One sublect that many, including myself, have done for so long is give top ten lists of pretty much everything under the sun. Sports fans really like to make these lists. But what many readers don’t realize, unfortunately, is that 99% of top ten lists are nothing more than an opinion.  Some of the writers don't realize it either though.

Some of the more popular lists I have done would include the top ten baseball players of all time, top ten hottest WNBA players, and the big one, the top ten most overrated sports moments which I wrote earlier this year.

A marketing firm compiled data and fan feedback from all 122 pro sports franchises. With this list it is based on many items. This list is not my list. This list was done by two companies as well.

The list is called the "Ultimate Standings" by Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon and Markitecture INC. The list was published in the May issue of ESPN the Magazine.

The data used to figure all this out was put together with these factors included. Most of these factors included: Ownership, Coaching, Players, Fan Relations, Affordability Stadium Experience, and BLEEP-for-the-Buck.

So who are the Top Ten Franchises and who are the Bottom Feeders? Here are the lists.

Top Ten Sports Franchises:

10. Arizona Diamondbacks

9. Jacksonville Jaguars

8. Detroit Pistons

7.Detroit Tigers

6.Los Angeles Angels

5. Anaheim Ducks

4. Green Bay Packers

3.New Orleans Hornets

2. San Antonio Spurs

1. Indianapolis Colts

 
The Bottom Feeders:

113. Memphis Grizzlies

114. Baltimore Orioles

115. Cincinnati Bengals

116. Seattle Supersonics

117. Oakland Raiders

118. Minnesota Timberwolves

119. Atlanta Falcons

120. Detroit Lions

121. Toronto Maple Leafs

122. New York Knicks

 Notables and other numbers:

The city of Detroit had three teams in the top 12 and one in the bottom. The Detroit Red Wings came in at 12th.

No New York team ranked higher than the Giants at number 48. New York has seven pro sports franchises which is more than any other city.

The New England Patriots were ranked as the 11th best franchise.

The Chicago Cubs were ranked 95th. I guess without any living fans from the last World Series it is hard to rank higher. The Cubs have only won two World Series’ and they were back-toback in 1907-08.

The number 100 team is the New Jersey Nets.

The Indiana Pacers just missed the Bottom Feeder list at number 112

In MLB the Boston Red Sox ranked 89th while the New York Yankees ranked 65th. The Tampa Bay Rays ranked 75th while the Toronto Blue Jays ranked 67th and the Baltimore Orioles were ranked 114th. The AL East is not a good franchise division apparently.

Surprises on the list were the Milwaukee Brewers who were 13th and the St. Louis Blues were 14th.

When looking back at the year of 2007 there are so many memories and big storiesin sports. It is unbelievable how many huge stories there were. What is being attempted here is three lists. Three lists that are putting all these stories front and center once again.

Some will spark fond memories, some not so much. Some stories we had this year were and still are very painful to many people but great to many others. Some of these stories were so unbelievable that we had to check several sources just to believe they were true. Unfortunately there were many deaths as well.

It was yet another great year in sports. Here are the top 10 stories for the Good the Bad and the Ugly.

 Top Ten Good from 2007-

 

10. U.S. wins team World Championships for Greco Roman Wrestling in Baku, Azerbaijan. This was the first time the U.S. has ever won this as a team. Maybe if this victory didn’t take place in Azerbaijan you would have heard about this one.

9. David Beckham signs with the L.A. Galaxy in the MLS. The MLS is so far off the map that many Americans didn’t know that there was still an MLS for him to sign in.

8. Jimmie Johnson wins Nascar’s Nextel Cup for second season in a row! Johnson beat out Jeff Gordon who also had an amazing year.

7. Big Boston deals. The Celtics became a relevant team agin in 2007 by acquiring Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. The Celtics went from worst to first and are now legitimate contenders not only in the NBA’s Eastern Conference but for a NBA Championship.

6. Rockies Roll to the World Series. The Rockies won 21 of 22 in a remarkable run to the World Series. Unfortunately they had an 8 day lay off that may have cooled the teams momentum as the were beat by the Red Sox.

