Roger Federer suffered a freak knee injury while giving his twin daughters a bath during the January Australian Open and called it a year by July. Rafael Nadal went missing from action after a wrist injury. Maria Sharapova admitted in March that she tested positive for a banned drug and faced suspension. Then Serena and Venus Williams learned their personal medical records with the World Anti-Doping Agency had been hacked -- allegedly by a cyber-warfare group with ties to Sharapovas native Russia.?Then 2016 got even weirder in tennis as the year went on. Its never a good thing for a sport when theres more news made in press releases, news conferences and social media announcements than on the field of play.But 2016 was a year of drama for mens and womens tennis that saw nearly all of its most enduring stars involved in some sort of turmoil.Nick Krygios got suspended for tanking a match in Shanghai and was ordered to get therapy, and Novak Djokovic saw his internal gyroscope go haywire due to private issues he still has never elaborated on. After winning six titles the first half of the year, including his first French Open, Djokovic won only one event afterward, ripping open his shirts and crying in frustration along the way. Then on Dec. 6, the Serbian star ended his three-year stint with coach Boris Becker, who presided over Djokovics streak of making nine finals in the past 12 Slams and his two-year stay at No. 1.Djokovic said they parted amicably. A day later, Becker criticized him in a Sky News interview, saying: He didnt spend as much time on the practice court in the last six months that he should. Success like this doesnt happen by pushing a button. Success like this doesnt happen by just showing up at a tournament. You have to work your bottom off because your opposition does the same.Just this past Thursday, yet another reminder of how many hits tennis had to survive as an institution resurfaced: Tennis Australia announced it had hired two more full-time investigators and cut ties with major advertiser William Hill, the sports betting agency, to underline its seriousness about combating the match-fixing and betting issues that surfaced during the Australian Open last January via a BuzzFeed/BBC report.That story alleged there has been widespread match-fixing in mens tennis and that authorities in the sport ignored it. The report did not name names but said 16 men who have been ranked in the top 50, including a US Open champion, could be involved. And Djokovic caused a further stir by sharing a story days later about how a member of his team had been approached in 2007 and offered $200,000 if Djokovic would throw a first-round match in St. Petersburg, Russia. Said Djokovic: It made me feel terrible because I dont want to be anyhow linked to this. For me, thats an act of unsportsmanship, a crime in sport, honestly. I dont support it. I think there is no room for it in any sport.Sharapova cried foul, too -- albeit for a different reason. In March, she called a news conference in Los Angeles and broke the news herself that she was among the many Eastern European athletes who tested positive for meldonium.She admitted she had continued taking the drug into February because she was unaware meldonium was newly banned as of Jan. 1. The irony? Sharapovas honesty ruined her chances of getting immediately reinstated a few months later when world doping authorities admitted they didnt fully understand how long meldonium stayed in a persons system.Many athletes who said nothing were thus allowed to return to competition because WADA couldnt prove they had ingested meldonium before or after it was banned. Sharapova had no such out. She held her tongue during all the back-and-forth as her appeal waited to be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. When her recommended two-year ban by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) was reduced to 15 months by CAS, Sharapova bitterly blasted tennis officials for the heavy price she paid. The former world No. 1 missed the years last three majors, and was eclipsed by Serena Williams as the top-earning female athlete in the world. Even with the suspension reduction, the 29-year-old Sharapova wont be eligible to play again until just weeks before the start of the French Open in late May. She has promised to return -- with a vengeance.Victoria Azarenka, who made the surprise announcement in July that she and her boyfriend are expecting their first child by the end of this year, could join Sharapova back on tour around the same time. Azarenka has said shes inspired by the example of Kim Clijsters, who won three Slams after giving birth to her first child.Taken all together, the 2016 tennis year has been a lot to digest.But it also has conspired to make 2017 look like it could be one of tennis most wonderfully unpredictable years in decades after years of hegemony at the top.And thats not all bad.Serena owned the No. 1 ranking a record-tying 186 consecutive weeks