Lots to look back and remember in 2008

Just two weeks remain in the year, and that means they're getting ready to drop that crystal ball in Times Square in New York. After that, there will be much confetti dropping and bands will strike up "Auld Lang Syne."

I've never been a tremendous New Year's reveler, in part because I felt I needed my sleep to make it through all the New Year's Day bowl games and, latterly, all the early morning soccer fare that fills the holiday from Europe.

And Auld Lang Syne? The song never affected me, which I always put down to the fact that I rarely had any champagne in me when it was played. As Billy Crystal says in "When Harry Met Sally," "All my life, I don't know what this song means."

The song was, as many know, a traditional one put on paper by Robert Burns in the late 18th century. The key question the song asks is whether or not we'll remember old friends and old times - and carries the promise that indeed we will keep those memories with fondness.

"Should auld (old) acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne."

"For auld lang syne my dear, for auld lang syne. We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne."

Without getting into a long translation of all the verses of the song and the meaning of each in today's world, "Auld lang syne," roughly translated means something akin to "for old time's sake."

You know the tune. People of a certain age remember Guy Lombardo's orchestra playing it. It has been recorded and rerecorded many times in many versions. I recently came across a recording by the punk band "Dropkick Murphys."

So as I think back on the sporting events I've seen this year, it could be perhaps with a big band backtrack or hard driving guitar riffs. Either way, my pathway through the area's sporting arenas has been its usual eclectic self.

The main venues have been swimming pools and soccer fields.

That meant the year started with boys swimming and St. Charles North's drive toward a trophy. The North Stars missed, but not by much, and finished fifth.

There is much to hope for in the New Year and beyond in Illinois swimming. Just the experience of the meet itself is always something to behold. There is no real equivalent to watching the six state finalists rise together like dolphins 15 yards or so into one of the freestyle races - especially the 100-yard event. There is a churn in the water, a powerful sound of these finely-tuned athletes pulling their way through the water, and it is exciting to watch.

Neuqua Valley's Brian Alden set the meet alight and the Wildcats won the 2008 state title, but there were plenty of area successes to watch. Saturday, the only day when points are scored and medals handed out at the state meet, opened with St. Charles North winning the 200 medley relay. Jimmy Brooks, one part of that relay, finished a close second in the 100 butterfly.

Spring always brings me to soccer fields in the area, but this year, I spent the two weeks at the very start of the season in Holland, watching soccer and traveling with my father. That doesn't have much to do with area sports, but provides me with some "old time's sake," especially as one of the areas traveled was Friesland, where ancestral Mellema family members once walked the Earth.

And this took us to Heerenveen, the largest soccer club in Friesland, a club which models its team shirt after the provincial flag.

I caught up with Michael Bradley, the son of U.S. national coach Bob Bradley and had a somewhat productive 10-minute discussion with him. Two decades ago when I first came to this area and covered soccer, Illinois players who were successful had few professional options.

Now they are everywhere, even in Heerenveen. On the day I saw Heerenveen play and spoke with Michael Bradley, the club had a Californian in for a trial.

On my return, I had the opportunity to see the continued success of the area girls teams. Geneva, Batavia and the two St. Charles schools have each had moments of brilliance in recent years. This year, St. Charles North caught lightning in a bottle in the postseason, and took eventual state champion Waubonsie Valley to overtime before losing.

Early summer means a time without prep sports, and so my laptop got a chance to cool its circuits. But the high schools return in mid-August every year, and so there was plenty of summertime fun before autumn began.

The highlight this fall was Rosary's charge to its third straight state title. The Beads are in the middle of the strongest run of success since St. Charles won six straight in the late 90s.

Rosary soared to success. The Beads won all three relays, set records in two of those relays and produced end-to-end brilliance. They also showed more than enough quality that leaves them as early favorites for the 2009 title.

There were plenty of individual moments in the past year as well. For me, one came just 24 hours ago, when I met with St. Charles East girls tennis coach Sena Drawer for the first time in a year.

Drawer is retiring at the end of this year, and I fondly remember a couple of years on the tennis beat. But Drawer was also an assistant soccer coach for years and players from the late 80s and early 90s remember her very warmly.

And that is how I will remember Drawer myself. I've seen her so many times since 1989 - she's become a familiar face, a constant. And I freely admit I will miss her, for old time's sake.

One final thought about "Auld Lang Syne." Things have changed. The song gets to me now, and has done ever since my mother passed away. This song I used to turn a blind eye to now leaves me watery-eyed. I guess I have some old time's past to think on as the song is played.

But dry-eyed or not, when I look back at the sporting year I have seen, I think there's more than enough to think fondly about.

Happy New Year's everybody.