Personally, I thought 2017 sucked. There were a lot of reasons why the last 12 months haven't been the best, and I'm ready to turn the page to 2018. It's not just for the (obvious) personal reasons, either. Most of the regular news was overwhelmingly negative. And the sports world wasn't immune to scandal, controversy and negative headlines.
The NFL anthem thing took on a life of its own. It spread well beyond Colin Kaepernick to virtually every team and various forms of protest. And a vast majority of fans were unhappy about it. We even had the President chiming in (for no apparent reason whatsoever) and making matters worse. It got to the point where Steelers offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva, an Army vet, had to apologize FOR standing during the anthem.
But that was nothing compared to the ever-growing USA Gymnastics scandal. First it was Aly Raisman that spoke out, then McKayla Maroney provided the gruesome details of just how extensive Larry Nasser's abuse was. This goes way beyond the sexual harassment headlines that will be at or near the top of any list of 2017's top stories. The fact that USA Gymnastics let this go on for so long is truly disturbing.
Another national news headline that will rank right up there on the "Stories of the Year" list was the devastating effects of not one, not two, but THREE massive hurricanes essentially back-to-back-to-back. Although, the devastation in Houston also gave us one of the best stories of the year. The Astros were "Houston Strong" indeed, winning the first World Series title in franchise history.
It was a classic World Series to end the season of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Speaking of Giancarlo Stanton, he was on that victorious American team at the best World Baseball Classic ever. I'm not just saying that because the United States won. It's because the players (and fans) finally got it. The fourth edition of the WBC finally got the attention it deserves. Of course, the USA winning certainly helped.
One event the USA won't be winning in 2018 is the World Cup. The U.S. Men's National Team did win the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Whoop de freakin' do! They also suffered an embarrassing exit in CONCACAF World Cup qualifying and won't even be playing in Russia. Just one of several high-profile national teams that won't be in the World Cup. Chile, Italy and the Netherlands won't be there either.
Of course, FIFA either doesn't see the irony or doesn't care that as they get ready to head to Russia, Russia continues to be at the center of a doping scandal that has resulted in their Olympic Committee's suspension from the 2018 Games. More retests keep coming back positive, more Russians are having their medals stripped, and the Russians keep denying it.
There will still be Russian athletes in PyeongChang, competing as "Olympic Athletes From Russia." Athletes who won't be there are all hockey players currently on NHL rosters. After five straight Olympics with NHL participation, the best hockey players in the world will be skating in an NHL arena near you instead of in Korea come February. This despite the fact that the players want to go and the fans want them there. But why should the owners care about either of those things?
I will give the NHL credit for one thing, though. They hit an absolute home run with the Vegas Golden Knights. No one expected them to be this successful on the ice, but they deserve credit for taking the risk. And for proving that a pro team in Las Vegas definitely can work.
We need to give the IOC some credit, too. First, they had the cojones to actually suspend the Russian Olympic Committee (say what you want about the "Olympic Athlete From Russia" designation), sending the clearest message they could. But they also deserve some props for making the best of a bad situation with that historic Paris-LA double-awarding for the 2024 and 2028 Games, a compromise that wouldn't have been possible had Budapest not withdrawn its bid.
Although, if the World Swimming Championships were any indication, an Olympics in Budapest will be pretty remarkable. The post-Michael Phelps Era began with those incredible Worlds, where Katie Ledecky continued her dominance of the sport. She won AP Female Athlete of the Year honors and proved once again that she's a worthy successor to Phelps. Caeleb Dressel, meanwhile, deserves a nod, too. He won seven gold medals at Worlds, including three in one day. So maybe it's Dressel who's Phelps' successor.
Track & field legends Usain Bolt and Mo Farah said goodbye to the sport at those spectacular World Championships in London. And Bolt's farewell wasn't at all what we expected. He lost! Bolt settled for bronze in the 100 behind a pair of Tennessee Volunteers, with Justin Gatlin finally beating his longtime nemesis in their final head-to-head race.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal turned the clock back 10 years. They met in the Australian Open final, and that was just the beginning. They ended up splitting the four Grand Slam titles between them, each winning two. And in the year-end rankings, it was Rafa 1, Roger 2. On the women's side, it looked like Serena would dominate again after winning the Australian Open. Only for us to find out that she was pregnant at the time and would end up missing the rest of the year, which resulted in the most wide-open women's tennis season in quite some time.
Most of all, though, congratulations to the champions of 2017. Tom Brady displayed his brilliance once again while leading the Patriots to another title. The Penguins became the first repeat Stanley Cup champion in 20 years, and the Warriors won the rubber match in their NBA Finals trilogy with the LeBrons (sorry, I mean the Cavs).
Maya Moore led the Minnesota Lynx to another WNBA title, while her college team, UConn, saw its ridiculous 110-game winning streak snapped by Mississippi State in the Final Four. Mississippi State then lost to South Carolina, which won its first national title the day before North Carolina's men won their sixth. And, since it took place in early January, I guess Clemson's incredible victory over Alabama in the CFP National Championship Game counts, too, even though that technically made them the 2016 National Champions.
So, that's 2017 in a nutshell. Plenty more happened, but it was definitely a mixed bag. We had some incredible moments, but there were also some things we'd prefer to forget. What does 2018, with its Olympics and World Cup, have in store for us? We'll just have to wait and see.
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