#5 Liverpool outs Manchester United
This much we know for sure — Manchester United will not be winning the FA Cup this year.  A week after knocking out the defending champs, Manchester City, ManU found themselves on the outside thanks to a tough Liverpool team that may now be the odds-on favorite to take it all.  Although the match was nowhere near so controversial as the last time these two teams met, it was one that Liverpudlians will remember for a long time.

#4 Lindsey Vonn Almost Sweeps
Point zero three seconds is too short to measure by the human eye.  Yet that miniscule span is all the separated Lindsey Vonn from sweeping all three skiing events this weekend.  Still, she put on quite a show and looked good doing it, as always.  A spectacular run by defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch denied Vonn the weekend triple crown, but Vonn is still leading the field by a healthy 387 points heading toward the World Cup.

#3 Heat beat Knicks
You think the Miami Heat missed Dwayne Wade?  Yeah, me too.  I think we can safely say that Wade’s ankle is all better.  The Knicks – Heat matchup was a hot one and it looked like the Knicks would be able to keep up for the first three quarters.  But the Wade-powered Heat were better than the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks by 10 on this night.

#2 NHL All-Star Weekend
Pat Kane’s belly-flopping, cape-flapping goal on the breakaway challenge was a thing of pure beauty.  Carey Price demonstrated faith and class with his in-goal Tebow.  And then there was Zdeno Chara’s impossible, record-breaking 108.8 MPH slap shot.  All that a day before the NHL All-Star Game even started.  The NHL is definitely the class of the major sports when it comes to fan-friendly All-Star action.

#1 Novak Djokovic outlasts Rafael Nadal
Once in a while — once in a great, long while — a tennis match comes along that really captures the attention of the whole sports-loving world.  The final match of the  Australian Open between #1 Novack Djokovic and #2 Rafael Nadal was that epic match for this era.  The five-set match see-sawed back and forth for a record-setting five hours and 53 minutes before Djokovic finally claimed his third Australian Open title.

(U.S. Air Force photo)

And while they have no games for us to preview this weekend, how about a little love for unranked Florida State University for knocking off both #3 UNC and #4 Duke in the past week?

#5 San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks
The Southwest Division is up for grabs with four of the five teams within a half a game of the lead (sorry, New Orleans). Two of the contenders will face off on Sunday when the San Antonio Spurs take the trip to Dallas to meet the Mavericks. With the Grizzlies streaking and the remainder of the short season slipping away, this divisional game could already have playoff implications for these two teams.

#4 Chicago Bulls at Miami Heat
The best team in the NBA against the most hyped team in the league. The Chicago Bulls may boast the best record in the NBA, but Miami isn’t too far behind. Miami has shown that they can put up some serious points this season –averaging over 105 per game. Chicago is the best in the business on defense, allowing less than 86 per game. This contest of O vs D should be one to watch.

#3 Memphis Grizzlies at Phoenix Suns
Have you noticed the Memphis Grizzlies lately? After an ugly 3-6 start to the season, they’ve rattled off seven straight wins — tied with Houston for the longest active streak in the NBA – and looked respectable doing so. If — and this is a sizable “if” — they can get past Portland and the LA Clippers this week, they’ll be going for a double digit win streak against Phoenix on Saturday.

#2 Michigan at Ohio State
#22 ranked Michigan has five losses already this season. #3 Ohio Sate has three. Neither can afford to add another to the tally this early in the season. But one of them will on Sunday.

#1 The NHL All-Star Game
As previously mentioned, there’s only one non-basketball event in town this weekend. but it is a big one. The annual NHL All-Star Game hits the ice on Sunday featuring Team Chara vs. Team Alfredsson . Unlike the NFL Pro-Bowl where the players are just out there trying not to get hurt, the NHL All-Star Game features a bunch of guys who just want to go out and hurt somebody. It doesn’t matter that the score is really irrelevant. The whole game is irrelevant, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the best of the best in the sport of hockey pummeling each other for a couple of hours.

