Things I liked in 2018

2018 is nearly done and why not send it off on a positive note with things I liked from the year. The things I liked in '18 are in no particular order and don't just involve sports.

Here we go.

Worland High School sports: 2018 has been a good year for the athletes at WHS. Worland soccer had a great year with the boys' team winning their first 3A State title in program history and the girls' team made their third-straight title match. Both Worland basketball teams made the state tournament when earlier in the season it looked like that was a longshot. Worland wrestling had four wrestlers in state championship matches and Morgan Tigner ended his Warrior career as a state champion. Worland swimming had some highlights, with Zayne Cooper earning a state title and Kaci Bentley, Kyra Klinghagen and Juli Warren capping their impressive Lady Warrior careers. Warren earned went out a champion and with her second consecutive Athlete of the Year award.

Worland's track and field team had one of those seasons where they laid the groundwork for bigger and better things to come. The Warrior cross-country team earned their fourth consecutive 3A East title and Porter Harman closed out his cross-country career three-peating as 3A East champion and earning his third All-State selection. Worland golf dominated the 3A East conference meet and looked poised to be a force in 3A golf for some time, and freshman Karsten Simmons won the individual 3A State championship. Worland football made another appearance in 3A State playoffs. While Worland Volleyball had their streak of 3A State tournament appearances snapped, a young returning core is out to start another streak.

Everywhere you look, each WHS athletic program looks to be in position to build off an impressive 2018 season.

Ten Sleep High School Sports: Year in and year out, Ten Sleep athletics are trying to boost their participation levels and low turnout numbers resulted in the football season being canceled. But for all the low turnout numbers one thing never changes, each and every Ten Sleep athlete gives their absolute best. The Lady Pioneers basketball team, with a majority of underclassmen, was a game away from making it to the 1A State tournament, the Lady Pioneers track and field team took second at the 1A State meet and junior Bryley Moore earned Ten Sleep volleyball's first All-State selection in over a decade. The Ten Sleep boys athletic programs have gone through tough times the past two seasons but they're beginning to show signs of a turnaround, especially the boys' basketball team.

Thermopolis High School sports: Even though 2018 was a struggle for some of the Bobcats athletic programs, the needle looks to be pointed in the right direction for many of them. And some of the programs like Bobcat golf, coming off a 2018 state title, and Lady Bobcat cross-country, earning the program's first state title this year, are already seeing the benefits of their hard payoff. It might not be long before the other 'Cat programs are experiencing their own success.

Movies where the protagonist can't talk or can't use their sight: "The Quiet Place" tore up the box office and "The Bird Box" dominated last weekend and the week of Christmas on Netflix. Of the two movies, I liked "The Quiet Place" just a bit more because that opening sequence is brilliant. Most horror/suspense movies slowly raise the stakes, while within the first five minutes, "The Quiet Place" goes from 0 to 11 and you stay there for the remaining 85 minutes of runtime.

The state of Florida as an endless source of crazy/hilarious news: If you're on Twitter, one of the best follows is @_FloridaMan. The saint who runs this account tweets out the wildest stories happening in Florida. My favorite story of 2018 was a Florida man caught breaking into a restaurant so he could strip naked, eat noddles he brought from home and play the bongos. Weird, right? But in one of the greatest twists, that would make even M. Night Shyamalan jealous, police weren't even investigating this crime. They only discovered the naked bongo player going through the restaurant's surveillance footage investigating a different B&E.

Gotti: By no means is this movie good, it's as bad as advertised, but it is the absurd level of bad that makes it entertaining. The message of the money is, no matter how bad of a person you are as long as you're a good dad, you're absolved of all sins. And those jerks at the federal government who are trying to hold you accountable for all the murdering and other lawbreaking you've done, well, they're the real villains. I can't wait until the same people who made this movie try to make the Osama Bin Laden biopic. The defense for that movie is going to be "but is concubines thought he was a good dude!"

Tua Tagovailoa: Yes, he plays for Nick Saban but Tua's a lefty and lefties have to stick together.

