The Stark Truth

One week after Kyle Stanley blew an 8-shot lead in the final round of the Farmer’s Insurance Open at San Diego, the golfer from Gig Harbor came from nine shots off the lead in the final round to win the Phoenix Open.

It was his first PGA Tour victory and the fact he could come back one week later  and win — after such a monumental collapse — says a lot about the young man.

So this week it’s Spencer Levin, a golfer with Bremerton ties, who walks in Stanley’s shoes. Last week Stanley seemed on his way to victory when he took a triple-bogey eight on No. 18 and ended up losing a playoff to Brent Brandt Snedeker.

This week, Levin took a triple on No. 15, an relatively easy par-5 at the TPC Scottsdale Course, and he never recovered and finished third after shooting a 75.

Now, all eyes will be on Levin at this week’s Pebble Beach Pro Am. Can he put the tough loss behind him?

Levin’s already won $462,000 this year, and over $4.5 million in his young career. He’s not a terribly long hitter by PGA standards, he’s only 5-10, 170 pounds, but he just might be the best young player on the planet who hasn’t won on the PGA Tour. Now all eyes will be focusd on him, just like they were focused on Stanley this week after his meltdown at Torrey Pines.

Levin’s bound to have a few fans in the Kitsap area cheering him on.

Levin’s grandfather, Bucky, was a 1948 Bremerton High grad. His son and Spencer’s father, Don, was a professional golfer in the Sacrmento area.. Spencer’s proud great grandparents were the late Roy and Florence Levin..

Roy, who belonged to the Kitsap Golf & Country Club, rarely missed a Bremerton Athletic Roundtable meeting and always had something nice to say about everybody.

Florence was the first non-Indian child to be born in Manette. She was 101 when she died in 2005. Boy, she’d marvel at the new Manette Bridge. Florence used to ferry across to Bremerton and walked two miles to high school. At that time, there was no Manette Bridge, and the ferry cost just 3 cents.

She’s also be pretty proud of her great grandson.

As for Stanley, who grew up playing at Canterwood Golf & Country Club, the win gives him a three-year exemption on the PGA Tour and earns him a spot in this year’s Masters. He’s already won just under $1.8 million this season.

I’ve followed Bree Schaaf’s progress as a world-class bobsled pilot this season from afar, and from judging her finishes in World Cup races in Europe it seemed like the Olympian from Bremerton had taken a step back.

Except for the fifth-place effort at Altenberg, Germany, on one of the world’s speediest and dangerous tracks, there hasn’t been a whole lot to cheer about. She was 11th, 11th, 9th, 15th and 14th in her other five World Cup races — not the kind of finishes she had in mind when she stared the season driving the USA-I sled.

“You have assumptions,” conceded Schaaf during a Wednesday night phone call from Whistler, British Columbia, where she races tonight. “You assume everything’s a progression, not a disaster. And in my mind, this season has been kind of a disaster.”

She says that, knowing she’s competed the whole year with an injured left hip that will require surgery at the end of the season.

“It makes me uncomfortable to talk about it because it sounds like I’m pumping excuses,” she said.

Two years ago, the relatively unknown American who broke in to the winter sports scene as a skeleton athlete — sliding head-first down those ice track — placed sixth in her first World Cup race on the same crazy-fast track that she’ll be competing on tonight under the lights at Whistler.

Schaaf and brakeman Emily Azevedo from Chico, Calif., returned to Whistler a year later and nearly won a medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics. They were standing on the podium, holding on to third place until the final two sleds knocked them back to fifth.

It was a remarkable performance for someone who was still learning her craft. The sky seemed to be the limit for Schaaf.

But sometimes the fight to get the top — no matter how dedicated and passionate you are — can be a struggle. Sometimes the struggles are out of your control.

In the post-Olympic year, emergency appendectomy surgery killed Schaaf’s mojo after she was seemingly on her way to establishing herself as a serious medal contender.

Now, she’s dealing with a labral tear in her left hip, a  common injury for bobsledders. (This report explains why bobsledders are subject to hip injuries better than I can). Azevedo had surgery for a similar injury a year ago, and came back as strong as ever.

It’s a chronic condition from overuse and Schaaf started noticing the pain while working out at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs this summer.

“I knew the workouts were getting significantly more and more painful,” she said.

She suspected what was going on, but wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer from doctors so she didn’t get an MRI right away.

“I was trying not to focus any energy on it,” she said. “I just kind of gutted it out for a while.  Hopefully I didn’t make it too much worse. … Part of the reason I didn’t want to know is that a lot of time if you don’t give the injury the attention, you don’t notice the pain as much.”

She eventually gave in, got an MRI, which confirmed the injury. She decided to compete in the World Cup season regardless.

