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.

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.

Losing Ellsbury would kill the sport's greatest trio

With their game 6 win last week, the Boston Red Sox have solidified themselves as the best organization of the past decade. Titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013 have made the once cursed boys of Beantown the crown jewel of Major League Baseball.

Outside of the Yankees of the 90’s, no team has been as dominant in this era of baseball. Case in point is one of, what I consider, the most amazing stat of importance of this series: David Ortiz is the first non-Yankee to win 3 titles with the same team since Jim Palmer did so with the Baltimore Orioles’ title in 1982.

But Ortiz isn’t alone as what I consider important consistent pieces. While the names and faces with the teams have changed from 2004 to 2007 and more so to 2013, there are three name that everyone can place with Boston’s championship aura: David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.

Each of these teams has had their own identity, but this trio has been the constant. Ortiz is the lone Sox player from 2004 left on the roster and Pedroia and Ellsbury, both clutch hitters and exceptional fielders, were part of the 2007 team as well. Many may argue, but there is a very high likelihood that these three are the best non-pitching trio in the modern era of championship teams.

Life won't be the same without Pedroia, Ortiz and Ellsbury all together.

It is sad to me to know that the trio's era may be over. Ellsbury is the Red Sox free agent least likely to resign according to multiple sources. And his new qualifying offer from Boston is great, but I don't see it sticking.

In their 2007 championship season, a second year player in Pedroia, a rookie Ellsbury and Ortiz combined for 388 hits. This year, their second title together in sights, the trio totaled 525 hits, helping dominate the American League. When one wasn't on, the others picked up the slack. That came up big time in the World Series, when Ellsbury was mediocre and Pedroia was below average. So Ortiz simply redefined what being Mr. October was all about, swinging for the fences and making the “ace” Cardinal pitching staff look like Little League relief pitchers.

At 37, Ortiz doesn't have many years left in the tank, even if he does drive the ball just as well today as he did during the Red Sox first World Series run. But Pedroia and Ellsbury are only 29 each and if they stay together, with Ortiz for a few years and then whoever the great Boston front office replaces him with, they could add a few more titles easily.

Boston looked so much different in 2007 than they did in 2004, with so much turnover. And honestly, the turnover was great since that 2007 title to this year too. But losing Ellsbury, breaking up the foundation of this happy family, could be the biggest nail driven into the continuing of this legacy.