On Jan. 1, the NFL was rocked with the tragic news that Broncos’ cornerback Darrent Williams was shot to death following an incident at a Denver nightclub. Williams was just 24 years old. On Nov. 26, tragedy again struck the NFL as another young player, Washington Redskins’ safety Sean Taylor, was also tragically killed when four young men broke into his Miami house and shot him once in the leg, hitting a main artery and killing him within 24 hours. Taylor was only 24. The tragic deaths of both Darrent Williams and Sean Taylor are painful reminders to cherish life and take nothing for granted. R.I.P. Darrent and Sean.

It was inevitable. As long as he stayed healthy, everyone knew that Barry Bonds, mired in a relentless steroid controversy, would stroke career homer #756 at some point during the 2007 season and move past Hank Aaron in the record books. And on Aug. 5 against the Washington Nationals, he did just that, sending an 84-mph meatball from Mike Bacsik into the right-centerfield seats 435 feet away, ending Aaron’s 33-year reign as baseball’s home run king and officially opening the debate as to whether or not Bonds’ record is tainted. Fashion designer Marc Ecko set out to end the debate when he bought the historic ball in an online auction for $752,467 and then let fans determine the ball’s fate by setting up a website that allowed users to vote for one of three options: send the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown with an asterisk branded on it; send the ball unblemished to Cooperstown; or launch the ball into outer space (no joke). On Sept. 26, Ecko announced that 47 percent of the 10 million voters wanted the ball branded, 34 percent voted to have the ball sent to Cooperstown unblemished, and 19 percent wanted the ball strapped to a rocket and banished to space. Despite the results, not everyone is happy with the outcome. Many accused Ecko of being a publicity hound (he is), Gilbert Arenas offered to buy the ball from Ecko (“I mean, why graffiti the ball when, in everybody's mind, they think he's done it?”), and Bonds himself called the designer an idiot. Regardless, Hall of Fame officials have said they’ll accept the branded ball, to which Bonds responded that he would boycott his own Hall of Fame induction ceremony if they did. Hey, sounds like a win-win to us.

We chronicled this in much more detail back in June, but plainly stated, Kobe doesn’t like the way the Lakers are headed. And who can blame him? GM Mitch Kupchak traded away a future All-Star (Caron Butler) for Kwame Brown and failed to pull the trigger on a deal that would have brought Jason Kidd to Los Angeles for Andrew Bynum. Bynum is playing well this year, but he’s still only 20 and looks to be a few years away from truly helping a team challenge for a title. Meanwhile, Kobe has wasted the best years of his career on a team that is just good enough for the playoffs but not good enough to get past the first round. The Lakers are playing .500 ball and Kobe has been quiet, but if the losses start to mount, this thing could come to a head. He can’t opt out of his contract until the summer of 2009, so the Lakers have until February of that year before they have to make a deal.

Heading into Week 15, 21 of 32 NFL teams were battling for a playoff spot. In the NFC, you’ve got the Giants leading the wild card race at 9-4, and then seven teams at either 7-6 or 6-7 with a shot at that final spot. And who knows, the Giants' tendency to self-destruct at season’s end might open the door for one of those teams. In addition, teams like the Jets, Ravens, Chiefs, Saints, Eagles and Bears might miss the playoffs after reaching them last year, which is especially noteworthy since the Ravens, Saints and Bears were all top conference seeds a year ago. The fourth top seed, San Diego, is lucky to be leading their division at 8-5. And teams like the Packers and Bucs were wildly inconsistent in 2006 but look like they could beat almost anyone in 2007. The suits in the NFL have always championed parity, and it looks like they are getting their wish.

Duh. Seriously, there are eight to 12 teams that could make a legitimate argument that they should be playing in the title game. But that’s the problem: you shouldn’t have to campaign for a spot in the title game. You should earn that spot by defeating your peers in head-to-head competition. BCS apologists like to argue that a playoff (similar to March Madness) would make the regular season meaningless. But no one is arguing for a 64-team football tournament. Make it a four-, eight- or 12-team tournament -- we don’t care. We just want to watch a college football playoff. More interest means more viewers, which means more money. Are we speaking your language now, conference presidents?

Once again, Alex Rodriguez was a world-beater during the regular season, belting 54 home runs, driving in 156 runs and batting .314 en route to AL MVP honors and a wild card playoff berth for his Yankees. In fact, in a season when he hit his 500th career home run, A-Rod helped the Yankees rebound from a horrible start (22-29 at the end of May and above .500 for good on July 15) and nearly win the division crown. However, the Yankees’ prize third baseman once again flamed out in the postseason, going 4-for-15 (.267) with one home run, one RBI, two runs scored and six strikeouts in the Yanks’ four-game defeat to Cleveland in the ALDS. Still, that was an improvement over the .071 batting average in 2006 and the .133 average of 2005. True, A-Rod helped the Yankees beat Minnesota in the 2004 ALDS before they historically coughed up a 3-0 series lead to the Red Sox in the ALCS, but really, are you starting to think that maybe a championship is not in the cards for the guy? And that maybe he has something to do with that?

