Here is why you can have 2014 back

Last year, I wrote a column about my 12 favorite sports moments in 2013. This year, I just want 2014, as a sports fan, to be over.

Now. And why? Here is why, in no particular order.

1. Boston trades Rajon Rondo to Dallas
Now don't get me entirely wrong, as a Rondo fan, this is the best thing for him. Danny Ainge is clearly delusional in Boston and was never going to rebuild correctly around Rondo like he did Paul Pierce. There isn't another banner going up anytime soon, so if Rondo wants to sniff out another crown, somewhere else is best and LA or Houston wouldn't have been the place. But as a Boston fan, this signals the end of the 2008 team and the end of Boston's hope for a while. With Rondo, Pierce, Garnett (and OK, sure Ray Allen) gone, looks like more obscurity is coming Boston's way.

2. Michael Bisping gets trucked...twice
Again, let us look at the positive: he demolished Cung Le and his face. But in two more big matchups that could have gotten Mike into title contendership, he wilted. Tim Kennedy took him down with ease and Luke Rockhold decided to turn it up and then demolished 'The Count.' It was just sad to watch.

3. Duke loses to Mercer
Enough said. It was bad. Like Jabari Parker freshman year bad.

4. Jabari Parker tears ACL
OK, so I wasn't fond of his play most of the time in a Duke uniform, but he is still a Duke guy. Seeing him lose his rookie season to a debilitating knee injury sucks.

5. Red Sox go from first to worst
I don't even know. Putting in the most effort in the league every OTHER year, that just isn't good enough. It is like Boston rested on their laurels for the season then put in effort in the offseason to get better for 2015. But what about 2014?

Favorite NBA player, favorite NBA team, favorite college/team at all, favorite fighter. It just wasn't a year I liked even a little bit in the sports world.

But like the Red Sox, I'm just going to forget about 2014, it wasn't even worth the trouble.

Redrafting the 1997 NBA Draft

Let’s call it a tale of one man. The 1997 NBA Draft produced just three future All-Stars and slew of never-was-beens. But at the top sat Tim Duncan, one of those, as we keep learning, oh-so rare transcendent players. Duncan was a game changer and the Spurs didn’t even need one. But with David Robinson and Sean Elliott injured in 1996-1997, there they found themselves with the first pick. Though I am betting the Celtics (with the best statistical chance of getting the pick) were more than upset, the Spurs were glowing.

And even they couldn’t have known all of what they were about to get. It would end up being perhaps their best draft pick ever. And that is saying something.

Pick 1: San Antonio Spurs

Who they took: Tim Duncan

Who they should have took: Tim Duncan

Why: San Antonio really doesn’t make a habit out of picking in the lottery, but when they made their one pick of the modern era, they sure made it count. For all of the talk of “NBA ready” bodies, Tim Duncan was truly that. They picked first in 1997 and won a title in 1999, in a LARGE part due to Tim Duncan. The fact that they (as of today) are two wins away from another NBA Finals (their 6^th with Duncan) and have won 4 titles is a testament to just how ready Duncan was and still is at age 38.

Pick 2: Philadelphia 76ers

Who they took: Keith Van Horn

Who they should have took: Chauncey Billups (3^rd pick)

Why: When Boston took Billups 3^rd, it was a mistake. He proved that over a couple of years and stretches elsewhere. But he found a mentor and found his way and became the next best player out of this draft. It was a remarkable turnaround for a guy drafted 3^rd who probably would have been a late second round pick if the redraft happened 3 years later. His work ethic and leadership propelled the Pistons to their 2004 title and he has been a peak performer mostly ever since except for the last couple of years. But his peak scoring season, few remember, came 12 years into his career.

Pick 3: Boston Celtics

Who they took: Chauncey Billups

Who they should have took: Tracy McGrady (9^th pick)

Why: Frame. That is what McGrady lacked in 1997. The worries of high school kids were gone thanks to KG and Kobe. But for T-Mac, he didn’t have the size that most GMs wanted. He went on to be a seven-time All-Star and scorer until the day he left the NBA for a baseball career. But at his peak he was a two-time scoring champion in Orlando, taking the crown from Allen Iverson. Nobody in this class, even Duncan ever led the league in scoring.

