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John Vandelinder

John Vandelinder's columns appear Tuesdays and Fridays in the Craig Daily Press. E-mail him at jvandelinder@craigdailypress.com

Craig — The year 2007 has been a year of steroid allegations whirling throughout the sporting world. But despite the allegations, it has turned into a year in which many records have fallen.

The most prolific record was held by Hank Aaron and now rests firmly in the hands of Barry Bonds. Bonds finished the 2007 baseball season eclipsing Aaron as the career home run king, finishing the season with 762 dingers. The record may be broken soon enough, depending on the second half of Alex Rodriguez' career, but Bonds' feat - juice or no juice - cannot be overlooked.

Bonds also shattered the career mark for walks, 2,558, and intentional walks, 688. These numbers make the 762 homers seem even more remarkable. Pitchers were scared to pitch to him. The few good balls Bonds did see, he deposited over the wall.

Boston first basemen Kevin Youkillis has played 179 consecutive games without an error, breaking the 25-year old American League record of 173 set by little known Miles Hegan. The Major League record of 193 is within reach.

In football, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and company tore through the NFL record book in 2007.

Saturday's victory marked the first undefeated regular season since 1972. The 16 consecutive wins to start the season also is a record. The 589 points scored eclipsed the 556 by the 1998 Minnesota Vikings and Brady tossed his 50th touchdown pass, to one up the mark held by Peyton Manning after the 2004 season. Randy Moss hauled in 23 touchdown receptions, one more than Jerry Rice's 22 in 1997. The Patriots scored an NFL record 75 touchdowns, surpassing the 1984 Dolphins who had 70.

The Green Bay Packers' Brett Favre set a bunch of records as well.

In his 17th season, Favre finished the regular season with a career total of 442 touchdown passes, eclipsing Dan Marino's 420. He also passed Marino in total yards with 61,655 and now holds the NFL record for completions, (5,377), attempts (8,758), interceptions (288), victories (160), and victories versus one team (23 vs. the Detroit Lions.)

Minnesota Vikings rookie running back Adrian Peterson set the record for rushing yards in a game, when he romped for 296 in a game against San Diego. The Chargers and Antonio Cromartie answered. Cromartie returned a Viking missed field goal 109 yards to set an NFL record for longest play in an NFL game.

A milestone in Marathon racing was set this past year as well.

Haile Gebrselassie crushed the previous world record in the 26.2-mile race, finishing in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 26 seconds, nearly 30 seconds faster than the previous record set in 2003.

Kobe Bryant became the youngest player to score 20,000 points in the NBA, a feat that could still be challenged by LeBron James.

2009 now is upon us, and more records are bound to be broken. In the meantime, lets take a look at 10 records I believe will never be surpassed.

10) 56-game hitting streak - Joe DiMaggio, baseball. "Joltin' Joe" accomplished the feat in 1941. Pete Rose and some guy named Willie Keeler reached 44, but both fizzled out. In today's era, no player has reached 40.

9) 49-0 - Rocky Marciano, boxing. The original Rocky finished his career without a single defeat. With boxing thinning out in recent years and athletes choosing other sports instead of boxing, this record will stand forever.

8) Seven straight Tour de France victories - Lance Armstrong, cycling. The previous record was five titles and that wasn't consecutive. Fighting testicular cancer and accomplishing what Armstrong did was truly remarkable. Nobody will touch it.

7) .366 career batting average - Ty Cobb, baseball. The "Georgia Peach" never hit below .316 and batted over .400 three times. The closest active player is Todd Helton, who at .339 for his career isn't even close.

6) 215 points in one season - Wayne Gretzky, hockey. The "Great One" was truly that. He averaged 2.69 points per game in 1985-86. The 2005-06 NHL scoring leader had 55 points. The "Great One" will continue to stand alone.

5) 100 points in one game - Wilt Chamberlain, basketball. Teams often struggle to score 100 points in today's NBA. Kobe Bryant has come within 30 or so points, but nobody will ever reach "Wilt the Stilt."

4) 88 straight wins - John Wooden, basketball. This record was in the era when college basketball players stuck around for four years. Since players don't do that anymore, no team will win this many games in a row. Included in this span was a record seven straight NCAA championships.

3) 511 wins - Cy Young, baseball. A pitcher in today's era of baseball would need to average 25 wins through 21 years to surpass Young. With pitchers today part of a 5-man rotation, as opposed to a 3-man in Young's time, it's an all-but-impossible task.

2) 22,895 receiving yards - Jerry Rice, football. Rice played the same style game as current players, yet he is so far above and beyond his competition. Randy Moss would have to average 1,500 yards per year for the next ten years - he'd be 38 - so don't count on it.

1) Seven no-hitters - Nolan Ryan, baseball. Threw no-nos as a 43- and 44-year old fireballer. Next closest is Sandy Koufax with four. Randy Johnson is the closest active player and he has two. This record will never be broken.

John Vandelinder can be reached at 824-7031, ext. 211, or jvandelinder@craigdailypress.com