LOS ANGELES, CA -- So maybe there was luck involved. Maybe they had
absolutely no idea the move could work so successfully. Maybe the
baseball gods just finally decided to smile down on Ned Colletti.

No one honestly could say they knew Manny Ramirez would have the
incredible momentum he did on the Dodgers.

Not the Dodgers' brain trust. Not their fans. And certainly no one
within a crab cake of Boston.

Manny just didn't arrive from the Red Sox in a deadline deal, he burst
upon the scene like an unexpected supernova. His impact was immediate
and lasting and hard to fathom.

And it's why Manny has been named the Daily News Sportsperson of the
Year for 2008.

It was not just the numbers he put up, which were staggering. Not just
the way he energized a near comatose clubhouse. Not how he led the
Dodgers into the playoffs and to the National League Championship Series.

It was all that and more, much more. It was the way the fans responded
to him. The electric atmosphere every time he came to the plate.

Manny became a happening. Asuperstar who delivered and became a cult hero.

When Manny batted, people edged to the end of their seats, stopped
idle conversations, put down scoring pens and beers, and focused on
the barrel-chested man with the dreadlocks.

And more than not, he would deliver. An almost cartoon character come
to life in Dodger Blue. He seemed bigger than life, part enormous
personality, part power-hitter supreme and all clutch.

He became a lightning-rod topic in Los Angeles. Most people seemed to
love him. Some despised him for the way he dogged his way out of
Boston. But every sports fan reacted to him.

Which is why he is our fourth Sportsperson of the Year. The award was
initiated by colleague Kevin Modesti and modeled after Time magazine's
Man of the Year.

It goes not to just the person who enjoyed the best season, who put up
the biggest numbers. But the person who had the greatest impact on Los
Angeles sports, good or bad. Who caused a stir, had sports fans in
Southern California talking, who was a newsmaker.

Past winners were Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush in 2005, Dodgers
general manager Colletti in '06 and David Beckham last year.

And as in all those years, there were several worthy contenders this time.

USC football coach Pete Carroll maintaining the Trojans' level of
excellence and leading them to another Rose Bowl; MVP Kobe Bryant
leading the Lakers to the NBA Finals; Olympic superstar Marion Jones
going to jail and forfeiting her medals; UCLA basketball coach Ben
Howland taking the Bruins to a third consecutive Final Four; Angels
closer Francisco Rodriguez setting a new major-league record for
saves; controversial Rick Neuheisel arriving as UCLA's new football coach.

None, though, were the equal of the spectacular sporting comet that
was Manny.

One - it has to be noted - still paid for by a Red Sox team he had so
thoroughly frustrated with his self-centered approach they just wanted
him gone.

He arrived with as much baggage as superstar numbers. Magnetic,
controversial, sometimes self-absorbed, but still wondrously talented
at age 36.

He played only the final two months of the regular season for the
Dodgers, but they were two months for the ages. He hit .396 with 17
home runs and 53 RBI in only 187 at-bats.

His home runs didn't sail out of Dodger Stadium, they rocketed out.
Went out on a straight line, in a seeming heartbeat.

The fans responded to an everyday player like no one I have ever seen.
It was Fernando Valenzuela-like, but on an everyday basis. Eric Gagne
not just coming out of the pen every night, but four or five times a
night.

"It was phenomenal," Colletti said.

A team that was at .500 when he arrived and looking uninspired was
suddenly animated. Suddenly playing with a new fire, rushing to the
National League West title.

"The difference was Manny," said veteran second baseman Jeff Kent, not
one to easily toss around accolades.

Manny kept it going in eightpostseason games, with fourhome runs and
10 RBIs. He was easily the Dodgers' No.1 topic for
2<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 months of play, and continues to
be now in the offseason.

Whether the Dodgers should re-sign Manny is all the rage of sports
talk shows, newscasts and columnists.

His agent wants at least a five-year deal. The Dodgers offered two.
Time goes by, people keep waiting, keep talking.

Manny has the Dodgers in a bad PR spot.

It's Manny and people are discussing, debating, wondering about. Just
like from the moment he arrived.

From the moment he delivered.

Source: By Steve Dilbeck, columnist /Daily News.com