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

New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees named SI's Sportsman of the Year

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/magazine/11/29/sportsman/

Tuesday November 30, 2010
New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees named SI's Sportsman of the Year
Story Highlights
Drew Brees not only won Super Bowl, but also helped and embraced city in need
Roger Goodell: "He symbolizes the people of New Orleans in many, many ways"
Brees Dream Foundation has raised more than $6 million for cancer, children

For not only leading the New Orleans Saints to the first Super Bowl title in the franchise's history, but also for helping lead the city of New Orleans' rebirth after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, quarterback Drew Brees is the recipient of Sports Illustrated's 57th Sportsman of the Year award. Brees will be honored at a ceremony Tuesday evening in New York City.

The SI award comes as Brees and the Saints have won four consecutive games and, with an 8-3 record, moved solidly into playoff contention in defense of the championship they won a year ago in Miami. Brees, 31, was the MVP of that Super Bowl game, but he wins SI's highest honor for much more than just his ability to play football.

Jessie Aney, a 12-year-old tennis and hockey star from Rochester, Minn., was named Sports Illustrated Kids' SportsKid of the Year. The No. 1-ranked tennis player in the USTA's 12-and-under and 14-and-Under Northern Section, she was runner-up in Minnesota's Class 2A high school state singles championships as a seventh grader. A 4.0 student, Aney school five goals in her varsity hockey debut for Century High.

Nearly five years ago, in the early spring of 2006, Brees was a broken player. After surgery to repair a catastrophic shoulder injury, the Saints were the only team that offered to make him their starting quarterback. Meanwhile, New Orleans was a desperate city, trying to find traction after one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. Brees would later say his landing in New Orleans was much more than just an athlete's change of venue. "It was a calling,'' he said. "We were brought here for a reason.''

Brees and his wife, Brittany, showed love for New Orleans when the city felt abandoned by so many others. Not only did Brees help the Saints make the playoffs in his first year in the city and begin the four-year climb to last year's title, but he also threw himself into helping the city recover, and its people to feel like they were not alone. "He symbolizes the people of New Orleans in many, many ways,'' says NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. "Drew believes in that community. He believes in doing what's right. He's one of the most genuine people I've ever met.''

Upon settling in a home in Uptown New Orleans, Drew and Brittany Brees established The Brees Dream Foundation, with the goal of "Advancing research in the fight against cancer and providing care, education and opportunities for children in need.'' In the ensuing years, Brees's foundation has helped raise more than $6 million, primarily in and around New Orleans, but also in San Diego (where Brees began his career and played five seasons with the Chargers) and West Layfayette, Ind. (where Brees played college football at Purdue, and met his wife in 1999).

"New Orleans was the perfect fit for Drew,'' says Brian Schottenheimer, who coached Brees in San Diego and is now offensive coordinator of the New York Jets. "There were questions about Drew and there were questions about New Orleans. But things happen for a reason.''

The steady revival of New Orleans owes to the efforts of many civic leaders, but none are more visible than the quarterback of the city's beloved Saints, so long lovable losers, but now on top of the football world. "You could see it in Drew from the beginning,'' says Billy Miller, who joined the team with Brees in 2006 and played four seasons. "He had this attitude that just said: `If I lead, people will follow.'''

Most poignant of all, Brees has dug deep roots in a city that opened its arms when he was wounded. He and Brittany have two sons: Baylen, who will turn two in January; and Bowen, born Oct. 19. Two weeks ago Brees held Bowen in his arms and said, "Life is a miracle.''

And some would say the same for what has happened since Brees arrived in New Orleans.