2007: A Tragedy or Triumph : Sports Edition

The calendar year of 2007 is just about over and I feel like I should show some love to athletes that had great years with my annual Dapper Boy Imaginary Awards show. But before I do that, I gotta show some respect to some athletes that were taken from us in 2007 - a year that was far too soon for most: Sean Taylor, Damien Nash, Darrent Williams, Eddie Robinson, Mario Danelo, Phil Rizzuto, Mike Coolbaugh, Dennis Johnson, Eddie Griffin, Skip Prosser, Evel Knievel, Robert Cade, Tom Johnson, Lillian Ellison (a.k.a. The Fabulous Moolah), John Woodruff, and Diego Corrales. Sure to see all of them at the crossroads: Back to business.

Team of the Year. The only team to finish the NFL regular season 16-0 - is there any contest?

The New England Patriots finished off a perfect regular season yesterday by defeating the New York Giants in a great game - by winning, the Patriots solidified the only team to finish 16-0 - a perfect regular season - a near perfect team. Other contenders would have to be the Washington Redskins for how they worked through and rebounded from a series to injuries to starters and the death of Sean Taylor - who will probably go down as one of the best Safeties to grace the field. Athlete of the Year:

Tom Brady passed for a record 50 TDs.

Tom Brady. There isn't much of a question, record breaking QB leads an undefeated team throughout the season. Other candidates are Lewis Hamilton, Floyd Mayweather, and Kobe Bryant - all of whom are the faces of their sports. Female Athlete of the Year: Serena Williams. Why? Take a look at the obvious and she made one of the best comebacks this year in all of sports - taking a hiatus but coming back and winning a couple of Grand Slams, only the Williams sisters. Other nominees, of course are Lauren Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam - but they don't quite have the assets of Ms. Serena - she's in a league of her own. Coach of the Year: Bill Belichick. Simply, he's a coach's coach, a competitor's worst enemy - shows no mercy, just plays the game. Additionally, he didn't let the "Spy Gate" controversy phase his performance, well at least, not for the worse - he took out the frustration on the field, that's why his team is 16-0. It's hard to determine what the best game of 2007 was but I know, for sure, that Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton led a monster year for boxing and all fighting sports as Fight of the Year.

Mayweather trounced Ricky Hatton in the 10th.

Other great fights were Taylor-Pavlik (can't wait for the rematch), Cotto-Mosley, Calzaghe-Kessler, and Bika-Codrington (there should be a rematch there, too). Finally, a list of the top 5 most paid athletes of the calendar year. 1) Tiger Woods ($100,000,000+) - what more can I say - he's Tiger Woods 2) Floyd Mayweather Jr. ($50,000,000) - two of his latest fights in 2007 were two of boxing's biggest in history. 3) Oscar De La Hoya ($46,000,000) - he's a cash cow. 4) Phil Mickelson ($42,000,000+) - Lucky Lefty 5) Kimi Raikkonen ($40,000,000) - fast money. Soon. "The hunger in their eyes, is what seems to feed me," Common.