2010…

…the year that the Avalanche, the Coyotes and the Canadiens were supposed to be meeting up in the basement…

…the year the Flyers almost didn’t make it into the postseason…

…the year that the Capitals were going to win the Stanley Cup…

…the year of the “Iggy” heard around the world…

…the year we crushed on Alex, Scott and Tessa and fell in love with Joannie…

…the year of the goal that nobody but Michael Leighton saw or heard…

…the year we crushed on Kane, Keith and Seabrook and fell in love with Johnny T…

In't he pretty?

…the year I brought home my baby – the first car I’ve ever owned. His name is Tayvz and he’s the car equivalent of the real-life Toews…

…the year I drove to Toronto seven times and didn’t get the book deal…

…the year I instead made some new friends, which is likely worth more than that book would have been worth anyway…

…the year Andrei Markov was broken twice…

…the year Carey was fixed and broke again…

…the year the Habs got Blow Job Gesture Guy for Christmas…

…the year I lost a sports bet for the first time in nine years. NINE YEARS…

…the year the Habs gave us a slump that made us want to jump off buildings for Christmas…

…the year I was fat…

…the year of Doctober, Cliff Lee, and Hippie-Looking-World-Series-Winning-Pitcher-Dude…

I went to my first MLB game this year - My Red Sox at your Blue Jays

…the year we fell out of love with Russell Martin…

…the year I started missing baseball by November…

…the year I met MLB baseball in person…

…the year I understood exactly what it was all about…

…the year I quit that job you all kept telling me to quit…

…the year I started working for the man, and liked it…

…the year LeBron James and ESPN broke our eyes, our brains and, like, television…

…the year 24/7 may have fixed it…

…the year I did That Thing…

…the year this blog got 25-Stanleyed and Wyshynskied…

…the year I got to talk about hockey on the radio…

…SERIOUSLY HOW DID THAT HAPPEN…

…the year I got friendzoned for the first time. Didn’t know that could happen to girls. I can confirm that it sucks…

…the year my sister started liking hockey…

…the year I joined All Habs…

…the year I met and connected with many of you…

Yeah that last thing was definitely one of my favourite things to happen in 2010.

Julie asked me the other day why I was so excited that 2010 was over, if nothing changes except the calendar.

To me, it’s a mental bookend. I won’t change between 11:59 this evening and midnight, and my life won’t change between today and tomorrow.

But it’s been a rough one, and it will feel really good to say, when I think of the lowest lows, “Pssht. SO last year.”

Happy New Year, five readers. May 2011 bring you a Stanley Cup for your team (unless you don’t cheer for the Habs), or a top-3 draft pick (unless you cheer for one of the five teams I hate – name them correctly and I’ll give you five bucks), and lots of health, happiness and big bags of money.

And don’t drink and drive. If that doesn’t kill you, I will.