before Germanys Angelique Kerber overtook her in September while winning the US Open. To understand just how remarkable Williams run was, consider this: Williams had more title wins (24) than match losses (19) in those three-plus years she stayed No. 1.And yet, though Williams made the finals of the 2016 Australian and French Open, and won Wimbledon, she played only eight events and 44 singles matches all told -- none of them after September. Her own coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, said Williams had a bad year by her standards, even if she was battling shoulder and knee ailments part of the time.Williams, now 35, wasnt quite as downbeat as Mouratoglou about the big picture. After losing in the semis of the US Open, Williams actually pushed back irritably when a reporter suggested she was too fatigued to win, bristling Im a professional and If I cant turn around after 24 hours and play again, then I shouldnt be on tour. Fatigue had absolutely nothing to do with it.If I was tired, I should definitely get into a new career.The show of pride was good to see.Scotlands Andy Murray roared to the No. 1 ranking for the first time by the end of the year, too, when he won the Paris Masters in early November and then quashed Djokovics attempt to wrest the top spot back. After years of hearing questions about whether he belonged in the Big Four along with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, the 29-year-old Murray insisted he never really expected to slingshot past them and someday sit atop the world. But he did it, all right, by decisively beating Djokovic at the year-ending ATP Finals in London to become the oldest first-time No. 1 since Australias John Newcombe accomplished it at age 30 in 1974.Unbelievable, Murray said.Puerto Ricos Monica Puig expressed similar astonishment after she was the surprise winner at the Rio Olympics, giving her country its first gold medal at any Summer Games. Puig beat Garbine Muguruza along the way, the young Spaniard who upset Serena in the French Open final to win her first major.But from start to finish, the 28-year-old Kerber was the most consistent female player of 2016. She knocked off Williams for the Australian Open title, lost to her in the Wimbledon final and then finished her climb to No. 1 by beating big-serving Karolina Pliskova for the US Open championship after Pliskova upset Williams in a semifinal shocker. Along the way, Kerber admitted frankly that she initially struggled with the heightened expectations that came from winning her first career Slam in Australia, saying, The pressure after is actually more. Not less.But after winning in New York, Kerber insisted she no longer felt out of her depth.I think Im ready, yeah, to have this pressure on my shoulder, Kerber said. Being No. 1, of course now everybody will try to beat me and have nothing to lose. [But] I will try to take this challenge and try staying as long as I can there.Argentinas Juan Martin del Potro rivaled Murray and Kerber as the feel-good tennis story of 2016 with some snowballing success in the last half of the year that suggested the wrist problems that plagued him since he won the 2009 US Open -- still his only Slam title -- might finally, blessedly be over.First, del Potro upset Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon, then backed it up by beating Djokovic and Nadal in Rio on the way to winning the silver medal. At the US Open a few weeks later, del Potro advanced to the quarterfinals before Wawrinka defeated him in a late-night match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. But the extraordinary scene still had people talking days later. Fans brought del Potro to tears when they began fondly chanting his name near the end of his Wawrinka loss, just to let him know how happy they were to see him back.From there, it was on to Davis Cup play for del Potro, where he defeated Murray in singles to push Argentina past defending champion Britain in the semifinal round. Then he roared back from a 2-0-set deficit against Croatias Marin Cilic in Zagreb to spark Argentinas second-day comeback to its first Davis Cup title in five trips to the final. Once again, del Potro cried for joy. What a year it had been.I was very close to never playing again, he said, recalling all the setbacks after each of his three wrist surgeries. And, well, here I am.That image of del Potro and his teammates celebrating in Croatia as confetti rained down is a nice grace note to linger on heading into 2017.Federer and Nadal, Djokovic and del Potro, Serena and Sharapova are among the many megastars plotting blockbuster comebacks. If they all return to top form at once, 2017 could be yet another year of fireworks -- but for far happier reasons, and with spectacular results.Im looking forward to it, Kerber said.Dikembe Mutombo Nuggets Jersey .