At the end of the year, it’s always interesting to look back at all that has happened in the world of sports over the last 12 months. 2008 brought us a host of compelling sports stories, including the culmination of the Patriots’ (unsuccessful) quest for perfection, a Bejing Olympics that featured incredible accomplishments by the likes of Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt and the Redeem Team, and, of course, Brett Favre’s unretirement, which managed to hold the sports news cycle hostage for a solid month or more.

As is our tradition, we’ve once again broken our Year End Sports Review into three sections. The first is “What We Learned,� a list that’s packed with a number of impressive feats. And when there are feats, inevitably there are also failures.

Don’t miss the other two parts: “What We Already Knewâ€� and “What We Think Might Happen.â€�

The New England Patriots weren’t so perfect after all.

After rolling through the 2007 regular season unscathed, the Patriots entered the 2008 Super Bowl as overwhelming favorites to roll over the pesky, but seemingly inferior New York Giants. The Pats were just one win away from staking their claim as the best football team in NFL history. But thanks to a dominating Giants’ defensive line, an improbable catch by David Tyree, and a virtually mistake-free performance by Eli Manning, the unbeatable New England Patriots were beat. It’ll go down as one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, and considering Tom Brady’s season-ending injury in 2008 cost the Pats a chance for redemption, it seems that many have forgotten how New England stood just one win away from perfection. – Anthony Stalter

Michael Phelps is part fish.

Eight gold medals in one Olympiad? No problem. Michael Phelps made the seemingly impossible look (relatively) easy en route to one of the most – if not the most – impressive Olympic performances ever. Phelps had to swim all four strokes, compete in both sprint and endurance races, and deal with the constant media attention and pressure that came along with his quest. Sure, NBC turned up the hype, but what Phelps accomplished is simply incredible. – John Paulsen

Usain Bolt is part cheetah.

First, Usain Bolt made Jamaica proud by setting a new world record (9.69) in the 100-meter sprint. Then, he broke the 12 year-old 200-meter world record with a time of 19.30 seconds. He showboated during the first race but cleaned up his act to win the second race in a professional manner. Some even say that Usain Bolt – not Michael Phelps – was the biggest story to come out of the Bejing Olympics. – JP

The Big 12 has the best quarterbacks in the nation.

The Big 12 housed some of the best quarterbacks in all of college football in 2008. Texas’s Colt McCoy, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Missouri’s Chase Daniel and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell were all considered Heisman candidates at least at one point during the season, while McCoy and Bradford are still in the running. Amazingly, Bradford and McCoy aren’t done; both will return in 2008. And although they don’t receive as much attention as the top signal callers in the conference, Kansas’s Todd Reesing and Baylor’s Robert Griffin certainly turned heads this year as well. In fact, the highly versatile Griffin is only a freshman and could make the Bears a very dangerous team for years to come. – AS

Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity “is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.�

If that’s the case, that William Clay Ford Sr., proud owner of the Detroit Lions, is in fact, insane.

I don’t mean to sound disrespectful by calling Ford insane, but what would you call it? What would you call a man who sits up in his owner’s box year after year and continues to march a bona fide loser onto the field only to rinse, wash and repeat once the season is over with?

The Lions are 0-15 and on their way to 0-16. It would be the first time in NFL history that a team finished 0-16, but its owner is convinced that standing pat is the way to fix things.

Following the Lions’ most recent loss (a 42-7 defeat to the Saints), Ford said that he would like to leave interim general manager Martin Mayhew and chief operating officer Tom Lewand in place for next season. That’s right, the same clowns that helped former GM Matt Millen build this hapless roster on their way back for another tour of duty.

Ford’s problem isn’t blindness – he can see that his team is a garbage heap. No, his problem is loyalty. He believes that when he or his organization hires a man, you stick with him until he finishes the job (no matter how inept he may be at doing said job). It’s a novel idea when you think about, but unfortunately he’s created a situation with no hope.

Lion fans deserve better. They’ve suffered long enough. They deserve change and a new direction. They deserve an owner who isn’t going to stand for losing anymore and who is willing to come in and blow the whole thing up. I don’t know who that man is, but it’s not William Clay Ford Sr.

The Detroit Lions will go 0-16 this season. And unless they level the entire franchise in the offseason, they might become the first team in NFL history to go 0-32.

With their 25-17 loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, the Detroit Lions fell to 0-7 on the season. The Lions are trying to forget about the losses and just find anything to be positive about.

Speaking of forgetting, apparently the front office has also forgot that former GM Matt Millen is still on the payroll.

NFL sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that the Lions haven’t paid Millen, who is still owed $6 to $10 million under his contract which ran until 2010, since he was fired Sept. 24.

According to those sources, the Lions are trying to get Millen to settle for an amount less than what he is owed. Millen currently has no plan to file a grievance against the Lions as both sides are exploring a settlement.

I think it’s only fair that the team asks Millen to take a reduce salary for the next two years considering he stole from them the past eight.

Related Side Note: How good has Clinton Portis been this year? He finished with 126 yards on Sunday, going over the 120 yard mark for the fifth consecutive game. That’s unbelievable.

Apparently Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is interested in a front office job with the San Francisco 49ers, perhaps even becoming their president.

“We all know that change has swept through San Francisco, but now it looks like more could be coming. The 49ers have said they’re in the market for a front-office type of executive — a president.

And interestingly enough … Condoleezza Rice has told people that she would like to become president of a football team. So, she’s headed to be out in California in January, the two sides could wind up speaking. The 49ers told me this week they are definitely interested in speaking to … Rice about taking on a president-type of role within the organization; a lot of people feel she could be very instrumental in procuring a new stadium for the … 49ers.”

Yes, because a new stadium will solve the team’s inability to win games. Look, I know Rice is a huge sports fan, but why exactly is she qualified for the job? Oh, right, because she was so effective as National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State.

The absurdity of it all naturally results in Warren Sapp providing a not completely insane observation: “The multi-tasking didn’t work in Washington so maybe the single-tasking will work in San Francisco.”

Not that this is the same situation, but remember when the Lions pulled Matt Millen out of the broadcast booth to become their general manager because they liked his player evaluations? That it didn’t turn out too well. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see how Rice helps the 49ers situation outside of creating a buzz. Hiring a good football mind (you know, somebody who actually has been in the NFL), makes a little more sense.

Jon Kitna is claiming that the Lions used his back injury in order to make a change at the quarterback position. Kitna was placed on IR on Tuesday.

“Was there reasonable cause to put me on IR? Yeah, because they said there’s a bulging disk. But the reality is, most guys have bulging disks,” Kitna said in the interview.

“I really feel like I could have played last Sunday at probably above 90 percent health-wise,” he said in the interview. “I played the last two years most of the time probably 75 to 80 percent health-wise with different type of things.”

It’s hard to argue with the Lions for wanting to make a change, especially after they fired GM Matt Millen. They’re trying to figure out what they have on their roster and if either Dan Orlovsky or Drew Stanton can develop at quarterback. It sounds like Kitna understands that, but due to his competitive nature he understandably wants to play.

One had to imagine that Kitna would struggle this year without Mike Martz, which he has. His interceptions in the fourth quarter cost Detroit a chance to make a remarkable comeback against the Packers and that wasn’t the first time he has made terrible mistakes late in games. But he gave that team a true leader and made a lot of the players accountable for their actions. Eventually that’s what the Lions need in a quarterback, but unfortunately for Kitna it looks like his time in Detroit is over.