2007 in review

As one year ends and another begins, it's always interesting to recall what happened in the previous year. Here's my summation:

• The Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning finally won a Superbowl.
• The San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan won another NBA title. At least, the Washington Wizards made the playoffs.
• The Boston Red Sox won the World Series, while the Orioles had another subpar year.
• Major League baseball is under a cloud, as many players have been implicated in steriod use, including Roger Clemens and several Orioles.
• Cal Ripken, Jr. was elected to the MLB Hall of Fame.
• The New England Patriots completed a perfect season, 16-0, smashing quite a few records in their pursuit of perfection. Tom Brady showed he is the best quarterback in the NFL.
• A mentally deranged student murdered 33 students and faculty in a shooting spree at Virginia Tech.
• Former Virginia Tech quarterback and NFL standout, Michael Vick was convicted of running an illegal dog fighting ring and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
• Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by terrorists. Her party was expected to win enough seats in Parliment to sweep her back into power. Al qaeda and the Taliban claimed credit for the cowardly act.
• The Washinton Redskin's star defensive player, Sean Taylor, #21, was murdered during a home break-in in Florida.
• The Washington Redskins won their last four games to earn the last slot in the NFC playoffs, thoroughly beating the Dallas Cowboys in the last game of the season.
• The Ohio State Buckeyes fell short of two national titles, being defeated by the University of Florida in both title games.
• Wars continued in Iraq and Afghanistan. More Americans and innocent civilans perished in the war against terror. President Bush remained steadfast in his support of the fledgling Iraqi government and efforts seem to be slowly paying off.
• Osama Bin Laden is dead (hopefully) or remains at large.
• The Presidential race heated up. Who knows who'll eventually come out on top.
• Time Magazine named Russian President Vladimir Putin its Person of the Year.
• Teenager Jordan Sparks was 2007's American Idol.
• Rascal Flatts was the top country group.
• Carrie Underwood continued her post-Idol success in country music.
• My favorite TV shows were Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order: SVU.
• I visited Mexico and Canada.
• Notable deaths included Merv Griffin, Deborah Kerr, Luciano Pavarotti, and Anna Nicole Smith (not notable, but her death captured a lot of headlines).
• Gas prices topped $3 per gallon.
• Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize. Better that than the presidency.
• Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all time home run record, but is the record tainted because of his alleged steriod use?
• The top grossing films of 2007 were Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, Spider-man 3 and Shrek the Third. I only saw the Pirates movie.