The year in sports

In a first, the same schools that played for the football championship met again for the men's basketball championship three months later, the Gators winning that one too for their second straight basketball championship. Florida is the first school to win the football and men's basketball titles in the same academic year.

Greg Oden, freshman center and star of that runner-up Ohio State team, went on to become the first overall pick in the NBA draft over the summer, taken by the lottery-winning Portland Trail Blazers, but he'll miss the entire season after undergoing knee surgery.

Tennessee won the women's basketball Tournament for the record seventh time, beating Rutgers in the Championship Game 59-46. The next day, radio host Don Imus, evidently aiming for humor, referred to the mostly black Rutgers players as "nappy-headed hos." The resulting uproar eventually led to Imus being fired by CBS Radio. He reached a settlement on his contract in November and was back on the air with ABC Radio soon afterward.

Another dynastic group was the San Antonio Spurs, who won their fourth NBA championship since 1999. The Spurs, led by Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals, a series notable only as the first appearance on the league's biggest stage for LeBron James, the 22-year-old fourth-year player who figures to be the NBA's great star for the next decade or so.

The one-sided Finals were a fitting end to a mostly dreary playoff season that was marred by a terrible disciplinary decision in what might have been the most exciting series, the second-round Western Conference matchup between the Spurs and the Phoenix Suns.

In the waning moments of Game 4 of that series, won by the Suns, Robert Horry of San Antonio committed a hard foul on Steve Nash. Several players on the Suns bench jumped up and took a few steps toward Horry but were quickly herded back to their seats by coaches.

But commissioner David Stern, applying the letter rather than the spirit of the rule forbidding players from leaving the bench to join an altercation, suspended two key Suns, Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw, for Game 5, giving San Antonio a huge advantage in a series that was tied 2-2. Horry was also suspended, but he played a much lesser role for the Spurs, who won Games 5 and 6 to advance.

They weren't seriously challenged again in the playoffs, easily beating the Utah Jazz and then the Cavaliers for the title. The Dallas Mavericks, who, along with Phoenix, had figured to be San Antonio's chief rival, were eliminated in the first round in a memorable upset by the Golden State Warriors, in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years under coach Don Nelson -- who had most recently coached the Mavericks.

A highlight of the NBA season for some was the publication of "Man in the Middle" by former journeyman center John Amaechi, who used the book to come out as gay. The reaction was mostly positive. The most notable exception was that of Tim Hardaway, who said in a radio interview that he "hates gay people" and wouldn't want one as a teammate.

His comments resulted in the former All-Star losing his job as a consultant with a minor-league team and the NBA withdrawing its invitation for him to take part in All-Star festivities. Later in the year, Hardaway reportedly took it upon himself to attend classes at a Miami youth center to learn about problems faced by gay youth.

The early part of the 2007-08 season was notable for the resurgence of the Boston Celtics, who in the offseason traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to team with veteran Celtic Paul Pierce. The Celtics, once the colossus of the NBA, haven't been to the Finals since 1987 and were coming off a 24-58 record last year. But with the new Big Three, the Celtics raced out to a 25-3 start, bringing up memories of the great Boston dynasty.

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