Athletes and Storylines to Be Thankful for on Thanksgiving

Before you sit down to have your turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and whatever else you can fit on your plate, just remember there are so many things to be thankful for this holiday season.

Sports are the gift that keeps on giving the entire year, and because of the actions of several athletes and teams in 2011, there have been no shortage of interesting storylines to follow this year.

Whether you're a writer looking for more hits on your articles or an avid reader who surfs the web for the next great story, all that wouldn't have been possible without the athletes on this list.

LeBron James

When LeBron James announced he was taking his talents to South Beach, two things immediately happened:

James became the most hated athlete in the country and he also developed one of the most parodied phrases in sports history.

If you were going anywhere this year, you were taking your talents with you.

He awakened the sleeping giant that was NBA fans, most of whom had laid dormant for close to a decade.

Granted, his decision came in 2010, but it wasn't until 2011 that we all got a little redemption for having to wait for it.

The Miami Heat had a slow start to the season, but right around January they began to take off, showing the ability we all knew they had.

The new hated, "Big Three" of James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade easily made their way to the playoffs, securing the second seed.

It seemed this would finally be the year James got over the hump and won a championship, but that wasn't to be.

The Dallas Mavericks stopped the former No. 1 overall pick and his buddies dead in their tracks and took the NBA title that was supposed to be Miami's by default.

Not so fast, Miami.

Instead, we all got to bask in the glory of LeBron's defeat, and after all the anger James' decision created, we all united under our hatred of "The King."

Tim Tebow

As a sports writer, I am particularly thankful for Tim Tebow. Putting his name at the beginning of any headline would ensure a ton of hits for any piece I was writing.

Tebow found himself being defended by any and every Christian in this country, whether they knew football or not. Any bad word about the guy, and you were sure to receive hate comments and e-mail in return.

Not something to be thankful for there, but interesting nonetheless.

Analysts should be thankful as well seeing as how Tebow has given them something to bash for the entirety of the 2011 season. If you didn't know who Merill Hoge was before, now you do.

You're welcome, Merill.

Still, Tebow has created a ton of headlines, mostly positive lately, going 4-1 as a starter with the Denver Broncos this season.

Tebow has been proving everybody wrong so far and I personally have loved seeing ESPN analysts squeal at the sight of the unthinkable happening, and that would be Tebow winning.

Don't forget about Tebowing as well.

The newest pose which can be compared to the likes of "owling" and "planking" has been all the rage since Tebow started doing it on the field in Denver. It has created hilarious pictures of different people in different situations dropping down to one knee to recreate it.

As recently as last Thursday, Tebow singlehandedly shut Rex Ryan and the New York Jets' mouths by driving 95 yards down the field in "Tebow time" to win and effectively end the Jets' season.

Anytime you can shut up Ryan and the Jets, you'll get my thanks and praise.

Whether he's given you something to love, or something to hate, Tebow is the gift that keeps on giving.

Dirk Nowitzki

When the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA championship in 2011, they had plenty of veterans to be happy for having never won a title.

The one that I was personally happy for most was Dirk Nowitzki.

Nowitzki had been a Maverick his entire career, always coming close to winning a championship but never quite getting over the mountain to get there.

He was a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer and a great player, but winning the championship gave him the title he was missing: NBA legend.

With the NBA Finals victory, Nowitzki not only stapled his place in history as one of the greats of all-time, he also defeated LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

Unless you lived in South Beach, you didn't want to see the Heat win the NBA Finals under any circumstance. It looked like a certainty when the Heat drew the Mavericks in the finals, but we all still held out hope.

Once the series got into the important games, it became more and more apparent that the Mavericks were going to win, and they did.

Thanks to Dallas, we can avoid LeBron and the Heat's satisfaction of getting their first ring and continue to enjoy James' misery that goes along with it.

Danke schoen, Dirk!

Boston Red Sox

At the start of the season, there were many people, myself included, who were picking the Boston Red Sox to go to the World Series.

Even after debating the horrid start Boston got off to, I still held onto my World Series pick. Going into September, I looked right on track to be correct, something that doesn't happen often when I predict.

But then it all came crashing down.

The Red Sox completed the worst collapse in MLB history during the month of September, ultimately falling out of the playoff race in place of the Tampa Bay Rays.

It seemed the Sox couldn't win a game if their lives depended on it.

After the collapse was completed, the Red Sox management was blown up as Theo Epstein and Terry Francona, two staples in the organization, both left.

We later heard ugly rumors about Francona specifically. Speculation ran wild that the Red Sox skipper was having off the field issues and lost his team in the process.

What was more interesting were the reports we heard of pitchers Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and John Lackey drinking beer and eating friend chicken in the clubhouse while playing video games.

There were no shortage of great storylines coming out of Boston last season and for that, I am truly thankful. Not to mention, I'm a Yankees' fan as well.

I'll tell you one person who isn't thankful for the Red Sox: Jose Reyes.

Thanks to the overpriced signing of Carl Crawford, nobody in their right mind will give another guy like Reyes big money ever again.

Jose Reyes

There is no doubt that Jose Reyes had an incredible season in 2011.

He put up career numbers in his walk year, trying to secure himself a big contract for his future.

His team may have missed the playoffs, but Reyes figured to still be dancing into a big deal that would pay him a ton of money.