“As a driver the only time you get better is to drive during the season,” she said.

But it’s been a battle. At 5-10, 165 pounds, she’s one of the smaller athletes in the sport and it’s been tough to maintain her muscle mass because she hasn’t been able to do her normal workouts.

Factor in what a mental grind it must be, and you can imagine the frustrations.

Plus, a new coaching staff has mixed and matched drivers and brakemen this season. Azevedo has been paired with Elana Meyers, the rookie pilot who has surpassed Schaaf to drive USA-1, at times.

Meyers won’t race the final two World Cup races — tonight in Whistler or at Calgary next week — as the U.S. has decided to have her train in Lake Placid, N.Y., which will host the world championships Feb. 17-18.

Schaaf and Azevedo will be together the next two weeks, and they’re looking forward to see if they can regain some of the magic they had during past races on North American tracks. Schaaf, the former Portland State volleyball player, will always consider Whistler her home track.

“I love the speed, I love the treachery, which I know sounds kind of sick,” he said. “It’s just one of those tracks that makes you feel alive.”

Even though the season has been a bit of a downer, Schaaf will try to turn it into a positive.

“It’s been a good test,” she said. “It’s hard when you put everything into every race, and you take it very personally, but you try not to take it personally. I wouldn’t be here unless I was a competitive person and this is just part of the learning process.

“Going through this is something that has made me realize how much I love the sport.”

If the surgery goes well, she’s hopeful for a fast recovery. At 32, the goal hasn’t changed: Win a gold medal at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

When she’s not sliding down those ice tracks around the world, you can hear her work as a broadcaster at Universal Sports, which televises the World Cup races on a delayed basis. Bree often serves as the color commentator for the men’s bobsled races. Coverage of the Whistler races will be live in Canada and on the internet. Check you local listings to find out when they air in the U.S.

Wow.

Assistant football coaches Tosh Lupoi and Eric Kiesau arrived at Washington from Cal with a reputation for being outstanding recruiters.

Since they’ve only been on board a couple of weeks, you’d think it would take a year or so before they’d starting making an impact.

Wrong.

Two players who previously committed to Cal —safety Shaquille Thompson from Sacramento and wide receiver Jordan Payton from the Los Angeles area — are following the Cal coaches to Washington.

Thompson announced last night that he was going to be a Husky, and Payton made his announcement on ESPN about an hour ago.

That says a lot about the trust factor that those players have in Lupoi and Kiesau. They’re clearly picking Washington because of the recruiters. The school, the academics, the history of the program, the teammates, the fans, hell, maybe even the head coach … it likely had nothing to do with their decision to head north to Seattle.

Payton admitted on TV that he never considered Washington until the last two weeks.

Personally, I dislike the recruiting game and how it’s evolved over the years. In the early 1990s, I met with sports editors form other Scripps Howard newspapers in Cincinnati. When talked turned to coverage of high school recruiting, I voiced my opinion, telling everybody that we were helping create a monster and I wondered if anybody really cared about wall-to-wall high school recruiting coverage.

Of course, the editors from Memphis, Knoxville and other southern papers looked at me like I was nuts. Anything to do with college football, including the recruitment of high school athletes, was fair game.

And it’s bigger now than it ever was. In fact, can the coverage get any bigger? How do you top what news outlets are doing now? Dawgman.com and sites like it overload us with information, or those who choose to follow this insane — and at times unhealthy — process.

ESPN’s going to have nine hours of coverage on signing day, which is Wednesday, Feb. 1. Nine hours. Five stars, four stars, three stars, two stars, no stars, they’ll be all over it. They only devoted 3 1/2 hours today.

You can find rankings for every college in the country on what kind of recruiting class they produced. Every top recruit is rated. Zach Banner, the offensive tackle who picked USC over Washington and Oklahoma, is rated the 15th-best offensive lineman in the country. For what it’s worth, I think the Trojans have commits from three other O-linemen rated higher.

I just looked up and ESPN ranks Washington’s current crop of verbal commits  No. 9 in the Pac-12. And that includes Thompson, who is a 5-star, and Payton, a 4-star recruit. Thompson’s the third-best safety in the land, and Payton’s the 21st best receiver. Wait a minute, I thought Thompson was the No. 1 safety. Oh, that was another recruiting service.

So if Washington’s got the No. 9 class in the Pac-12, that’s not very good is it? Maybe, maybe not. Check back in three years and see how it pans out. That’s when you’ll really know if the class was any good or not.