Pick 4: Vancouver Grizzlies

Who they took: Antonio Daniels

Who they should have took: Stephen Jackson (42^nd pick)

Why: Ok, I get you…Jackson is a jerk. But he is a jerk you want on your side on the court (or in the stands as the case may be). Jackson was one of the last old school NBA bullies and he made every shot (at the basket or his opponent) count. The Grizzlies, before they moved to Memphis needed a guy to make you scared. Jackson would have been that guy. Just not too many people knew about him as one of the rare draft picks out of community college.

Pick 5: Denver Nuggets

Who they took: Tony Battie

Who they should have took: Keith Van Horn (2^nd pick)

Why: Van Horn is one of those guys who gets a bum rap. He wasn’t second pick material, but still managed over 16 ppg in nine years with four clubs. For the 1997-1998 Nuggets squad that flirted with being the worst team in the league’s history, any boost Van Horn could provide would have been nice.

Pick 6: Boston Celtics

Who they took: Ron Mercer

Who they should have took: Antonio Daniels (4^th pick)

Why: With Rick Pitino taking over, why not take Mercer, who was a big letdown in the league. I can see how they thought they were taking the right guy at the time, but he didn’t provide the defensive game on the perimeter that Pitino and the Celtics wanted. Daniels would have been a solid pick, not a steal here. He made the most of a career full of moves, hovered around 9 ppg most seasons and was going to a disruptive on-ball defender at worst.

Pick 7: New Jersey Nets

Who they took: Tim Thomas

Who they should have took: Derek Anderson (13^th pick)

Why: Anderson was never the player he was at Kentucky, but in a draft of few guards, he ended up putting up some ultimately good numbers while he was young. He provided Cleveland scoring in his first two years and had his best seasons in years 3 and 4 with the Clippers (16.9 ppg) and the Spurs (started all 82 games). Outside of two seasons being rarely used, his production never slipped too far offensively. With a rebranding and Jayson Williams at his best in the post the coming season, a savvy guard like Anderson would have been helpful.

Pick 8: Golden State Warriors

Who they took: Adonyl Foyle

Who they should have took: Bobby Jackson (23^rd pick)

Why: Because he wasn’t Adonyl Foyle. Jackson slipped in the draft because of size, but flourished after his trade before his rookie season to Denver where he averaged 11.6 ppg. Golden State was in a state of flux, a then-constant rebuild and Jackson would have lended a lot of credibility to the product.

Pick 9: Toronto Raptors

Who they took: Tracy McGrady

Who they should have took: Maurice Taylor (14^th pick)

Why: Toronto was getting their footing and Maurice Taylor had some of that Fab Five flash in his system (and sadly for him, some of that Fab Five cash too). He never got his legs under him mostly because of his poor choices. His status and stature would have served Toronto well though for a couple of years before it all came falling down.

Pick 10: Milwaukee Bucks

Who they took: Danny Fortson

Who they should have took: Brevin Knight (16^th pick)

Why: The Bucks were trying everything and I do mean everything to win. They traded their All-Star (Vin Baker) for two hens and a yam and then drafted a guy who barely jumped to shoot the ball. Knight on the other hand was an explosive and undersized slasher who led Stanford in scoring, assists and steals while putting them back in a national spotlight.

Pick 11: Sacramento Kings

Who they took: Tariq Abdul-Wahad

Who they should have took: Tim Thomas (7^th pick)

Why: At the time, I was totally behind the original Kings pick. As Olivier St. Jean, the now Abdul-Wahad led an underdog San Jose State team into the NCAA Tournament and looked like he was primed to break out in the pros. Then he changed his name. And then he sucked. If Sacramento knew that one of their “helpful” recent draft picks in Brian Grant was leaving in free agency, I feel they would have gone bigger. And while Thomas wasn’t (shocker) as good as projected, his 11 points per game in 77 games as a rookie was far better than Abdul-Wahad’s six.

