BESTS AND WORSTS FOR 2006

Best story of the year: Team manager Jason McElwain, who is autistic, is given a chance to play in the closing minutes of Greece Athena High School’s (N.Y.) basketball game and promptly drains six 3-pointers and another field goal for 20 points in four minutes.

Worst story of the year: A youth coach in Uniontown, Penn., is accused of offering an 8-year-old money to purposely hit an autistic teammate so he couldn’t play.

Best show of power: Down, 9-5, the Dodgers put one in the record books as Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Russell Martin, and Marlon Anderson hit consecutive home runs to tie it in the ninth, then Nomar Garciaparra connects for a two-run blast in the 10th to give Los Angeles an 11-9 win over the Padres.

Best catch that got away: Joe Thornton is named the NHL’s MVP and also takes home the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer.

Best return visit to Boston: Northwestern, led by Westwood’s Kristen Kjellman, successfully defends its NCAA women’s lacrosse title, beating Dartmouth, 7-4, at Boston University’s Nickerson Field. Kjellman is named her sport’s top player for a second straight year.

Best opening number: Jordan Leandre, 5, a patient at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, belts out a heartwarming rendition of the ‘‘Star-Spangled Banner’’ before the Red Sox beat Toronto in the home opener.

Worst way to try to gain a starting job: Northern Colorado backup punter Mitch Cozad is arrested and charged with stabbing the starting punter, Rafael Mendoza, in the leg.

Best three-day Champions Tour stop that never got to be: Rain pounds the Boston area and forces the cancellation to the annual Bank of America Championship at Nashawtuc CC in Concord.

Best six-day PGA Tour event: Booz Allen Classic goes until Tuesday because of rain, won by Ben Curtis. He played just two holes on Tuesday, both birdies.

Worst behavior (football): Albert Haynesworth is suspended five games for kicking Dallas’s Andre Gurode in the head and opening up cuts that take 30 stitches to close.

Worst behavior (college football): Players from Miami and Florida International get into a brawl that leads to 31 suspensions, 13 of them to Hurricanes, whose coaches and administrators are sharply criticized after the incident.

Worst behavior (soccer): France captain Zinedine Zidane hits Italy’s Marco Materazzi with a vicious head butt and is tossed out of the World Cup final. Italy eventually wins in a shootout.

Worst behavior (baseball): Toronto pitcher Ted Lilly refuses to hand the ball over to manager John Gibbons, who later gets a bloody nose in a tussle with the pitcher near the dugout.

Worst crowd scene: Knicks forward Antonio Davis is ejected from a game against the Bulls when he goes into the stands in Chicago to confront a man he said touched his wife. Several weeks later, after Davis serves a five-game suspension, Davis issues a joint statement with the fan, Michael Axelrod, that says the incident involved ‘‘some misunderstandings.’’

Best milk shake: To celebrate his Indy 500 win, Sam Hornish Jr. raises the traditional bottle of milk and douses anyone within reach.

Worst ball: The NBA chooses one made of microfiber composite, but players are outspoken in their criticism and within a few months, the old one (leather) is back.

Best part of his year: For Drew Bledsoe, it was being a caddie for Ben Crane, who won the par-3 contest before the Masters, which sort of tells you how things went once he put on the Cowboys uniform in the fall.

Worst soap opera of the year (gold): Bode Miller. Forget going downhill, just go away.

Worst soap opera of the year (silver): The constant swirl of drug allegations around the Tour de France, both current stars (Floyd Landis, Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso) and a former icon (Lance Armstrong).

Worst soap opera of the year (bronze): Manny Ramírez trade rumors. Honestly, does he know what he wants?

Best one-day contract: Jerry Rice signs it, just so he can officially retire as a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

Best one-day retirement: Junior Seau, who stepped away from the NFL on Monday, but got a call to return the next day from the New England Patriots.

Best single of the year: David Ortiz hits a shot that is headed upward of 450 at the Metrodome in Minnesota, only to see it strike a speaker hanging off the roof and settle for a single.

Best news on the Heights: BC wins the Beanpot.

Worst news on the Heights: It’s in baseball, not hockey (which BC lost to BU).

