The New York Yankees and the Florida State Seminoles both cemented their places under the title "Dynasty".

Both teams won titles despite facing health and legal problems throughout their seasons.

Auburn shocked the nation with an unprecedented run into the NCAA basketball tournament. Packed full of Sports Center highlights and sports magazine cover stories, the Tigers steamrolled over opponents en route to its best season ever at 29-4.

And, Tiger Woods showed the golf world that he is the best PGA tour member in the world while rival David Duval proved that he is just a chip shot away from equaling his younger counterpart.

Even with all the great happenings in the sports world of 1999, you had to realize that some mindless meatheads out there would do things to tarnish the end of an era.

You gotta love hearing about college basketball players attempting to dive through drive-through windows in anger, football players snatching purses and then being chased down by students and the ever so popular case of an exuberant fan setting an opposing fan's clothing on fire.

While there were many choices for my brainless idiot of the year, in the sake of space I could only choose a few.

In no particular order:

n PET--ER WAR--RICK. The fans in New Orleans were treated to a final show of the man who probably should have won the Heisman trophy this past football season and will likely be the NFL's first pick overall. By helping to dismantle the Virginia Tech Hokies, Warrick showed the world he was the best college football player in 1999. I said BEST football player, not SMARTEST.

Warrick helped add to the Florida State "Criminol" moniker when he and fellow teammate Laverneous Coles were busted for accepting nearly $500 worth of clothing for an amazing discount of 90 percent. Instead of parading around Tallahassee in his new threads, Warrick found himself suspended and all but out of the Heisman race. Nice going Pete.

n He rushed for 3,523 yards and 24 touchdowns in his four years of college action. He graduated from Auburn with a degree and went on to play in the NFL with San Diego, Cincinnati and Cleveland before retiring in 1992. Along the way, this man learned football under some of the greatest coaches of all time. Unfortunately, James Brooks failed to learn an important aspect of life on his football journey- the ability to read.

Brooks, now living in Cincinnati was called into court for failing to pay child support. His millions of dollars earned in the pros were now long gone and Brooks was falling on hard times. The record-setting football player announced in the court room that day that he was neither able to read or write. When the judge asked how this once prominent man could graduate from a major institution of higher education-Auburn- with a four-year degree and not be able to read or write, Brooks responded with the bitter truth,

"I was a great football player."

Is Brooks the bone-head in this case? Partly, but my blame goes to those school employees who let this man leave Auburn and enter the real world after never attending classes.

n Braves fans loved him, New Yorkers hated him. Now the entire world detests Atlanta Braves' reliever John Rocker after his vicious remarks in a Sports Illustrated article targeting gays, Asians and African-Americans.

Instead of preparing for the upcoming baseball season, this brainiac found himself undergoing psychiatric evaluations and faceing the possibility of being exiled from the major leagues by many of his former supporters and fans targeted by his trashy comments.

n Finally, my loser of the year goes to all those media folks, both print and broadcast, that wasted all of our time with these petty little end-of-the-year and end-of-the-decade awards, just like this one.

I was so happy to see the year 2000 finally come so that my head and eyes could be free of trying to figure out who picked who as their player of the century and player of the decade and best play ever, and best blooper ever and best one-legged juggling act ever. Good lord! I thought it would never end.

Highlights of some of the exciting plays are fun, but seeing people geeked up on who would be picked as this and that and this and that made me sick.

Who's to say Michael Jordan was the athlete of the century? Does ESPN count that much?