Since it's almost the New Year, I thought I would give you a list of my Top 10 sports stories of the past year.  Unfortunately in doing the research for this article, I realized that 2011 was a pretty dark year.  I tried to find some positive stories, but let's face it; the worse something is the more it catches the attention of the public.  Sadly the majority of my list happened off the field, but that's how things go these days.

With that in mind, here are my Top 10 Sports Stories of 2011.

10. Shaq and Phil Jackson retire
Shaquille O'Neal won four NBA championships, was a three-time NBA Finals MVP, the NBA MVP for the 1999-2000 season and was a 15-time All-Star.  When he retired he ranked fifth all-time in scoring and led three different franchises (Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat) to the Finals.  He was also a quote-machine for the media, which helped with his already immense popularity.  Phil Jackson is one of the most successful coaches in the history of sports.  He won a record 11 NBA championships with two different teams (Chicago Bulls - 6, L.A. Lakers - 5) as a coach.  These two defined greatness for a generation of NBA fans.

9. Cardinals win World Series
The St. Louis Cardinals not only needed a miracle finish of their own to capture the National League Wild Card on the last day of the season, but they also needed an epic collapse by the Atlanta Braves.  They got both and ended up winning the World Series over the Texas Rangers.  They were even down 3-2 in the series and trailing Texas 6-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 6, were down to their last strike, twice, and still pulled it off.  This one hurt since they knocked my Phillies out of the playoffs.  Dammit.

8. Drew Brees breaks Dan Marino's passing record
It didn't get the publicity that other accomplishments on this list, but that's only because it just happened this week.  New Orleans' Brees broke Marino's record for passing yards in a season (5,084) set in 1984.  Brees is currently sitting with 5,087 yards with one game left to play in the season.  The funny thing is, New England Patriots QB Tom Brady is right behind Brees with 4,897, so this item could be on the 2012 list if Brady passes Brees on Sunday, January 1, 2012.

7. Peyton Manning's neck injury
Peyton Manning will miss the entire 2011 NFL season due to offseason surgery on his neck.  Manning had never missed a game since he was drafted in 1998, until now, and the Colts lost their first 13 games of the season without him.  Manning is a four-time NFL MVP and a Super Bowl champion.  Obviously he was the Indianapolis Colts and I think this proves he is the best player in the NFL.  Now the questions are whether or not the Colts should "Suck for Luck", in order to draft Stanford QB Andrew Luck with the No. 1 overall pick.  The Colts can secure the top pick if they lose their last game of the season.  With Manning at the helm, the Colts won the AFC South every year.  Without Manning, they just Suck. 

6. Dallas Mavericks win NBA championship
Yes, it was a great story that the Mavericks and forward Dirk Nowitski won their first NBA title, but it was really more about the opponent.  That opponent would be the Miami Heat, or the "Dream Team" of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.  The three mega-stars made a deal to play together in South Beach and egomaniac James got ESPN to act like a love-sick little school girl and give him a half-hour prime-time special to announce his decision to leave Cleveland.  That narcissistic act led many sports fans to root against LeBron and the Heat.  The only reason the "Dream Team" isn't on this list themselves is that the team was assembled in 2010.

5. Tebow-Mania
This one is borderline ridiculous, but it might just be the biggest sports story of 2011.  I couldn't bring myself to rank it any higher since, you know, Tim Tebow isn't a very good quarterback.  But that little fact hasn't stopped the Denver Broncos QB from becoming one of the most talked-about athletes on the planet.  His in-your-face religious talk was even mocked by Saturday Night Live.  (Google it.  It's Priceless)  And his signature TD celebration has become a national sensation.  There are millions of images on the net of people "Tebowing".

4. Green Bay wins Super Bowl XLV
The Green Bay Packers overcame an unbelievable amount of injuries to win the Super Bowl and a star was born.  The Packers had to beat the Chicago Bears in the last game of the regular season to even qualify for the playoffs, then beat the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears all on the road in the playoffs, to get to the Super Bowl.  In the big game, Aaron Rodgers stepped into the realm of the greatest players in the game today with 304 yards passing, 3 TDs and 0 INTs, while taking home the SB MVP award and leading the Pack to a 32-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Brett Who?

3. NBA Lockout
The NBA owners locked out the players on July 1 after the two sides couldn't agree on a new labor agreement, which led to part of the season being canceled.  There was talk about system issues and other nonsense, but it ultimately came down to money.  The owners wanted to give the players a smaller percentage of league revenue and eventually the players were forced to give in.  The league was only able to salvage part of the season after the new deal was agreed upon on Dec 8.  A truncated 66-game season began on Christmas Day.  Too bad nothing substantial changed due to the lockout.   

2. NFL Lockout
Yes, 2011 was the year of the lockout.  While the NFL lockout didn't cost the league any games, like the NBA lockout, it was more important for the mere fact that the NFL rules the planet.  This $9 billion industry is the King of Sports.  The TV ratings and advertising dollars are second to none and that's really how you judge these things.  The 132-day lockout accomplished nothing except for saving the owners some money (sound familiar?) and wiping out almost the entire offseason.  Only one preseason game was canceled and the league is as popular as ever.  Oh how I miss the days when the most exciting sports stories happened during the actual games. 

That, of course, brings us to the top sports story of 2011.

1. Sports sex scandals
No, I won't simply call this one the Penn State sex scandal.  Just because ESPN is ignoring the Syracuse scandal because most of their staff are graduates of SU doesn't mean it didn't happen.  What did happen is that two sick individuals sexually assaulted innocent adolescent boys for decades while being associated with major college athletics.

Bernie Fine was an assistant basketball coach for the Syracuse basketball team until this season, when it came out that he had been sexually abusing minors for years.  Head coach Jim Boeheim initially attacked the credibility of the accusers until he was forced to apologize.  ESPN had a tape of Fine's wife admitting to the abuse years ago, but never released the tape.

Jerry Sandusky was the former defensive coordinator of the Penn State football team when it became known that he was abusing young boys.  While he was not an actual coach at the time his deviant acts were discovered, at least one of the acts occurred on campus.  Worse yet, apparently the school knew about it for years and did nothing but cover it up.  The university president and athletic director were fired for their part in the scandal, but that was nothing compared to the biggest part of the story.  That was the fact that legendary coach Joe Paterno apparently was told about an incident in the team's locker room and only reported the incident to his superiors.  That is what Paterno was legally required to do, but the court of public opinion felt that morally he should have done more by going to the police.  The winningest coach in college football history was summarily fired and his legacy was forever tarnished.

I hate to end my top 10 list on such a horrible note, but I have to be honest.  Sports is not always pretty.  This is a list of the top stories of the year, not the best stories.  Of course, now I wish I had written that list instead.  Maybe then I wouldn't feel so bad about the 2011 year in sports.