Mutka: Reflecting on the year that was

• Reprints

Wheeler's Gavin Voss celebrates after defeating Andrean during sectional play at Andrean High School in Merrillville, Ind., Friday, October 21, 2011. | Guy Rhodes~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 27, 2012 8:12AM

Got those post-Christmas blahs? Me, too.

Dodging crazed people wildly driving in and out of mall lots with vacant looks in their eyes helps me understand why bears go into hibernation when the weather turns chilly.

It’s like Black Friday extended for two weeks. Scary stuff, boys and girls. Now you know why some folks prefer Christmas spirits to spirit.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, lets move on to a more cheerful topic — like my favorite sports memories of 2011. 

In no particular order ...

Indiana carries an unbeaten record into Big Ten warfare for the first time since Bob Knight’s 1975-76 national champions thanks to victories over North Carolina State, Kentucky and assorted cream puffs.

Stopping the previously unbeaten Wildcats provided an emotional catharsis washing over a battered and  bruised athletic program.

Former Hobart star Ted Karras Jr. being named football coach of the year for taking Marian’s once-beaten Knights to national championship runner-up honors in a program still in its infancy.

Wheeler’s stunning sectional upset of Andrean, which was considered Northwest Indiana’s best bet to win a state football championship. Too bad the Bearcats don’t compete in a more challenging conference.

When veteran Greg Kampe brought Oakland to the ARC recently, he became the first coach to match wits with all three members of Valparaiso’s Drew family.

After Reggie Hamilton helped him celebrate with 41 points, including a game-winning, buzzer-beating basket, he yearned for the good old days when the schools were Mid-Continent Conference rivals.

My memory might be a little rusty, but Hamilton’s heroics were the most spectacular I’ve witnessed since the ARC replaced Hilltop Gym as VU’s venue of choice.

Batting coach Lloyd McClendon gave me a rooting interest in the Detroit Tigers, who won the American League Central with a 95-67 record, beat the hated Yankees in the first round and took Texas to six games before bowing out.

Under the Gary native’s guidance, Detroit posted a team batting average of .277, 19 points higher than the league average.

Miguel Cabrera batted .344, joining Magglio Ordonez (.366, 2007) as the second league batting champion McClendon has produced in four years.

Manager Ozzie Guillen, having outlived his welcome, bolted from the White Sox to Miami, where lefty Mark Buehrle recently joined him by signing on for $58 million over four years.

Losing Buehrle was as a painful as a root canal to suffering Sox fans. I’ll never forget being present for the Sox folk hero’s perfect game against Tampa Bay in 2009 and watching him go seven innings to beat Houston in game two of the 2005 World Series.

Bryce Drew became the third member of the family to coach at Valparaiso when the Crusaders opened with exhibition victories over Hillsdale and Augustana. He was preceded by his brother, Scott, who cleansed and revived a corrupted Baylor program, and his father, Homer, keeping VU in the basketball family since 1988.

Seemingly indestructible, 39-year-old LaTroy Hawkins rebounded from shoulder problems which limited him to 18 appearances in 2010. The Gary native stabilized Milwaukee’s bullpen with 52 appearances. He posted a 2.42 ERA and was credited with 20 holds. Capping the NL Central Division champ’s march to the playoffs, he made three scoreless postseason appearances against World Series winner St. Louis.

Hawkins continued his rent-a-pitcher approach to contracts by signing a one-year deal for $3 million with the Los Angeles Angels. It will be the nomadic right-hander’s sixth change of uniform in the last eight years.

Butler’s Bulldogs were considered one-year wonders, but stunned the NCAA by reaching the final game for the second straight season. In the same year, not the same season, Valparaiso has defeated the Horizon League powerhouse twice.

Butler is currently laboring with a 6-7 record, but I’m not going to make the mistake of writing them off again. Their rugged non-conference schedule, which includes victories over Purdue and Stanford, should make the Horizon League schedule a picnic.

Relief pitcher Jeff Samardzija (Valparaiso) finally had the break-through season the Cubs were hoping for with an 8-4 record and 13 holds in 75 appearances.  

The former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver averaged a strikeout per inning and a career-best 2.97 ERA in his fourth, but first full season.

Samardzija would prefer to start, but now that the Cubs have traded Sean Marshall he seems destined to remain in the bullpen as a valuable short reliever.

Wabash linebacker C.J. Gum earned All-American honors for the second year in a row as the Little Giants went undefeated to make the Division III playoffs and finished 12-1.

The North Judson grad also repeated as the North Coast Conference defensive player of the year.

Valparaiso’s Crusaders ended the nation’s longest football losing streak at 29 games with an upset of heavily favored Marist for their only victory.

Former Ball State coach Brady Hoke resurrected Michigan’s football program in his first year at the languishing Big Ten school. Beating disgraced Ohio State for the first time in seven years capped Michigan’s 10-2 season

Former National League second baseman Mickey Morandini returned to his Pennsylvania roots to manage the Phillies’ farm team in Williamsport. After guiding the Crosscutters to a 43-33 record in his minor league debut he was recently promoted to manager of the Lakewood BlueClaws.

Morandini moved to Valparaiso during his years (1998-99) with the Cubs and coached at VHS before returning to pro baseball.

Injuries and the unexpected departure of star Mallory Ladd have reduced Valparaiso University’s women to a near-empty bench.  Ashley Varner, one of only four Crusaders who played in every game, is rising to the occasion.

She prevailed with double-doubles in successive victories over Ball State and Eastern Illinois. The Crusaders were down to six players in one game. Varner contributed 37 points and 23 rebounds to the victories.