#5 New York at New York
There’s something fascinating about a matchup between the two teams from New York. Something deeply insulting about having to use the visitor’s locker room in your own stadium. Something special about bragging rights in the Big Apple. Sunday the New York Giants travel to Metlife Stadium, normally their home turf, as the visitors to play the New York Jets. Both teams were embarrassed last week. The Jets were blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants lost to the lowly Washington Redskins. Only one can find a measure of redemption this week.

#4 Get your hockey fix Friday
The NHL is taking the weekend off to celebrate Christmas, so get your fix on Friday. There’s a pretty full slate of eleven games on Friday night. So get warm up your channel flipping finger and get ready.

#3 Denver at Buffalo
Tebow-mania has swept the land. Denver QB Tim Tebow did just enough in the blowout loss to the New England Patriots – and handled the aftermath with such class – that he actually rose in the estimation of at least one big Denver Broncos fan: John Elway. Elway gave his strongest endorsement of Tebow yet, which isn’t really saying much as he’s been lukewarm on the quarterback since his debut.

Sunday, Tebow and the Broncos will travel to cold, blustery Buffalo to play the Bills. We’ve seen Tebow roll off a win streak. We’ve seen him lose badly. Now the nation will watch to see how he bounces back after that beating.

#2 Boston at New York
The NBA is back! And if you’re going to tease us with a half a season, you’d better start it with something good. Something like the Boston Celtics at the New York Knicks on Christmas Day. Last season’s top rated defense against the NBA’s 2nd most potent offense. A rivalry as old as the NBA itself. Yeah, that’ll do.

#1 Chicago at Green Bay
The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have a rivalry as old as… the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Now the Bears are 7-7 after a four game losing skid. The Packers are sitting pretty at 13-1. The Bears couldn’t possibly fall below .500, could they? But there’s no way the Pack could drop two in a row after rattling off thirteen straight, right? Something’s got to give at Lambeau on Sunday. Cue Faith Hill now, because I’m just waiting for Sunday night.

#5 Tebow’s Proving Ground, Part Five
Tim Tebow‘s doubters this week included John Elway and Jake Plummer. Somehow, I don’t think this kid will ever be able to shut his detractors up. No matter what he does, they’ll still be there, saying something like “Yeah, he won three Super Bowls, two MVP trophies, and went to the Pro Bowl six times, but he just isn’t an NFL quarterback.”
So far, Tebow took a team that was 1-4 without him and lead them to a 4-1 record. Ho hum. He’ll have another chance to prove himself — and will be required to take it — Sunday at San Diego.

#4 Penn State at Wisconsin
You may have heard Penn State mentioned in the news once or twice in the last few weeks. Saturday is their last chance to make the news for the right reasons for a while. It was a respectable year for Penn State — on the field, that is — but Saturday’s finale against #16 Wisconsin won’t be a an easy way to close out the regular season.

#3 Pittsburgh Pride
Stanley Crosby is back! Crosby returned to hockey this week after a ten-month layoff and looked none the worse for the time off. If anything, he was refreshed and more energetic than his colleagues who’ve had to slush through 20 games already this season. Friday night Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins will hit the home ice against the visiting Senators from Ottawa.

#2 There Can Only Be One
After last weekend’s ugly fallout among the top five college teams, Arkansas is sitting at #3 with a very real shot at #1. The one-loss Razorbacks will visit the top ranked LSU Tigers on Saturday. Alabama fans may disagree, but the winner of this game should have a solid grip on #1 as the season comes to an end.

#1 Thanksgiving Day Three for One
As if there weren’t already enough to be thankful for, the NFL is serving up a triple header of dynamite match-ups on Thanksgiving Day. First, the still-undefeated Green Bay Packers travel to Detroit to face the not-too-shabby 7-3 Tigers, who racked up seven touchdowns last week. Next the recently not-terrible Miami Dolphins, who have outscored opponents 86-20 on their current three-game winning streak, visit the Dallas Cowboys, who are likewise riding a three-game win streak. Finally, the Thanksgiving night game is the Harbaugh Bowl when John Harbaugh‘s Baltimore Ravens host brother Jim’s San Francisco 49ers. All this and turkey, too.