Best sense of adventure: Tiger Woods goes to New Zealand to be best man for his caddie’s wedding and uses the opportunity to go bungee-jumping with the groom-to-be, Steve Williams.

Best farewell fight: Andre Agassi battles 3 hours 3 minutes before losing to Benjamin Becker, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 in the third round of the US Open, his final professional appearance.

Best job of keeping up a family tradition: Marco Andretti, 19, becomes the youngest winner of a major open-wheel race when he prevails at the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma (Calif.), much to the joy of father Michael and grandfather Mario.

Best upset on ice (gold): Holy Cross beats mighty Minnesota, 5-4, in the first round of the NCAA hockey tournament.

Best upset on ice (silver): Eighth-seeded Edmonton shocks the NHL’s best regular-season team, Detroit, in Round 1 of the playoffs.

Best upset on ice (bronze): Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup and they’re dancing in the streets of Hartford.

Worst return: In his first game back after a lengthy stint on the disabled list, David Wells is struck in the right leg by a line drive off the bat of Tampa Bay’s Travis Lee.

Worst coaching move: Tim Wittman of the Baltimore Blast (that would be the Major Indoor Soccer League) puts referee Yader Reyes in a chokehold, which earns him a two-year suspension.

Best precedent for bidding $51 million on Daisuke Matsuzaka: A group headed by racing tycoons John Magnier and Michael Tabor pays $16 million for a 2-year-old colt who has never run a race. (At least Matsuzaka has pitched.)

Best performance in a sport that doubles as a delicious vegetable: Yasser El Halaby, a Princeton senior, becomes the first to win four straight NCAA squash championships.

Worst spring story: Neither the Celtics or Bruins make the playoffs.

Best spring move: Mark Recchi is traded from the worst team in the NHL (Pittsburgh) to one that goes on to win the Stanley Cup (Carolina).

Worst spring move: Red Sox reliever Julian Tavarez is suspended 10 days for throwing a sucker punch at Tampa Bay’s Joey Gathright in a game three days before the season opener.

Best spring effort (overseas): The US edges Poland, 1-0, in a World Cup tuneup in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Best spring start (by a rock star center fielder): Johnny Damon hits a double with his first swing of the bat as a Yankee.

Best reason to romanticize: Nearly 22 years after he unleashed the ‘‘Miracle in Miami’’ pass that cemented his legend, Doug Flutie retires from football.

Worst sales pitch: Pete Rose will sign baseballs that are imprinted with ‘‘I’m sorry I bet on baseball,’’ so long as you dish over $299 — plus $4.99 for shipping and handling.

Worst game of catch: Tim Wakefield’s dancing knuckleball causes fits for Josh Bard, who commits three passed balls in the second game of the season, a 10-4 loss in Texas.

Best job with dirty hands: Kenny Rogers pitches brilliantly in Game 2 to pull the Tigers even in the World Series, though the Cardinals and perhaps a TV audience are left wondering about the black stuff on his pitching hand?

Best at giving nothing: Boston College’s superb goaltender, Cory Schneider, posts back-to-back 5-0 shutouts against Miami (Ohio) and arch-rival Boston University to push the Eagles into the Frozen Four.

Best reason why NHL coaches hate the Olympics: All-world goaltender Dominik Hasek tears his left hamstring just 9Æ minutes into the Czech Republic’s first game.

Best meeting of the coaching minds: Three choices, all involving Bill Belichick, as he pays visits to Pat Riley of the Miami Heat, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, and Tony La Russa of the Cardinals at various times during the year.

Best news for a long-forgotten Patriot: When George Mason goes from 11th seed to Final Four participant in the men’s basketball tournament, the country rediscovers the Virginia plantation owner who played a role in the Bill of Rights.

Best return of a local hoop story: UMass-Boston goes 18-10, wins the Little East title, and secures its first NCAA Division 3 men’s basketball postseason bid since 1984.

Worst proof that this steroid/drug issue is everywhere: Wheelchair player David Buck, 46, is banned for 3Æ months by the International Tennis Federation for testing positive for marijuana.

Best appearance by an ‘‘American Idol’’ judge at spring training: Barry Bonds dresses up as Paula Abdul before a Giants game to help raise charitable funds.

