dying seconds of the Super Bowl in February.

The Hamilton Coyotes

Everyone’s favourite story in 2009 is definitely Jim Balsille’s blatant disregard for NHL policies in favour of realizing a dream for many hockey fans in the Golden Horseshoe. The near theft of the Coyotes from Phoenix raised debate and restored an indifference to ice hockey for fans in Toronto. The end result is still unclear, but this story is far from over.

The Borel Chronicles

Let’s face it, some people simply dislike horse racing. Some say that the craft is harmful to the horses, while others say the sport is boring.

The reality is that sports journalism grew on the backs of horses and jockeys in the early twentieth century. Great horse-racing stories have been lacking since the days of Seattle Slew and Secretariat. Calvin Borel is a person that the sports world needs.

He is the second jockey in the modern era of horse racing to win two legs of the American horse Triple Crown on two different horses. And to add a little Canadian flavour, one of Borel’s wins came on a horse that was one of the biggest odds-on underdogs in Kentucky Derby history: Mine That Bird.

There was no more memorable image of Borel’s success than Mine That Bird’s ridiculous burst of speed in the last mile of the Derby at Churchill Downs.

Other Mentionables

The Festival of Excellence at Varsity Stadium brought track and field back to the forefront. As a long-time track athlete, I loved the concept behind this event: a celebration of the human spirit.

Bracketology was enormously difficult during March Madness this year, but the games were very entertaining. Congratulations to Tyler Hansbrough and his North Carolina Tar Heels crew for their championship.

Male pro athlete of the year (so far) is Roger Federer for finally winning Roland Garros in June and tying Pistol Pete Sampras in Grand Slam victories.

Other notable Blues athletes and teams: Alaine Hutton (basketball), the tennis and badminton teams, and Annie DelGuidice (women’s hockey).