Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier heads up the tunnel after beating Notre Dame on a last-second drive, a moment that ranks second overall on Mike Rothstein's top-10 moments of 2009.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Scandals over tax evasion and infidelity, epic games and ultimate longshots all helped close out the final year of the first decade in the new millennium. 

With the understanding I don't go to everything, here's my favorite 10 moments of 2009 during events I covered while working for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and AnnArbor.com.

10. John Beilein dances: The clear highlight of Michigan’s first Midnight Madness event in more than a decade. Seeing the Michigan head coach, the least likely suspect to cut loose, try to "Jump Around" was worth showing up to Crisler on a Friday night in October.

9. A ballpark opens: For so long, all you heard about in Fort Wayne was the new minor league stadium. When the Fort Wayne Wizards changed their name to the Tincaps, well, an era was born. It helped, too, that the stadium was high class for a low single-A farm club..

8. Brandon Graham dominates: Michigan had a special player this year in its otherwise-horrific defense: Brandon Graham. He was a joy to watch, always around the ball and the guy you expected to make the big stop.

7. The Huntsman Center: Going to Kansas should have been in this spot, but that darned appendix made that impossible. Yet popping into Salt Lake City and seeing the arena where Larry Bird and Magic Johnson together saved a sport 30 years ago was a good consolation prize.

6. Batting practice at the Field of Dreams: If you're between the ages of 25 and 45 and have any interest in baseball, "If you build it, he will come," and, "Go the distance" are burned into your synapses. The movie "Field of Dreams" affected an entire generation. In the small town of Dyersville, Iowa, where the movie starring Kevin Costner was filmed, the Field of Dreams remains. And it is open almost year-round, free to the public. All you bring is your bat, your glove and your youthful enthusiasm, much like a group of people from Madison, Wis., did the day I visited. And the group let everyone who showed up take batting practice with them. Best day of work this year.

Easy.

5. Rich Rodriguez's emotional press conference: After a August that included the allegation of NCAA violations, and a failed real estate deal that turned into a lawsuit and the beginning of Rodriguez's second season coaching at Michigan, the West Virginia native had a season-opening press conference that featured live television and a bunch of tears. Rarely do you see that from a football coach, but it ended up being a rallying cry for Michigan for the first month of the season.

4. Mine That Bird: Going to the Kentucky Derby is something everyone should do at least once. It's a week at the crossroads of decadence and debauchery. Mine That Bird is one of the most unlikely winners ever. It was a stunning story, something that makes the Derby a newfound yearly event on the calendar.

3. Helio Castroneves goes to Indy: At first, it looked like Castroneves might not race for a long time as he sat in that Miami courtroom for his tax evasion trial. After his acquittal, he showed up at Indianapolis, all eyes were on the Brazilian. He handled questions with aplomb, dealt with the onslaught and provided real emotion and humor into the hour-long question-fest. And although I wasn't at the Indianapolis 500 this year, instead doing all of the pre-media stuff, Castroneves won - making for one of the best comeback stories of 2009.

2. Tate Forcier crafts a small legend: It's entirely possible the best two games of Tate Forcier's career will be his first two, but what a way to start. The freshman quarterback from San Diego led a last-minute drive to beat Notre Dame, sent Michigan to 2-0 and created the best moment so far of Rodriguez' and Forcier's tenure. He showed moxie, the ability to make quick decisions and, in that moment, Michigan looked like a team that would be a threat. Whatever lies in Forcier's future, he'll always have that drive.

1. Syracuse 127, Connecticut 117, 6 OT: Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn sat on the first row of media tables between overtimes 5 and 6 that Thursday evening-turned-Friday morning in March at Madison Square Garden, exhausted and in awe. So were the fans inside college basketball’s Mecca and media members who, before the game even ended, debated where in the Top 5 of games ever played this would fall.

The game had it all. It had drama, from buzzer beaters being waved off to layups jumping in-and-out of the rim in overtimes 4 and 5. It had players fouling out, unlikely heroes coming off the bench and a national audience in the Big East tournament. T-Shirts were being sold commemorating the game on the streets of New York less than 24 hours later.

“I think,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said, “it’d be hard to top this game.”

For me, it also ended up being the last Big East tournament game I’ll cover for the foreseeable future. A couple of months later, I shifted from the Big East to the Big Ten - but like 2009 and the first decade of the new millennium, what a way to go out.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.