#5 Oklahoma vs. Texas
Texas is ranked #11 in the land. They’ll put their perfect record on the line against #3 Oklahoma. The Longhorns’ stingy defense, allowing just better than 12 points a game, will have to be at its best to stop Oklahoma’s powerful offense, which has been racking up 42.5 points per game so far this season.

#4 Tampa Bay at Boston
It’s an opening weekend rematch of last year’s conference finals when the Tampa Bay Lightning travel back to Boston to face the defending NHL Champion Bruins.

#3 WNBA FInals
The Minnesota Lynx and the Atlanta Dream are the last two teams standing in the 2011 WNBA season. This may be the last professional basketball that we get to see for awhile, so you might as well soak it up while you can.

#2 Arizona at Minnesota
The game between the Arizona Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings would be worth watching just to see what new way the Vikings can find to falter in the fourth quarter. But add to that the drama of former Eagles‘ QB, now Vikings’ QB Donovan McNabb facing off against McNabb’s supposed successor in Philadelphia, who promptly got demoted and shipped to Arizona, Kevin Kolb. Can Kolb show that he is the future, or will McNabb pull off a return to his former glory?

#1 New York at New England
Jets – Patriots has taken on a whole new level of rivalry in recent years. Ever since the infamous videotaping incident, the Jets have had an extra chip on their shoulder every time they face the big bad boys of the AFC East. Fresh off an embarrassing loss to Baltimore, the J-E-T-S Jets will be looking to punish somebody, and the Patriots are an attractive target. Of course, the 3-1 Pats are quite comfortable at the top of the heap and aren’t about to get knocked off easily.

#5 The Lombardi Trophy
No, no one will actually be claiming the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl each year, this weekend. But the secret talks – closed to the press and lawyers – between the NFL Owners and Players Association give us hope that someone will be hoisting the trophy in February 2012.

#4 The Pocono Trophy
The winner of the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway this weekend will receive the Pocono Trophy, but most eyes will be on the competition between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. Busch was attacked by owner Richard Childress after last week’s Truck Series race. NASCAR put the full blame on Childress, which was the right move. But I doubt that Chldress’ top driver – who has had his own run ins with Busch in the past – will see it that way. If one of these guys is out of contention and the other is in the thick of it on Sunday, things could get ugly between the two.

#3 The Gold Cup
The Gold Cup is easily the best soccer tournament of the year for the simple reason that the USA actually has a chance to win it. After dispatching Canada with relative ease this week, the US team will play Panama on Saturday. If the US can beat Panama, then only Guadeloupe (is that a country?) will stand between them and a perfect record going into the Quarter Finals.

#2 The Larry O’Brien Trophy
If Dirk Nowitzki is this good in the Finals when he’s sick, imagine how dominant he can be when he’s healthy. As of this writing, the series is all tied up. The Dallas Mavericks have something to prove. The Miami Heat have the weight of expectation. This weekend will reveal the last team standing.

#1 The Stanley Cup
Somebody’s gonna win it. By the end of the week, either the Boston Bruins or the Vancouver Canucks will hoist the Stanley Cup. Home ice seems more important than usual, considering the Canucks outscored Boston 4-2 in two games at home, but fell 8-1 in the first game in Beantown. Boston will play the remainder of the series without Nathan Horton, who suffered that brutal hit in Game 3. Vancouver will be without the services of Aaron Rome, who delivered that concussive shot, for the rest of the year. With the additional motivation factored in, the advantage goes to Boston.

Baseball, Soccer, Hockey, Basketball,

#5 USA Soccer
No, not the Men’s team, which lost to Spain 4 – Nil in a game that was even more one sided than the score suggests. It was the US Women’s team that did the nation proud by beating Mexico 1-0. What passes for a regular season in soccer is over now and the team heads to Germany to start their World Cup run later this month against North Korea.