AP just confirmed my thoughts. Here’s the lead to a story it just filed:

During college football’s signing day Wednesday, coaches and fans will agonize over those 25 or so guys pledging to each school.
But how those recruiting classes make their mark on the field in a few years will often look very different from those tidy lists released by teams. Consider the consensus top five hauls in 2007: Florida, USC, Tennessee, LSU and Texas. An analysis by The Associated Press shows that, of the 123 high school players who sent in letters to those programs on signing day, only 59 (48 percent) were still on the teams’ rosters as seniors.
Some turned pro early. Some never made it to campus. Many departed at some point for a variety of reasons: disciplinary problems, academics, injuries, or lack of playing time.

Remember Benji Olson and Tony Coats, the dominating South Kitsap linemen who became Huskies. Coats was the high school All-American who all of the recruiting gurus drooled over. Olson was the guy who earned All-American honors in college and went on to an outstanding NFL career.

A  lot these so-called  four and five star players will never live up to the hype. Some of them will transfer to other schools because they’re not seeing the playing field. Other will be average college players, some might even wash out.

What we do know for sure, as it relates to Washington, is that Lupoi and Kiesau must really be good at what they do. They’re personable young coaches who can relate to young players, and I’m guessing, their parents. You win the parents over, and it’s a lot easier to win the kids over.

Will Thompson and Payton be Washington’s two headline recruits this year?

Nah.

I think it’s become pretty clear that the two best recruits were hauled in by head coach Steve Sarkisian.

Their names? Tosh Lupoi and Eric Kiesau.

Like a lot of you, I couldn’t make it out of my driveway today. I’ve got a pretty long and steep hill to climb out of and only made it about three-quarters up when my car, which has all-wheel drive, started sliding off the road. Tried twice and got the same results.

Fortunately for me (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it), I was able to hook a ride with a neighbor, who buzzed up the hill and dropped me off at work.

My boss said he’ll give me a ride home, so I won’t be taking a midnight stroll on the slick stuff.

Speaking of snow, here’s a plug for the latest Art Thiel column. The former P-I columnist and founder of Sportspressnw.com is fed up with people complaining that Seattleites don’t know how to drive in the snow.

“If the hardy-har-hars in Los Angeles and elsewhere, including transplants here who often laugh loudest, want to argue, go ahead and take your Lexus to the top of Queen Anne Hill the next time Danger Jim Forman puts on his yellow parka. I’ll meet you at the body shop and you can tell me how it went.”

It’s fun read. Let me know if you like it. It can be found here.

It’s hard to imagine, but a little over a week ago, I was sitting on a beach in Australia and it was about 90 degrees.

Now I’m kicking back in the office, catching glimpses of the Husky-Cal game and waiting for our designers in Texas to start knocking out the pages of Friday’s sports section.

These Huskies are pretty good as individual players, but I don’t know how good they are as a team. Cal seems to be slicing through the UW defense pretty much at will, and until the Dawgs fix that, they’re only dreaming about making it back to the NCAA tourney.

On the 13-hour flight from Sydney to San Francisco, I finally read the book “Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity.” If you’re a fan of college sports, Washington Husky sports in particular, it’s a must read.

It’s an expose on the 2000 University of Washington football team. A dozen of the players on Rick Neuheisel’s squad were arrested sometime during their career — Jerramy Stevens multiple times. Seattle prosecutors seemed to look the other way. Evidence was pretty strong that Stevens should be charged with rape, but it never happened even though he later settled a civil suit with the fraternity that the girl belonged to. Curtis Williams, the player who was paralyzed during a game at Stanford and eventually died, was treated as a folk hero — but nobody seemed to know about his long history of violence toward women and other crimes.  It’s a chilling tale of big-time college sports right in our own backyard, written by Seattle Times investigative reporters Ken Armstrong and Rick Perry. The book’s been out a while, but it really makes you think about that winning at all costs mentality that’s so prevalent in our society. The title? Scoreboard Baby. Neuheisel uttered those words when he was the head coach at Colorado. After his Buffaloes beat Oregon in the Aloha Bowl, Ducks coach Mike Bellotti said the better team lost, Neuheisel replied, “Scoreboard, baby.”

Here’s another good read that came out while I was down under. Rick Anderson of the Seattle Weekly writes about Mark Brunell, the former Husky QB who has been forced to see sell his three Rose Bowl rings to pay off debts. Brunell has earned more than $75 million as an NFL quarterback, but has had to file for bankruptcy.

I just looked up, and the Huskies are making a run at the Bears, but will they run out of time?

Snow means early deadlines. And that damned scoreboard page, baby, better be on time.

Two of the nicest gentlemen to grace the Kitsap sporting scene — both from Poulsbo — died  over the weekend.

Lindley Smith, the father of Babe Ruth baseball in the North Kitsap area, was 90 when he passed away. He helped a lot of NK baseball players get started in the game and spent a lot of time developing and improving Snider Park, where a field is named after him.