5. Boise State goes undefeated and beat Oklahoma on two incredible plays to win. Boise State was the underdog in the Fiesta Bowl and won in overtime 43-42 in one of the best football games ever. It capped off an undefeated season.

4. Florida’s big year. After winning the NCAA basketball Championship and football Championship the football team had the Heisman trophy winner. Tim Tebow won the trophy as an underclassman and is poised to be the second two-time winner if all goes well in 2008. Tebow had 51 total touchdowns (29 passing, 22 rushing) as only a sophomore!

3. The Spurs won the NBA Championship and the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup. These were two under the radar type Championships for different reasons. The Spurs won with defense and overall team play headed by possibly the best overall player in the league in Tim Duncan. The Ducks won in similar fashion but since bowling gets higher ratings than hockey most people didn’t even see the Ducks play on their amazing run.

2. Indianapolis wins the Super Bowl and Peyton Manning gets off the snide. Manning who was riddled with big game losses through college and pro football. But not in 2007. Manning led the Colts past the Patriots and then the Bears.

1. Appalachian State beats Michigan at the Big House in the biggest upset in college football history. By beating the number five ranked Wolverines Appalachian State won their 3rd straight Division 1 National Championship.

 Top Ten Bad from 2007-

 

 10. West Virginia coaches bolt for Michigan. West Virginia lost three coaches overall. Gone to Michigan are the women’s soccer coach, men’s head basketball coach, and most recently the head football coach. I think it is time for Michigan and West Virginia to start playing every year.

9. Marion Jones doping scandal. Marion Jones was included in the Balco steroids scandal this year which in turn wiped out all the Olympic gold medals and Olympic records. This story has been in the making for years but was confirmed this year.

8. Kevin Everett’s spinal injury in week one of the NFL season was a very scary one. Some players on the field didn’t think he would live, let alone walk again.

7. Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the attempted murder of five employees at his ranch in Venezuela. The ranch hands were using the family’s pool without permission so Urbina decided to pour gas on them and attempted to light them on fire.

6. Joe Kennedy’s death. Kennedy died mysteriously the day before being a best man in a wedding. He last pitched for Toronto but was better known for his days in Oakland. He was the father of a 1 year old son.

5. Cardinals lose another pitcher in a tragic death. First it was Pitcher Daryl Kile in 2002 and then Josh Hancock, a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, had died in an automobile accident. Josh was intoxicated and hit a tow truck on the highway.

4. Darrent Williams death after a New Years eve party was shocking to many as he was hit in a limo that was leaving a party. This all happened just hours after the team was eliminated from the playoffs.

3. Sean Taylor’s death was another tragedy in the NFL this season as he was gunned down in his own home in Miami. Taylor was recently elected to the Pro Bowl and is mourned by many as he was a man who had just decided to turn his life around in recent years. He was an impact player in the NFL and becoming an impact citizen in life.

2. Michal Vick’s dog fighting scandal was alomost as big as it got in sports stories for 2007. The Vick scandal rocked two communities and also headed the demise of the Atlanta Falcons organization. The Falcons have used four Qbs and also had head coach Bobby Petrino bolt for Arkansas. Vick was sentenced to 23 months in jail and could face more time in Virginia for the same case.

1. Chris Benoit was the most shocking story of the year. The WWE Superstar had recently lost best friend and fellow WWE Superstar Eddie Guerrero the year before. This year he killed his son, his wife, and then himself in a span of two days at his home in Georgia. The story had more twists and turns than any story in many years.

 Top Ten Ugly from 2007-

 

10. The Miami Dolphins (1-14 at the time this was written) having their worst season ever and threatened to go winless in the same season the undefeated record set by the 72' Dolphins is threatened by New England.

9. The Chicago Bears went all the way to the Super Bowl in 2007 but ended up having to rely on Wrecks Grossman in the Big Game. Everything that got the Bears to the Super Bowl was absent from the Super Bowl. They got there with special teams, defense, and key turnovers. Three things they couldn’t manage to get in a rain soaked Super Bowl. Since the big game they have slid all the way into last place in the NFC Central getting swept by the Detroit Lions of all teams.

8. Travis Henry had a drug problem. It manifested into a positive test that was appealed and over ruled which not only kept him in football this season it also revealed his child support payments to his 9 children with 9 women. Better known as "baby mamas". Two more and he has an entire football squad, if they played both ways!