The Jags were one missed call from the Super Bowl: Even though the Jags '18-'19 season has been a complete disaster, they were still one missed call from being in the Super Bowl. Myles Jack wasn't down when he tackled the Pats RB Deion Lewis, stripped the ball from Lewis, recovered the fumble and got up to run for six all in one smooth motion. I know it's a weird thing to like but when you're a fan of a franchise that's been essentially dead for most the decade, it's oddly nice to know we were so, so close to Super Bowl glory.

The 2018-19 NBA Season: For all the handwringing about the Warriors signing DeMarcus Cousins and how super teams are ruining the league, it has so far proved all for not. The NBA season has been fantastic, the rookie class led by Luka Doncic has been impressive. The MVP race is going to be fierce, I'd put money on Giannis Antetokounmpo winning it. The playoff race in the Western Conference is tight with 14 of the 15 teams in the hunt. As of writing this, the Kings sit in the eighth and final playoff spot, the Pelicans sit 14th in the West and are only four games out from that eighth spot. As much as people complain about super teams in the NBA, it actually improves the league because the hyper-competitive players on the other 29 teams seem to get mad that they're being written off before the season even starts.

Arike Ogunbowale: If you don't remember Ogunbowale, she's the Notre Dame guard that coldly denied UCONN another trip to the National title game, nailing a 3-pointer with one second left on the clock in OT during their Final Four matchup. Then in the National Championship, she hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to crush the hopes and dreams of Mississippi State and give the Irish the national title. It was almost as if she was put on this planet to hit dagger 3's so ESPN could show shots of crying UCONN and Mississippi State fans.

Jon Gruden being bad at coaching: I know I've caught some flak for this take but, I couldn't be more right. Even before MNF when he threw a challenge flag on a play that was already being reviewed, costing his team a timeout for the second time this season. He's done nothing to prove me wrong. The best part is that it's going to get worse and worse as his fingerprints on the Raider franchise become more prominent and he has no one to throw under the bus. Here's to nine more years of Gruden running the Raiders.

The final season of "The Americans": The brilliance of "The Americans" can never be overstated. Not on is it one of the greatest TV shows of All-Time, but it's one of the best written. How else to explain being emotionally invested in the fate of two Russian spies living in America? After the series wrapped here's my top 5 power rankings for the G.O.A.T. TV shows;

1. The Wire

2. The Americans

3. Parks and Recreation

4. Game of Thrones

5. The Twilight Zone (It's crazy that after all these years it still holds up.)

It finally happened, a 16-seed downed a No. 1-seed: I never thought during this one-and-done era in college basketball we'd see a 16-seed beat a 1-seed. I thought it would happen once the one-and-done rule was done away with but along comes UMBC to not only beat Virginia but blow them out. Even though UMBC destroyed a good portion of brackets across the nation, believe most were delighted to finally witness history.

Two-thirds of the MNF crew: I like Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland, Jason Witten is the one I'm unsure of. I think Witten would have been better served in a studio analyst spot first before joining a booth. Tessitore and McFarland were both great, Tessitore was excellent as the play-by-play guy and McFarland brought plenty of knowledge on defensive and offensive line play.

The NBA Finals: This is a good what if? What if in Game 1 Cavs guard JR Smith realized the game was tied, rather than thinking they were up when he grabbed teammate George Hill's missed free throw with 4.7 seconds left in regulation? If he sinks the shot and the Cavs steal Game 1 from the Warriors, is the series completely different? Ultimately, I think the Warriors still win, probably in six, but the series has a bit more uncertainty to it.

The NFL's rising superstars: What a difference a year makes. Just last season the question was being asked if the NFL can survive when the old guard like Brady, Brees and Rodgers retire. This season, we got our answer with a new crop of superstars emerging. Patrick Mahomes lit the league on fire, Todd Gurley took another leap and is inching closer to LaDainian Tomlinson territory, a healthy DeShaun Watson his finding his rhythm and Aaron Donald and Khalil Mack are more terrorizing than ever. The NFL is in a good place.

Happy New Year everyone!