Gausta, remembered for hauling in the king of king salmon — a state-record 70-pound, 8-ounce lunker near Seiku in 1942 — died at 95. Gausta was also one of the top all-around athletes of his era while growing up in Poulsbo. He was offered a basketball scholarship to Washington State, but turned it down to go to work.

Here’s a story written on Gausta that was written by Chad Gillespie, our freelance hunting and fishing writer at the time.

North Kitsap’s bringing a 13-year-old World Series to Kitsap County this summer, and I’m sure Smith would have been popping his buttons. Brent Stenman, one of the tournament directors, said they were planning for Smith to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Smith and Gausta were both inducted into the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame.

Here’s some stories you’ll find on our site or in the morning paper about Washington’s 75-65 win over Washington State on Sunday in Seattle:

Scott M. Johnson’s game story centered on Terrence Ross, who showed why’s projected to be the the Pac-12′s best NBA prospect by some, going off for 30 points to lead Washington to a rousing comeback victory, and the technical on coach Lorenzo Romar that seemed to inspire his team.

Jim Moore, the Go 2 Guy — who writes a weekly Monday column for us — took his 7-year-old twins to the game. Needless to say, they left disappointed.

Howie Stalwick’s sidebar pointed out Washington’s dominance on the glass was a big difference in the outcome. Of course, the Cougs have been winning a lot of rebounding battles lately.

Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Time writes about Ross, who scored 26 of his 30 points in the second. “He’s a freak athlete,” said teammate Abdul Gaddy.

Ryan Divish of the Tacoma News Tribune captured the postgame video and audio.

Also

Scott Johnson pointed out that Snohomish High School boys basketball coach Len Bone sat two rows behind the WSU bench. Bone is the older brother of Cougars coach Ken Bone, and he’s also the father of UW team manager Kegan Bone. … Jon Brockman played for Len Bone at Snohomish. … Ken Bone was the head coach at Olympic College for the 1885-86 season. … Will DiIorio’s playing time has decreased from earlier in the year. He’s played in 12 of WSU’s 17 games, but just one conference game. He averages just 8.3 minutes, 1.3 points and 1. 4 rebounds. The walkon 6-foot-5 sophomore from Bainbridge didn’t get in Sunday’s game.

Got back to town this week in time to attend the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame Banquet.

The Kitsap Athletic Roundtable put on a first-class event and I’m not saying that because I’m a board member.  I didn’t have anything to do with the banquet.

Dan  Haas did a great job as the MC and the banquet room at the Baymont Inn was perfect for the size of the crowd. I didn’t get an exact number, but would guess there were about 200-225 people in attendance.

Terry Mosher’s writing the mainbar, concentrating on the two teams that were inducted — the 1983 South Kitsap state championship baseball team and the 1921 Suquamish baseball team that featured Louie George, the pitcher who made the “clam ball” famous.

Here’s a few odds and ends that I picked up:

Rill: Surrounded by good people
BREMERTON — The 24th annual Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame banquet was nearing closure when one of the last inductees, former South Kitsap and University of Washington football star David Rill, delivered a message to his daughters, McKenzie, 14, and Elle, 11, who were seated in the back of the room at the Baymont Inn on Saturday.
“When you guys look back, don’t remember me being up here,” said Rill, an inside linebacker who became the No. 2 all-time leading tackler in Husky history during his career. “Remember all the people in this room who chose to be surrounded by good people.”
The class of 2011 — the induction ceremony was pushed back from its orginal date in October by the sponsoring Kitsap Athletic Roundtable — will be remembered as a classy group.
Helen Sturdivant said her late husband, the outgoing and friendly E.L. “Sturdi” Sturdivant — a four-year football starter at Washington State in the 1940s, a coach, educator, administrator, community activist — would have enjoyed chatting it up with fellow inductees.
“He was a man of high integrity as a husband, a father, a grandfather and as a friend,” she said, summing up her feeling for the man who was previously inducted into Hall of Fames in his hometown of Montesano and at Humboldt State College, where he was an assistant coach on an NAIA national championship team.
Sturdivant passed away in November of 2010. He was 85.

Carlson toughened Murphy up
Former Bremerton High and University of Washington basketball player Al Murphy said you knew you were in good with coach Ken Wills (he referred to Wills as “The Man”) when Wills let you borrow his car to go to dances or events. “He let me use it three times,” said the former director of payrolls for Boeing. “(Wills) treated me so, so good. He prepared me for the University of Washington.”
Murphy also paid homage to former classmate Jim Carlson, who was in the crowd. He said Carlson was “very influencial,” in toughening him up. Murphy  said he kept getting knocked to the floor during practices.
“Carlson told me to stick up for myself,” he said. “You don’t have to hurt ‘em; just be firm.”

