Although they can't claim 2004 in its entirety as a banner year for the Bad Boys - see the Losers section - a championship trophy put serious shine on the city of Detroit as the consummate team. Until the Boston Red Sox. Anyway.

From January to June, the world turned an ear and an eye to "Deeeeetroit Basketbaaaaaall" to see how defense, teamwork, front office mastery and a seasoned coach could put the me-first NBA back in its place. From Rip Hamilton's face mask to Ben Wallace's fro, from Chauncey Billups' prayer 3-pointer to send the New Jersey Nets into overtime to Tayshaun Prince's "where did he come from?" block on Reggie Miller in the Eastern Conference finals, the Pistons bandwagon grew and grew as spring turned into summer and summer brought a parade down Detroit's Woodward Avenue.

There wasn't a single superstar among them, but when the confetti stopped flying and Kid Rock finally stopped singing, the Pistons held the crown.

Howard Dean

Howard Dean was right about one thing this year, but it's what he was wrong for that counted against him.

The wrong: "...then we're going to Washington, D.C. to take back the White House. Yeeeeaaaarrrghhhh!"

The right came later in the same speech, even if most tape loops cut off immediately after it.

"We will not give up."

The former governor of Vermont fought the best fight of any political candidate this year. He didn't get to go after his white whale, but in terms of passion, devotion and commitment to the process, Dean stood head and shoulders above everyone else. When he spoke at the Democratic National Convention this summer, his standing ovation was deserved. Dean could've been on the Losers list this year, but when his fate was handed to him, he refused to use it as an excuse to relax.

Ernie the Can Man

Campus lost one of its true legends earlier this year when Ernst Lucas, known by most as "Ernie the Can Man," died of what was guessed to be hypothermia in his East Lansing home. The news of Ernie's death inspired a tremendous outpouring of fond memories of the man who biked campus daily, collecting cans. There was even a Web site created in his honor. The message board site wemissyouernie.com invited people to share their stories and memories of the Can Man. The site inspired a great deal of entries, most of which expressed a certain degree of admiration and respect.

Although Ernie's status as a winner was unanimous among the editorial board, we have to express some regret that all of this attention came after his death. Perhaps if more people had acted on the feelings they found they had for him, he would not have died due to the lack of heat in his home.

Jon Stewart

The show, the book and the man - anywhere Jon Stewart's handsome face appeared this year, magic happened and whatever he touched turned into a fool's gold.

Stewart and his team of fake newscasters brought a healthy level of irreverence and legitimate political dialogue to the living rooms of millions of Americans this year. In some cases, regular viewers of "The Daily Show" knew much more about pressing issues in American politics than any late-night comedy show audiences.

We've got nothing but respect for Stewart. Any man who can bring it to "Crossfire's" bow-tied Tucker Carlson by calling him a "dick" on his own show is worthy of hero status. If "The Daily Show" has been the satirical knife cleaving apart the fabric of American politics for years - 2004 brought that revolution to its deepest cut. As the news grew, the scope of the show grew in parallel.

If that wasn't enough, "The Daily Show" crew got together and wrote a book. Since then, Publishers Weekly named "America (The Book)" the book of the year.

For a fake news anchor, leading a fake news team, that's a lot to accomplish in one year. But, it's exactly what Stewart offered us.

Voter registry drives

This end of the year segment might be the last place to say this: A resounding thank you goes out to everyone involved in registering voters in East Lansing. Good job. Thanks for making this election one to remember.

This year, election workers, advocacy groups and student political organizations took the time to register and help East Lansing citizens turn out to the polls in record numbers. These crucial drives helped keep people interested, excited to vote and - for the first time in a long time - totally engaged in the American political system.

Student political groups on campus got out and brought their message to the students around them. Along with everyone else working to get East Lansing registered to vote, they worked tirelessly in, what any other year, could have been a wasted effort. Regardless of how you voted, this time around there was a tangible change - people knew what they wanted and weren't afraid to voice their opinion. Without these people doing the registering - both technically and very literally - the polling stations throughout East Lansing wouldn't have been as affirming.

