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A year on the brink was saved

Updated: 2011-12-30 07:39

By Dusty Lane (China Daily)

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The best thing about 2011 is that it could've been worse.

In a year suffocated by horrifying, tragic stories, that's probably appropriate.

A year on the brink was saved

Labor feuds that threatened to shutter full seasons - maybe even more - were defused in time to salvage the NFL's entire schedule and 66 games of the NBA's.

Next Sunday, the first day of 2012, there will be 16 NFL games and nine NBA games. If greed had won out entirely in 2011, it's possible those numbers could've been zero and zero, for the whole year.

And if the games that are going to be played are the best news, the games that were played were pretty enjoyable themselves.

Look around at the winners of the big American titles: not a Yankee, Laker, Steeler or Blue Devil to be found holding a trophy.

If youth is good, 2011 was great: It was a year that saw the old guard nudged aside time and again.

Take soccer, for instance. The best team in the Premier League is still from Manchester, but it's City, not United. And if City's 6-1 derby victory in October is any indication, it's not even close.

Sebastian Vettel doesn't quite qualify as a newcomer to Formula One, having already won the title in 2010. But the 24-year-old did establish himself as the sport's dominant force, claiming his second title in the 15th of the circuit's 19 races.

Roger Federer didn't win any tennis Grand Slams; Novak Djokovic won three. Kim Clijsters made the Australian Open her fourth Grand Slam, but the other three went to first-timers - Li Na in the French Open, Samantha Stosur in the US Open and Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon (the first Grand Slam winner born in the 1990s).

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was maybe really good, and then he maybe wasn't (or maybe he was?). Cam Newton led Auburn to an NCAA football title, became the NFL's No 1 draft pick, somehow immediately exceeded expectations as the Carolina Panthers' starting QB, and is likely on his way to being named Rookie of the Year.

In the NCAA men's basketball tournament, Butler officially shed the label of underdog, advancing all the way to the final for the second consecutive season before losing to Kemba Walker and UConn. Texas A&M won on the women's side, claiming its first national title.

But in the end, two events shone through the dark drama of 2011.

First, If Ron Artest changing his name to Metta World Peace didn't make you happy, nothing will.

Unless of course it's the one non-event that made sports watchable again in 2011: We finally made it a through a year without a Brett Favre comeback.

Dusty Lane is a sports copy at China Daily. He can be reached at dustin.l.lane@gmail.com.

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