Pick 12: Indiana Pacers

Who they took: Austin Croshere

Who they should have took: Tony Battie (5^th pick)

Why: This is a hard pick to want to change because Croshere was such an iconic face (in that, cult classic way) during the Pacer rebirth. With Chris Mullin, Reggie Miller, Rik Smits and host of mid-sized role players, the Pacers came within an eyelash of the NBA finals in 97-98 and Battie would have served them well as they really didn’t have a true backup to Smits.

Pick 13: Cleveland Cavaliers

Who they took: Derek Anderson

Who they should have took: Austin Croshere (12^th pick)

Why: See above. Croshere was that guy you want on your team. He picks everyone else up. And maybe he could have flourished earlier in Cleveland, not with a contender like Indiana. With the Pacers, he didn’t get to play much early, peaking in his third season. In Cleveland he would have been relied upon early and I think he would have reacted. In a revamping offseason, the Cavs were more than happy to get Anderson, but I don’t think Croshere would have hurt either.

Pick 14: Los Angeles Clippers

Who they took: Maurice Taylor

Who they should have took: Scot Pollard (19^th pick)

Why: The slipping of Kansas’ two prospects from 1997 probably had something to do with a Sweet 16 loss to Arizona. Where, while the game was close, the Wildcats exposed a lot of weaknesses that didn’t look so weak the previous game against Purdue. Pollard was one of those two and his enigmatic behavior didn’t help. He was a wild card at Kansas and became more of one later, with it only really being a benefit during his time with the rag-tag Sacramento King contender teams.

Pick 15: Dallas Mavericks

Who they took: Kelvin Cato

Who they should have took: Jacque Vaughn (27^th pick)

Why: See above (at least the “The slipping of Kansas’ two prospects from 1997 probably had something to do with a Sweet 16 loss to Arizona. Where, while the game was close, the Wildcats exposed a lot of weaknesses that didn’t look so weak the previous game against Purdue” part). Vaughn just didn’t have size on his side which hurt him because he was never too quick either. As the league was developing into a more fast paced game, he was out of place. In Dallas, where he could have learned an up tempo pace from Jason Kidd, he would have been better off. After all, he surely wasn’t learning run and gun from John Stockton in Utah.

Top 12 Sports moments that were crucial to me in 2013

The Top 12 Sports Moments of 2013 that were crucial to me. Let's face facts that there were tons of great moments all over sports in 2013, but this list is just selfish. The top 12 things in sports (or the seedy underbelly of kinda-sports) that made my year. Maybe they made it bad, maybe they made it good...but at least they made it.

12. A abrupt halt of the Anderson Silva express

I have never been a fan of Anderson Silva's. I had no expectation however that he was going to get beat, ever. That all changed when Chris Weidman shocked the world by punching right into Anderson's playtime hour in July. When you see arguably the greatest ever look human, it is shocking. When you see what happened to end the year, it is heart wrenching. I have never been a fan of Anderson Silva, but when he snapped his leg at UFC 168 in the Weidman rematch, it was hard to stomach. Not just the gruesome nature of the injury, but to see this great quite possible end his career that way, not of his own accord. The Silva express sputtered out in 2013. I was happy to see him lose a fight, I was sad to see him quite possibly lose it all

11. Big Papi says 'F' the FCC

In the wake of the Boston Marathon devastation, the city of Boston needed a voice, someone to wake them up. That was David Ortiz. In the pregame speech before the Red Sox first post-attack game, Papi declared “this is our fucking city” and with it, a new meaning to 'Boston Strong' was born and the unity of the city would carry the team forward for the rest of 2013.

10. Super Bowl Power Outage

Who forgot to pay the electric bill? That was what we all thought when the Super Bowl shutdown while the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers started the calendar year with an epic clash. It was a great game, which helped, but the oddness of banks and banks of lights going off without reason made this a night to remember. Conspiracy theories lit up and people ran their mouths about the NFL trying to help the Niners. Whatever it was, whoever's fault it was, it was fun as a spectator and made the game that much more memorable.

