Best Television Analyst: Troy Aikman, FOX Sports
Given more air time with former partner Cris Collinsworth sitting out the year prior to his joining NBC in 2006, Aikman soared in a two-man booth with Joe Buck. He offered commanding analysis and is on the short list of the best analysts in any sport. FOX smartly signed him to a seven-year deal this year after ESPN made overtures to Aikman about joining Monday Night Football in 2006. "I try to be responsible in my comments in the booth," Aikman told SI.com. "I try to be accurate. I don't say anything for effect. If I say something, it's because it's what I believe and I am willing to stand behind it."

Honorable Mention: Sean Salisbury, ESPN. His faux-fights with John Clayton make me long for the days of a non-cable universe and he still occasionally comes off as a chapter president of alpha omega ex-jock, but It's nice to see when people improve at their craft, and Salisbury has gotten better each year at ESPN.

Television Fight of the Year: Phil Simms, CBS vs. Steve Young, ESPN
Jon Stewart vs. Tucker Carlson is nice. So is Paris Hilton's blood feud with Nicole Richie. But nothing beats a battle between former NFL quarterbacks-turned-television analysts. After Young, an analyst for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, suggested Bucs quarterback Chris Simms may have grown up soft ("I worry that he grew up in a much different atmosphere, laissez-faire kind of atmosphere," said Young. "And I'm worried that he really doesn't have the mental toughness to deal with the information overload that comes with the NFL. Until I see that from him week after week, I'm still not a believer."), Papa Simms responded. "There's one thing I know my son doesn't lack, it's toughness," Simms said. "He didn't grow up in a laissez-faire atmosphere, far from it. Come to my house, live around with me and let's see how laissez-fare it is ... You know, Steve, follow football more than one day a week and you might know some of those answers." Young later clarified that his remarks were more about athletes of Chris Simms' generation.

The Most Excruciating 30 Seconds Award: ESPN's Around The Horn
Let me preface as always by saying I am a huge supporter of print people getting airtime next to the good-hair folks. And if ESPN wants to fatten Jay Mariotti's bank account for screaming about sports, I'm all for it. But the first 30 seconds of Horn, during which the assorted print posse poses and preens for the camera in a scene that resembles a high school audition for Zoolander, is blindingly lame. Full marks to Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw, who usually refuses to partake in such silliness. Award him 30 points for that simple act of defiance.

Best Acting Performance by an ESPN Commentator in an ESPN Original Entertainment Show: Norman Chad as Norman Chad in Tilt.
Chad, always brilliant in any medium, gave a mesmerizing performance of himself.

A Few Good Men Award: To Rudy Martzke, USA Today and Bill Griffith, Boston Globe
Both left the beat this year after decades of service in the business. By virtue of his newspaper's reach and circulation, and his own dogged reporting, Martzke became the most well-known and powerful reporter in the field. Griffith produced an inordinate amount of copy for arguably the nation's most sports-obsessed city -- and did it like a pro. As for a guy still on the beat who flies under the radar, check out Tom Hoffarth of the L.A. Daily News. He's terrific (full disclosure: I've never met him so this is no setup) and his Dubious Dozen of 2005 is worth reading.

Best Rant Against Drew Rosenhaus Award: Keyshawn Johnson, SIRIUS
In November, on his weekly SIRIUS radio show Takin' It To The House, the Cowboys wide receiver let loose with the following: "He's a rat that belongs in the gutter," Johnson said of the agent. "I can smell him a mile away."