This was not your normal sports year. Do you remember the Champions? Unlikely. Do you remember the scandal? No doubt. So many of them are still fresh in the minds of the sports fans, since those transgressions or alleged missteps are still hot topics as the calendar turns to 2008.

Thinking initially about the champs, especially the two football giants crowned in early moments of the year, both college and pro, we remember the opening plays of both games - TD returns by Ohio State’s Ted Ginn and Chicago’s Devin Hester, respectively. Yes, we remember the Florida Gators and Indianapolis Colts won those games, but the plays that remain etched in our minds came from the losing squads. I’ll admit Peyton Manning earning his first championship (and maybe his last) is a story worth remembering, but Peyton trumped that himself anyway when he was the guest host on Saturday Night Live. His United Way spot was the best thing he produced in 2007.

The champs of the baseball diamond was the team nearly everyone predicted would win it all - the Boston Red Sox. But the team that will be most remembered from ‘07 is the team that looked feeble against the Red Sox, but world beaters up until then - the Colorado Rockies. On the 15th of September, the Rockies were riding a 3-game losing streak and were sitting at 76-72. They were 4th place in their own division and 12 other teams had better records. They went on to win 14 of their next 15, including a one-game playoff victory over Cy Young winner Jake Peavy and the San Diego Padres; that win also gave them the most wins in the NL.

The best in the NBA was the San Antonio Spurs..again…for the 3rd time in 5 years. But do you remember that Tony Parker was the Finals MVP? Likely what you remember is Lebron James carried the Cleveland Cavaliers all the way to the finals, just to be slaughtered in 4 straight. Maybe more memorable than that, you recall Robert Horry’s hip check on Steve Nash in the late stages of game 4 of the Western Semis last year. The Suns had the game won, but this incident - which occurred with 18 seconds left in front of the Suns’ bench - resulted in suspensions for Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw, who left the bench only briefly in defense of their MVP. The Spurs won the next 2 games under a shroud of conspiracy, then went on to claim the title, adding title ring number #7 for Horry.

There are your major pro sports champions and we remember more of the other things than their titles. And that’s not the half of it. Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Pacman Jones, Tim Donaghy, Chris Benoit, Isiah Thomas, Don Imus, now Roger Clemens, are the lightning rods for 2007. And of course the bad news that came from Bad Newz Kennels ring leader Michael Vick stole the headlines for months. Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s record and it was not celebrated because he’d already been convicted in the court of public opinion. Clemens’ name appeared so many times in the recently released Mitchell report, his entire legacy is now in question. Clemens will incidentally kick off our yet-to-be-made memories of 2008, when he is interviewed on 60 minutes the first Sunday of next year.