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Losers

MSU Board of Trustees

Sometimes, you can't do anything right.

It wasn't an easy year to sit on the MSU Board of Trustees. When the story broke on the MSU College of Human Medicine's proposed move to Grand Rapids, the red flags started flying, but the response was closed meetings with East Lansing and Grand Rapids officials while the university, at large, was left twiddling its thumbs. When MSU President M. Peter McPherson announced his retirement in May, a thorough national search was announced to seek his replacement. President-designate Lou Anna Simon is a qualified replacement, but student and faculty suggestions in the search were overlooked in lieu of a six-week search of our own backyard.

Faculty and students felt jilted, even if closing meetings of that nature is legal and trustees are the only members of presidential hiring committees. They might not have driven the university into the ground, and if uneasy relations made for winners, they'd be on a different list. Unfortunately, though, 2004 was not the year of the MSU trustee.

Ron Artest

At least his record label's CD got some publicity.

What can be said about the Indiana Pacers' Ron Artest that hasn't been said already? Thug. Crazy. Emotionally unbalanced. Brat. Publicity hound. Troubled. Pained. Since Artest ran into the stands to take his cuts at unruly fans at the Pacers-Pistons game in Auburn Hills on Nov. 19, he has been called all of these and more. Maybe Artest was to blame, maybe the fan who tossed his beverage at him was, but that doesn't give Artest license to pimp the record he produced on NBC's "Today" show.

There are five boundaries on the basketball court. The two baselines, the two sidelines and the one that separates fans from players. Pistons' fans were nothing short of embarrassing when they egged NBA players into a fight, but Artest is responsible for being the first in the league to go out of bounds of that fifth line. He was suspended for the season, will miss more than $4 million in salary and had charges brought against him, but no punishment will ever be worse than the reputation he now carries with him.

Not as a fighter, but as a shill to his own character.

Proposal 2

The fact that Proposal 2 passed by a fairly large margin in Michigan does nothing to keep it off our list of this year's losers. In fact, the only difference between this entry and the one that would have appeared if the initiative had failed is that we are bitter, not joyous, in writing it.

The proposal, which defines marriage as a union between a man in a woman, is just plain wrong. Marriage is something that every person should have the option of enjoying, no matter who they choose to marry. The shoddy argument that gay marriage destroys the holy and pure union of marriage holds no weight in light of the staggering divorce rate.

A particularly disturbing offshoot to Proposal 2 is that it might result in the ban of civil unions and benefits for domestic partners in same-sex couples. Now, gays aren't only banned from marrying in our great state, but also perhaps banned from receiving health care. Wish you could re-vote yet, Michigan?

Donald Rumsfeld

With everything that went wrong with the U.S. Department of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld has made 2004 his own personal campaign to bring shame to being American. Bear in mind, Rumsfeld was the man behind the curtain who allowed certain abuses toward prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Abu Ghraib and prisons throughout Iraq.

U.S. soldiers should not have to beg for an end to the "stop-loss" policy or for basic protection - but under Rumsfeld they did. Some of the grossest abuses of the Geneva Convention, military officers and medics in all U.S. history happened under his watch.

For as bad as that might be, knowing that President Bush has asked Rumsfeld to serve into the second term is worse.

The new Izzone

What better way to reward lifelong fans of Spartans basketball than by stealing their seats?

This year, longtime Izzone fans found the bleachers pulled out from under them. Any thoughts of seniority and reaching the coveted lower bowl were dashed - all the rules had changed.

Loyalty that had previously been awarded by close seats was replaced with a voucher system on a first-come first-served basis. The intimidating atmosphere of 1,000 white T-shirts bobbing around the lower bowl was tripled into the second deck, but watched its integrity be divided in half.

Let's just say that it's not coincidence that the Izzone was at its strongest around the same time the MSU men's hoops team was making Final Fours.