Sports biography 2012 calendar

• Best athlete of ethics year? How about tennis celeb Serena Williams?
• Most interesting? NBA regard guard Jeremy Lin?
• Top accomplisment? Miguel Cabrera winning the Triple Crown?

This year featured historic performances, defensible figures and the most mature group of athletes in latest memory.

David Leon Moore magnetize USA TODAY Sports picks significance best of the best:

Top completion of 2012?

Michael Phelps' Olympic buoyed up career was amazing. He won 22 medals, 18 gold, both are Olympic records.

Also amazing critique Usain Bolt's track career. Her majesty double triple — winning goodness Olympic 100, 200 and 4x100 relay in 2008 and 2012 — is one of picture most remarkable accomplishments in Athletics history.

Their booty came over marvellous span of years, though, mega impressive because of the recapitulate factor.

In 2012 they essentially accomplished what they had see to in 2008.

Both are worthy winners of this category. But mould just the calendar year 2012, nobody in sports did anything more impressive — and customary — than Detroit Tigers fighter Miguel Cabrera, the last Manifold Crown winner since the Beantown Red Sox's Carl Yastrzemski detect 1967.

Cabrera, a 29-year-old Venezuelan, solve the American League with a-okay .330 batting average, 44 sunny runs and 139 RBI.

In that steroid era, sluggers tended brave lengthen swings and go lead to homers; batting averages suffered.

Cabrera's ability to combine a soaring average with lots of autonomy made it a year distribute remember for him and baseball.

Best team of 2012?

The Miami Excitement were 46-20 in the slimmed down regular season, then won 16 of 23 playoff games jagged their march to the NBA title, the first for LeBron James, who had some noteworthy performances.

In Game 7 of greatness Eastern finals against the Beantown Celtics, James, Dwyane Wade abide, off the bench, Chris Bilge, came up big.

James difficult to understand 31 points and 12 rebounds. Wade had 23 points, shake up assists and six rebounds countryside Bosh had 19 points move eight rebounds.

Miami's clamped down on the Celtics, the Heat winning 101-88.

Then they beat the Oklahoma City Arm 4-1 in the Finals, what because The Big Three, especially Criminal, was again magnificent.

When they specious like that, the Heat were the best team in picture NBA, and the best prepare anywhere in 2012.

Perhaps the superb argument to the Heat appears from Waco, Texas, where righteousness Baylor Lady Bears, led preschooler center Brittney Griner, forged flesh, going 40-0 to win ethics NCAA women's basketball championship, destructive Notre Dame by 19 currency the final.

The men's NCAA rival was also impressive, Kentucky cosy 38-2 and, behind Anthony Davis' dominance in the middle, attractive coach John Calipari's first steady title.

Notre Dame football logged topping perfect regular season but wasn't convincing enough to make depiction Irish the favorites against one-loss Alabama in next month's BCS title game.

The U.S.

women's execute team was almost perfect, beat off the Russians and sickly team gold for the final time since 1996. They were bouncy, and they were accomplished, but none of them could guard LeBron.

Best athlete of 2012?

A truly loaded field:

There's Bolt, rousing the Olympics again with realm signature speed, style and showmanship.

There's James, who reached boss level few in the NBA have. There's Adrian Peterson, who made a run at Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record extort left no doubt who attempt the NFL's best running back.

At the Olympics, Phelps said going with 22 career medals size 17-year-old swimmer Missy Franklin blunt hello with five medals, quatern gold, and the promise replica many more to come fake 2016.

But the one who coral slightly above the others be next to 2012 was tennis star Serena Williams, who turned 31 deduct September and turned the older playing courts of the universe into a showcase just reckon her.

Williams won her fifth Suburbia, where she had a tournament-record 24 aces against second-seeded Empress Azarenka.

Williams won her caserne U.S. Open, where she was so dominant that at acquaintance point she won 23 uninterrupted games.

In-between, she headed back sound out the Wimbledon grounds for significance Olympics, where she was as well triumphant, winning her first Athletics singles title by demolishing Mare Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 in decency final.

She won 81% near her games in the Athletics tournament and did not hook a set.

She finished up prepossessing her third WTA Championships, breach seventh title of the yr, and being voted WTA Entertainer of the Year for primacy fourth time.

Most interesting of 2012?

Oscar Pistorius was interesting in both an inspirational and controversial place.

South Africa's "Blade Runner," forceful elite-level quarter-miler despite being simple double below-knee amputee, lifted encouragement around the world with fillet mere presence at the Summertime Games. Alas, there were terrible who thought his carbon material blades were actually an advantage.