#4 Pujols’ Homers
Most players can only dream of hitting a walk off homer. Even the greats can only hope to do it a couple of times in a season. Albert Pujols of the Saint Louis Cardinals hit walk off home runs against the Chicago Cubs two nights in a row – the second one in extra innings for added dramatic effect.

#3 French Open
Same old, same old. Rafeal Nadal and Roger Federer in the final round of the French Open. This was the fifth time we’ve seen this in the French Open and they all ended the same way. Nadal holds the trophy, Federer goes home disappointed.

#2 Stanley Cup Finals
How can the Stanley Cup Finals get any better? How about overtime? When three periods weren’t enough to settle Game 2 between the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, they had to go to OT – all 11 seconds of it. The Bruins didn’t fare very well in the Great White North, but the series shifts to Beantown for Game 3.

#1 NBA Finals
As predicted by me and… a lot of other people at the start of the season, the Miami Heat are in the NBA Finals. Not quite as many of us picked the Dallas Mavericks to be lining up across from them at tip off. We all expected LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade to be here, but who knew that Dirk Nowitzki would put the Mavs on his back and carry them to the promised land? And what’s more, have the series tied up after two games in the unfriendly confines of South Florida?

#5 The Winnipeg ???

The Atlanta Thrashers are no more. Atlanta just isn’t a hockey town. Thirty years after losing the Flames to Calgary, Hotlanta is exporting another NHL franchise to the Great White North. Will they be known as the Winnipeg Thrashers? Maybe, but probably not. We should find out more about the newest NHL franchise this weekend.

#4 The French Open
Barring any truly shocking upsets, top seed Rafael Nadal looks to be heading for the Final round of the French Open. Who he’ll meet there is a little more interesting. Number 2 seed Novak Djokovic hasn’t lost in his last 42 matches, and he surely doesn’t intend to start any time soon. But to get to the Finals, he’ll have to go through Roger Federer. The winner of that Semi (again, barring any shocking upset) will have get to face Nadal for the French Open title.

#3 Sebastian Zbik – Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The apple didn’t far too far from the tree in the Chavez family. Now Junior has the chance to step out of daddy’s shadow (well, to a degree anyway) when he faces Sebastian Zbik. Despite the fact that Chavez, Jr. is more accomplished – his 30 knockouts matches the undefeated Zbik’s total number of professional bouts – Zbik is the one putting his WBC Middleweight Title on the line. Zbick has never fought outside of Europe before this bout. He should have a little extra room in his carry-on for the flight home because I think the belt is staying in Los Angeles with Chavez.

#2 Vancouver Canucks – Boston Bruins
The Canucks are well rested after making it look easy against a very good San Jose team. The Bruins are coming off a brutal 7 game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Is it better to be rested or on a roll? In this case, I think Boston has already seen the toughest competition that they will face this year. I know it is just semantics since most of the players on both teams are foreigners, but on a personal note: Go USA! Bruins all the way.

#1 Miami Heat – Dallas Mavericks
I said it here before the season began – anything less than the NBA Finals would be a disappointment for the New Look Miami Heat. After a long season of ups and downs and a tough Conference Championship against the Chicago Bulls, the Heat has arrived. But the Finals will not be a coronation. The Dallas Mavericks mopped up the competition throughout the playoffs and are ready to make their own claim for the title.

#5 Djokovic Rolls
Novak Djokovic’s Friday night match and its continuation during the day on Saturday were as different as… night and day. Djokovic looked vulnerable against Juan Martin del Potro on Friday night. Djokovic’s streak of 41 consecutive wins was in jeopardy against the former U.S. Open Champ in Paris on Friday. But after play was suspended for darkness, a rested and ready Djokovic made his 42nd straight victory look easy on Saturday.

