2007 In Review

The year of 2007 may long be remembered of as one of the most chaotic and dramatic in the history of sports. There was never a dull moment, for better and for worse.
Sadly, it will be the legal messes that the year will remembered for. An NBA referee in Tim Donaghy admits to gambling on games including ones in which he officiated. He seemed to have got caught up in a real-life Sopranos gang.
Michael Vick then decided to do some gambling of his own with some old friends back in Virginia. Apparently it didn’t always go so well because people got upset when he killed his dogs for losing. Anyway, Vick went to jail and Atlanta’s season…didn’t go so well.
The year wrapped up with more investigating after the Mitchell Report was released. Now we get to spend the next who knows how many months watching people blame each other.
Ah, it was like a year-long episode of Law & Order: Dumb Sportsman Unit.
Of course, there was plenty to celebrate as well. Brett Farve made his return as one of the league’s premier quarterbacks. There is just right about seeing the Green Bay #4 running around throwing touchdowns and acting like uber-excited 4th grader.
Roger Federer continued his dominance by winning his fifth, count it fifth, straight Wimbledon title. He the greatest tennis player in history and no one can do anything about it.
The Colorado Rockies put together one of the best runs in baseball history by only losing once in the final three weeks of the season then sweeping their first two playoff series. Then they met Boston in the World Series; so much for that streak. Impressive nonetheless.
The Florida Gators men’s basketball team reclaimed their national title in the spring. It was nice to see a bunch of college guys with nothing to prove come back just to have fun before becoming millionaires.
The Patriots became only the second NFL team to win every regular season game. And Bill Belichick…studied some more film.
Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s all-time home run mark. See legal matters at top for corresponding responses.
Naturally, for every success story there is a disaster. The New York Mets sure put together a dandy after blowing a seven game lead in mid-September. Tune in to your local Queens television station to watch heads roll down the street.
But the Mets weren’t the only team from New York to look absolutely ridiculous. The Knicks showed everyone how to put the fun in dysfunctional. Sexual harassment and fist fights at 30,000 feet to name a few. It’s almost as if the fans want to get rid of this Isiah guy.
College football teams across the nation showed how well they can put together a disaster. Time after time the number one and two ranked teams played games, and lost. USC, West Virginia, Oregon, Boston College, Kansas, South Florida, Missouri; they all had a chance to play for the national title, and blew it. And now Ohio State and LSU get to decide…something.
Sadly, death took its toll on the sporting community as always. Bill Walsh, Phil Rizzuto, Barbaro, Sean Taylor, Skip Prosser all passed on this year. They may be gone but the sporting world is a better place because of what they brought to this world.
It was a turbulent year. But hey, we columnists have to have something to blab about. So long 2007 and hello 2008. But remember, we prefer to see you on the field, not in the court room.