Worst nightmare for a golf rules official: When Tiger Woods’s approach from 167 yards went long at the ninth hole during the Bridgestone Invitational, bounced off a cart path, then up and over the clubhouse, it set in motion a long delay before it was determined where the player should drop.

Best find for a tournament volunteer: Josh Stuber was loading crunchy cream pies into his cart behind the clubhouse at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio, when a Nike golf ball came bouncing his way.

Best strategy on feet: Robert Cheruiyot lets fellow Kenyan Benjamin Maiyo take the lead in the Newton Hills, before catching him at Heartbreak Hill and breaking the finish line in a course-record 2:07:14 to win his second Boston Marathon.

Worst news up north regarding courts, water, and snow: The University of New Hampshire cuts men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s swimming, women’s crew, and trims from 27 to 12 the number of spots on the men’s ski team.

Best reaction to bad news up north: America’s most decorated Olympian, swimmer Jenny Thompson, rejects an honor from UNH. ‘‘How can the university honor me for accomplishments in an endeavor which they clearly do not respect?’’ she said.

Best debut for a kicker: Though he had never played organized football before, Steve Aponavicius accepts an offer from BC coach Tom O’Brien to take over for suspended starter Ryan Ohliger, and he proceeds to convert two field goals and two extra points in a 22-3 whipping of Virginia Tech.

Worst fanfare for a trophy: Boston politicians and dignitaries trip over themselves to pose for photographers holding the World Cup, only to discover that it wasn’t the one that went to the recent champion (Italy), but to whomever wins in 2010.

Worst way to ask for tickets: Two gunmen walk into a town hall in France and point guns at elected officials, demanding tickets for that night’s Arsenal-Barcelona game. The men left when the officials told them they didn’t have any tickets.

Best organization if you’re the team lawyer and love to keep busy: The Cincinnati Bengals, who have had eight players arrested this year alone.

Best proof that you can change leagues, but you can’t change a man’s stripes: Bill Laimbeer, now a coach in the WNBA, is fined for blasting the referees during a playoff game.

Worst promotion: Two young children are hurt when people chase after $1,000 dropped from a helicopter before the start of the a game by the Tigers’ Single A affiliate in Comstock Park, Mich.

Best farewell: In his hometown for the game to close out his 13-year career, Jerome Bettis gets to hold the Vince Lombardi Trophy as his Steelers beat Seattle, 21-10, in Super Bowl XL.

Best finishing touch to a golf tournament: Two shots down with two holes to play, Tiger Woods goes birdie, birdie to tie Ernie Els, then wins a playoff at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Worst finishing touch to a golf tournament: Two shots ahead with three holes to play, Phil Mickelson goes bogey, par, double-bogey, and loses the US Open to Geoff Ogilvy by a stroke. His final hole is a nightmare, a drive well left that rattles off a corporate tent, a shot that hits a tree, an approach long and left, a wedge onto the green, then two putts for a 6.

Worst fog: The one that hangs over Newport CC in Rhode Island and forces cancellation of the first round of the US Women’s Open.

Best fog: Actually, it would be Josh Fogg, of the Colorado Rockies, who pitches a two-hitter and blanks the Mariners, 2-0.

Worst models for driver’s education: Jeff Gordon wins a NASCAR race in Chicago, but only after spinning out Matt Kenseth in retaliation from an incident between the two months earlier.

Worst tennis outfit: The gentleman who wore just his sneakers and socks and raced onto Centre Court at Wimbledon during Maria Sharapova’s quarterfinal win over Elena Dementieva.

Best defender: The pride of Norwood, Allen Doyle, closes with a 2-under 68 to win his second straight US Senior Open.

Worst heartache that leads to a quick exit: After England is bounced from the World Cup, David Beckham relinquishes his captaincy and Sven-Goran Eriksson quits as coach.

Best reason to buy aspirin if you work for the Dallas Cowboys: Wide receiver Terrell Owens signs a free agent contract.

Worst officials (football): The Pac-10 apologizes and suspends the officials who botched an onside kick call that helped lead to Oklahoma’s stunning 34-33 loss to Oregon.

Worst officials (basketball): A three-man crew is suspended for one game after Atlantic Coast Conference officials determine they should not have called a technical against Florida State’s Alexander Johnson, a crucial point in the team’s 97-96 double-OT loss to Duke.