Motorsports a team sport, too
John Flesher, one of the original founders of the Handlers Car Club who went on to become one of the Northwest’s top drag racers in the 1960s, said “motorsports back in those days wasn’t really thought of as a sport — it was just something kids played around with. My father changed his mind once I started bringing home a lot of money.”
Like other sports, it took a team to succeed, he said, and the late Frank Cooper and Larry Cain, who was in attendance, were his team.
“They were very instrumental in any success I had,” he said before personally thanking Cain from the podium.
Flesher said Connie (Cornelius, also known as Con) Fox, the father of the Fox boys — Leon, Tom, Jim and Bob — “taught me more about cars than just about anybody I can think of.”
Harry Penor, 79, was another inductee from the motorsports world.
“I think was born with a wrench in my hand,” said the man who made a deal with the Kitsap County Airport to use an old runway as a dragstrip. He later bulldozed an entry to the strip at the end of the Old Clifton Road and it continues to serve as the main entrance to what is now Bremerton Raceway.
Penor still belongs to the Saints Car Club in Port Orchard.

Establishing a program
Ed Amick, the father of wrestling at North Mason, remembers the Bulldogs practicing in the school cafeteria when it formed its first team in 1964. They had to remove the chairs and tables, go get the mats, tape them together, then put everything back together after practice.
The Bulldogs were later banished to a small stage in the gymnasium. He couldn’t blow his whistle, because it would stop the basketball team from whatever it was doing. Coaches and wrestlers often rolled off the narrow stage on to the gym floor, said Amick, a Hall of Fame wrestling coach who is still involved the sport, assisting his son, Ed, at North Kitsap. Amick left early to get back to the Bainbridge Invitational, where NK was competing.

Also
Gary Eaton, recipient of the Dick Todd Officials Award, is being inducted into the Kitsap County Bowling Hall of Fame next Saturday. Eaton, 74, still carries a 200 average and plays on a Portland-based 70s and older slowpitch team. “I’m not going to be able to live with him,” joked his wife Debbie. … Jan Hauschel thanked her longtime friends and bowling teammates — Alison Eoff and Kristy Whitcher — for attending Saturday’s festivities. Those three were part of a squad that won seven consecutive state team titles in a row and a national team championship. … The talented June Griebel (Fike) earned 10 varsity letters during her high school career at South Kitsap, lettering in volleyball, basketball, track and field, tennis and cheerleading. In addition, she was a standout fastpitch player for the Bremerton Legionettes in the summer. … Former South Kitsap coach and athletic director Steve Reischman accepted on behalf of former SK heavyweight wrestling champion Jim Cutchall, who lives in Oklahoma, where he wrestled collegiately before a neck injury ended his career at the end of his sophomore season. “If I had to compare him to someone, it would be Yogi Bear,” said Reischman. “He was a ho-ho (happy go-lucky kind of guy).” … Former South Kitsap and Major League Baseball player Jason Ellison, now living in Issaquah, was in Arizona and unable to attend. One of a select few players to start as a sophomore for Elton Goodwin, a lot of people forget that the ultra-tough and athletic Ellison — 20-0 in three years as a pitcher at South — placed seventh, third and third in three state wrestling tournaments. .

Gonna head south — way south — for some sunny weather and relaxation.

I don’t think I’ll find a sports bar in Adelaide, Australia, where I can watch the Alamo Bowl, but you never know.

My gut says the Huskies and Baylor Bears will lock up in a pinball war: points and yards will be coming that fast in what could be the most entertaining shootout in recent memory: The final: Baylor 56, Washington 43.

My gut also says that Prince Fielder won’t be holding any press conferences soon in Seattle. If the price and number of years comes down, maybe the M’s have a shot. If the Seattle can get him for $100 over five or six years, then maybe it’ll happen. But with agent Scott Boras calling the shots, it’s hard to imagine that will happen.

My gut says I should have lost some weight before heading Down Under. But the Aussies on the west coast are experiencing one of the hottest summers on record, so maybe I’ll melt some pounds off in Perth.

Before I head home to put some cookies out for St. Nick, here’s some dates to remember:

Tuesday, Dec. 27: the East-West Alumni basketball games, 6 p.m., Bremerton HS. Great event if you’re a Bremerton alum.

Jan. 14: The Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame banquet, sponsored by the Kitsap Athletic Roundtable, will be held at the Baymont Inn and Suites. Tickets ($30) are available at Team Sports (at its new location in Riddell Square, east Bremerton; Hi-Joy Bowl in Port Orchard and the Baymont).

Jan. 25: The 77th annual Seattle Sports Star of the year awards banquet at Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. Bremerton swimmer Nathan Adrian and hydoplane driver Dave Villwock, a Port Orchard native, are nominated in their categories. You can vote online. Go here to vote, buy tickets etc.

