George Ferguson Column: Instead of saying goodbye, I'll just say thanks for a very special 2011

There are just two days left in 2011. It sure did go fast. I guess people tell me the older you get the faster the years go by and I'm starting to believe them.

It seemed like just yesterday I was covering the MSU-Northern men's basketball team winning the Frontier Conference championship in Helena. But that was nine months ago.

It seems like just yesterday I was watching my tennis teams compete through a grueling, nearly all-night divisional tennis tournament in Bozeman. Wait, that was back in May.

Surely it was just yesterday that my good friend Scott Stockdill hit his first hole-in-one ever, right in front of me, with a Bobcat logo ball no less. No, that was back in July.

OK, it was just yesterday that the Northern, Havre High, Chinook and Big Sandy football teams were putting the finishing touches on an exciting fall. Nope, Turkey Day hadn't even come yet when that all went down.

Fine. It WAS just yesterday that the Montana Grizzlies were making their exciting run to the FCS semifinals. That they were playing on national television under the portable lights at Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. No...I hadn't even done my Christmas shopping at that point.

Alright, I'll admit it, this year has flown by.

I guess tomorrow I'll turn 38 and that means 2012 will go even faster. No, not yet. That isn't until April. But since winter hasn't even arrived yet, it might as well be April now.

So in saying goodbye to 2011, I could sit here and reminisce about all the great things I've seen and have written about sports-wise this past year. But because Havre and the Hi-Line is such a great place to be involved in sports, it really would be April before I'd be done with that column.

Instead, as a new year approaches, I'll just say thank you.

Thank you to all of the athletes who make my job so special and enjoyable each year.

Thanks to all the Blue Ponies, the Lights, the Skylights, the Ice Hawks, the United, the golfers and bowlers, thanks to everyone who competes, from Rocky Boy to the Great Northern Rodeo and everyone in between. It's because of all of you I get to do what I do every day.

Thanks to all the coaches who work so hard, to all the parents who support their athletes and the teams they play for. Thanks to the officials and referees and to all of the fans who pay their hard-earned money to come and watch these teams, these kids, these athletes compete.

Thanks to everyone in our great area who is, in one way or another, involved with sports.

It was another great year, however fast it flew by. And I know you'll all be back , as will I, because 2012 figures to be just as special.