THE BEST STORIES OF THE YEAR

1. CURSE, FOILED

* We’re never going to hear the end of it, not with Stephen King’s fortuitously timed chronicle of the Boston Red Sox’s championship season already on the shelves and the movie “Fever Pitch,” starring Jimmy Fallon as a tormented/demented Red Sox fan (is there any other kind?) due out in 2005. But it was some ride, watching the Red Sox wrestle with 86 years of failure, plus the Evil Empire, plus an 0-3 American League championship series deficit, plus Curt Schilling’s ankle staples, to finally win the World Series. With it, Bill Buckner, at long last, caught something. It’s called a break.

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2. GREECE, THE RED SOX OF EUROPE

* First, Greece won the European Soccer Championship, the equivalent of the Clippers winning the NBA title. That set off weeks of delirious celebration that set back preparations for the Summer Olympics even further. Yet, despite great fears about security, terrorism, infrastructure and having the venues ready in time, Athens pulled it together and pulled off a safe and efficient Games that will be remembered for some otherworldly performances (Michael Phelps’ six gold medals, that opening ceremony) and, thankfully, no violence.

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3. NEW ENGLAND’S OTHER TEAM

* The New England Patriots began the year by outlasting Carolina in an unexpectedly exciting Super Bowl, then opened the 2004 regular season with six more victories to extend their 2003-04 winning streak to 21 games, an NFL record. The streak-breaker, a 34-20 loss at Pittsburgh, looms as a preview to the AFC championship game and, considering the deflated state of the NFC, the season’s true Super Bowl.

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4. 49 AND COUNTING

* When Dan Marino passed for 48 touchdowns in 1984, he said he thought that record would last forever. In today’s can’t-wait culture, Indianapolis Colt Peyton Manning redefined “forever,” which now, in the NFL, means 20 years. Manning needed only 15 games to break Marino’s record and could reach 50 this Sunday in Denver, depending on how much pre-playoff rest Coach Tony Dungy wants to give his quarterback.

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5. PHIL, PHINALLY

* Speaking of waiting forever, Phil Mickelson finally shed his Best Golfer To Never Win A Major tag and don an ill-fitting green jacket by overtaking Ernie Els on the final day to win the Masters -- on an 18th-hole birdie. After going 0 for 47, Mickelson finally had his major championship. Which was one more than Tiger Woods managed in 2004.

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6. LANCE X 6

* In a year dominated by BALCO and stories of shotputters testing positive for steroids at Olympia, there was no escaping the innuendo, no matter how fast Lance Armstrong pedaled. Armstrong’s bid for a sixth consecutive Tour de France victory was greeted by a book, “L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong,” that featured a variety of doping allegations, which Armstrong continues to deny, and hostile French spectators who derided his ride with chants of “Cheater!” The record shows that Armstrong won the Tour again in 2004, an all-time record, without testing positive. Until proven otherwise, his streak remains one of the greatest athletic achievements on the books.

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7. LARRY BROWN, PRE-ATHENS

* Before Puerto Rico, Larry Brown had 10 days of career-topping glory in the NBA Finals, directing his no-chance Detroit Pistons to a convincing five-game victory over the superstar-laden Lakers. It was the first NBA championship for Brown, whose triumph was cheered by proponents of team basketball, inspired longshot underdogs from here to New England and effectively dismantled the Laker dynasty. If only he had quit while he was ahead.

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8. 21 AND COUNTING

* The Patriots were not the only football team to hit 21-0 in 2004. USC got there too, winning its last eight regular-season games of 2003, the Rose Bowl and all 12 of its regular-season games in 2004. Fruits of those victories included a Heisman Trophy for Matt Leinart, the second in three seasons for Trojan quarterbacks, and a berth in the BCS championship game, Tuesday’s Orange Bowl against Oklahoma.

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9. UCONN DO IT

* In 2004, the capital of college basketball was undisputed, and easy to find on a map of Connecticut. UConn became the first school to sweep the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships in the same season when Emeka Okafor led the male Huskies to an 82-73 victory over Georgia Tech on April 5, followed a day later by the women’s 70-61 triumph over Tennessee.

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10. FREEWAY SERIOUS

* For the first time in their 44 years of sharing the Los Angeles basin, the Dodgers and the Angels qualified for the playoffs in the same season. They also threatened to sweep MVP trophies, with Angel outfielder Vladimir Guerrero winning the American League award and Dodger third baseman Adrian Beltre finishing runner-up to Barry Bonds in the National. Next goal for them: winning playoff series in the same season.

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-- Mike Penner