2008's 12 Days of Sportsmas

Aside from the inclement Wisconsin weather causing drivers to forget their driving skills altogether, my least favorite thing about December is Christmas music.

All that aside, I’ve stolen an old Christmas favorite and created a yearly sports tradition: The 12 Days of Sportsmas.

Six days still remain in 2008, but the vast majority of newsworthy days have come and gone. But which 12 make the cut as the most important in the sports world this year?

Major League Baseball—and the New York Yankees—dominated this year’s Sportsmas list. But did the Bronx Bombers make enough noise to take the top spot this year?

12. Aug. 28

After holding out for years, Major League Baseball joined America’s three other major sports leagues by instituting instant replay.

MLB’s version of instant replay is a bit different, though, as the system is only used on questionable home-run calls. Umpires may rely on instant replay to determine whether a ball was fair or foul, whether or not a fan interfered with a home-run ball or whether the ball left the field at all.

11. Aug. 23

America’s pastime made its curtain call at the Olympics this summer, and the United States team was, in fact, nowhere to be found in the gold medal game.

South Korea upset heavily favored Cuba, 3-2, to win the gold medal. The United States finished the games 5-2, good enough to win the bronze medal.

In other Olympic action, world powerhouse Argentina used a 58th-minute goal by Angel Di Maria to beat Nigeria in the gold-medal match.

10. Sept. 21

For 85 years, "The House That Ruth Built" stood amongst the state-of-the-art stadiums as one of the few remaining symbols of baseball history. But after 6,581 regular-season games, the Yankees closed Yankee Stadium with a 7-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Starting next season, the Yankees will move across the street into New Yankee Stadium, with the first regular season game set for Apr. 16 against the Cleveland Indians.

9. July 31

Big trades are nothing new on MLB’s July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. But never have two more accomplished hitters changed teams on the same day.

The long speculated trade of Manny Ramirez finally went through, as the Boston Red Sox sent the enigmatic slugger to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-team trade that brought Jason Bay to Beantown.

In the day’s most surprising move, the Cincinnati Reds sent Ken Griffey Jr. to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for a pair of middle relievers.

8. Sept. 13

Eric Gagne came close in 2005, but former Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez did not fall short.

K-Rod struck out former Seattle outfielder Raul Ibanez to record his 58th save of the season, breaking Bobby Thigpen’s 18-year-old single-season save record. Rodriguez finished the season with 62 saves in 69 chances.

7. Dec. 23

For much of December, it was expected that Mark Teixeira would sign with the Boston Red Sox. But it was Boston’s arch rival that won the Teixeira sweepstakes.

Teixeira signed an eight-year, $180 million deal with the New York Yankees, capping New York’s $423 million free agent signing spree. Earlier in the month, New York signed pitcher CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million deal and pitcher A.J. Burnett to a five-year, $82.5 million deal.

6. Aug. 13

Michael Phelps made the XXIX Summer Olympics his personal record-breaking show. Phelps won his fourth gold medal of the 2008 Summer Games by winning the 200-meter butterfly race in world-record time. The victory gave him 10 career gold medals, a new individual record.

Later in the night, Phelps took part in the gold medal-winning 4x200 relay team.

5. June 25

The 2008 College World Series was a who’s who of college baseball powerhouses. Stanford, Miami, Florida State, Rice, and LSU all took the field in Omaha, NE, in hopes of winning a national title.

It was Georgia advancing to the championship series to take on upstart Fresno State, the lowest ranked team to ever make the College World Series.

After losing the first game of the three-game series, Fresno State won the next two games to become the lowest ranked team to ever win an NCAA national championship in any sport.

4. Dec. 10

The city of New York dominated Dec. 10’s headlines.

In the early-morning hours, it was reported that the Yankees had signed free agent CC Sabathia, considered the best pitcher available on the open market.

The Yankees’ cross-town rivals were not to be outdone. The Mets signed record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez to a three-year, $37 million deal. Later in the day, closer J.J. Putz was traded to New York in a 12-player blockbuster trade.

3. Feb. 3

The game nobody expected the New York Giants to win was dominated by the G-Men from start to finish.

It was Tom Coughlin’s disrespected squad that took down the 18-0 New England Patriots 17-10 in Super Bowl XLII. Eli Manning threw for 255 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left in regulation, to earn Most Valuable Player honors.

2. Mar. 4

It was the day Green Bay Packers fans knew was inevitable. After 17 years as an NFL quarterback, 16 of which were played in Titletown, Brett Favre hung up his spikes for good...or so we thought.

Plans were made in Green Bay for the retirement of Favre’s No. 4 during the Packers’ season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. But Favre filed for reinstatement July 29 and was traded to the New York Jets Aug. 7.

1. Aug. 17

The weight of the quest for Olympic immortality seemed to be the only thing capable of slowing Michael Phelps down in Beijing.

Seven events and seven victories led Phelps to tie Mark Spitz’s Olympic games-record seven gold medals. With the help of his three teammates on the 4x100 relay team, Phelps claimed his eighth gold medal, setting the record for gold medals won at a single Olympic games.

Phelps finished with seven world record and one Olympic record on top of his record medal tally.