I’ll leave you with a list of some of the year’s top local stories. If I missed something, please email sunsports@kitsapsun.com. Look for our year-end story next weekend.

Happy holidays and best wishes to everyone.

TOP STORIES

Ryan Villopoto: RV had one greatest seasons ever for a motocross/supercross rider. After badly breaking his leg in 2010, Villopoto won 6 of 17 in the AMA Supercross season to nail down that championship then rode off with 10 more victories in 24 starts to claim the outdoor Motocross trophy. He helped USA win motocross of champions., You know he’s big stuff when he gets a shoe (Vans) named after him.

Kitsap Pumas: The Pumas won a national championship in third year of operation, and pushed the Sounders to the brink in a U.S. Open Cup playoff game at Starfire. It didn’t come without some turmoil. Executive director Ben Pecora resigns at the end of the season and owner Robin Waite doesn’t bring back coach Peter Fewing. Pumas assistant and OC head coach James Ritchie is named head coach for the coming year. Rumor has it the Pumas are already guaranteed a spot in the U.S. Open Cup because of a change in format, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case.

Nathan Adrian: The Bremerton swimmer —  America’s best hope for a gold medal in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events at the 2012 London Olympics — continued to collect NCAA, national and international titles. The academic All-American from Cal has established himself as one of the elite swimmers in the world. I’ve got a hunch he’s going to be at the top of the list a year from now.

Willie Blooomquist: The Port Orchard native had his best MLB season, starting for Diamondbacks at the game’s most important defensive position — shortstop — in the heat of a pennant race. He batted leadoff, played well in postseason and was rewarded with a 2-year, $3.6 million deal (turned down $4.6M from Giants). A nice feel-good story for a nice, hard-nosed guy who finally proved that he’s a lot more valuable than a lot of people have given him credit for over the years.

Troy Kelly: A year after hip replacement surgery, he nailed down a PGA Tour card after finishing 11th on the Nationwide Tour. He won over $200,000 and now has a second chance to make a name for himself on golf’s biggest stage. He’s hired a personal trainer, dropped 15 pounds and those who know him say he’s mentally and physically in the best spot he’s ever been.

Erynne Lee: PNGA and Washington State Female Golfer of the Year played in the U.S. Women’s Open for a second time, got back to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, won a state high school title, a state women’s amateur title and is now a freshman at No. 1-ranked UCLA. Year ended on a sad note as her mom, Debbie Lee, died in mid-November after suffering a heart attack and stroke while in South Korea.

The U.S. Junior Amateur:  The folks at Gold Mountain did another masterful job of putting on a national golf tournament on the Olympic Course. From the opening dinner on the U.S.S. John C. Stennis, which featured Johnny Miller, to the championship match, won by Dallas’ Jordan Spieth,  it was a magnificent week. It’s possible an NCAA Championship could be in Gold Mountain’s future plans.

The Year of the Wrestler: The top high school story was about Kitsap wrestlers, who won 8 titles and had 13 wrestlers in the finals at Mat Classic. Pretty remarkable stuff for a bunch of the hardest working and toughest athletes around.

Kingston: The next-best high school story revolved around the Kingston Bucs, who went from doormat to a third-place finish in the Class 2A state tournament under the direction of first-year coach Blake Conley.

Kitsap Bears: The Bears, a collection of guys who are passionate about football, rolled out for weekly practices and dominated the local northwest semi-pro scene.  The Bears reached the North American Football League title game. Three months later, owner Don Purser announced that the team will take the 2012 season off.

OC soccer: Men’s team comes out of nowhere and makes a spirited run to the NWAACC finals before coming up short in the title game. You had to be there to really appreciate what this team accomplished.

Drew Vettleson: Central Kitsap star, the 42nd overall pick in the 2010 baseball draft, got his professional career off to a solid start, earning MVP honors for his rookie-league team at Princeton (W.Va). You get the feeling it was just the start of big things for the likeable right-fielder who gained famed at a young age for his ability to pitch with either arm. The Tampa Rays player was rated the sixth-best major league prospect in the Appalachian League. Vettleson hit .282 for the  Rays with seven  home runs, 13 doubles, four triples and 20 stolen bases in 61 games.

Steven Gray: One of West Sound’s all-time best players capped a great four-year basketball career at Gonzaga, enjoying some of his best games against big-time NCAA competition. The All-West Coast Conference guard, a free spirit who grew up in Chimacum and Bainbridge, is playing professionally with a first division club in Latvia.

