Each Thanksgiving we reflect on the things for which we are grateful. Most people give thanks for a loving, caring family, a successful year at work, good friends and good health — all things people are undoubtedly blessed to receive. But as the 2012 season closes, I can’t help but give thanks for sports.
Thank you, Eli Manning, for leading the Giants to another Super Bowl win against the Patriots. You represented my hometown and high school well, and you reminded everyone that it’s all about hitting your stride at the right time. People heap so much attention on regular-season champions that we sometimes forget the regular season is merely a stepping stone to the part that matters most: the playoffs. You gave us a lesson both in patience and faith.
Thank you, Anthony Davis, for being the centerpiece of the first “one-and-done” era team to win a championship. Your exciting play made March Madness live up to my lofty expectations. Here’s hoping that a year from now, I’ll be thanking you for making the New Orleans Hornets relevant again.
Thank you, European Ryder Cup team. As gut-wrenching as it was to see the United States’ lead vanish, you reminded us that come-from-behind victories are some of the sweetest there are.
Thank you, Bubba Watson, for being perhaps the most interesting golfer to win the Masters since Seve Ballesteros in 1983.
Thank you, Andrew Luck, for living up to your top-pick status and the astronomical money sent your way. It may not be the $50 million that Sam Bradford got, but $22.1 million is a substantial starting salary for a college graduate.
Thank you, Robert Griffin III, for being the most exciting player in the NFL this year, and for making a Redskins team that dominates the Charlottesville market worth watching.
Thank you, Les Miles, for retaining your title as the most entertaining interviewee in sports today. Your level of candor and goofiness are refreshing in this era of canned, rehearsed, sound-bite responses.
Thank you, Gary Bettman, for not ruining hockey … oh wait, you did that already. I actually have absolutely nothing to thank you for. That goes quadruple for you, Roger Goodell. You know what you did.
On the other hand, a real thank you to David Stern. I had my doubts about the shortened NBA season, but it turned out to be the most entertaining one I’ve ever seen.
Thank you, Sam Presti, Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager, for finally setting James Harden free. Despite my local allegiances to the Hornets, the Thunder are my favorite NBA team to watch. And although it kills me to see the Durant/Westbrook/Harden nucleus blown up before it can challenge for another title, Harden needed a chance to be a star, and you gave it to him. I’m ready to fear the Brow AND the Beard.
Thank you, Kevin Durant, for blossoming into a megastar this year. Not only can you score just about any way thinkable, but you put the team first in an era of me-first stars. You’re one of the most likable athletes around, and the only reason you’re not the best player in the league is because of the next guy on the list.
Thank you, LeBron James, for finally getting it. You took every concern your detractors posed and crushed them under your thumb. They said you had no post-game? Guess who played dominant stretches at power forward throughout the playoffs. They said you couldn’t get it done in crunch time? I direct them to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, when you dropped 45 points on the Celtics in a do-or-die game and essentially left no doubt about the NBA finals before you had even won your conference.
Thank you, Miami Marlins, for spending an unholy amount of money on players in an attempt to become Yankees South, then winning just 69 games for the season and immediately trading away two of your big-money purchases and one of your most talented pitchers. You have provided us with a great blueprint for what not to do.
Thank you, Miguel Cabrera, for doing something we haven’t seen in 45 years.
And finally, thank you, BCS committee, for giving us an LSU-Alabama national championship game last season. I know this thank you seems out of place, but that title game upset so many people that it finally made it brutally obvious just how badly college football needs a playoff system. Now we’re going to have it, and I think we can all be thankful for that.
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