The year 2008 started out with a huge bang for me as an avid sports fanatic. I got to see a dream come true as I watched the youngest of the Manning brothers follow in his brothers footsteps and win his first Super Bowl ring. This for me was a huge ordeal being a Giants fan. They have not always been the best of teams, but like the 70′s Braves teams, I hung in there because I knew one day, they would give the Giants nation something else to cheer about. And what is even better is the fact that tonight, at 8:15 PM EST, they can put the finishing touches on the regular season and sew up home field advantage through the NFC Playoffs.
For all the readers that know me, you know that I am a huge baseball fan. I live, eat, drink, and sleep for baseball, but more importantly, for the Atlanta Braves. 
This team started out with a huge promise to a season to remember and sue to injury after injury, we feel apart. Fortunately, we were still in the hunt until after the All*Star break, and I am very impressed that this make shift team was able to do that. Even with the year as bad as it was, there were some bright spots with the team. Chipper Jones got a batting title, Brian McCann won a Silver Slugger award, but more importantly, we found out that we have a short stop that can play with the best of them and 2 pitchers that play second fiddle to no one. Yunel Escobar did an excellent job at short and made a great number 2 hitter. Jair Jurrjens and Jorge Campillo did a great job on the mound and proved that they can truly pitch at this level.
While baseball held most of my attention, I was also caught up in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals). More specifically, I was watching Rafael Nadal to see if 2008 would be great for this Spaniard. I have watched this kid for the last 4 years and knew that one day he would truly achieve greatness. Well, he did just that in 2008. In June, Rafael crushed Roger Federer in Roland Garros. The only surprise here was the fact that Nadal did it in just 3 sets with a final score of 6-1 6-3 6-0. The next match would be Wimbledon in July. Rafael would finally realize his dream of biting the trophy. This might have been the best match of all season as it went 62 games deep. In the end, Rafael stood tall and proud. On August 18, Rafael took over the #1 ranking as well. He has held onto it since and does not look to be any position to be letting go of it any time soon.
The last thing that I would like to reflect back on would be the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This might have been the most incredible Olympics for me. I got to watch Team USA bring redemption to themselves on the basketball court, but more importantly, I got to watch 2 swimmers set records. The first would be Dara Torres setting a record by appearing in her 5th Olympics and swimming to 2 more medals. The next would have to Michael Phelps coming home with 8 new medals; all gold. And though he is not American, I was happy to see Rafael Nadal win the gold in Tennis.
All in all, 2008 has been a great year in sports for me. Being able to witness all of these great triumps in one year will make it hard for any year to match it. With that being said, I can not wait to see what 2009 will bring to light.
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Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Paul, thank you my friend.