The Biggest Sports Stories of 2007

13) Déjà Vu All Over Again
This would be a Top Tenner if it weren't so predictable. We will be writing these very same names—Tiger Woods and Roger Federer—again in 2008, just as we did in 2006. Woods, the greatest golfer in history, opened the year with his seventh consecutive tournament triumph, took the PGA for his 13th major win and captured the new FedEx Cup despite skipping one of its four tournaments. Federer, who will be the greatest tennis player in history as soon as he wins a French Open, ran his Grand Slam total to an even dozen. He did lose for the second consecutive year to Rafael Nadal in the French final. But Federer won the Australian without losing a set, beat Nadal in five sets for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title and then added his fourth consecutive U.S. Open crown. In their respective sports Woods and Federer are in a class by themselves. There was some class exhibited on the women's side, too. Belgium's Justine Henin kept her no. 1 ranking and won two majors and more than $5 million. Each of the Williams sisters had a shining moment: Serena wining the Australian as a nonseeded entry and Venus wining her fourth Wimbledon. In golf, Mexico's Loren Ochoa topped $4 million in winnings, for a new ladies record.

12) Scorched Earth
Perfection was supposed to be a remnant of a bygone NFL era, impossible to achieve in this age of free agency, salary caps and parity. But at 14-0 the New England Patriots are two games away from becoming only the second team to finish the regular season unbeaten. (The '72 Dolphins went 14-0.) Whatever added motivation Coach Bill Belichick's team may have needed, beyond last year's disappointment in Indy, it got in the first game of this season, in which the Pats were accused of spying on the Jets and punished by the NFL commissioner. The Pats responded with nothing except an apparent commitment—with quarterback Tom Brady and receiver Randy Moss leading the charge—to punish every team they played. If the Pats go 19-0, it will be regarded as the greatest season in NFL history—and a guaranteed no. 1 in this count next year.

11) The End of a Pinstriped Era
Joe Torre had won nine straight A.L. East division titles, 10 in his 11 previous seasons at the helm of the New York Yankees. But when his 2007 version of the Yankees couldn't catch the Red Sox, Joe got an offer he could only refuse. Torre got to deliver his no-thanks to the next Steinbrenner generation, as, at season's end, owner George Steinbrenner turned over operations to his two sons. Torre wasn't unemployed for long, jumping coasts to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Leaving, and then not, was Alex Rodriguez, who earlier had appeared to be long gone after declaring free agency. But the Yankee third baseman either had a change of heart, as he insists, or a rude awakening to the possibility that the league wasn't awaiting him with open wallets. So A-Rod, who won this third A.L. MVP this season settled for another record deal—some $300 million—with the Yankees. That means he will likely be wearing pinstripes if and when he catches Barry Bonds as baseball's home run king. But the wisdom of the deal and the measure of the man will ultimately be determined by how many World Series rings he wins in New York.

Next week: the Top 10.

© 2007