Monday 23 December 2013 10:17, UK
We all have our highlights, so who better to share theirs than the Sky Sports stars. We asked them what they will remember and why?
I'm going to go for Jack Wilshere's goal against Norwich as my highlight of the year. It was a brilliant team goal which reminded me of the Arsenal of old. The players do that sort of stuff in training but to be able to take it into a Premier League match is something else. I really enjoyed watching it develop and it showed the talent in that side. There have been a lot of good individual goals scored in the past 12 months but that one really stands out for me. I'd also like to pick out Steve Bruce and the great job he's done at Hull. No one would have expected them to get promoted from the Championship last season and for them to then come into the Premier League and perform like they have, well, he deserves a lot of credit for that.
I'm going for the Ashes Test at Trent Bridge. There was so much hype about the Ashes in England, such a build-up and I was a bit worried that it would fall flat, but it didn't. There were five really hot days at Trent Bridge, full of incident. Ashton Agar got 98 on debut, there were lots of problems with DRS, not least Stuart Broad not walking when he'd nicked it to slip. There was so much incident. Australia looked like they weren't going to chase a target of 311, then it looked like they might before we had all the drama of Brad Haddin nicking James Anderson off under review. There was loads of hype and it was certainly worth waiting for.
Sir Alex Ferguson is the best manager in my lifetime and the way he surprised us all by announcing his time was up, will live long in the memory. Wow! We just didn't see it coming, we really had no idea whatsoever. I bumped into his son Martin, who had worked alongside his dad and for United for years, but got nothing from him, nothing from other people that had worked with him, not a whisper. It was as if it was the most instant decision he had made in years. It just blew me away, it really did. I was at home in Glasgow, going through a few things for a weekly column I do back at home and was trying to come up with something different then all of a sudden I got a text from a fellow journalist, telling me Fergie had called it a day. I thought 'you are kidding me right?', so I rang him and lo and behold, it was true. And of course, I had no problem coming up with a column. The phone turned red hot because it was all anyone wanted to talk about. It really was still, wow, wow and... wow!
The year was all about the All Blacks taking our game to a whole new level. The game of the century at Ellis Park answered all the questions we may have had. Could they handle the Springboks physicality? Yes. Could they play their game at altitude? Yes. I watched that game with so much pleasure - they play the game just quicker and faster than anyone else. South Africa certainly played their part in that magnificent game and I'm looking forward to seeing how they develop. However for now it is New Zealand who are making other teams think how they play the game and making them raise their game - you may nick a game off them every 10 or so games but to go the whole season unbeaten and in the manner they did was just incredible, they deserve all the plaudits that they get.
Darren Barker beating Daniel Geale to become world champion after such a tough ride, including losing his brother and lots of injury problems, was fantastic to see. I know he surrendered the belt against Felix Sturm in his first defence but that doesn't really matter because he made it to the peak of his sport and that's not something every boxer achieves. Darren's name has been etched into the history books for ever and it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. If Barker really has fought for the last time, I wish him all the best.
My highlights of 2013 are very personal ones because I genuinely got to live the dream this year, interviewing some of the biggest names in the history of the sport such as Joe Montana, Adrian Peterson and the legendary Franco Harris. Those are pinch-yourself moments for a man who started following the NFL in the same way as thousands of others across the UK - as a fan watching on TV. I was especially proud to host events for the NFL this year in which 500,000 fans took over Regent Street and 45,000 fans packed into Trafalgar Square. On both occasions, I stood on stage and looked out at a sea of NFL jerseys that made me genuinely believe we can one day have an NFL team we can call our own here in London.
There are far more options in our Review of the Year vote. All you have to do is
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