9. Battier cashes in...again

Because of there are “big three” groups, why not use it to your advantage. As an anti-Lebron James kind of guy, I try to take good things out of Miami Heat titles. I like Dwayne Wade and Mario Chalmers, even Chris Anderson...but the best thing is that Duke's Shane Battier gets rings too. He is the first Duke player to ever win multiple NBA Titles and has cashed in on the Heat big three's decision to play together. Even better, Battier has been a catalyst in those NBA Finals appearances, including this year going 6-for-8 from three point range in the decisive game 7. You are welcome Miami.

8. Mention on the Tommy Toe Hold show

One thing I have certainly become a fan of in 2013 is the Tommy Toe Hold show, a (sometimes) weekly MMA based cartoon comedy. In July, for the 50th edition of “Tommy's Sack,” Tommy let the fans decide what would be on the show. I jumped on the chance and what came out was Vitor Belfort on an octopus and Michael Bisping on raptor....jousting. Yes, jousting. As Tommy said, “Dan Vance trumped all.” and “...yep, that just happened.”

7. Bringing back In All Directions

I started In All Directions in March of 2008 with a blog about Brett Favre. Nobody read it. Literally, nobody. I looked yesterday, it has zero reads. After getting away from it for a long stretch, I decided to bring it back this year mostly so I could ramble some about sports. And while some articles have done better than others (471 reads of my top 5 songs to pump you up), it is nice that people actually take the time to read my half random, half consistent blog. It has been great to have it back.

6. The Return of Da Spyder

In the great landscape of mixed martial arts, Kendall Grove may not be as relevant as I would like him to be. The winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 3 had an up and down UFC career, then an up and down independent promotion career before signing with Bellator. For me as a MMA fan, nothing is better than watching Michael Bisping, Kendall Grove or War Machine fight. So when Kendall signed with Bellator, I was hyped. When Kendall appeared on my television screen on Spike TV once more and declared “guess who's back motherfuckers,” I was hooked again. He delivered that night, taking out Joe Vedepo and leaving me hoping that Da Spyder has one last strong run in him, perhaps toward a Bellator Middleweight title or a UFC return some day.

5. Rajon Rondo tears ACL

We all knew the end of an era was looming in Boston. Ray Allen bolted for Miami because he's a douche and then Doc Rivers was clearly headed out. The only hope Celtics fans held onto was that maybe, just maybe we could have one last run at a title before the ship sank. That all ended when Rajon Rondo tore his ACL and the top youthful talent and by far the best point guard in the organization went out with an injury he has yet to return from. This was a memorable moment but for all of the wrong reasons and it pointed to the end of Boston's return to contender glory.

4. UFC turns 20

I remember being in middle school and watching VHS tapes of UFC in my friend Alex Schultz' basement. That was my introduction to the UFC: Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn. This year, they celebrated a milestone by turning 20. It was cool to watch all of the videos and documentary style stuff reliving those year as I vaguely remember the early years and have been a big fan ever since The Ultimate Fighter (the original) lured me in. The celebration finished with another arguably greatest fighter of all time, Georges St. Pierre, retaining his welterweight title in what may very well be his last fight in the Octagon.

3. Boston trades Pierce and Garnett

When Rondo went down, the pieces started to fall. But on Draft night, I felt sick to my stomach as the NBA experts discussed a trade talk that would send Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn. Forget that we would be getting back crap like Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries (who recently almost shot at his own basket like this is rec. league) and also giving up Jason Terry....the thought of seeing either Garnett, or especially Pierce, in any other jersey, was sickening. The trade killed not only the Boston contender era, it was one of those times when you have to ask if anything is sacred anymore. Paul Pierce was the Boston Celtics. For his entire career, he was the centerpiece. It would be like Larry Bird not wearing Boston green. It was like those times that Karl Malone played for the Lakers or Patrick Ewing was a Seattle Supersonic. And it was sickening.

