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The longest men’s singles match in history, a face-off between two sisters, and the highest television ratings for tennis since 2000. Wimbledon 2008 proved to be exciting at the very least. For her fifth Wimbledon Championship, Venus Williams defeated younger sister Serena but joined her side later to take the doubles victory as well. Twenty-two year old Rafa Nadal was also victorious when he played against five-time consecutive Wimbledon Champion Roger Federer. This was not the first time the 26-year old Swiss champion saw defeat this year. Earlier, the young Spaniard also took the French Open title from Federer to become the first man to win both championships consecutively since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
It was because of this pent-up rivalry, and the fact that this match became the longest recorded match in Wimbledon men’s history, that it gained a peak of 12.7 million television viewers worldwide and TV presenters, such as John McEnroe reporting for NBC, became as emotional as the players and viewers. Audience members were crying as Nadal bounded up the stands to find his family, and for the Spaniards these were probably tears of joy and pride. Only half-way through 2008, Spain has already established a summer of dreams with the European Cup championship over Germany’s soccer team and now Nadal’s triumph over Switzerland’s tennis legend. With the Olympics exactly a month away, we can only wonder what Spain will bring to China…

The best player was no match for the best team. Kobe “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” Bryant couldn’t do it alone.

Regardless, the renewed Boston-LA basketball rivalry definitely had viewers tuned in. According to network giant ABC, viewership for the first five games of the finals was up 57 percent over last year.

Bryant finished with 22 points but only shot 7 of 22 from the field. Bryant was averaging 31.9 points through the first three rounds of playoffs but the Celtics defense held him to 25.7 points per game and 40% shooting.

Or maybe it wasn’t the hard work of superstars like Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, who took home the NBA Finals MVP Award. Maybe the success of the Celtics last night can not even be accredited to the genius of coach Doc Rivers who kept Kobe and the Lakers from earning yet another championship ring. Maybe it was the National Basketball Association.

In various polls released today, a little less than half of the fans who responded think it’s either very likely or somewhat likely that the NBA alters the outcome of games.

If you’re a true die-hard Boston fan then you’re probably already out sporting your green and white in celebration of the bringing home of a second national title in the last year. However, if you’re like so many newly converted NY Giants fans out there, you might just want to hop on this championship bandwagon, too. Here is where you can stock up on the coolest of cool 2008 NBA Champs Gear.

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