Annus Horribilis

Here's a worthwhile quote for the evening via John Daly

"This has been the worst year," he said in the New Year's Eve interview. "One day left."

Well, we're down to about 100 minutes in the Central Time Zone where I'm stationed tonight. A lot of people would agree with Daly's statement, and they weren't looking at six months of EuroTour exile.

I'm still not sure that 2008 was the worst year in recent memory. 1980 sucked worse than 2008 did, with stagflation, the Iranian embassy crisis, a boycotted Moscow Summer Olympics due to Afghanistan. The three redeeming things that came out of 1980 were the Winter games, where Eric Heiden swept the speed skating golds and a team of US amateurs beat the Soviets in hockey, the emergence of Nightline and the election of Ronald Reagan (even though yours truly voted for Carter as a wet-behind-the-years 19-year-old; when I want to rip Eileen for voting for Clinton in her first vote in 1992, I remember that one).

What good came from 2008? Not much in the stock market, to be sure. Conservatives in the Peanut Gallery will morn the election of Barack Obama and a thumping in the Senate and we're looking at another call-and-response across the Israeli-Gazan border as we close the year.

However, there were quite a few good sports memories, from the Tampa Bay Rays World Series run to Michael Phelps' octet of gold necklaces to a Red Wings title post-Yzerman.

As a whole, the Todd Bently revival/fiasco was a net plus, as it reminded a lot of people of a need for sound doctrine along with any move of the Spirit. Even if an Obama administration may raise the hackles of conservative churchmen, the church seems a bit stronger as we end the year.

Two good voices on the Christian right-of-center, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, came onto the scene, and the emergence of Rick Warren as Billy Graham's de-facto replacement as chaplain-in-chief gives evangelicals a largely apolitical (Prop 8 notwithstanding) and upbeat face to offset some sourpusses like Pat Robertson and James Dobson.

So, we're closing in on the end of 2008. One more year of the 'oughts to go; that is starting to become the consensus to what to call this decade that has a year and a hour to go.