Tennessee Titans’ cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones has an ignorance problem, and it has nothing to with ignoring the rules on a football field. Jones loves to hang out at strip clubs, and even though bad things happen to him at said strip clubs, he has continued to frequent them. In February, he was part of an entourage that visited a Las Vegas club after attending the NBA All-Star Game, and in that infamous “make it rain” episode of Jones’ off-the-field life, he was implicated in a shooting that left a security guard paralyzed. But then after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Jones for the entire 2007 season because of this and other related incidents, he was involved in another shooting outside of an Atlanta strip club in June. Needless to say, Goodell did not grant Jones early re-instatement after 10 games. And it remains to be seen if Titans coach Jeff Fisher will allow Jones back on the field in Nashville at all.

Kevin Garnett was drafted in 1995 and after his rookie year, he took the Timberwolves on an eight-year run that included eight straight playoff appearances and a 366-258 (.587) record. But after losing to the Lakers in the 2004 Western Conference Finals, things started to go downhill. The win totals dropped from 58 to 44 to 33 to 32, and the talent surrounding Garnett was getting worse, not better. Frustration mounted and rumors swirled. That’s when KG and the Wolves finally reached their tipping point, and they both realized that Garnett in Minnesota just wasn’t going to work. The Wolves tried to pry Amare Stoudemire away from the Suns but Phoenix would only offer up Shawn Marion, who didn’t want to play for the Wolves (and didn’t really fit into their plans, anyway). They settled on a big offer from the Celtics that included Al Jefferson, two first-round draft picks and a host of young prospects. It’s great to see KG with new life in Boston, and if the Cs can make it all the way, it promises to be a very interesting Finals. Meanwhile, if the Wolves hope to progress, they need to fire Kevin McHale, and fast.

In Canada, hockey is king. In the United States, hockey is the red-headed stepchild of the sports world. Case in point, the television coverage for the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals in Canada pulled in 2,608,000, 2,378,000 and 2,553,00 viewers for games 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Those numbers were slightly higher than equivalent games last year. As for the U.S., Game 3’s coverage on NBC pulled in just 1,205,600 households, which was a mere 1.1 rating. It was the lowest-rated primetime broadcast in the network’s history, further evidence that people would rather watch "American Idol" than the Stanley Cup.

In late July, the NFL lost a legend when former San Francisco 49ers’ head coach Bill Walsh lost his battle with leukemia and died at the age of 75. What his offensive mind brought to the game was remarkable. The West Coast Offense – his pride and joy – is still a staple for many teams, even though some use a hybrid form of it. And the way he ran the personnel department for the 49ers can still be seen in the way the Steelers run their organization, which is to say he did it with total class. Bottom line is that Walsh was, and will continue to be, what is right about football.

Every year, USA Today releases its college football preseason poll, and this year the newspaper tabbed USC for the #1 spot. Filling out the rest of the top five were LSU, Florida, Texas and Michigan. After six weeks of games, the top five looked like this: #1 LSU, #2 California, #3 Ohio State, #4 Boston College, #5 South Florida. Four out of the five teams from the newspaper’s preseason poll were no longer ranked in the top five, which begs the question: why have preseason polls? What’s the point in ranking teams before they even hit the field? Why not wait until the sixth week of the season when most teams have played at least three conference games? This season proved to be no different than others: preseason polls are meaningless.

We covered this in more depth in August, but the defections of KG, Rashard Lewis, Zach Randolph, Ray Allen and Jason Richardson to Eastern Conference teams certainly helped balance the talent level in the NBA, in the short term, anyway. With Garnett and Ray Ray, the Celtics are probably the frontrunner in the East, and Lewis’ arrival in Orlando (along with Dwight Howard’s considerable improvement) has the Magic off to a 16-4 start. But, after that, the East is pretty thin as it doesn’t look like the Pistons, Cavaliers, Bulls or Raptors are ready to seriously contend for a title. At least five of the league’s top seven teams are in the West, which still has much more depth. That doesn’t even count the Hornets, Nuggets or Warriors, three teams that would fare very well if they were in the East. Simply stated, the Finals should be more interesting this season, but the West is still best.