BlueJackets: Matt Acker, the only coach in BlueJackets’ history and a really good guy and good coach, resigns to spend more time with his family. The college summer team struggles to put fans in the seats, but you’ve got to give the local ownership group props for hanging tough. They said they’re in it for the long haul, and they haven’t waivered, even when it meant digging into their own pockets for more money. Olympic College head coach Ryan Parker, a three-year assistant to Acker, is the new coach and he immediately goes out and signs local products Andy Smith (North Kitsap/Bellevue CC/Liberty University, Va.), Tyler Baumgartner (Central Kitsap/Bellevue CC and he’s signed with Oregon for next year), and Daniel Jewitt (North Kitsap/Truman State, Mo.) to play for the Jackets. That’s a good start toward putting butts in the seats.

BMX King: Port Orchard’s Josh Klatman, a 19-year-old student at Olympic College, ends the year as the No. 1-ranked amateur rider in his age group for the second straight year. BMX is an Olympic sport and if Klatman wanted to pursue a berth, he’d have a chance to make the team. He’s that good.

Dave Villwock: How could I forget the Port Orchard unlimited hydroplane driver, the all-time winningest in the sport’s history? Super Dave, one of the most intelligent athletes I’ve come to know, keeps motoring along, breaking records and proving that he just might be the best to ever pilot one of those flying machines.

Marvin Williams: The Bremerton-born athlete is walking tall again for the Atlanta Hawks after undergoing offseason back surgery. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2004 draft says he’s feeling good. It’ll be interesting to see how all of this translates to the court. You a Marvin fan? If so, ask Santa for tickets to the Feb. 18 Atlanta-Portland game. It’s a Saturday.

Prince Fielder: The slugging first baseman is what Mariners’ fans want for Christmas. But it’s doubtful they’ll get him.  Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com makes it seem like the Mariners — because of financial limitations and because Fielder reportedly doesn’t want to head West — are longshots to land Prince. That’s too bad because Seattle fans, who don’ t have a lot to get excited about, could use a Prince’s Court in the right-field seats to go with Felix Hernandez’s King’s Court. As it is, they don’t have a lot to cheer about. If Justin Smoak gets off to a hot start, they might considers opening a Smoaking Section.

Fat Kid’s Dream: This is what every defensive lineman in the NFL wants for Christmas.

Alex Smith: Merry Christmas, indeed. The Bremerton-born quarterback — dad Doug Smith was coaching football and teaching at Olympic High when Alex entered our world in May of 1984 — is one of the best stories in the NFL this year. A lot of people considered Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005, a bust. But first-year coach Jim Harbaugh has helped turn Smith into a potential Pro Bowl player. Harbaugh thinks Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Smith are the three best QBs in the NFC. FYI: His old high school teammate from Helix High in San Diego, Hesiman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, is having a breakthrough season, too. Bush was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft.

Kellen Moore: The kid from Prosser was a gift that just kept on giving for Boise State, the  only college that wanted the left-handed quarterback. All he did was win. No college QB has won more games than Moore, who goes for his 50th victory in tonight’s Maaco Bowl against Arizona State. Ivan Maisel of ESPN suggests Moore has nothing Moore to prove. Great college career, but is he good enough to play in the NFL?  It’s going to be interesting to see how pro teams end up evaluating him. If you’re in the camp that believes the Seahawks need a quarterback, would you use a middle or late first-round pick on Moore? Is he the second coming of Kenny Stabler? Or is he simply a product of the system at Boise State? Is he too short? Does he lack the necessary athleticism to make plays? Is his arm strength good enough? One thing we do know is that he’s a winner. That’ s got to count for something, doesn’t it?

It’s that time of year to come up with a list of the top local stories of the year.

What’s your top story of the year?

Off the top of my head, I’ve put together a list. It’s in no particular order and I’m probably overlooking something.

Add to it if you’d like. I’ want to know what you think. Help me out. Give me your top five, or even top 10.

TOP STORIES

Ryan Villopoto: RV had one greatest seasons ever for a motocross/supercross rider. After badly breaking his leg in 2010, Villopoto won 6 of 17 in the AMA Supercross season to nail down that championship then rode off with 10 more victories in 24 starts to claim the outdoor Motocross trophy. He helped USA win motocross of champions., You know he’s big stuff when he gets a shoe (Vans) named after him.

Kitsap Pumas: The Pumas won a national championship in third year of operation, and pushed the Sounders to the brink in a U.S. Open Cup playoff game at Starfire. It didn’t come without some turmoil. Executive director Ben Pecora resigns at the end of the season and owner Robin Waite doesn’t bring back coach Peter Fewing. Pumas assistant and OC head coach James Ritchie is named head coach for the coming year. Rumor has it the Pumas are already guaranteed a spot in the U.S. Open Cup because of a change in format, but we’ll have to wait and see if that’s the case.

