In the NHL, it was Carolina winning the Stanley Cup. And, while the Hurricanes had a terrific year, this was supposed to be the league’s chance to showcase its game after losing an entire year to a lockout. As good as the Hurricanes were, they had no marquee appeal and the Stanley Cup finals — runner-up Edmonton was the first-ever eighth seed to get that far — went by all but unnoticed by the public at large.

But summer is usually the time when we have moments to remember forever. And golf is often one of the venues of greatness. But in one of the game’s biggest showcases, the U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson, who had a chance to lay claim to being an all-time great, choked on the 72^nd hole of the tournament; so did Colin Montgomerie. Tiger Woods, returning after mourning the passing of his father, hadn’t even made the cut. The result of all of this is that the national championship would be remembered for failure rather than triumph. Mickelson, by the way, pretty much fell off the face of the earth after that meltdown.

Tiger made the rest of the year great by winning the remaining two majors, the British Open and PGA, to climb to within six of Jack Nicklaus’ majors record, but even that achievement doesn’t completely eclipse the Winged Foot Meltdown.

On the women’s side of the dimpled ball, everything that happened was overshadowed by Michelle Wie’s melodramatic quest to make the cut on the men’s tour and win something — anything — on any tour, including the LPGA. Two years ago, she was a good story. This year, she’s become an irritating annoyance that you’d like to ignore but can’t, like a zit on the end of the prom queen’s nose.

The Tour de France turned into a horrible embarrassment that still refuses to go away. American winner Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone, and unless he somehow succeeds in his legal appeals, will be removed as champion.

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The World Cup was better, with Italy winning, but as far as the United States was concerned, it was yet another embarrassment, with the team not even getting out of the first round. The performance fit right in with what the best America had to offer in every other sport accomplished. Not one American team in any major international team sport won anything all year.

But for the very definition of mediocrity, we give you the 2006 Major League Baseball season. The most telling stat of the year was the aforementioned lack for the first time ever in a full season of a 20-game winner in either league. That was backed up by the failure of any team to win 100 games. Even the MVPs weren’t clear-cut. Ryan Howard had a great power year for the Phillies, but his assault on 61 homers fell three short. In the American League, Derek Jeter lost to Justin Morneau. Barry Bonds’ pursuit of Hank Aaron was a major yawn, as he spent the first half of the year trying to get healthy and finished with just 26 homers, still 22 shy of 756.

In the playoffs, the favored teams were the Mets, who were working without its top two starting pitchers, and the Yankees, who, some might say, were working without any starting pitching at all; the Red Sox weren’t even in it. So the Mets got bounced by the Cardinals, who had finished the year five games above .500, and the Yankees were erased by the Tigers, who had controlled the AL Central before staggering to the finish line.

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The Cardinals’ rings will sparkle as brightly as those of the Steelers, but anyone who calls their win over the Tigers the stuff of legend is kidding himself.

Which brings us to the present, where we find ourselves wondering which .500 NFL team is going to make the playoffs and whether there’s any team out there that can be honestly called a favorite to win the Super Bowl.

The Bears looked like that team early on, but have lately discovered that their quarterback has a long way to go to deserve being called mediocre. The Colts started the year as if they’d go undefeated, but they’ve gotten hammered lately and no longer look invincible. If there’s a super team out there, it’s hiding itself well.

As for college football, we have Ohio State standing undefeated on top of the heap, and then — the polls say — Florida, followed by a bunch of one-loss teams. Florida will get to play for the BCS’ artificial title, but, no matter what the outcome, it won’t be a genuine championship, because the system itself is like almost everything else this year — mediocre, at best.