WORLD CUP
Talk about the great-grandmother of all buzzes. Even the endless jingoism, regular 7.30am starts (China v Costa Rica anyone?) and a plethora of pathetic pop ditties, led by Terry Venables' dire collaboration with "up-and-coming band Rider" (that's the press release talking, not us, by the way) couldn't cheapen the thrill of the Korea/Japan World Cup 2002.
For millions of flag-waving patriots the tournament highlight was David Beckham's toe-poked penalty to give England a 1-0 win against Argentina on the eve of the queen's Jubilee. Not us, however. We preferred the bit when Gary Lineker - looking very pleased with himself for being so well researched - read out a chunk of the "commentary" from the bad tempered clash between the US and Mexico on his World Cup highlights programme.
"Two soccer points to no-score!" chuckled Lineker, under the impression he was quoting from a top US sports website. "Eddie Lewis makes a cross-pitch-play from the left zone, finding Landon Donovan alone in the danger area. He top-bodies the sphere into the score bag, and Mexico have a double negative stat!" he continued.
Oh how Lawro, Hansen and Schmeichel laughed. Americans, eh? Wouldn't know the offside rule if it bit them on the arse!
But Lineker wasn't the only culprit - for both Johnny Vaughan and Danny Baker used it too, labouring under the delusion that it was from a US sports website, when it actually came from our own Scott Murray's minute-by-minute report - along with Beau Giles' classic email headline: "Dude, you're totally harshing my buzz, man." (Incidentally, you can see the goal again by looking at Paddy Allen's interactive goals of the day).
It wasn't all football, though. At times, we got cabin fever and went a little stir-crazy. The result? A litany of dadaist minute-by-minute reports contained entertaining riffs on subjects as diverse as exam results, fishing competitions on Swedish TV, and even informative translations of the South Korea fans' songs - truly no subject was too obtuse.
So, if you want to re-read Roy Keane's pre-tournament rant, remember when Barry Davies went completely jingoistic, enjoy The Yen, our daily dispatch from Japan (which included the very first sighting of one Wayne Rooney), or wade - Rambo style - through about 1500 World Cup articles, then click here. Oh go on, it's Christmas after all. Granny's hogging the remote control and it's not as if you've anything better to do.
OTHER FOOTBALL
Even without the World Cup, it was an eventful year for the beautiful game. Although it wasn't always pleasant to look at. Things got ugly when Wimbledon's chairman announced his homeless side would be upping sticks from their Sarf Lahndan lodgings and buggering off to Milton Keynes, of all places. Manager Terry Burton could hardly be blamed for his team's inconsistent performances (unbelievably, half his first team was farmed out on loan to fellow First Division play-off contenders) but picked up his P45 nonetheless. It was left to Sean Ingle to explain why Charles "club killer" Koppel should kop it in a scathing comment piece that was as entertaining as it was informative.
Another big cheese to find himself on the wrong end of a judicious journalistic grating was Sepp Blatter, who according to Dan Rookwood, is not fit to run a bath, never mind Fifa. Click here to find out why the Fifa president's re-election was anything but good news for world football.
The publication of Roy Keane's autobiography caused no end of controversy. Written with the help of Eamon Dunphy, the passage detailing the Corkman's infamous assault on Manchester City's Alfie Haaland earned the former Irish captain a lengthy ban, his second suspension for the same offence. It was a punishment that was unfair and unjust, argued unlikely Keane apologist Scott Murray.
Of course we also spent time gazing intently into the Guardian unlimited crystal ball in an effort to forecast the Premiership 2002 winners and losers. The season may be young yet, but Leeds to finish ahead of Chelsea and Manchester United, with West Ham qualifying for Europe? Honestly!
The overwhelming and (largely) positive response that greeted our ever so slightly unorthodox World Cup minute-by-minute reports meant that we continued to make complete cults of ourselves by covering the Champions League and Uefa Cup in a similar fashion. For a flavour of what was, is and will continue to be on offer, you could do worse than cast an eye over Dan Rookwood's observations on the footballing masterclass that was Roma 1 - 3 Arsenal in the Champions League, or relive the first leg of the Battle of Britain between the Celtic Bravehearts and the Blackburn Longshanks, as seen through the eyes of Barry Glendenning and his esteemed (some would say pigstick nutty) global audience.