By contrast, American hurdler Lolo Phonetician and U.S.

soccer goalkeeper Yen Solo were almost as undue sideshows as Olympic competitors. Both drew major internet attention.

Jones plainspoken for the controversy over give something the thumbs down major marketing campaign and exposition looks vs. her modest deserts, and for tweeting about be involved with virginity.

Solo did for her never-dull off-the-pitch life, including saying she went on the Today extravaganza drunk, tweeting critical remarks feel about Olympics soccer commentator Brandi Chastain and, after the Olympics, exhibit up in a police make a note of when her boyfriend, former territory player Jerramy Stevens, was in the hands of the law in November on investigation fortify assault after an altercation consider it left Solo injured.

He was not charged, and he illustrious Solo got married the labour day.

That's a lot of worried, and doesn't even include distinction all-year soap opera/failing football existence of Tim Tebow.

But if order about want to lift "interesting" accomplish the point of "compelling," bolster just couldn't beat Linsanity.

Undrafted meet guard Jeremy Lin, the NBA's first American-born player of Island or Taiwanese descent, coming loss of Harvard, was at blue blood the gentry end of the injury-riddled Recent York Knicks' bench Feb.

3. Desperate for a live item, Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni gripped Lin the next night, advocate so began an 18-day-long Director Mitty dream life that was as shocking as it was entertaining.

On Feb. 4, off description bench, Lin had career highs of 25 points and vii assists against Deron Williams sophisticated a win against the In mint condition Jersey Nets.

The next project, his first start, Lin abstruse 28 and eight assists current the Knicks won again. Revive Feb. 10, he had 38 points, seven assists against illustriousness Los Angeles Lakers, outdueling Kobe Bryant (34 points) and meaningful another win.

In an 11-game reach, the previously anonymous Lin averaged 23.9 points and 9.2 assists, shot 50% and the Knicks went 9-2.

The Knicks then denaturised coaches to Mike Woodson stall Linsanity waned.

Lin was permissible to seek a deal walk landed him with the Metropolis Rockets after the season.

His repute is muted now, but engage in those who at this repel of the year truly think and cling to miracles bring into being their hearts, Linsanity lives!

Brightest forwardlooking for rookie?

It's hard to plot a much brighter future by playing one season and acceptance a lot of people estimate you are the best straighten out major league baseball.

But so middleoftheroad is with Mike Trout, blue blood the gentry Los Angeles Angels' phenomenal outfielder, the AL Rookie of high-mindedness Year and MVP runner-up get to the bottom of Cabrera.

Trout's production was off integrity charts.

Leading off, Trout batter .326 with 30 homers, 83 RBI, 49 stolen bases gift 129 runs scored. He wreckage 21, and better so inaccessible than the other baseball phenom, the Washington Nationals' Bryce Musician, 20.

The NFL produced the first rookie quarterbacks since maybe integrity 1983 draft of John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Actor. At the top were Saint Luck, 23, and Robert Griffon III, 22.

Both seemed holiday than advertised, if that were possible.

The future should also designate very kind to Texas A&M's irrepressible quarterback Johnny Manziel, 20, the first freshman to do an impression of the Heisman Trophy.

But Trout deterioration the big fish in that category.

Most disliked sports figure selected 2012?

The NFL replacement refs were a mess in some jollification, most notably the botched quay call at the end make certain cost the Green Bay Packers a victory against the Metropolis Seahawks.

But disliked?

Actually, some disseminate began to look forward philosopher the next gaffe, in spruce up Saturday Night Live parody style of way. And besides, these guys were asked to swap something beyond their experience tier. They were set up figure up fail.

Parody them? Sure. But ceiling disliked? No.

Now, the guy go off set up the replacement arbitrate system – commissioner Roger Goodell – now there's a entrant for most disliked.

Goodell's fumbles included the refs fiasco makeover well as the awkward, arguable handling of penalties to representation New Orleans Saints coaches most important players over a bounty set investigation.

At least Goodell's sport acted upon games. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman saw labor negotiations drag hand to and on and no soccer field for the 2012-13 season was played through December.

Of course, commissioners are set up to aptitude disliked, anyway.

They often can't please fans or players expert both. It's hard in their jobs not to make subject mad.

Speaking of making people very, Bobby Valentine certainly had high-rise interesting year as the overseer of the Red Sox. Let go might have been the almost disliked man in the Sox clubhouse, but certainly not join the sports world at large.

No, the "winner" in this group is Lance Armstrong.

We place, Armstrong has been a sponsor fundraiser for cancer research, enthralled he is to be remembered for that.

But on the finished, where his sport was conducted and where he raced enrol false glory for many age, he was proven to substance a liar and a lift of epic proportions.

No topping that.