Can 2008 Possibly Get Any Better!?!

By Jordan Jensen
Love of Sports Correspondent

Your calendar just began to say “August,” and the kids on your street are still screeching and screaming into the night as school is still weeks away for most.

Four more times you’ll flip that calendar on the wall before 2008 is over, but don’t you feel like this year hasn’t already had its fill of spectacular sports moments?

I honestly don’t believe how lucky we’ve been already, and arguably the biggest event of them all, the Summer Olympics, is still just yet to come.

The Year of the Rat began with the New England Pariots’ awe inspiring unbeaten march to the Super Bowl. The NFC had some juggernauts of its own, with the entire country gearing up for a Packers-Cowboys NFC title game. However, that party was spoiled by the New York Giants, who showed us that home field advantage is only what you make of it. The Giants upended the Bucs in Tampa, the Cowboys in Dallas and the Packers in Green Bay … in the snow!!

With the 18-0 Patriots set to face the road warriors in the Super Bowl, all eyes were set on perfection, including the oddsmakers, who set the Giants as two-touchdown underdogs. Yet again, though, the Giants played the role of spoiler, handing the Pats their only loss of the season during what was one of the greatest Super Bowl ever played.

On March 3rd, NFL legend Brett Favre announced his retirement from the Green Bay Packers, saying “I just don’t have it anymore.”

The Kansas Jayhawks provided the next unforgettable moment of the year when Mario Chalmers nailed a buzzer beating three-pointer to send the NCAA Championship Game into the first overtime in a title game since 1989. In the OT period, Memphis and No. 1 overall NBA pick Derrick Rose couldn’t match the Jayhawks intensity, as Kansas returned to the pinnacle of college basketball.

In April and May, former No. 1 overall baseball draft pick Josh Hamilton became the first player in MLB history to win Player of the Month the first two months of the season. Hamilton then provided his own tribute to Yankee Stadium by smashing 28 home runs in the first round of the Home Run Derby this past July, shattering the previous single round record of 24. The slugger’s achievements are even more remarkable considering that only a few years ago he was out of baseball entirely battling serious drug and alcohol addiction.

In June, as the temperatures across the country started to rise, so did Favre’s confidence in his playing ability. This is when he reportedly started planning his NFL comeback.

The month of June refused to go away quietly. In the U.S. Open, golf’s second major of the year, Tiger Woods fought through a torn ACL, the difficult conditions at Torrey Pines and a determined Rocco Mediate. Woods hit a miraculous pressure putt on Sunday’s final hole to force an 18-hole playoff the next day. The 43-year-old Mediate pushed Tiger to the limit, with the raucous crowd chanting “Rocco! Rocco!” all the way to the 91st hole of competition. That’s where Woods proved again why he’s the best player in the world, two-putting his way to a 14th major title.

June remained busy as the Boston Celtics met the Los Angeles Lakers in a throwback to the 1980s and their constant NBA Finals battles. With the offseason acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, the Celtics thrilled their way to the NBA’s best single-season turnaround in history, not to mention a world championship.

July wasn’t too short on highlights, either, as it saw an alleged affair between Alex Rodriguez and pop superstar Madonna, which eventually led to A-Rod’s divorce. Favre asked for his release from his contract with the Packers as an alternative to him carrying a clipboard as Aaron Rodger’s backup. Then a 53-year-old Greg Norman gave Royal Birkdale all it could handle, coming up just short of becoming the oldest major winner in golf’s history.

That brings us up today, folks. July just barely passed up by, so don’t go anywhere, because 2008 isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. We can still look forward to the MLB Playoffs and World Series, the start of the NBA, NFL and NHL seasons and, of course, the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

This year’s already been a tremendous one for sports fans, with plenty of guaranteed excitement yet to come. There’s no telling what’ll happen the rest of the way. The only prediction I’m willing to make is that Favre really, really wants to play football.

Stay tuned!

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(What a great year for sports! And there’s nothing that goes better with watching the ballgame than having a beer along with it! If that’s the case for you, visit our sister site, The Love of Beer, to find out what we’re serving today!)