My Favorite Things of 2008, Part III

By: Laurie | December 31st, 2008

Chris and Daryl started this one out (although Daryl’s was technically his “favourite” things, which I believe is entirely different.) Now it’s my turn, so here are some of the things that made my 2008 a little brighter.

MLS pairing with YouTube
Finally, a league that recognizes that video sharing is friend, not enemy. MLS even has its own YouTube channel, so bloggers looking for highlights have one-stop shopping.

Other leagues are desperately employing people and technology to make sure that fans are denied access to these kinds of videos. I’ve never quite figured out why. MLS, on the other hand, has considered the worst case scenario and realized that anything bad that could come from it is far outweighed by the free publicity.

Who would have thought that MLS would be a trailblazer for the rest of the world?

An actual title race in Ligue 1
It’s the holiday break, and where do things stand? As expected, Lyon sits on top with 38 points. But then it gets interesting. Bordeaux is at 35, Rennes at 34 (Rennes?!?), PSG at 33, Marseille and Lille both at 32. Seven clubs have thirty or more points, and Lyon has been looking eminently beatable.

Not that I necessarily want Lyon to get beaten, of course. But if they’re going to win it, it’s a lot more fun for the neutral fan that they have to work for it.

African Cup of Nations, 2008
I see that Daryl listed this as well, but I also enjoyed this tournament more than Euro 2008. It lacked most of the names you see on the gossip pages, it wasn’t available on any television or mainstream media site (at least in the US,) and the majority of the major news coverage concerned the horrible effects it was going to have on the European season. Despite all of this (or perhaps because of it,) it was a high-energy, exciting, fun-to-watch tournament. And the best team won. (Egypt, I’m lookin’ at you.)

(And kudos to the organizers for continuing to thumb their noses at the big-money clubs by scheduling it mid-season. For some reason that ups the entertainment value considerably and makes it more meaningful.)

The Columbus Crew
As much as I love a Cinderella story, sometimes it’s nice to be able to look at one team and say, “You are the best.” And this year Columbus — winners of both the Supporters Shield and the MLS Cup — are unquestionably the best. Well done, guys.

Shirt swapping after matches
Oh, come on. If I didn’t put something like this in the post, you’d forget there was a female blogger on the site. But of course I only love it because it makes posts like this one possible.

Euro 2008. Except not really.
Since the tournament happens only every four years, I really feel like I should list it here. Except that I’m a France fan, so basically it sucked.

On the other hand, it was an interesting tournament to cover, and towards the end I was a fan of Turkey’s last-second goals — even when they left me blogging extra time and penalties when I really would have preferred to be doing something else. And Spain’s win gave us what has to be one of the best celebration videos of all time. (Unless you’re Bastian Schweinsteiger.)

Scandals
Admit it. Isn’t it kind of fun to know that being rich and famous doesn’t necessarily make you the brightest bulb in the pack? In 2008 we had news of things like

Text messages on a wedding day. To someone other than the bride.
At least one drunk driving arrest.
Gigolopoli
El-Hadji Diouf, Tony Sylva and Ousmane N’Doye getting suspended for Senegal in the ACN for partying past curfew.
Steven Gerrard’s assault arrest.
and, last but not least, the Dreaded Trannie Surprise.

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