Worst debate of the year: Were the Winter Olympics in Turin? Or Torino? Who cares, we were watching ‘‘American Idol.’’

Worst beating: ‘‘American Idol’’ attracts 11 million more viewers than the Winter Olympics going head-to-head.

Best lead-off walk: Buck O’Neil, the 94-year-old legend of baseball Negro League days, draws a pass on four pitches while batting first for the Kansas City T-Bones in a Northern League All-Star game.

Worst architectural snafu: A 17-story building at the intersection of Boylston Street and Brookline Avenue is considered a possible source of wind changes inside of Fenway Park.

Best visit by a foreigner: Scotland wins the World Curling Championship, beating Canada at Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

Worst news for a hockey icon: Wayne Gretzky’s wife, Janet Jones, is implicated in a gambling ring that also involves Rick Tocchet, who is an assistant coach on the Phoenix Coyotes.

Best move: Tom Brady opts out of the Pro Bowl, but tees it up in the AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Worst exit: Already playing poorly and well on her way to missing another cut in a men’s tournament, teenager Michelle Wie withdraws after 27 holes and is taken off the course in a stretcher during the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. Dehydration and exhaustion are cited.

Most patriotic heartwrench: Alex Rodriguez goes back and forth between playing for the Dominican Republic or for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He ultimately chooses to play for the US.

Best kick-start to a new year: On New Year’s Day, Doug Flutie becomes the first player in 64 years to successfully convert a drop-kick during an NFL game.

Best hiring of a legendary coach: Andy Roddick brings in Jimmy Connors to try to breathe life into his sputtering career.

Best initial symmetry: The Red Sox start the season by signing J.T. Snow, and end it by agreeing to terms with J.D. Drew.

Best postgame sight: After passing Gordie Howe for seventh place in career points, Steve Yzerman gets a locker room visit from Mr. Hockey himself.

Worst continuing saga (ex-football hero): Maurice Clarett is arrested and charged with robbing two people at gunpoint.

Worst continuing saga (Olympic skeleton coach): Tim Nardiello is banned from coaching until an investigation is completed into sexual harassment charges.

Best news for AARP: Marv Levy, 80, is hired as general manager of the Buffalo Bills.

Worst case of ‘‘hey, it’s not me, it’s them:’’ In January, University of Miami football coach Larry Coker fires four assistant coaches after the Hurricanes are humiliated, 40-3, by LSU in the Peach Bowl.

Best case of ‘‘on second thought, maybe it is you:’’ In December, Coker is fired after a series of embarrassing off-field incidents and more on-field woes.

Best performance by a terrier: No, it had nothing to do with BU hockey. Rather, Rufus upsets a Dandie Dinmont terrier co-owned by Bill Cosby to win the terrier group at the famed Westminster Kennel Club dog show in New York.

Best Olympic show: The daily battle for curling supremacy. Nothing in Turin — or Torino — was as compelling and it was capped by Pete Fenson’s dramatic double takeout that beat Great Britain in the bronze medal game and gave the US its first-ever medal.

Best snow job by a New England female: Hannah Teter of Belmont, Vt., wins gold in the women’s halfpipe at the Winter Olympics.

Best snow job by a New England male: Seth Wescott cops the first-ever Olympic gold medal in snowboardcross.

Best snow job by an unheralded American: Ted Ligety wins the first US gold in the Alpine combined.

Best snow job by a heralded American: Julia Mancuso wins the women’s giant slalom.

Best snow job by a determined American: Lindsey Kildow is hospitalized after a spectacular training crash, but puts on a gritty effort and finishes eighth in the downhill.

Worst snow job by an American hot dog: Lindsey Jacobellis had gold in her hands, until she showboated near the finish line, fell, and got passed by Switzerland’s Tanja Frieden in the women’s snowboardcross.

Worst job by an Olympic favorite: The Canadian men arrived in Turin as heavy favorites, but got shut out three times and scored once in its final 12 periods in a dismal performance.

Worst teammates: Americans Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick win gold in speedskating, but barely say a word to one another.

Worst start to an Olympics: American skeleton slider Zach Lund is thrown out for testing positive for a banned substance that he claims he was using to fight hair loss.