My first bone to pick is in the UFC/Yahoo! Sports "merger". I classify it as a merger, but really it's a side deal for a media outlet to limit their scope (on purpose) for an entire sport. The biggest problem with this marriage is the proposed Top 10 Pound-For-Pound list that Yahoo! keeps bringing to their website. In all, it has one, I repeat ONE fighter outside of the Zuffa brand in their top 10 (though now that Dan Henderson has switched to Strikeforce, it has doubled to TWO fighters...though, I can't say it was because Yahoo! wanted to put him there). This is almost like saying Major League Soccer has the top 10 soccer players in the world. Okay, not quite that drastic, but, as journalists are supposed to be full of integrity (cough, cough), this seems to be the opposite of that idea.

Fedor Emelianenko ranks 3rd on their list, and is said to have an 11-fight win streak. Really? Last I checked he hasn't lost in 9 years. Yeah, Yahoo! can try to diminish his legacy by saying a "no contest" was technically not a win, but they also don't talk much (or at all) about the lone loss in Emelianenko's career as a fluke either. Emelianenko's proof positive of what a "pound-for-pound" fighter truly is, and Yahoo! looks to two UFC guys (Anderson Silva and George St. Pierre) as the top 2 fighters pound-for-pound.

Granted, I personally placed them in the top 3 behind Emelianenko, but I can't help but wonder if there is some side reason as to why these two guys are placed ahead of essentially an UNDEFEATED fighter. Not just is Emelianenko the best THIS YEAR, but he is undeniably the best fighter that has ever lived in a fight sport. Let me say it again, he is UNDENIABLY the best. Look at other unbiased sources, and that should be evident.

This is not a slight on the UFC. This is a knock on the pulling-on-the-boss'-pant-leg-to-try-to-get-noticed Yahoo! writing staff. Oh, and to top it off Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is number 7 on this list. A head positioned in a dark area of one's body comes to mind with that nod.

Secondly, I would like to give a big shout out to all the hypocrisy in sports writing this year as evident through the media's treatment of Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez, Andre Agassi, and other sports figures who have had a turbulent year as the media likes to quickly jump on the "look-at-how-this-demigod-can-be-a-failure" boat. I will give kudos to those writers who can look at themselves first and say, "Man, I've done some pretty stupid things in my life, but it isn't talked about like this."

The other "journalists" who preach fire and brimstone can lay in the same metaphorical bed, and pretend they don't have the faults of these incredible athletes. I, for one, will not condone the actions that the aforementioned athletes have committed, but I am not going to say that I have gone down the road of the righteous my whole life. No one is perfect. I'm not a religious person, but the idea of forgiveness is also a very admirable quality in business and ethics.

The bigger problem that should be looked at is how can the media report scandal without looking like the mongering animals that is usually the case. When I first learned the craft of journalism, I was given the idea that journalists are "the mirror of the world." A writer is supposed to report the facts and reflect the truth about situations, regardless of the outcome or consequence.

However, it's generally the rumor wheel that gets spinning on most of the bigger stories before anyone can even obtain the facts. Remember the early hours when Tiger Woods' mother-in-law was taken to the hospital a few weeks ago, and even ESPN wanted to jump on board thinking it was a domestic bloodbath between Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren. Tisk tisk. Maybe if there weren't reporters jumping out of the bushes, the speculation wouldn't be necessary until the facts were out.

Oh, and just to top this crap cake with a terd-filled chocolate, I would like to say to Major League Baseball that I understand betting on baseball is a horrifying crime against the sport, but so is letting the employees of the organization get jacked up on steroids for a decade. Two wrongs don't make a right, but for "Pete's" sake, let Mr. Rose into the Hall of Fame before he dies. MLB will make a horrible mistake if they don't.

My third and final rant of this year can be quite summed up by the "ongoing" investigations in multiple colleges about their athletes and coaches breaking rules of their NCAA-bound institutions. Whether it's USC with their O.J. Mayo/Reggie Bush/Joe McKnight investigations as to whether or not these athletes took money or gifts from boosters or the Mark Mangino/Mike Leach investigations into whether or not they abused their players or the Rick Pitino problem where his previous schools (Memphis and Louisville) were placed under athletic restrictions because of violations that occurred under his tenure, I just can't fathom that the schools want to take some form of responsibility in years when their teams are not quite as good or at the end of a season.

To me, these scandals can be seen quite evidently while the athletes/coaches are actually part of the team. If there was wrong doing, wouldn't the coaches, other athletes, and school administration know about before the story is leaked to the press? Absolutely. Of course, they try to hide and deny the allegations until they are cornered into the truth. This is actually a case where journalism takes a step forward in progressing the craft by finding the facts, and shining the light of the truth on the deep-seeded cheating rings that are known to common fans as "pure sport" because it is void of compensation for excellence. I almost just laughed out loud.

For example, if Reggie Bush's mom couldn't afford a house, then why didn't anyone ask how she moved into a nice new house at the time of the move? If Derrick Rose cheated on his standardized tests to get into college, why wasn't this question brought up earlier? I think it's more revealing of the "big-man-on-campus" attitude that a lot of these schools have that no matter what wrong these people do, it can be overlooked because of the "need" for their success. All I need to prove this point is the quote from the student who was a VICTIM of a three University of Tennessee football players who tried to rob 3 men outside of a convenience store. The victim said (paraphrased) that he didn't think the players should be punished. Talk about Stockholm Syndrome. The entire campus is the hostage of a sort of prestige that can be obtained by letting criminals make them successful in athletics.