Forgetting about the contract for a while, it was his actions on the last day of the season that told possible suitors for Reyes what he was really about.

Himself.

On the last day of the season, the former Mets' shortstop had a slight lead for the batting crown in the National League.

After a cheap bunt single, Reyes pulled himself from the game in order to secure the batting title.

It showed what we already knew about the leadoff hitter: he was a selfish weasel, who had no interest in the team, only himself.

It became a great debate in baseball circles around the country. Was what Reyes did the right thing to do, or a disgraceful act?

Some even comically compared it to what Ted Williams had done 60 years before, something that couldn't be debated in the real world.

Nevertheless, Reyes gave us no shortage of news, whether it was his impending free-agency, MVP-caliber season or his weasel attempt to be the batting champion.

Terrell Owens

The Terrell Owens story is well known:

A future Hall-of-Fame wide receiver with all the talent and numbers to back it up, but the mouth and attitude to destroy it all.

Owens finds himself on the NFL blacklist, failing to get an offer from any team in the entire league. The countless issues he has caused within his own teams throughout his career has led to this.

During the personal tryout T.O. held which nobody showed up to, we quickly learned that Owens had someplace else he was supposed to be.

Family court.

The NFL great was supposed to appear in court to go over child support payments that he had failed to make since being out of the league.

After his failure to appear, a warrant was issued for his arrest and news of an alleged attempted suicide came to light as well, erasing any prayer Owens had of receiving a contract.

So what's to be thankful for in T.O.'s miserable year?

He's shown us all that no matter how much talent you may have as a sports star, if you can't get along with your teammates and coaches, and keep your mouth shut, nobody will want you.

Not to mention, in just a month, Owens gave us enough to write and read about to last a lifetime.

Kris Humphries

Without New Jersey Nets' forward Kris Humphries, this whole NBA Lockout thing would have been really boring.

But thanks to his marriage to Kim Kardashian, Humphries helped get us through it.

After the two wed, I don't know any person in their right mind who thought this would work out. It spurred the debate about how long they would last and how long it would take for Kardashian to destroy Humphries, something that is commonplace in her family.

Sure enough, after 72 days of wedded bliss, the two split, citing "irreconcilable differences."

It was clear after the divorce happened that Kardashian had married the poor sap so she could collect the big pay day that would result from their wedding show during the summer.

Because of her own desires, she stepped all over poor Kris Humphries in the process. That's not to say he shouldn't have known better, but a woman who looks like Kardashian can easily manipulate someone who looks like Humphries.

But thank you, Mr. Humphries. If you did nothing else this year, you proved to us once again that Kim Kardashian cares only about herself and will do whatever it takes, even marry, to make money and stay in the spotlight.

And thank you as well, Kim. Any headline with your name at the beginning got me big hits, witty one-liners and very little hate comments.

Aaron Rodgers

There's no way you can sit there and tell me Aaron Rodgers isn't the best quarterback in the NFL right now.

Rodgers has been playing at a godlike level, taking his team to a 10-0 start, putting up huge numbers and very little mistakes in the process.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rodgers is playing better than any quarterback during any stretch of games in NFL history right now.

It's always a pleasure to watch a good guy like Rodgers dominate his sport and gives you the hope that one day you can tell your grandchildren you watched him play and he was one of the greatest quarterbacks you've ever seen.

On top of that, he's on my fantasy team and good for about 50 points a week, making any weaknesses on my team look non-existent.

Thanks to Rodgers' huge weekly output, my team is 8-3 and primed to make a huge run in the fantasy playoffs.

Thank you, Aaron, for not only beefing up my fantasy squad and showing us greatness in the flesh, but also for giving us an undefeated NFL team to talk about.

It's created a little excitement in what has otherwise been a very normal NFL season.

Vince Young

We got a good idea of how bad Vince Young's judgement was when he coined the phrase, "Dream Team" to describe his Philadelphia Eagles.

We got confirmation of his bad judgement when the Eagles fell flat on their faces to start the 2011 season.

Now 10 games into their campaign, the Eagles are looking like a total bust and will need help just to make the playoffs this season.

One thing we learned? Never compare yourself to a team that never lost. You'll lose that every time.

After inserting foot in mouth, Young will have to step back from those comments as quickly as he made them in order to not look like a total moron.

Still, the phrase itself put even more of a target on the back of the busy Eagles who spent their offseason signing anybody and everybody they could get their hands on.

After hearing Young's opinion of his team and taking several free agents from other teams, the Eagles were the most hated team in the NFL coming into the season.

We can all be thankful for their epic failure in 2011 and the fact that they have proved their own backup quarterback dead wrong.

Peyton Manning

After losing Peyton Manning for the season, it was all but certain that the Indianapolis Colts were screwed.

It's turned out to be true as the Colts find themselves 0-10 and in first place...For Andrew Luck that is.

Luck is the most coveted quarterback to come out of college since Manning himself and will force Indy to draft him No. 1 overall should he come out.

So what's to be thankful for here?

If the Colts draft Luck, they will be faced with the decision to either keep Manning or trade him to the highest bidder.

It's a huge storyline that possibly has one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history changing uniforms next season. There will be plenty to write about there.

Also, you'll be thankful if you're the fan of a team who lands him in a trade because Manning can instantly make your squad a Super Bowl contender.

I never wish injury on anyone, but in this instance, I've been given lemons so I'm making lemonade.