2007

It's time for my yearly wrap up. I wasn't particularly thrilled with much in sports this year. I enjoyed the baseball season, but the ending was not what I had in mind. The year was so uninspiring in fact that Sports Illustrated named Brett Favre it's sportsman of the year. Now Brett and the Packers are having a good year, but seriously, he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary this year. Brett did break the all time passing yardage record this year, but I wouldn't say that it would be on par with breaking the all time home run record. It would be more like SI naming Rickey Henderson the SOY after he broke the all time walks record or all time runs scored record. The home run record was broken this year, but as has been rehashed many times in the press and on this blog, there were many reasons why that was not a joyous occasion. Momentous yes, joyous no.

The Year started out with Peyton Manning and the Colts finally getting the monkey off their back by winning a superbowl. Actually, the more I think about it, Tony Dungy should have been the SOY. He was not only the first black coach to win the Superbowl, but his story of perseverance after the tragic loss of his son should have been enough to put him over the top. It's a better story than Brett Favre has to tell.

The Spurs won the NBA championship again. It was predictable and boring. I'm guessing that if they hadn't already given Duncan the SOY a few years ago, he would have taken it home this year. Florida won the men's NCAA crown in football and basketball. That was an unprecedented accomplishment.

The biggest "sports" story this year was the Mitchell report. It's a sad commentary when the biggest story of the year is about the abuse of illegal drugs by professional athletes. In the end, I think that 2007 will be remembered most for the fact that Hank Aaron's record was broken under a cloud of suspicion and controversy.

That's it for this year. I had a meager output of only 100 posts this year. I hope to do better next year, but I do want to thank the people who come back on a regular basis to check out my sometimes incoherent rambling. So thank you Sandy, Louise, Craig, Denise and Jeff. I'm sure there are more, but unfortunately, I don't know your names, but I do appreciate the support. Thanks to the folks at Replacement Level Yankees and The Chuck Knoblog for adding me to your links and keep up the good work.

That's it everyone. I hope you have a happy and safe New Year's celebration and I'll be back to rant and rave in '08.