7. Marty Schottenheimer was fired after leading the Chargers to a 14-2 season. That is unheard of in football. It didn’t look good as the Chargers started slowly under new coach Norv Turner. The Chargers did turn it around and won the AFC West this season.

6. Cleveland and the state of Ohio were denied in many sports in 2007. Ohio State lost in the college basketball and football championships, both to Florida, the Cavaliers lost in the NBA Finals to the Spurs, and the Indians lost to the Red Sox in the ALCS. I guess it could be worse, all those teams could be terrible. This does not mention the great season the Browns are having either. They should make the playoffs but I think most fans in Ohio are not expecting them to go to the Super Bowl. Although the mind of a Browns fan is a sick an twisted place!

5. Pacman Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season for all the arrests he had in a one year period. There was a point where sports highlights shows didn’t ever show him in a uniform, it was usually county jail orange. He then signed up with TNA Wrestling. What a fitting move.

4. Imus fired for remarks towards Rutgers womens basketball. Imus initially was given a two-week suspension for calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team "nappy-headed hos" which was way out of line. Most of those girls aren’t "hos"! They are too ugly for that. Actually there aren’t a whole lot of good looking college athletes in any sport. The Comments were backed up by comedian D.L. Hughley which in turn sparked the debates even further. Somehow I don’t think these girls have not been called worse in person. But they are college girls and it wasn’t fair to them. It didn’t help that the comments came from one of the worst radio hosts who is so ugly that if his ugliness was represented by bricks he would be the Great Wall of China.

3. Barry Bonds broke the all-time home run record this year and then was indicted by a federal grand jury for perjury all in the same year. It was rather strange though how the indictments didn’t come down until after the season was over.

2. The NBA ref scandal with Tim Donaghy. NBA referee Tim Donaghy allegedly bet on NBA games, including contests that he officiated. Could NBA playoff games have been compromised? What does this betting scandal do to the credibility of NBA games? It all seamed so obvious when looking back at some of the glaring calls he made. The problem is, many have thought this in the past already with the way some games are called in such a lopsided fashion. This only put more fuel on the fire.

1. The Mitchell report. Only Bud Selig would spend $40 Million to find out what he and every breathing person in America already knew. Many players did steroids in baseball. The report only named 90 players after a 20 month investigation. Why didn’t they spend 1/100th of that and implant a solid steroids testing policy more like the Olympics use or the Tour De France! Besides it was steroids that brought the game back in 1998 after the lockout.

Receiving a vote for every category of the lists were the New England Patriots. They pulled off a trade to get Randy Moss for only a forth round pick, lost their first round pick in 2008 to "Spygate" and coach Belichick was fined an additional $500,000! The Patriots were then labeled as cheaters for many other incidents as well as some from 2006. All this and the Patriots are still undefeated at 14-0 at the time this was written and hold possibly the 5th overall pick in a trade from San Francisco(4-10).

Lets talk about irony in sports. I am not talking about irony like Sheryl Crow did either. Her type is rain on your wedding day. That isn’t ironic, that is a sign! That means run! Besides, a wise man once said " a man doesn’t realize what true happiness is until he gets married, unfortunately by then it is too late!

Sports irony happens all the time. Sometimes it can be more of poetic justice than irony.

The Motor City/State- It’s ironic in Michigan, the auto capitol of the world, the head football coach of the football team had a last name of Carr, then tried to replace him with a coach named Les Miles! 

 The Cashman- It’s ironic that the New York Yankees, the "Evil Empire", MLB’s richest franchise, has a GM with the last name of Cashman. Brian Cashman is the GM with the highest payroll in all of sports! Cashman has signed players to their highest contracts to come to New York. Although, if the Yankees are such a great organization, why do they have to pay so much more for players than other teams do? In 2007 the Yankees had 5 of the top 10 paid player salaries and had the top three in Giambi, Rodriguez, and Jeter.

