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Remembering the best of 2007

By Max J. Dickstein, amNewYork Sports Editor | mdickstein@am-ny.com

December 27, 2007

Think of this year-end sports retrospective as the equivalent of an uncomplicated Central Park carthorse, peripherally blinded, who believes in the power of positive thinking.

Old man '07 had scandal and corruption in abundance, more than enough for an article that would send our carthorse into an inert funk. Here are a few quick, negative hits: Bad Newz Kennels, Davydenko, Donaghy, Mitchell Report, 756*, Tour de Farce.

What follows is our effort to accentuate the positive -- and, in doing so, emphasize how little good there was in the mix this year.

In the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts, their humble coach, Tony Dungy, and their indomitable quarterback, Peyton Manning, tasted Super Bowl victory after beating the Chicago Bears in February. Two weeks earlier, the Colts came back ferociously from a record 18-point deficit to turn back the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game, 38-34. The Patriots have not lost since that Jan. 22 letdown. If New England's quest for a first perfect 16-0 season is successful against the Giants this Saturday, that's the pre-emptive favorite for 2008 Story of the Year.

Two exuberant basketball and football teams made their school, the University of Florida, with only Division I-A school ever to capture the football and men's basketball national titles in the same calendar year. Tim Tebow, the Gators' multi-threat quarterback who was a freshman on the championship team, further honored his school with a historic individual achievement -- earlier this month, he became the first sophomore ever to win the Heisman trophy.

Two soft-spoken Europeans, both in their mid-twenties and arcing toward the ends of masterful careers, loudly announced their continued dominance of the tennis world this year. Just like last year, Switzerland's Roger Federer, 26, swept through every major tournament except for the French Open. On the women's side, Justine Henin, 25, won the French Open and then beat back both of the recharged Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, at the U.S. Open for her second major title of the year.

Tiger Woods has been making the PGA tour his personal playground since he turned pro in 1996. This year, the birth of his daughter, Sam Alexis, expanded that playground. Teeing off at guesses that family life would erode the meticulous golfer's game, Woods added a 13th major trophy to his shelf. He won seven tournaments in all, including the first-ever Fed Ex Cup in the tour's year-end playoff series.

The Buffalo Bills' Kevin Everett capped the year by writing a new chapter in his All-American story of courage and hope. By attending the Bills' game against the Giants at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday, he took another remarkable step in his recovery from a severe spinal chord injury, which he sustained while making a routine tackle during a kickoff on Sept. 9. Everett was not available for media interviews Sunday, but perhaps his assured presence at the late-season game quietly heralded a year of better news.