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It doesn't happen often, but it did last year - I had an all-around good year in sports.

This didn't really hit me until the drive home from work today. All four of my teams at least put in a solid effort this year. Clearly, I haven't had the year a Boston fan did (World Series title, NBA title, Super Bowl runner-up, and hockey playoff team), but all things considered, I think I did alright. Let's consider:

Colorado Rockies (89-73), MLB - World Series runners-up. Considering the world of suckitude the Rockies have come from, this is a fantastic year for them. Factor in the monster winning streak they had at the end of the season and it was a pretty exciting year. Go Rockies.

Denver Broncos (7-9), NFL - Okay, so this wasn't quite as impressive. The Broncos had talent enough to do better than this, but ended up falling on their faces. Still, though, we nearly hit .500, and could have made the playoffs with another couple of wins. Not too shabby. Go Broncos.

Portland TrailBlazers (41-41), NBA - This was a surprisingly good year. The Blazers have been pretty awful for the last few years, but even worse is the fact that they were all pretty unlikable people, too. Management has started to bring in likable people (Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldrige, and Greg Oden), and go figure, but the team is doing better and people are coming to the games. Genuine. and I went to a Blazers game around Christmas, and it was legitimately exciting to be in the Rose Garden. Man, it was fun. Even better is the fact that we're just going to get better next year. (I spent a few hours at work today getting fired up for the 2008-09 season, which doesn't actually start until October.) For once in the history of the world, it's a good time to be a Portland fan. Go Blazers.

Colorado Avalanche (44-31-7), NHL - The Avs always seem to do the best when I'm not paying attention to them. This year, they came out of nowhere to get into the playoffs and knock off the heavily favored Minnesota Wild. Awesome. Granted, it's only because they brought back all of their old players who only have one decent season left in them, so they'll be terrible next year, but it was exciting while it lasted. Plus, their goalie's last name is Theodore. Rockin'. Go Avs.

And now, the much-anticipated answers to the AFL quiz:

San Jose Sabrecats (giovanni schwartz)
Arizona Rattlers (Austin, giovanni schwartz)
Los Angeles Avengers
Utah Blaze (thirdmango)
Chicago Rush (thirdmango)
Grand Rapids Rampage
Colorado Crush
Kansas City Brigade
Dallas Desperadoes
Philadelphia Soul (thirdmango)
Cleveland Gladiators
New York Dragons
Columbus Destroyers
Georgia Force (thirdmango)
Orlando Predators
New Orleans VooDoo
Tampa Bay Storm

Congratulations, thirdmango. You know the most about the AFL of all the readers of this blog who chose to submit comments. You should be honored. Really.