The Best Sports of 1999

1 WOMEN'S USA SOCCER TEAM If Title IX needed a face to show how transforming women's sports can be, it got a team of them. Though the competition was limited and the games were a bit dull, this group got America excited about female athletes. These gals were fun, talented, likable and incredibly market savvy. Thousands of little girls are now denting their garage doors, telling themselves they are Julie Foudy. And best of all, so are little boys.

2 LANCE ARMSTRONG Beating Europeans in cycling is like beating Russians at standing in line. Lance Armstrong, who just two years ago was given less than a 50% chance of living because of the testicular cancer that had invaded most of his body, dominated the Tour de France from the first day, salvaging the honor of the drug-tainted event.

3 PEDRO MARTINEZ Chicks may dig the long ball, as the ad says, but teams dig good pitching. While home runs flew in every ballpark, Martinez gave up only 2.07 runs a game, farther below the major league average than any other pitcher's record. If that math is too hard, try this: Martinez's 23 wins brought his talent-poor Red Sox to the American League championship, where the ace handed the Yankees their only defeat of the play-offs.

4 U.S. RYDER CUP TEAM It shouldn't have been close. But as the final day's play began, the Sergio Garcia-led Euros were on the brink of humiliating the superstar-laden U.S. team again. Then the Americans made the most remarkable comeback in Ryder Cup history, winning 9 of 12 matches--and exulting with an ungolflike, but very American, dog pile on the 17th green.

5 MARK MCGWIRE and SAMMY SOSA It wasn't as exciting the second time around, but it was more impressive. Roger Maris disappeared into a career of poor stats after he broke Babe Ruth's record, but these guys nearly matched their '98 feats, McGwire with 65 homers and Sosa with 63.

6 JOHN ELWAY After nearly a lifetime of playing the loser, the NFL's greatest comeback strategist applied that same skill to his career, winning a second Super Bowl before deciding his pained body couldn't handle any more. You can credit the coaching, the line or Terrell Davis, but the Broncos collapsed when Elway left.

7 TIGER WOODS He was already the world's most ubiquitous athlete in the post-Jordan era. Now he has proved he's also its most amazing. Woods won his second major title and eight tournaments (including a gravity-defying four in a row) and made almost as much money as The Sixth Sense. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring feat was the juggling-ball trick in that Nike ad.

8 SERENA WILLIAMS After Martina Hingis felled Williams' sister Venus, Serena redeemed the family name by beating Hingis at the U.S. Open. It was only her second year as a pro, and she ended it as No. 4 in the world. Her Sampras-like serve scared everybody but her older sister, who at the Lipton Cup had enough psychological edge to beat her. For now.

9 THE YANKEES After setting the record for most wins in 1998, the Yankees were in everyone's cross hairs. But they once again played as a team and once again made the competition look minor league, including the should-have-been team of the '90s, the Atlanta Braves.

10 WAYNE GRETZKY Not since Lou Gehrig has an athlete retired with such dignity and grace. Though he was still one of hockey's top players, the Great One couldn't enjoy playing with diminished skills on a mediocre team. His quick, two-game farewell tour was marked by generosity toward his teammates and rivals alike.