2008: A Reflection

Newbury Park, CA -- As we embark on 2009, I wanted to take some time to look back on what a crazy year 2008 has been. This was the last year we all spent together at Penn State and that last semester was amazing. I will never forget those wild parties at 711 and 804, the many hours we spent playing rockband, the hundreds of beers we finished, the cruise, the bars, those bar tours, senior week, and graduation. If you look at the real world, it's been pretty wild too. Obama was elected. Gas prices were wildin'. Tornadoes, hurricanes, and wild fires were wildin' out too this year. OJ is in jail. The economy is not tryna right now. There were mad political scandals. Furthermore, I believe this has been one of the craziest years in sports. I watched this segment on ESPN today talking about all the amazing stories this year. In my lifetime, I believe this has definitely been the best year in sports.

- Let's start with the beginning of the year... Giants vs. Pats. The Patriots looked unstoppable all year and most people counted the Giants out. But, they pulled out the Superbowl win with one of the most unbelievable plays I have ever seen, beating the undefeated Pats. As much as I hate the Giants, this was pretty damn impressive. I think Eli's part of that play is very underrated.

- Next, the Celtics and Lakers renewed their rivalry, which really made the NBA a little more fun to watch. I don't like either of these teams, especially the Celtics, but this series was great and I'm very happy Garnett got a ring (and he went crazy). I'm actually looking forward to watching the NBA playoffs this year. I predict LA and Cleveland. Lebron is unstoppable and I hope he eventually stays in Cleveland.

- The Olympics were great to watch. The USA basketball team reclaimed the gold. Phelps's was ridiculous. Usain Bolt got a 9.69 in the 100 and started celebrated before the race even ended! He also donated $50K to the victims of that earthquake in Sichuan, China. By the way, that earthquake killed nearly 70,000 people. Anyways, London has a tough act to follow after the way Beijing did their opening and closing ceremonies.

- This was also a year where college basketball saw its first final four with all #1 seeds.

- Federer finally lost his #1 ranking. Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open with a fucked up knee? I don't know much about golf.

- The Phillies won the World Series and ended a 25 year championship drought. Chase Utley was very happy about this. I'm not gonna go on a wildin' rant about this since I have already done so in a previous post. Even more impressive, the Tampa Bay Rays, with one of the lowest payrolls in the MLB beat out the Yankees and Red Sox to win the AL East and made it to the World Series. That is ridiculous. That's crazy.

- Lastly, the NFL has been pretty wild this year. Favre retired and then came back. Brady got hurt. The Lions went 0-16. The Miami Dolphins went 11-5 to win the AFC East after a season they went 1-15. Plaxico shot himself. And the Cowboys suck.

- The BCS still sucks.

As for movies, I'm gonna have to go with The Dark Knight. Although, I doubt it will win best picture, it was definitely my favorite movie this year. They would never give that award to a superhero movie. I think Heath Ledger will win best supporting actor though. I've been watching some pretty good movies this past week. Slumdog Millionaire was very good and so was Gran Torino. Gran Torino was very powerful but there was a lot of subtle humor, which I liked. The character Clint Eastwood plays is what I imagine him to be like in real life. I could see Slumdog Millionaire winning best picture. Also, Seven Pounds was decent. It's one of those movies where you're not sure whats going on until the end.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great time celebrating the new year. It's time to get crunk!

-Louie