#4 Donald Over Westwood
It is a rare convergence of events that creates the kind of playoff that occurred in the world of golf on Sunday. Lee Westwood and Luke Donald were tied at the end of the regulation rounds of the BMW PGA Championship in England on Sunday. They were also the #1 and #2 ranked golfers in the world respectively. That confluence meant that the winner of the playoff hole would be the undisputed #1 golfer in the world… for a week at least. It only took one hole for Donald to distance himself from Westwood to claim both the tournament and the #1 ranking.

#3 Phils Beat Reds in 19th Inning
The Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds have played some memorable games over the decades. Their matchup Thursday night (and on into Friday morning) ranks among the most memorable. The matchup of Travis Woods and Roy Halladay didn’t exactly come off as expected. Then again, it’s pretty much understood that nothing goes as expected in a game that features two seventh inning stretches. After the first 18 innings, the Phillies exhausted their pitching roster and had to trot out unheralded utility infielder Wilson Valdez to the mound. Valdez proved to be the winning pitcher in the six hour plus marathon game that went into the wee hours of the morning.

#2 Bruins Top Lightning
As predicted, the Conference Finals between the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning was a thriller down to the closing moments of the seventh game. In most sports a 1-0 victory is generally a dull defensive struggle lacking in any fireworks. In hockey, on this particular night, it was a thrill a minute, hard-hitting slugfest that disappointed no one. Well, OK, Lightning fans were disappointed that their team wouldn’t be heading to the Stanley Cup Finals this year. But it was a tremendous series from the first face off of Game 1 to the final buzzer in Game 7.

#1 The Indianapolis 500
If the Indianapolis 500 had ended 12 laps earlier, Danica Patrick would be the first woman ever to win the biggest open wheel race of the year. 10 laps earlier and Betrand Baguette would have been the first Belgian – and the first driver named after a French bread – to win. 100 yards earlier and rookie driver JR Hillenbrand would have won. Hillenbrand almost – but not quite – became the first driver in Indy history to win with only three wheels. Good thing for Dan Wheldon they do all 500 miles.

#5 The Teams Get Relegated
“Relegated” is the European word for “kicked to the curb”, or something along those lines. On the final day of the season, with hopes of moving onto the upper tier of soccer, the Blackpool Tangerines blew a 2-1 half time lead to Manchester United, the New York Yankees of the soccer world who had nothing at all to gain from the win. By the end of the day, Blackpool was ‘relegated’ while ManU sat poised for their gagillionth run at the championship.

#4 The Little Guy Wins Big
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the epitome of the little guy in NASCAR. He’s among the best of the Nationwide Series drivers, which most weeks just earns him the right to get smacked around by one or more of the Sprint Cup big dogs who participate in NASCAR’s lesser circuit. This wasn’t one of those weeks. For the first time this season, a Nationwide-only driver won a Nationwide race.

#3 The Race Kills the Dream
It happens almost every year. Whatever horse wins the Kentucky Derby gets talked up as having a realistic shot at the Triple Crown, even though they don’t. The Preakness Stakes should be called The Regicide Stakes because it kills the Crown nearly every year.  (Get it? Regicide?  Crown?  Eh.)  This year was no exception as Shackleford beat Animal Kingdom, ending the talk of a Triple Crown for another 12 months.

#2 The Game Completes the Sweep
Asdrubal Cabrera of the Cleveland Indians had a series’ worth of stats in one game against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. The Tribe had their way with the Reds all weekend, outscoring the Reds 19-9 and sweeping the series. But Sunday’s finale was especially ugly for the Reds and especially glorious for Cabrera who went 5 of 5 with 2 Home Runs and five RBIs.

#1 The Comeback Evens the Series
Some intrepid sports reporters may have – MAY have – shut off the Tampa Bay Lightning – Boston Bruins Game 4 after the Bruins went up three – nil. “Foregone conclusion” these reporters may have been heard to say at the time. These reporters deeply regret missing THE comeback of the playoffs as the Lightning rattled off five unanswered goals to even up the series at two games a piece.