Throughout the year, our site was lent a continental flavour by top scribes such as Spanish correspondent Sid Lowe, whose chronicles of the Real Madrid centenary celebrations were trumped only by his exclusive interview with former Liverpool stopper Sander "Safe hands" Westerveld, who proved himself to be anything but a card-carrying member of the Gerard Houllier fan club in one of the most extraordinary and entertaining rants ever committed to tape.
Meanwhile in Italy, James Richardson continued to provide weekly accounts of events as they unravelled in Serie A, and his unique blend of informed comment, dripping sarcasm and - quite frankly - criminal use of bad puns, including this description of the countdown to the season's climax, proved exactly why it was that fans of Italian football were so enraged when Channel Four axed the latte-swilling one's superb Saturday digest of all things Latin.
CRICKET
Back when the sun was shining, last June to be exact, cricket (from an English perspective at least) was both thrill-packed and closely fought. A lacklustre Sri Lanka side came over, then went home again with a 2-0 series defeat under their belts.
Why couldn't it always be this easy, we wondered.
A stiffer test arrived later in the summer: Sourav Ganguly's India. Injuries forced an England rethink, with fresher faces like Simon Jones given an opportunity. There were enough ups and downs to satisfy Stan Collymore - both on and off the pitch, but no winner. Inclement weather prevailed and the series ended washed out at 1-1. While you're here it's also worth reading this idle whimsy about Trevor Beattie and gin too.
But India and Sri Lanka were mere hors d'oeuvres compared to the main dish: The Ashes.
By lunch of day one, however, you were fearing the worst. "My girlfriend keeps saying 'Come cuddle me', moaned Paul Woodhouse to our over-by-over writer Lawrence Booth. "Does she not realise that, at 125-1, I'm the one who needs the consoling?"
More was to follow, including this from Keith Conley, criticising our man in the hotseat, Lawrence Booth: "What's happening buddy? No updates for the last 20 minutes?"
"It's called tea, Keith," Lawrence replied.
For our full Ashes reports click here. Read it for that instant Boxing Day feeling.
GOLF
On to the British Open at Muirfeld in July. The tournament started peacefully enough, with anecdotes about Justin Rose and a kebab shop in Basingstoke called ChicMex. But soon the blatantly pro-Lyle bias in our reports gave way to weather which blew the Tiger's grand slam ambitions off course.
The tournament was eventually won, after a thrilling four-way play-off, by Ernie Els.
The Open was good, of course. But the Ryder Cup was special. We had hundreds of suggestions for alternative Ryder Cups, including the Shaun Ryder Cup (the Happy Mondays v Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, anyone?) and the Winona Rider Cup, "involving the ancient art of five finger discounts."
But the best email was surely this, from Robert White.
"What about the Jack Ryder Cup, where all participants need to star in EastEnders, marry a washed up Popstar, and put on heaps of weight?" he wrote. "It would be completely unreasonable, however, to expect them all to romance that Sonia."
Read more here.
Europe eventually regained the trophy after a draining final day's singles. Relive the drama by clicking on our minute-by-minute report.
OTHER SPORTS
Some of us thought Tim Henman could win Wimbledon. We really did. And we bet our colleagues big money on that outcome too. But it wasn't to be - despite Henmania reaching a new peak as Tiger Tim mauled the likes of Michel Kratochvil, he ended up crashing out in straight sets to Lleyton Hewitt.
Read the game-by-game report - a piece of prose glossy dance mag Jockey Slut felt fit to deem trendy - here.
Hewitt then went on to win his first of what could be many Wimbledon titles by seeing off Argentine debutant David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.
The young Aussie couldn't sustain his form, however, and in September, Pete Sampras, (who had been knocked out by an unknown at Wimbledon) came back from the brink of retirement to take the honours. The achievement, claimed Xan Brooks, "bore comparison with Ali's win over Foreman in Zaire."
Elsewhere Peter Ebdon overcame Stephen Hendry 18-17 in a classic Embassy World Championship final.
All evening the tension burned as the players traded frames, furtive glances and mistakes. All evening, millions of people - many of whom probably don't know Matthew Stevens from Cat Stevens - found themselves sucked in, unable to switch off and head for bed until Ebdon finally won it after the witching hour. Here Sean Ingle reflects on a classic match.
Finally, a thought to leave you with: is darts' player Phil "the Power" Taylor really the greatest UK sportsman? Read this piece and decide for yourselves.
Merry Christmas, the Guardian Unlimited Sport team!