2. Duke signs Okafor and Jones

Duke should win one or two of the next three national titles. I know this to be fact. Will they? Who knows. Should they? Clearly. The signing of Jahlil Okafor (he just dropped 40 in a game) and Tyus Jones made next year's freshman class probably the best ever signed by Duke. Knowing that the two of them, along with Grayson Allen and Justise Winslow replace middle of the road Josh Hairston and Tyler Thornton, never-to-be the same again Andre Dawkins and a former walk on who's name has too many consonants, it huge. Bring in four guys who can start right away to replace your bench? Yes please. The signing of this pair may go down as the most significant thing in the history of Duke basketball. Which is great, as long as you are a Duke fan.

1. Boston Red Sox win the World Series

Through all of the struggles in Boston after the marathon bombings and after the tribulations Boston had gone through in prior seasons, the return to glory was a great one. Dominance was key and pulling out big win after big win against Detroit in the ALCS and then the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. It was a perfect exclamation point on an era that saw them end the biggest drought in the history of ever with 3 titles in 10 years. And it was an even better exclamation for the city of Boston after 2013. It also was sadly a poignant end for the Boston strong trio of Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Jacoby Ellsbury with free agency pending and Ellsbury ultimately deciding he wanted to be a communist. But Yankee sucktasm aside, it was a big and fitting ending for the beard squad and a huge part of what made 2013 so memorable to me in sports.

>Resolutions for 2009

Unlike most people in the world, I don't like to make resolutions at the new year that I know I just won't keep. So instead, I like to make resolutions for others. So, in no particular order, here are my ten (sports related) resolutions for others as we get ready to ring in 2009:

A legit prospect for the Lions
Like everyone else, I feel for the Detroit Lions of 2008, aka the worst team in NFL history. They need a whole new team, but that trend needs to start with one great franchise player. Sadly, I don't see them getting that man with the first pick in the Draft. God willing, some player looking to make a big mark takes a chance and signs on to be the face of this crummy program.

Ring number 18 in Boston
Sure Christmas day was a hurter, but hardly a setback. Boston is still the best team in the league and nobody has proven that they can beat them consistently, which is what it will take in the playoffs. Sure, 73-9 would be a nice new record, but I want the big three to end up with three rings, so it has to continue sometime. Why not in 2009?

Dewitt Scott; IPFW's first NBA player
The Mad Ants had their first player worked out by an NBA team in their second season recently. And while his name wasn't Dewitt Scott, I hope the former Mastodon keeps putting up decent numbers and gets a chance either this season or if he decides to return to the D-League for 2009-2010. As it looks less and less like former IPFW standout David Simon will get to the league, Witt may be the schools best chance in the near future.

Brett Favre retires...for good
Get it over with already!

The Yankees still lose
I hate rich snobs, therefore I hate the Yankees. Here's hoping that hundreds of millions in free agency doesn't land them squat. Go Sox.

Stephon Marbury returns and wins a title
If anyone deserves good karma, its Marbury for all the crap he has put up with in 2008. While the Knicks keep fumbling around, I hope someone with half a brain is able to land this talent and take him to the promised land.

Someone gets off Sean Avery's back
Oh no, someone didn't like a Sean Avery comment! Is bad press better than no press for the faultering NHL? If anyone gets ragged on more than Marbury, its this poor guy. At least he is a character for your faceless league. Go ahead, be a non-hockey person and name 5 current NHL players that haven't been in the league 10-plus years...yeah, didn't think so. Wake up NHL, embrace him, don't discourage him.

A college football playoff
Do I really need to say more? I know Texas, Texas Tech, Alabama and Utah are with me.

IPFW goes dancing
The program is showing that they can kinda hang this year, even in several defeats. Usually teams that can "kinda hang" during the regular season make good Cinderellas come March.

Coach K gets #4
This has been on my resolution list since 2002 rolled around, Coach K is due and he has the right crop to win now. Waiting until next year is overrated and I am ready for this to happen. Not many people are with me, but honestly there are also way too many haters out there when it comes to Duke basketball. For all of you, focus your attention on the upside of a Duke title: it keeps Tyler Hansbrough's crybaby hands off a title for his college career so he can go flourish as a 12th man in the NBA.