Tagged As: New York, Knicks, Giants, Cubs, Sports

So it is New Years Eve and many blogs and sports shows will run programs celebrating the best of 2008. They will flash back to the New York Giants stunning the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. They will flash to the Phillies giving Philadelphia something to root for in Philadelphia. They will gush over the Boston Celtics victory and the NBA Finals with the Los Angeles Lakers. They might do something about the NHL, but so few fans know anything about the sport that the names on the back of the jerseys would be meaningless.

I would like to look back at this year and remember the worst of sports culture. This is not because I hate sports or even hated the year, but because it is hard to make fun of a champion, but so easy to pick on a person like Plaxico Burress.

Only Burress could outdo the egos of noted problem children like Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson. I mean Owens has been dropping passes and bad mouthing quarterbacks since Romo was in Division II at Eastern Illinois University. Chad Johnson tried to change his last name to a number in Spanish to get attention.

Burress decides to beat his girlfriend and get a restraining order filed against him in September, shoot himself in the foot in November, and get suspended for the season while the police decide what to do with him in December. New York Giants sports fans are just happy that the running game is unstoppable. Otherwise Burress’s charges would have been more explosive than any action at Giants Stadium.

Baseball had its own mishaps. I could go with the Alex Rodriguez-Madonna Chronicles, but ARod batted .302, hit 35 homeruns, and drove in 103 runs. It was not his fault that Yankees tickets fell short of the playoffs.

No, the winner has to be the Chicago Cubs postseason collapse. Fans across the country were sure that Cubs tickets would get to the World Series at the very least. They finished 97-64 and had the most balanced team in either league. Sadly, it was the Los Angeles Dodgers who ended their fairy tale season with a sweep in the first round. Manny Ramirez made life hell in the Boston Red Sox locker room and made the entire Northside of Chicago cry with a series MVP performance.

Basketball actually had a pretty good 2008. The league bounced back with the two franchises that have been the face of the franchise enjoying resurgence. The worst for this sport unfortunately brings me back to New York. I am not a hater of the Big Apple, but the city had its Britney-sized issues.

The Isiah Thomas thing is not the worst story surprisingly. Stephon Marbury apparently has proven that he has an even bigger opinion of himself than Thomas. Isiah was thrown into a situation in 2003 where he had little recourse but to spend. He simply thought that talent would breed chemistry and cultivate wins. He was wrong. The end came in 2008 and he took a great deal of flak for taking on an impossible job.

Marbury was one of those talented players Thomas hired. Marbury started out well enough. He even released a sneaker- the Starbury- that was inexpensive enough for just about any family to afford. Things went wrong when his former coach came to town.

Marbury was without a role under Mike D’Antoni and insisted on making the breakup process as painful as possible. He was not willing to compromise, wanting his full salary to leave. Then when Donnie Walsh would not budge he stalked the Knicks.

He traveled to Los Angeles to stew in the front row when he was banned from the locker room. Stephon has become some sort of a mix of a petulant child and bitter divorcee. Fans want Knicks tickets to see the team try and win, not try and avoid Marbury.

That is my list of the worst of 2008. Feel free to comment and add a few stories. I am sure I have forgotten a good deal of the ridiculous.