The Top Ten Sports Stories of 2007

JOSH'S TOP TEN SPORTS STORIES OF 2007

1- April-December. Michael Vick busted for dogfighting.

The fall of an American superstar. From the initial denials to the subsequent confessions, all the way through to his guilty plea and 23 month jail sentence, Michael Vick was unquestionably the biggest sports story of the calendar year 2007. A star quarterback sent to prison at (or near) the height of his career for cruelty towards animals, Michael Vick's saga connected with people from all walks of life, sports fans or not. The Atlanta Falcons' quarterback was a man of two different faces: one public, one private, and the private face clearly wasn't anything pretty. Eligible for parole in May of 2009, it's hard to see Michael Vick playing football again before fall of that year at the earliest. If you've got a heart, and there's room for forgiveness somewhere inside of it, you're hoping that this story ends with some sort of redemption at the end. Hoping, at least.

2- April-August. Barry Bonds takes down Hank Aaron's HR mark.

This was the biggest story from the start of the 2007 baseball season through to mid-August. Barry Balco now has 762 home runs, seven more than Hank Aaron's career mark of 755. The fact of the matter is, Barry Bonds was a Hall of Famer before the HGH, so he has to be a Hall of Famer after it, right? It's not like he did anything that violated MLB's rules at the time. Bud Selig is the real man to blame here. Easily the worst commissioner in baseball history. Not only did he allow the steroids' environment to exist, he more than facilitated it. The home run record is probably the most hallowed mark in all of American sports. Barry Bonds now owns it. Huge story, whether you believe it was earned fairly or not.

3- September-December. New England's perfect season.

Tom Brady throws 50 touchdown passes, Randy Moss makes 23 touchdown catches and the Patriots cruise to the first 16-0 mark in NFL history. A tremendous feat in any NFL campaign, let alone nowadays in the current landscape of parity. Clearly New England needs to win the Super Bowl in 2008 to ensure that the season goes down as the all-time greatest, but it's already been a magical ride for Bill Belichik's crew. Spygate was all the motivation he needed. You think he was coaching angry this year? You think?

4- December. George Mitchell steroids report released.

It took way too long for this thing to come out. And when it finally did, you had to have major questions about the actual "evidence" listed within. But clearly, a lot of it was true, because you haven't heard many denials from the guys who were named. Roger Clemens has maintained his innocence the most vehemently, but then, he has the most to lose. Clemens is to pitchers now what Bonds is to hitters. A guy who took performance enhancers (when it wasn't against the rules) to take his physique into the next stratosphere. How Cooperstown handles all of this will be fascinating to see.

5- January. Peyton Manning finally wins the big one.

He was supposed to be the guy who couldn't win the big game. Well, not anymore. Mr. Commercial himself stepped up and carried the Colts on his back to a Super Bowl Championship in February of 2007. Taking out Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Championship was a thing of beauty for football fans who wanted Manning to just get to the final game. Dominating a very strong Chicago Bears' defense in the title tilt sealed the deal. Choker no more.

6- April. Florida Gators win men's hoops championship for 2nd straight year.

It's simple: no team had ever done this before. The same starting five goes back-to-back for the national championship, and really does cruise through the NCAA Tournament in March. Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey played with complete selflessness that head coach Billy Donovan has to take credit for. Given the current landscape of college basketball, we'll probably never see anything like this again.

7- September-December. College football season is year of the upset.

USC, Ohio State, West Virginia, Oklahoma, LSU, Texas, Missouri, Florida. Just a sampling of the top contenders in the country who lost games while at or near the top of the polls. This was without question the craziest season in college football history and proof positive that an eight-team playoff is the only way to rightfully decide the national champion.

8- September/December. Boxing delivers two great fights.

Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik fought a highly enjoyable seven-round middleweight championship on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ, in late September. Taylor knocked Pavlik down (and almost out) in round two, then Youngstown's Finest somehow climbed to his feet, and finished off Taylor in round seven. The rematch is set for February in Las Vegas and should be fantastic. Meanwhile, Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton turned in a tremendous USA vs. UK 138 pound bout in early December. Mayweather is the best pound for pound fighter in the world today. Boxing will never be the most popular sport in America again, but it's definitely not dead.

9- October. Boston Red Sox win 2nd World Title in 4 years.

The Curse of the Bambino? Never heard of it. After going 86 years without a World Championship, the BoSox have now won two in four seasons. Anchored by the dominant pitching of Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Jonathan Papelbon, Boston steamrolled through the postseason, sweeping Colorado four games to none in the Fall Classic. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are one of the greatest 3-4 punches in baseball history. Manager Terry Francona is the new Rodney Dangerfield: he gets no respect.

10- October. Marion Jones busted for steroids, loses track titles.

The tip of the iceberg, really. Marion Jones, the star of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney had long denied, adamantly, that she ever used performance enhancing drugs. Then the feds found the evidence they needed to make a strong case against her, and Jones folded like a house of cards. Pleading guility to perjury and obstruction, Jones apologized for lying to everyone and setting a bad example for the youth of America. What she was really apologizing for was getting caught.
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Honorable Mention:

-Sean Taylor killed (Darrent Williams earlier in year)
-Virginia Tech bounces back from massacre
-Roger Federer and Tiger Woods continue domination of tennis and golf
-San Antonio Spurs win fourth NBA title
-Anaheim Ducks win first Stanley Cup
-Brett Favre finds the fountain of youth
-Adrian Peterson's monster rookie year
-New England's spygate scandal
-Colorado Rockies win 21 of 22, surge to first World Series
-New York Mets' historic collapse in NL East
-ARod's opts out of record contract for new record contract
-LeBron James' coming out party in NBA East Finals against Detroit
-Jimmie Johnson wins NASCAR crown for 2nd straight year
-Arkansas Razorback athletics: DMac, coaching drama, hoops and football

-JAB