KEY POINTS:
1: Usain's bolt into history
Usain "Lightning" Bolt makes sprinting appear ridiculously easy. Not only does the Jamaican look born to run, but his surname is mana from heaven for the headline writers.
The surname Bolt is also a sitter for the "Lightning" nickname, although Nuts was just as appropriate after his 100m Olympic dash.
The supersonic string bean rocketed to the Olympic 100m title ... for the first 85 metres that is. Over the final 15 metres he made a cup of tea, gave the dog a bit of a pat, rang his mum and gave his chest a slap. He might even have had time to stop and tie up a shoelace that was loose, but didn't bother. The shoelace could flap all it liked, but Usain wasn't about to.
Despite easing up to celebrate before the finish line, Bolt still broke the world record. Some athletics purists were left frustrated because they wanted to know how fast Bolt could really go. He recorded 9.69s, and there were boffin-types who reckoned he could have made it 9.55 but for the celebratory skylarking.
It's not often that the star of the games, the sporting personality of the year, cops a serve from the president of the IOC but Jacques Rogge and a couple of others gave Usain a slap for his showboating, at which the rest of us gave Rogge a slap for his boorish reaction.
Suitably chastened, but hardly chased, Bolt tried hard all the way in the 200m to claim gold in another world record time.
Bolt made athletics thrilling and sexy again, primarily because he enjoyed the moment of his victory and let everyone in on the celebrations. And no one who saw it will ever forget the sight of a joker partying his way to the Olympic 100m title.
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2: Wimbledon's tennis heaven
The Wimbledon men's final was the best head-to-head sporting contest of the year. John McEnroe called it the best match he had ever seen.
"It had so much drama," said the McAttack, after Rafael Nadal had ended Roger Federer's brilliant fightback and five-year run as Wimbledon champion.
McEnroe could cause more drama putting out the rubbish, but he was right.
Nadal prevailed as night fell, after nearly five hours of tennis and a couple of rain breaks.
McEnroe forgot his own past and claimed there were no losers. Federer may be the very antithesis of a hard-rocking racket-thrower, but a fierce competitor still lurks within.
"It's tough, it hurts. This is a disaster," said a downcast Federer. Yes, tennis revelled in the glory, but there was still a loser.
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3: Tiger's balm
Most people deal with a wrecked knee by having a bit of a lie-down, or even a major operation. But not our Tiger Woods, no sirree. He decided to trundle out and win another major golf title first. Then he had reconstructive surgery on a ruptured tendon, followed by a bit of a lie-down.
Woods was rated a no-chance by many to win the June US Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego because of his dicky left knee. Yet not only did he win it, but did so in a playoff against Rocco Mediate. And for those who've forgotten, the US Open has a real playoff, over 18 holes. And even that wasn't enough, because the duel needed a 19th hole to separate the two Americans. It was exhausting just watching it.
Yet Woods kept racing towards Jack Nicklaus' mark of 18 major victories by hobbling to his 14th win. For good measure, he also had to contend with the minor matter of a double stress fracture of the same leg.
"When I talk about golf, he doesn't count," Mediate said after the playoff. "He's not normal."
Needless to say, Tiger is already back out there, hitting balls a month earlier than anticipated. Also needless to say, Tiger says he will be even better than before, now that his knee no longer feels like a bag of golf balls.
The rest of the professional golf ranks are the ones feeling wobbly again, including that #$&^* Phil Mickelson.
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4: Gold rish in Beijing
Swimmer Michael Phelps might get his Olympic medals into that mythical shoebox under the bed, but only because he's got size 14 feet. The amphibious American scooped eight, including seven in world record time, at the Beijing Olympics to go with his six from Athens. (A couple of bronze medals from 2004 might have to go into the sock drawer).
Phelps crushed his opposition in Beijing although he needed a video replay to edge out American-born Serb Milorad Cavic, who challenged the result, in the 100 metres butterfly. A noble Cavic wrote: "This is the greatest moment of my life ... I've accepted defeat, and there's nothing wrong with losing to the greatest swimmer ever."
Mark Spitz, the American who won seven golds at an Olympics, hailed Phelps as perhaps the greatest athlete ever. That's highly debatable, but he's certainly a contender.
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5: A cracker at the WACA
Who says test cricket is boring? It has been a momentous year for the sport, with a shift of power away from the Aussies.
It started with a classic series against India in Australia which the hosts only just won and in which cricket only just survived some really childish monkey business. Then India beat the top dogs at home.
