So that was 2009.

Hello all and welcome to my new blog. Hopefully I'm going to do a post every week on various sports but don't hold your breath. To kick things off I thought I'd reminisce about the sporting year that was 2009; the high, the lows, the funny moments and also looking at what's going to make 2010 possibly even better.

To start with my personal highs in sport this year take in a range of personalities from many different walks of life. If anyone knows me they probably think Jenson Button's sensational season in 2009 seeing the true underdog win the Formula One World Championship would be my number one, you'd be wrong because that's my number two. Infact my number one sporting moment(s) was this year's Tour de France and the exploits of three men; Lance Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins and last but not least Mark Cavendish. On his return Armstrong finished 3rd. Considering the lengthy break away from the Tour plus the fact that Armstrong is no longer the spring chicken he was in comparison back at the start of the decade, to finish so well after an arduous battle against the younger, fitter and nigh on unstoppable Alberto Contador was truly outstanding.

Pushing the likes of Armstrong all the way though was a surprise package in the form of Bradley Wiggins. Wiggins was the bridesmaid to Chris Hoy in Team GB's domination of the 2008 Olympics but still took the Gold medal in the Pursuit event to add to his Athens Gold. Put with 6 World Championship golds Wiggins was regarded as a track cyclist but had tried his hand at the Tour before in 2007 where he was desperatly unlucky. Arriving leaner and fitter Wiggins progressed under the radar early on, at the sharp end of the GC due to his time trial exploits on the streets of Monaco. When it came to the mountain stages Wiggins was expected to be dropped by the front runners but that didn't happened and Wiggo stayed in the fight for a podium place all the way to the final time trial. In the end it didn't work out but a 4th place finish in the world's toughest cycle race stunned the world.

My star of 2009 though without a doubt is Mark Cavendish. There was no contest in any sprint finish this year, if Cavendish and his Columbia team mates where in the mix the others may as well have pulled up straight away. Cavendish had won his first four stages in 2008 but didn't make it to Paris; a rider not physically built for mountain stages with an Olympic challenge a few months after. This year though the Tour was his main priority, win as many stages as he could but most importantly, win in Paris. The Tour started well with sprint finishes on Stages 2 and 3, both taken in ease by Cavendish. More wins followed when the sprints formed again and Stages 10 and 11. Controversy followed when on Stage 14 Cavendish was harsly disqualified from the day's racing after being judged to force points competition rival Thor Hushovd towards the barriers when in truth Hushovd was unlucky that the barrier in question jutted out into the road, Cavendish hadn't changed his line on the road at all. That put pay to the strong chance he had of winning the points competition for the green jersey which he had traded with Hushovd ever since Stage 2. Win number 5 followed on Stage 19 before his moment of the year on Stage 21's Champs Elysses finish. Watching it was the most tense part of the tour with the Garmin sprinters giving Columbia a hard task, it almost seemed as if Cav would be denied but was seconds to go Cavendish kicked into gear and with teammate Mark Renshaw, romped to that elusive Paris win, Britain truely had a new star, the Usain Bolt of cycling.

Moving towards number two moment of the year, Jenson Button. This time last year he was out of F1, his career finished until Ross Brawn found the money to at least get the remains of the Honda team to the first race in Australia where JB blitzed the field to take a dominant win. Setting the precedant for the rest of the season Jenson took 6 wins in the first seven races but the race of the year was clearly Brazil. Pulling off some of the bravest overtaking moves seen in recent years, my student flat hasn't heard so much noise as Jenson charged to that world championship. A true champion's drive that made me so proud after watching Jenson from his debut race as a 20 year old in 2000. Jenson moves to Lewis Hamilton's McLaren in 2010 which will be interesting to say the least.

Moment number three will be short but sweet and the most personal this year. I'm talking about a Friday night in September when after months of abuse and torment my beloved Blades got one over on Wednesday and soundly beat them with a first half showcase of brilliance. The second half was a nervy one as I got text messages from my dad but the final score was all take counts, 3-2 thank you very much, I'll be off to Birmingham with a smile on my face. I have to apologize to some people though, they know who they are. I did get a bit too excited but that's what happens, roll on April.

2009 wasn't all happy, there were bad moments too. First of all Felipe Massa's awful crash during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix was a stark reminder how dangerous motor racing can be. Hit on the helmet by debris from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn, Massa is lucky to be alive, a testament to the safety improvements in the last 15 years, but seeing the onboard footage is still chilling to say the least. Secondly I have to mention the biggest farce in football since Maradona in '86. Of course it's Ireland's cruel dumping out of the World Cup after Thierry Henry's blatent handball in extra time which led to the goal that would take Les Blues to South Africa 2010. Personally I don't blame Henry who owned up to his error of judgement. The blame has to lie with FIFA, how long will it be before they realise that a referrals system based on TV replays is required. OK, Ireland may have lost a penalty shoot-out which was on the cards but it will go down in history that they were knocked out by the cheekiest knock-on ever seen in the Stade de France. Here's to 2010 where hopefully the woeful officials that blite football may improve although I doubt it.

Looking to 2010 we've got the Winter Olympics which are always fun, the World Cup in South Africa, the Commonwealth Games and the return of Michael Schumacher to Formula One with Mercedes, methinks it's going to be pretty good.