End of Year Awards

Late December and early January are a time where a slew of end-of-the-year awards are released. Here are some of the more well-noted.
While Taylor Swift won Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of the Year, the AP (who picked Swift in 2009) went with Betty White, star of an instant classic Snickers bar Super Bowl commercial, the most popular SNL episode of the year (which followed a huge Facebook campaign to get her on the show and earned her a seventh Emmy) and now the star of TV Land's most popular series Hot in Cleveland. She also won a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild. Not bad for an 88-year-old woman. She beat out the cast of Glee, and tied for third were Conan O'Brien, James Cameron and Apple's iPad. My pick would've been Cameron, but it's hard to be bitter about any victory by Betty White.

Betty White voted AP entertainer of the year
Jake Coyle
Mon Dec 20, 2010
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101220/ap_en_tv/us_ye_ap_entertainer_of_the_year

Drew Brees, who are also won the Sportsman of the Year prize from Sports Illustrated, was named AP Male Athlete of the Year. Following him in the top five were NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, boxer Manny Pacquiao, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick. Brees was a deserved pick, not only for leading the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl victory with his passing (he set a completion percentage record for a season in 2009) but for basically saving a franchise in the Katrina-thrashed city that seemed almost certainly headed to Los Angeles when he came to town...

Drew Brees is the AP's Male Athlete of the Year
Dec 17, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igK8lwllKJhHREB_-fbt_YySm3pw?docId=c16e4ae657ee4c84936e46130b24fd66

Sporting News, meanwhile, gave its pro athlete prize to Halladay, who won the Cy Young Award and pitched both a perfect game in the regular season and a no-hitter in the playoffs. A good pick, but Brees was the better choice in my book...

2010 SN Pro Athlete of the Year: Roy Halladay
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2010
http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2010-12-15/2010-sn-pro-athlete-of-the-year-roy-halladay

Lindsey Vonn, who won a Gold and Bronze Medal at the Winter Olympics and a third straight skiing World Cup, won AP's Female Athlete of the Year. She beat out racehorse Zenyatta and UConn's Maya Moore...

Lindsey Vonn is 2010 AP Female Athlete of Year
Dec 18, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifIFngCc8KqLHr0dlnT-F1T2ewpg?docId=3f173bb89943488da77fc96c517f274b

Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven made Cooperstown, Alomar getting the nod in his second year of eligibility, Blyleven in his 14th. They will be joined by Pat Gillick, the general manager executive who built the Toronto Blue Jays into World Series champs in 1992-93 (teams that included Alomar) and the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008. Dave Van Horne, play-by-play man for the Florida Marlins after a 32-year-run with the Montreal Expos, will receive the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting, and Bill Conlin, Phillies beat writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, will receive the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing. Technically, both Van Horne and Conlin won't be HOF members for their lifetime achievement awards, but The Konformist isn't into technicalities.

Alomar, who will likely wear Toronto Blue Jays cap at induction, was a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman during a 17-year-career. His lifetime stats: 2,724 hits, 210 homers, 1,134 RBIs, 474 stolen bases and a .300 average in 2,379 games. Blyleven, who will likely wear a Minnesota Twins cap, was 287-250 as a pitcher with 3,701 strikeouts, 60 shutouts and a career ERA of 3.31 in 23 seasons, winning World Series with the '79 Pittsburgh Pirates and the '87 Twins.

Shortstop Barry Larkin, in his second year of eligibility, received 62.1 percent of the vote, and will likely get in sooner rather than later. Starting pitcher Jack Morris, in his 12th year, received 53.5, and he has three more years to reach the 75 percent needed for HOF induction. Relief pitcher Lee Morris received 45.3 and has six years of eligibility left, so he's a fairly good bet. Meanwhile, Rafael Palmeiro became the Steroid Era's second test case and didn't do to well, only getting 11 percent of the vote in his first year. Mark McGwire, in his fifth year, only received 19.8 percent...

Alomar, Blyleven elected to Hall of Fame
Barry M. Bloom
01/05/11
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110105&content_id=16392298

Lake Superior State University has released its annual list of banished words. Here's the winners:

VIRAL
EPIC
FAIL
WOW FACTOR
A-HA MOMENT
BACK STORY
BFF
MAN UP
REFUDIATE
MAMA GRIZZLIES
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
I'M JUST SAYIN'
FACEBOOK / GOOGLE as verbs
LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST

http://www.lssu.edu/banished

The annual list of most popular baby names in America was released. Count me as someone confused by the popularity of some choices...

Boys

1. Aiden
2. Jacob
3. Jackson
4. Ethan
5. Jayden
6. Noah
7. Logan
8. Caden
9. Lucas
10. Liam

Girls

1. Sophia
2. Isabella
3. Olivia
4. Emma
5. Chloe
6. Ava
7. Lily
8. Madison
9. Addison
10. Abigal

100 most popular baby names of 2010
http://www.babycenter.com/top-baby-names-2010