Every year things change. That is just the way things are. I mean it's not like the Boston Celtics are the best team in the NBA and are the preordained champions of the league. Wait I thought this was 2008 not the 1960's. Ok, the Celtics ride will be one worth watching. The new "big three" of Garnett, Allen, and Pierce are able to dissect whatever opponents can throw at them. With even nominal contributions from Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and Doc Rivers, this team should cruise to the title. However an injury to either one of the Celtics stars and the Western Conference will rise again.

There will be a new BCS champion in 2008. That will be different. It remains to be seen if the manner in which the championship game plays out will change. Was last years dismantling on Ohio State by Florida an aberration or will LSU do the same thing this year? I believe that this year's OSU team, though maybe not as explosive, is better equipped to deal with the ebb and flow of a game where momentum sometimes means more than talent. Of course since I spent eight years of tuition at The Ohio State University my judgment may be a bit murky.

Will the New England Patriots allow anyone to beat them? One thing we know is that the NFC will have a new representative. The Chicago Bears seem to have hit upon a pattern. Have a great season, fall back, improve upon that season, fall back again. So not next season, but the following we should see the Bears win the whole darn thing. The Colts have a chance to beat the Patriots, but truthfully it comes down to New England beating themselves.

I know it is hard to be impressed with a team that gets blown out on the big stage, but I like the Rockies. Yes, I realize that the Red Sox are loaded, and that the Yankees only finished two games back, but there is something about Colorado that I like. I can't quite pinpoint it, and I know that is my job, but they just seem to have the goods to me. The Tigers have improved themselves while getting a little younger. The Indians look to be just a piece or two away and the Diamondbacks and Brewers are young teams that should only improve. Red Sox nation live it up while you can.

There will be no Florida three-peat. Go to your favorite sportsbook in Las Vegas and bet your best friends liver on that. I am also fairly certain that the title game will not feature a team from the Big Ten, unless Michigan State can make hay. It is too early to tell, but I am not sold on the usual suspects this season. Memphis maybe, UNC maybe. Look for a bolt from the blue this year. Washington State, Texas A&M, Clemson...who knows.

Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Oscar de la Hoya, Arturo Gatti, Virgil Hill, James Toney, Evander Holyfield. Boxing fans have been thrilled by these fighters for a long time. I consider myself to be lucky to have been one of those fans. However, sadly it's time to look ahead. These wonderful men have probably fought their last significant fights and will be, or have already been, relegated to fabricated reality shows. But just as we lamented the end of the age of the Heavyweight, when we watched Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, Ron Lyle and the like go away. We ushered in the age of "Sugar" Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, Aaron Pryor, Alexis Arguello. So now we look around the boxing landscape and it is good. Champions like Joe Calzaghe, Juan Diaz, Chris John, and Arthur Abraham who have defended their belts multiple times and stars without belts such as Manny Pacquiao, and "Winky" Wright. Recent title winners like Kelly Pavlik, Miguel Cotto, and Paul Williams provide hope for the sports as do the "old" guard, like Floyd Mayweather, Cory Spinks, Bernard Hopkins, Vernon Forrest, and Juan Manuel Marquez .

The new year should change the way that the PGA, ATP, and WTA tours were dominated. For true domination we need only look at Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, and Justin Henin. Let’s forget that Woods won seven tournaments, Federer eight, and Henin ten. Overlook that they combined for six of an available twelve Grand Slam titles, and won nearly 26.5 million dollars in 2007. Woods finished the year ranked number one in the world golf rankings with a point total of 20.79. #2 Phil Mickelson was second at 9.20, a gap of 11.59. Tiger finishes with a differential of more points than his nearest competitor actually has. Or looking at it another way the difference between #2 Mickelson and #20 Niclas Fasth is 5.61 points, so #20 is closer to #2 than #2 is to #1. Astounding. Roger Federer’s dominance is not quite that complete, but he is still pretty good. With 7,180 points Federer is 1,445 points ahead of #2 Rafael Nadal’s 5,735. Nadal, who won six tournaments and had a very good year, finishes well back of Roger’s eight wins which included three Grand Slams. Justine Henin missed the first month of the 2007 season due to personal problems, yet still managed to win ten times, including two of a possible three Grand Slams. Like Woods, the differential between her 6,155 points and world #2 Svetlana Kuznetsova’s 3,725 is greater than the gap between Kuznetsova and #20 Sybille Bammer’s 1,332. This can't go on, can it?

As a sports fan, I look forward to the new year. Not just because of the fifteen day college football playoffs, pardon me "bowl season", not just because march madness is just around the corner, or that the Pro Bowl is near. The new year is truly a line of demarcation upon which we can judge how our favorite sports are going to play out. The basketball season, both college and professional, really starts to get interesting. In the NFL the playoffs are just getting started and while we look forward to the culmination of the season in the Super Bowl, we can also see how our favorite teams are going to position themselves to take care of business in the "offseason". In baseball the winter meetings have been recently concluded, so we can see which teams need to raise season ticket prices. Heck the tennis season begins with the Australian Open, a major to see who wants to put their stamp on the new year.

There aren't many times in the year that I don't like sports, but right now I truly love it.