But the moment which confirmed that Australia had lost the aura of invincibility came this month in Perth where they were unable to defend a 400-plus target against South Africa. South Africa won with six wickets to spare, guided to a handsome victory by an AB de Villiers' century and JP Duminy's 50.
Australian stocks are so low that they couldn't even turn up with a decent leg spinner. The bloke entrusted with ripping into the South Africans during the fourth innings was one Jason Krejza, a hoary right-armed finger spinner. Geez, how low can you get?
Grumpy old Aussie great Neil Harvey summed up Krejza's contribution by rasping that he bats better than he bowls. Which isn't saying much and also says a lot.
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6: The immaculate connection
Fans and writers bent over backwards trying to come up with the catchy phrase (pardon the pun) to best sum up the miraculous reception by David Tyree which led to the New York Giants overhauling the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Immaculate Connection was as good as any, although the competition wasn't universally great it must be said. One bloke entered 'Manning to Tyree' which is a touch underwhelming. For a whacky outsider, the Hel-Mitt was a bold attempt as was The Escape Claws. Anyway, we digress.
It was a hell of a catch. All-American hype aside, Eli Manning launched a long pass and Tyree flew like a bird then descended with the ball jammed between one hand and his helmet as Patriot Rodney Harrison tried to wrench the footy free. All-American hype not aside, a lot of pundits have called it the single greatest moment in Super Bowl history, presumably knocking a halftime advertisement into second place.
Tyree celebrated by doing what any sensible person would do - he wrote his autobiography. Harrison chipped in and provided the introduction. If Harrison had dislodged the ball, they could simply have swapped, with Tyree writing an intro for Harrison's book.
One of Tyree's teammates, Plaxico Burress, celebrated later by shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub. This has stuffed everything up for Mr Burress. Stay tuned though, because Plaxico's book will surely be coming out soon.
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7: Manchester stands as one
It says something for the rotten reputation of soccer fans when you are moved to commemorate something like this.
Manchester City's fans were lauded for standing in silence at Old Trafford on the 50th anniversary of the Munich air tragedy, the aeroplane disaster which cut down so many of a brilliant Manchester United team.
Munich was such a sad day for soccer and a city. It should go without saying that City fans would show the necessary respect on such a day. And they did.
Then again, I recall mid-1980s acquaintances and Sheffield Wednesday fans who held a party after hearing a German World War II bomb had been found near the Sheffield United ground. That's football - crazy.
All attempts to get Ronaldo into this Top 10 list were rejected on the grounds that he is a prima donna, and that's when he's not being a drama queen (although the bloke can really play). Spain winning a really good Euro tournament is worth a mention, though.
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8: The shot that nailed a Great White Shark
No, not another All Black drama involving protected marine life. This one refers to the 228-metre screamer delivered by Irish golfer Padraig Harrington with his favourite five wood, the shot that finally saw off the challenge of the Aussie golfer Greg Norman at the British Open.
Norman almost wrote a wonderful chapter in golf history at Royal Birkdale before suffering another one of his dreaded chokes - actually, that's very unfair considering Norman almost qualifies for a free bus pass yet showed the new generation a thing or two.
Harrington's scintillating shot to the hole set up an eagle on the 17th in his successful defence of the title, and we all muttered that the stolid Irishman wouldn't do that again. But he did, winning the PGA, which means he's now won more majors than, you guessed it, Greg Norman.
Norman had already announced that "golf is second and everything else is first".
So he wasn't too bothered about not hanging on to win. Yeah, right.
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9: Formula One - getting the formula wrong
There was a little mardi gras going on in the Ferrari pits to celebrate Felipe Massa's win in San Paulo. When Massa crossed the line, Brit Lewis Hamilton was in sixth place which meant Massa should win the F1 crown. Then Hamilton's McLaren did something very unusual for a British car - it overtook a Toyota.
Hamilton's unexpected recovery in the damp to finish fifth - a placing which gave him his first F1 title at Massa's expense - came about because Tino Glock's Toyota was still running on dry-weather tyres. Confusion reigned before Hamilton's coup de grace brought an abrupt and rather distraught end to the mardi gras and the British celebrations began.
The sport might have its problems, and this year it included Honda giving F1 the flick and Formula One's chief Max Mosley doing something similar with a group of young ladies. Despite the problems, F1 often provides a rattling good end to their season and 2008 was no exception.
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10: The Celtic swing
The Boston Celtics made a record comeback from a 24-point deficit to beat the Lakers in Los Angeles and move closer to what became their 17th title victory.
The game was so incredible that it was reported some of the Hollywood stars present actually stopped ringing their agents to watch it.