Apparently O.J. Simpson didn’t get the memo that even if his name is on something, it doesn’t automatically mean that the stuff belongs to him. In mid-September, Simpson, along with a few people he was attending a wedding with (yes, really), barged into a hotel room occupied by a couple of sports collectors (who owned some of Simpson’s memorabilia), waved a gun and started yelling, “Mother fucker, you think you can steal my shit?” Simpson and his cohorts were eventually arrested and charged with multiple felonies, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery and use of a deadly weapon. Several of the men who accompanied Simpson during the break-in struck plea deals and received reduced sentences. Simpson, however, was arraigned and faces trial. If convicted, he faces up to 106 years in prison. So basically, he skated on double murder, but essentially could get life in prison for trying to rob somebody for some of his old sports memorabilia. Only in America.

On Thanksgiving Day in 2005, the Boston Red Sox traded Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Jesus Delgado and Harvey Garcia to the Florida Marlins for pitcher Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell. In 2006, the Red Sox were criticized heavily for handing the Marlins a Rookie of the Year player in Ramirez and only getting a pitcher who went 16-11 with a 5.01 ERA. This year, however, Beckett proved that the trade wasn’t lopsided, finishing with a 20-7 record and a 3.27 ERA. While that performance was only good enough for a runner-up nod in the AL Cy Young race (Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia took home the honors), Beckett was the only 20-game winner in baseball and also set career-bests in wins, ERA, strikeouts and WHIP while finishing with a career-low in walks. Plus, he was marvelous in the postseason, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA against the Indians in the ALCS and winning Game 1 of the World Series against the Rockies.

If you’re being deposed for a sexual harassment suit (filed against you), and the prosecuting attorney asks you, “Do you also find it offensive for a black male to call a black woman a bitch?” just say “Yes.” Don’t say, “Not as much, I’m sorry to say. I do make a distinction.” He didn’t ask you if you find it as offensive; he just asked if you find it offensive. He wasn’t asking you to make a comparison, so do yourself a favor and avoid making one. Usually, when hometown fans boo their coach, it’s easy to figure out why. But not with Isiah. Is it the team’s payroll situation and roster of thugs and miscreants? Or is it because he likes to pressure his underlings into sexual relationships and call them nasty names? Tough call, Knicks fans. Tough call.

Second year Chicago Bears wide receiver Devin Hester was a rookie phenom in 2006, returning a total of five kicks (punts and kickoffs) for touchdowns. Then, he took the opening kick of the Super Bowl and returned it for a TD. In 2007, Hester has six TDs in 12 games -- one receiving and five on kick returns. And for whatever reason, teams are just now catching on to the fact it's probably not in their best interest to kick the ball to this guy. He’s fast, makes cuts at full speed and is just downright elusive. In a recent game against the Giants, New York’s Lawrence Tynes kicked the ball out of bounds twice rather than have Hester touch the ball. That’s partially Tynes being a lousy kicker, but mostly respect for one of NFL history's most electric return men.

At 34 years old, many who followed the NHL figured Jaromir Jagr was at the end of his career. For more than a decade, Jagr was a fixture for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but entering the 2006-07 season, he was considered just another over-the-hill, overpaid member of the New York Rangers. Jagr proved his critics wrong, finishing the season with 96 points (eighth best in the NHL), scoring 30 goals and proving he could still share too, notching 66 assists. While he’s no Sidney Crosby, Jagr proved that there’s still plenty of gas left in the tank.

He does more commercials than any other NFL player, but that’s okay since they’re usually funny. But to agree to appear at a Sweet Sixteen party for $200,000 after winning your first Super Bowl? Now, that’s priceless. No one can argue that it doesn’t make good fiscal sense -- $100K per hour is nothing to sneeze at. But is all that cash worth being the butt of jokes for the next six months? We don’t think so.

As the talent from the power conferences bolts to the NBA early, there is definitely more parity in college basketball. Mid-majors generally keep their players longer, so they’re better able to generate continuity and chemistry, which helps them compete against the bigger schools and their top-25 recruiting classes. However, as March Madness rolls around, it’s nice to be from a power conference. Just three mid-majors – Memphis, Butler and Southern Illinois – advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, and just one (Memphis) made it to the Elite Eight. All of the remaining teams came from one of the six power conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, SEC and the Pac-10). Sometimes, it’s good to be big.

NFL.com contributor Pat Kirwan should stay out of the prediction-making business for a while. Before the start of the NFL season, Kirwan told the Detroit Free Press that, “After watching their three- and four-wideout packages with Roy Williams, Calvin Johnson, Mike Furrey and Shaun McDonald, the one thing that looked clear to me is (Jon) Kitna is on his way to a 5,000-yard season.” Kirwan should have done some homework before making such a bold prediction, because only one other quarterback has passed for more than 5,000 yards and that was Dan Marino (5,084) in 1984. As of this writing, Kitna is on pace for 4,188 yards, which is a very good season, but it’s still 812 yards shy of 5,000. Every year it seems that someone from the media makes an over-the-top prediction that eventually falls flat on its face. Kirwan’s took the cake in 2007.