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Allen Iverson Nuggets Jersey . - Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is not a fan of his teams use of the wildcat formation, saying "it makes you look like a high school offence. http://www.authenticnuggetsproshop.com/Tyler-Lydon-Jersey/ . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". Paul Millsap Jersey . -- Charline Labonte couldnt have asked for a better homecoming. Gary Harris Nuggets Jersey . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home.Olympics television is branching out into the fashion world, with NBC hiring two Brazilian supermodels to appear on the networks late-night coverage of Rio 2016.Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima, both of whom are Victorias Secret Angels in their day jobs, will feature primarily on Ryan Seacrests after-hours show, which will be largely human-interest and entertainment based.Adriana and Alessandra are the perfect ambassadors to guide viewers through the celebrations taking place outside of the competition, showcasing the off the field experience for Olympic fans, Jim Bell, NBC Olympics executive producer, said in a press release.Thats all well and good. Olympics coverage has long straddled the line between sports news and entertainment, with the expansion into the celebrity space borne out of the need to appeal to a broader audience beyond traditional sports fans -- not to mention fill 6,755 hours of coverage. (Personally, I wouldnt mind seeing that time filled with more Bob Costas.) Two famous Brazilians teaching us their native language and local cuisine does add some cultural dimension to what can be at times a rather bland broadcast. And with soccer as a way of life in Brazil, perhaps Ambrosio and Lima can offer some commentary on the sports themselves.But the move also reads as slightly cynical against the long-term backdrop of the situation in Rio. Amid the Zika and ISIS fears of the athletes, tourists and traveling press, theres also the constant state of fear in which the locals live -- fear of government, of police, of pollution, of poverty.The body parts that washed ashore near the Olympic beach volleyball courts, the thousands of displaced poor who watched their favelas bulldozed to make way for Olympic Village, the political turmoil of a corrupt congress ousting a very impeachable president, the protesters and police continuing to clash in the streets as calls for an Olympics boycott grow, the billions in cost overruns and public spending amid the countrys worst recession in 80 years, the unpaid officers warning tourists at the airport, Welcome to Hell ... whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe, the sewage flowing in the waters where athletes will compete and through the streets where locals live and play, the diseases far worse than Zika that have plagued Brazilians long before sports fans begann to take notice -- its much easier to overlook these and other harsh realities when you have two pretty faces guiding your view.ddddddddddddThe athletic achievement and heartwarming stories of triumph often serve to distract from the darker side of the Games, but the use of Ambrosio and Lima is problematic in other ways. Its a nod to the tired stereotype of hyper-sexualized Brazilian women, which was invoked to disastrous effect by sponsors of the 2014 World Cup in Rio. The local and Western elite have historically reduced Brazil to beachwear and body waxing, an image sold to tourists that largely boosts the sex -- and sex trafficking -- industry.The perception that Brazilians hold a liberal attitude toward sex and nudity comes at the expense of womens safety. A 2014 survey from Brazils Institute of Applied Economic Research found that 26 percent of respondents believed women who dressed in revealing clothing deserved to be raped, while 58.5 percent believed there would be fewer rapes if women behaved properly.Similarly, choosing supermodels to guide the cultural coverage shows a disregard for women Olympics fans. If its a ploy for viewers, its very clearly a ploy to gain male viewers. You could argue that that just makes strategic sense, because the majority of Olympics ratings are driven by female fans. But beautiful women are deployed throughout sports broadcasts whether or not male viewers are in the minority.Some writers more optimistic than I are holding out for the possibility that Ambrosio and Lima might lend their own perspectives as native Brazilians on whats going on in their country. That very well could be the case, and if so, I look forward to their insight. But neither woman has been particularly outspoken when it comes to politics -- nor should they have to be; thats not their job. And while Im sure they both have opinions on the state of affairs in their home country, I think it might be asking too much to expect a meaningful discussion on the social and economic impact of the Olympics on an entertainment show moderated by Seacrest.Hopefully NBC isnt using these two very beautiful women to mask the ugliness were seeing in Rio. We can be entertained, but lets not be fooled. ' ' '