While some of those resolutions do more reflecting than they do looking forward, the World of Sports is on the right track.

New Year’s resolutions are often arbitrary and completely ignored. Promises like “I’m going to lose weight” or “I’m going to be a better person” or “I’m going to stop writing such crappy articles for this newspaper” are rarely fulfilled.

Still, such resolutions do serve a purpose, albeit a small one. What they can do, even if they are forgotten on Jan. 2, is remind us of our shortcomings and what we feel we need to improve on or change in our lives.

In sports, it’s no different. The World of Sports reflects on the previous year in the same way, often making a resolution of its own. This year’s resolution, one would imagine, goes something like this:

“I will no longer allow dog-fighting felons to be starting quarterbacks in the NFL. I will no longer allow NBA refs to bet on the games they are officiating (unless they give me a healthy cut). I will no longer allow steroids to control the game of baseball, and if it’s too late for that, and it probably is, I will at least pick random names out of a hat and include them in a lengthy document, à la the Mitchell Report, to make it appear that the problem is being solved. Last, I would like to quit smoking.”

While some of those resolutions do more reflecting than they do looking forward, the World of Sports is on the right track. 2008 is all about burying the demons that haunted sports in 2007. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind,” as the song goes? Already, many of last year’s villains have been set aside.

Michael Vick is out of the NFL and behind bars, all but the cellmate of former NBA ref Tim Donaghy. Even Barry Bonds, the face of the steroid era in baseball, has gotten himself out of the spotlight by passing the needle of blame to Roger Clemens.

With most of the scandals brushed aside, at least for now, fans can finally refocus on the sport itself.

There’s already been plenty to watch in ’08. In the NFL, the Patriots’ “Pursuit of Perfection” has Mercury Morris wondering how they got directions to his neighborhood. Locally, Brett Favre and the Packers found themselves hosting the NFC Championship game, and, of course, we all know how that ended.

In the NBA, the Celtics – and the Eastern Conference – are becoming relevant again, while the Bucks . . . well, we still like the Bucks.

Even the Brewers have been busy in the new year, adding Mike Cameron to a slightly more ‘roided-up squad that currently features Eric Gagne and Derrick Turnbow. Cameron brings speed and defense along with his 25-game suspension for substance abuse.

With many of last year’s problems becoming afterthoughts in 2008 (except for that steroid thing), it looks like the World of Sports is finally ready to move on. So there’s a hand, my trusty friend, now let’s enjoy sports again, for auld lang syne.

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