Tom's Töp 15 Albums of 2019

2019 was a year full of surprises. Not just in music, as seen in the graphic above, it wasn't so bad to be a fan of New York teams in blue and orange (sadly only the Knicks completely sucked). The saddest part of baseball season being over is not getting to watch the wonderful Met, Pete Alonso put a hurting on yet another baseball, but it was his personality that was most heavily on display this year, showing that age is probably the only thing he lacks but for our Rookie of the Year the sky's the limit. Or maybe former New York Islander goalie Robin Lehner's work towards acceptance of a mental health diagnosis, that he totally embraced on the way towards winning a Masterson Trophy and a Vezina trophy nomination.

Maybe 2x CY Young Award winning Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom who fought a good part of adversity this season before ultimately staking his claim as the best pitcher in baseball, showing incredible resolve when he didn't have "it". Or maybe Jack Adams trophy winner Barry Trotz who when he took the helm of the New York Islanders in June of 2018 was handed a bag of spare parts and asked to make something of it. Instead of the projected last place finish he brought them their best season since 1983. So when you feel like nothing is possible just remember the stories of these great men and maybe some of the tunes of 2019. There were a number of surprises but no true #1 album emerged for a long time; I was however surprised by what I enjoyed during the year, even if the Brutalitopia output was minimal.