The year in sports

Dec. 30, 2007 | The year in sports started a few hours earlier in 2007 than it usually does, and it started as badly as a year can start. Darrent Williams, an up-and-coming Broncos cornerback, was shot to death outside a Denver nightclub following a dispute at a New Year's Eve party. He died in the arms of teammate Javon Walker. He was 24.

Later that New Year's Day at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., Boise State beat Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime. The ridiculously thrilling upset -- which featured three touchdowns in the last 86 seconds, a hook-and-ladder play and, on the game-winning two-point conversion, a Statue of Liberty play -- was one of the greatest college football games ever played.

So it goes? Good with the bad. Cycle of life. A rainbow for every storm-cloud and a birth for every death.

If only.

How many great games and thrilling moments would have been needed to make up for all of 2007's tragedies? More than any year can provide. There were some nice moments in 2007, but it was a year of death and a steady rain of scandal.

By the time it drew to a close, three other 24-year-old active NFL players would be dead, the last of them, budding superstar safety Sean Taylor of Washington, murdered in his own bedroom by intruders. Formerly admired stars in basketball, baseball and football would be revealed as abusers of women, drugs and animals. A crooked-official scandal would shake the NBA and all other North American leagues.

There was violence. Two NBA stars, Antoine Walker and Eddy Curry, would be the victims of home-invasion robberies that fortunately were not as deadly as Taylor's. Tennessee Titans star Adam "Pacman" Jones would be suspended for the year by the NFL for multiple arrests, including his role in a shooting during NBA All-Star weekend in Las Vegas that left a nightclub bouncer paralyzed. Other NBA stars were also involved in shootings, as either targets or bystanders.

Referee Tim Donaghy resigned from the NBA and pleaded guilty to federal charges after an FBI investigation revealed he'd bet on games and fed inside information to gamblers, a devastating scandal for the league and for other sports, which found themselves in the position of trying to prove the negative that Donaghy was not one of many officials on the take.

Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons, once one of the NFL's most charismatic and marketable stars, was arrested as the ringleader of a dog-fighting operation based on property he owned in Virginia. Vick eventually pleaded guilty to federal charges and was sentenced to 23 months in prison. He could still face state charges. If his playing career isn't over, it's hideously damaged.

New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden lost a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former team marketing executive Anucha Browne Sanders, who had accused Thomas of alternating between verbal abuse and sexual come-ons before she was fired in 2006. Browne Sanders won a judgment, then settled the case for $11.5 million.

And we haven't even started talking about drugs yet.

From major raids on pharmacies and drug labs to Barry Bonds' fraught chase and capture of the career home run record, performance-enhancing drugs were seemingly everywhere.

Late in the year former Sen. George Mitchell's report on drug use in baseball dominated sports conversation. The Mitchell Report concluded that "for more than a decade there has been widespread illegal use of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances by players in Major League Baseball." The report named almost 100 names, the biggest of them seven-time Cy Young Award-winner Roger Clemens, who in a statement denied ever having doped.

But the games did go on. They really did. And from that lulu of a Fiesta Bowl to the New England Patriots' pursuit of a perfect season, they still had the amazing ability to dazzle, delight and make us forget the troubles of the world -- even the troubles of the sports world.

2007 was a year of fresh champions such as the Anaheim Ducks, who took home their first Stanley Cup, and of dynasties such as the San Antonio Spurs, who won their fourth NBA title in nine years. And then there were the Boston Red Sox, who moved from one category to the other. Three years after winning their first World Series in 86 years, the Sox won again, then began negotiating to trade for Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana in an attempt to solidify their position atop the game.

Next page: Barry Bonds and the steroid era ...