The Magic Johnson- It’s ironic that a handsome, successful, charismatic, basketball player with a great rack of chicklets for a smile named "Magic Johnson" would get HIV? It would be like a guy named BLEEP Hertz or a woman named Sharon Cox getting it. Too bad he didn’t cover his "Magic Johnson" before he contracted HIV. He helped raise awareness for the disease, unfortunately he had to have it to do it. I guess the cure for AIDS is money because he has had HIV for 16 years now. OK, so maybe it would be more ironic if this happened to a guy named Jimmy Hatt instead, but someone had to point it out.

New York, New York, Buffalo- It’s ironic that there are three teams in the NFL that represent the state of New York but only one of them actually plays in the state of New York. The two teams bearing the state and or city name of New York play in New Jersey at the Meadowlands and the Buffalo Bills actually play in Buffalo, New York.

Saturday’s Balls- Isn’t it ironic that Peyton Manning is constantly licking his hands to get a better grip on balls but does it before and after each snap. Maybe Jeff Saturday just has something special going on down there.....or those are the balls he is trying to get a better grip on. Maybe that isn’t ironic, just nasty, sorry for that.

College Lighting- In October of 2006 a college football game featuring the Kent State University "Golden Flashes" was temporarily delayed by lightning.

Gruden’s Grudge Match- In 2002 the head coach of the Oakland Raiders John Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay for a ton of draft picks. Owner Al Davis felt the move was great because he felt that Gruden could not win the "Big One". Ironically in his first year as the Bucs head coach he won the Super Bowl against who?....................the Raiders

  It is that time of year again!  The next National holiday to be named will be for the Monday after the Super Bowl any year now.  I would vote for a Presidential candidate of the United States if this was in their campaign as an actual issue.  But one thing I have noticed about the Super Bowl is that the partys have been changing with the "pussification" of America.  Lucky for you I have put togeter a list of things that you MUST live by each year if you are going to stand up for yourself and the game you love so much.  If you don't start doing this now you are going to be paying for it for the rest of your life, and lets face it, the Super Bowl will be around much longer than your spouse/girlfriend.  It is also just a party in the sense of the word, not like the ones your spouse/girlfriend thinks of when she hears the word party. 

I hope this year that if a player from the winning team thanks Jesus for watching over him in victory, a player will blame Satan for blowing the game for his team!


Rules are in order of least important (still important) but more acceptable rules to break.

10.  No channel surfing at all, none.  Put the game on two hours before ti starts and don't touch the remote except to turn up the volume.

9.  No wine of any kind, leave it in the box!

8. No napkins, that is what your shirt is for!

7. no veggie plates, pretty much no vegatables at all!

6.  One item of food serve must be flaming hot (BLEEPy)

5. The only card game permitable has to be some form of poker

4.  It is imperitive that at least two or more wagers should be placed BEFORE kick off.

3.  No matter the score, no video games until the Super Bowl trophy and MVP trophy are awarded.

2.  Rules for football "squares" shpould be clearly printed on your sheet.  Or clarifications MUST be in place and understood by all participants.

1.  NO CHICKS!  NO GIRLFRIENDS, Fiances, or wives.  They talk to much, they only want to watch the commercials, and they don't care who is winning, unless it involves you making money on a bet so she can buy more shoes and purses.  The one and only exception to this tule is that one wife may be present, but she must be the wife of the guy having the Super Bowl party.  She may also have a friend over to keep her company, but she must be HOT and single.  If you cave in and let your girlfriend come it will set a bad president for the rest of your life.  Stand up and be a man or you are going to look like this loser in the picture, looks like he is having a blast,.................yeah right

Now that you know the rules you should have a great time this Sunday and every Super Bowl from here on out.  You're welcome!

I have been listening to all the "experts" give their two cents about everything regarding this Super Bowl.  This means that I am ready to throw prediction into the ring.  I think I know who will win but the final score is really unpredictable.  I have never understood how anyone could throw the score into a prediction either, especially in a Super Bowl.  Sometimes the games look close and turn out to be huge blow outs.  The games that look like they are going to be blow outs are the games that come right down to the last drive.  You can NEVER predict penalties and turnovers either.  You never know how refs will call a game, or if they are even called correctly or with balance to each team.

