2011 Recaps: Winners and Losers in Sports

Here are the 2011 Winners and Losers in Sports according to me.

Winners:
Playoffs: The Playoffs in 2011 were great.  The St. Louis Cardinals won the wild card the last day of the season, then continued to win in dramatic fashion all the way through their eventual World Series Championship.  The Mavericks improbable NBA Finals win brought basketball to a new level of popularity.  The Super Bowl win of the 6 seed Packers over the Steelers in a match up of two of the classic franchises was another playoff success.  Even the BCS championship game was exciting.
Major League Baseball: Baseball was the sport that was able to undergo a major collective bargaining agreement with no lock out and no major drama.  Baseball was able to reorganize it's leagues, institute more instant replay, and raise the minimum salary, all with little to no trouble.  Compare this with the ordeal of the NFL and the fiasco that was the NBA lockout and the MLB looks like a large group of professionals.
The St. Louis Cardinals: As much as it pains me to say this I think the Cardinals came out as big winners in 2011.  They won the World Series, in the most improbable fashion with some heroics from some home town players.  They then managed to not get sucked into over bidding for Albert Pujols.  While they may have lost the face of the franchise, but a World Series title and sticking to their guns on the Pujols contract qualifies them for a win.
US Soccer: We may have lost the Gold Cup, but we managed to finally get the coach that they have been trying to get for a while.  While the success of the team has not been great in 2011, the team is building up towards a big Olympic qualifying and World Cup qualifying.   Do not forget about the US Women's team.  Finishing second in the Women's World Cup to an inspired Japanese team.  They managed to get the American people energized about Soccer for a short while.

Losers:
Ryan Braun: Seriously, this was one of the silliest things that I have hear in a while.  Braun tests positive for steroids immediately following his MVP season and the season where he lead the Brewers to their first division title in 20 years.  Not to mention he signed a huge contract extension to be the face of the Brewers.  If the positive test were not bad enough, his excuse while seemingly plausible is even more embarrassing.  That he tested positive for steroids because he has an STD and the medicine for the STD caused the positive test.  So he has now become linked with performance enhancing drugs regardless of the outcome of the appeal.  Not to mention he is not the second most famous athlete to admit having an STD now.
The NBA:  The NBA had one of their most popular seasons in recent memory.  They had a new villain in the form of Lebron James.  Then they could not agree on revenue sharing and lost half the season.  The season finally restarts on Christmas day, but they appear to be losing on a lot of money and a continuing fan base.
The Houston Astros:  I think this one might be even harder for me than admitting the St. Louis Cardinals were winners.  The Astros were the worst team in baseball record wise.  They were then forced into the AL West where there is little doubt that they are going to get their butt kicked for a year or two.  Then to top it all off, Albert Pujols, the man who has been tormenting them for the last 10 years is moving to the AL West a year before them, to get accustomed to the AL West.  Oh the Astros.