Nathan Adrian: The Bremerton swimmer —  America’s best hope for a gold medal in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events at the 2012 London Olympics — continued to collect NCAA, national and international titles. The academic All-American from Cal has established himself as one of the elite swimmers in the world. I’ve got a hunch he’s going to be at the top of the list a year from now.

Willie Blooomquist: The Port Orchard native had his best MLB season, starting for Diamondbacks at the game’s most important defensive position — shortstop — in the heat of a pennant race. He batted leadoff, played well in postseason and was rewarded with a 2-year, $3.6 million deal (turned down $4.6M from Giants). A nice feel-good story for a nice, hard-nosed guy who finally proved that he’s a lot more valuable than a lot of people have given him credit for over the years.

Troy Kelly: A year after hip replacement surgery, he nailed down a PGA Tour card after finishing 11th on the Nationwide Tour. He won over $200,000 and now has a second chance to make a name for himself on golf’s biggest stage. He’s hired a personal trainer, dropped 15 pounds and those who know him say he’s mentally and physically in the best spot he’s ever been.

Erynne Lee: PNGA and Washington State Female Golfer of the Year played in the U.S. Women’s Open for a second time, got back to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Women’s Amateur, won a state high school title, a state women’s amateur title and is now a freshman at No. 1-ranked UCLA. Year ended on a sad note as her mom, Debbie Lee, died in mid-November after suffering a heart attack and stroke while in South Korea.

The U.S. Junior Amateur:  The folks at Gold Mountain did another masterful job of putting on a national golf tournament on the Olympic Course. From the opening dinner on the U.S.S. John C. Stennis, which featured Johnny Miller, to the championship match, won by Dallas’ Jordan Spieth,  it was a magnificent week. It’s possible an NCAA Championship could be in Gold Mountain’s future plans.

The Year of the Wrestler: The top high school story was about Kitsap wrestlers, who won 8 titles and had 13 wrestlers in the finals at Mat Classic. Pretty remarkable stuff for a bunch of the hardest working and toughest athletes around.

Kingston: The next-best high school story revolved around the Kingston Bucs, who went from doormat to a third-place finish in the Class 2A state tournament under the direction of first-year coach Blake Conley.

Kitsap Bears: The Bears, a collection of guys who are passionate about football, rolled out for weekly practices and dominated the local northwest semi-pro scene.  The Bears reached the North American Football League title game. Three months later, owner Don Purser announced that the team will take the 2012 season off.

OC soccer: Men’s team comes out of nowhere and makes a spirited run to the NWAACC finals before coming up short in the title game. You had to be there to really appreciate what this team accomplished.

Drew Vettleson: Central Kitsap star, the 42nd overall pick in the 2010 baseball draft, got his professional career off to a solid start, earning MVP honors for his rookie-league team at Princeton (W.Va). You get the feeling it was just the start of big things for the likeable right-fielder who gained famed at a young age for his ability to pitch with either arm. The Tampa Rays player was rated the sixth-best major league prospect in the Appalachian League. Vettleson hit .282 for the  Rays with seven  home runs, 13 doubles, four triples and 20 stolen bases in 61 games.

Steven Gray: One of West Sound’s all-time best players capped a great four-year basketball career at Gonzaga, enjoying some of his best games against big-time NCAA competition. The All-West Coast Conference guard, a free spirit who grew up in Chimacum and Bainbridge, is playing professionally with a first division club in Latvia.

BlueJackets: Matt Acker, the only coach in BlueJackets’ history and a really good guy and good coach, resigns to spend more time with his family. The college summer team struggles to put fans in the seats, but you’ve got to give the local ownership group props for hanging tough. They said they’re in it for the long haul, and they haven’t waivered, even when it meant digging into their own pockets for more money. Olympic College head coach Ryan Parker, a three-year assistant to Acker, is the new coach and he immediately goes out and signs local products Andy Smith (North Kitsap/Bellevue CC/Liberty University, Va.), Tyler Baumgartner (Central Kitsap/Bellevue CC and he’s signed with Oregon for next year), and Daniel Jewitt (North Kitsap/Truman State, Mo.) to play for the Jackets. That’s a good start toward putting butts in the seats.

BMX King: Port Orchard’s Josh Klatman, a 19-year-old student at Olympic College, ends the year as the No. 1-ranked amateur rider in his age group for the second straight year. BMX is an Olympic sport and if Klatman wanted to pursue a berth, he’d have a chance to make the team. He’s that good.

Dave Villwock: How could I forget the Port Orchard unlimited hydroplane driver, the all-time winningest in the sport’s history? Super Dave, one of the most intelligent athletes I’ve come to know, keeps motoring along, breaking records and proving that he just might be the best to ever pilot one of those flying machines.