  The Bears will win Super Bowl XLI and here is why.  The Colts are favored by seven and almost everyone I have heard, read, or saw make a prediction is saying the Colts are going to win.  So why does that matter?  Simple, remember the college football National Championship?  Everyone said that Ohio State was gonna smoke Florida and it was the exact opposite.  Remember the NBA Championship between the Lakers and Pistons?  Everyone said Shaq and Kobe are unstoppable and they are going to roll over Detroit, uhhhh didn't happen.  You could even look at this years World Series where pretty much everyone picked the Tigers to beat the Cardinals in the World Series.  No one could have predicted the three errors at the end of those two games that the Cardinals won.  So this is why I am taking the Bears and of coarse the points.

The reason why the Colts will lose is the thumb.  It has not been given nearly the attention that the stupid Colts plane arriving the day after the Bears coverage has received.  Seriously, how could your first story from the Super Bowl be that the Colts plane was a day later than the Bears?  Manning's thumb is hurt and well since he throws the ball I can't see why this is not more of an issue.  Of coarse the Colts and Manning are going to downplay this injury, they don't want the Bears going after it and they want their team to be completely confident when they take the field Sunday.

So there you go, DAAAAA BEARS will win the Super Bowl because it is them against the world.  They could have also won it with one miniature Ditka against the Colts as robot giants with laser beams.  DAAAAA BEARS

It was the final drive in the AFC Championship game in Indianapolis.  The Patriots had the ball and were down three points.  Former Michigan Wolverine quarterback Tom Brady was poised to win another one against the Colts.  He has won three Super Bowls and was 12-1 in his playoff career.  Brady and the Patriots have been the one obstacle the Colts just couldn't get past.

Brady starts the drive at the Pats 21 and goes from the shotgun but throws incomplete.  The next play, boom, 19 yard pass to to TE Ben Watson, this gets it out to the Pats own 40.  Then Brady hit Evans for 15 yards to the Colts 45.  The Patriots only have 24 seconds on the clock but are driving down four points.

Brady out of the shotgun passed and was intercepted by former Michigan cb/s Marlin Jackson who picked off his old teammate and seals the victory for the Colts.  The AFC Championship was sealed on a play from a Michigan Man to a Michigan Man.  It just wasn't the Michigan man I thought it would be. 

 Although Brady was intercepted on that final drive, I can't think of another quarterback I would want leading a team than him.   When Brady was at Michigan, during practice, if he missed a pass or was off a little bit, Lloyd Carr would yell for Drew Henson to come in and take over.  A former Michigan WR was telling me this one time.

It has come down to this weekend in the NFL playoffs.  The Patriots will play at Indianapolis and the Saints play at Chicago.  Last weekend had some great football and these two games this weekend have all the potential to go to right down to the last play or overtime as any.  Last weekend was the first time in a long time I picked a perfect weekend 4-0 because I made my picks a little different.  I picked from my gut instinct for once instead of the overwhelming populus that all pick the same way, using logic.

AFC Championship - Tom Brady will give his team the lead late in the game, less than a minute left.  But they score to soon and Peyton Manning gets over the hump like Steve Young, and gets the Colts to the Super Bowl.  Manning gets the close enough for Adam Viniteri to kick the winning field goal as time expires winning 30-28.  Using logic you would see that the Colts and Patriots defenses have been dominant in the playoffs and both quarterbacks have been unimpresive, so the game will be low scoring and the Patriots win.  But going by my gut the Colts win 30-28.  I can't believe I am picking against Tom Brady, that is gut rule number one (1. Never pick against Tom Brady in the playoffs!)

NFC Championship - daaaa Bears run out of big plays when it all counts and Drew Brees and the Saints carry the city of New Orleans to the Super Bowl.  The Bears won a lot of games they should not have won this year with punt/kick returns, fumble returns for TDs, ints for TDs, and playing the Detroit Lions twice.  The Saints can do so much for the morale of a city in depression from huricane Katrina.  The Owner had talked of moving the team as well.  The Saints may have the mojo and the players that fit well enough to put it all together to get to the Super Bowl.  They had added just about every position they needed and brought in not only all the right players but coachs as well.  Rex Grossman loses this game for Chicago with four turnovers and the Saints win 34-13.  They don't get all the breaks that got them to this point in this game.

Saints vs Colts