A Year of Writing

Yes, it's been a year.

It was about a year ago this time that I decided to seriously run this blog and boy, have I run with it. Over the past year, through what was a very snowy winter, we kept up to date on the baseball offseason, watched some great basketball together, not to mention a flabbergasting Australian Open. I ran a radio show for about 10 weeks with an inspirational friend. When baseball started, I wrote about that. There was the NBA All-Star Break. And through the first half of the year, I bashed Hillary Clinton.

When June gave way to July, I said I wanted to make something out of the summer, so I wrote a couple 3000 word articles on topics dear to my heart. Oh, and of course, there was that Wimbledon showdown between Rafa and Federer.

And then there were the Beijing Olympics. I live blogged through it all, almost living on the couch along with my laptop. Those were the best times of the year, I think. I miss the Olympics the most. The days of reduced sleeping hours, of press credentials, of national anthems, of Usain Bolt, of Michael Phelps, and of gold medals and last place finishes. And of course, of the radio shows-which I still have a hard time believing pulling off every day.

When fall came, it was school, baseball, and Obama v. McCain. I live blogged Election Night, and provided my insights on other political events the October 14th Election, and Crisis in Parliament.

There were happy posts, angry posts and teary posts. But all in all, about 100 of them in the course of the past 12 months. Twelve months full of adventures.

I was flipping through the old posts last weekend, when I came across one I penned on Friday, January 4th, 2008. It was titled "The Ten Predictions of 2008".

How many of them came true? Well...take a look:

• Roger Federer will be the victor of all 4 Grand Slam titles. Aussie, French, Wimbledon and US! Move over Pete Sampras, Federer is the King of Tennis!

Kind of ironic, isn't it? Many tennis fans probably had the same prediction as me. But as it turns out, it was not Roger's year. First, Djokovic knocked him out in the Aussie Semis, then he got crushed by Nadal at Roland Garros, before running into that "best final ever" at Wimbledon. Federer didn't come close to the medals in Beijing (singles-wise) but the man salvaged his year by winning at Flushing Meadows.

• Italy will capture the EuroCup 2008, proving to us once again, that Italy is now the envy of the soccer world.

Italy was great, but Spain was greater. Simple as that.

• Michael Phelps will win 8 gold in Beijing and become the poster boy of every magazine in the United States!

Yay! There's one that came true! Phelps did win 8 golds in Beijing, albeit, not easily. And yes, yes he did become the poster boy of every magazine in the United States...and beyond.

• Canada, our home and native land, I sense, will bring home at least 20 medals from the 08 Olympics!

Close, but no cigar. Canada won 18 medals in Beijing, but that number could easily have been 20. A good performance for the Canucks in China, but there's always room for improvement!

• The Vancouver Canucks will take home the Stanley Cup! Finally, a Canadian team!

Man, what happened to the Canucks down the stretch? It was like they were in first place, and all of sudden dropped out of nowhere. The Cup did come oh-so-close to Canada after the Detroit Red Wings won the title. Now, only if it could cross the Ambassador Bridge in 2009.

• The San Antonio Spurs will for the second straight year be able to say: "We are the Champions!"

San Antonio was caught in that super tight race in the Western Conference down the stretch. They did manage a berth in the Western Conference finals, where they ran into the Kobe-run LA Lakers, who were oh-so-strong through out the year. They lost 4-1 to LA. But I doubt the Spurs would have beat Boston either way.

• Writers and fans go mad in March as Florida State will repeat as NCAA Champions!

Who am I kidding? Florida State didn't have a chance to begin with. Kansas was crowned champions after an intense match against Memphis.

• My idol sprinter, Jeremy Wariner, will break the Men's 400 M World Record (43".18 by Michael Johnson). Do I dare say in Beijing?

Oh man, I don't even want to talk about this. God knows what happened to Jeremy Wariner down the home stretch. Forget about 43"18, Wariner didn't even get the gold medal, running an ugly time of 44"75. Well, Wariner's still young, and there's still next year.

• World Series? World Surprise! My guess: Houston Astros!

World Series was World Surprise alright, but the Astros were out long before the World Surprise even began. But hey, I'd settle for a Phillies v. Rays Series any day. Besides, it was crazy enough that Game 5 lasted 3 days!

• Canada will win gold at the 2008 World Men's Curling Championships! Who says no body watches curling!

Three words: Yes they did!

There you have it, I went 2-10 for 08. I'll make my predictions for 09 when that year begins!

-D