Louis Lanzano / AP file

Should Hank Steinbrenner break Terrell Owens' two-year stranglehold on Whiner of the Year? Give us your vote.

Hard to believe another year has flown by in a haze of tears and feelings of self pity. It seems like just 12 months ago that we were saying the same thing about 2007.

We’d say it was a busy year for whining, but every year is busy in our little corner of the cyber world. Things happen and grown people with darned near perfect lives cry and whimper and moan about them. And they expect us to feel their pain.

We hate to tell them, but we have our own pain to feel. All we have for them are sarcasm and schadenfreude — and the coveted title of Whiner of the Year and everything that comes with it: a prize package that includes — well, actually, there is no prize package. But just as soon as we get a sponsor, there still won’t be a prize package — we’re going to keep it all for ourselves.

We’ve narrowed the 2008 list of whiners down to 10 finalists. We’ll leave it to you to determine which should be the Whiner of the Year.

1) Hank Steinbrenner
We were astonished at how many times Yammering Hank showed up in WOW this year. Whether it was a Red Sox jersey buried in the concrete of the new Yankee Stadium, suspensions handed down by the league, or the uninspiring play of his team, Son of George was on it. The world was picking on him, his highly paid athletes were dogging it, the fates had it in for him. Never once did he ever call up the tabloids to say, “You know what, guys? Sometimes things just don’t work out, and I guess this is our time.”

His father might have faded into retirement, but Hank is making sure that the family’s shameful tradition of whining continues.

2) Terrell Owens
We couldn’t have a list of WOY finalists without this future WOW Hall of Famer. T.O. wasn’t nearly as prolific as he has been in previous years, but he still managed to whine about not getting the ball and about his quarterback and teammates. He capped it off by whining about the media writing about his whining. But quite frankly, if T.O. didn’t whine at all, he’d still make our list just on reputation.

3) Roger Clemens
He kicked off his year by whining to Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes” about not getting a break from the media in their reporting of his alleged involvement with steroids. He really went over the top when he was called with his former trainer and alleged supplier, Brian McNamee, to talk to a Congressional subcommittee about his alleged juice use. His argument there was that he works with kids, and therefore shouldn’t be questioned about anything other than what a swell guy he is.

4) Arlen Specter
There were wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saber-rattling from Iraq, failing banks and investment houses, a collapsing stock market, soaring unemployment and an historic election — more than enough to occupy any legislator. But the Pennsylvania senator spent much of his year whining about the Patriots and Spygate. Specter’s beef was that the Pats might have cheated when they beat his Eagles in the Super Bowl three years ago. Let it go, Senator. Let it go.

5) Plaxico Burress
Long before he carried an unregistered handgun into a Manhattan night club and put his thigh out, Burress was whining about his contract. He started the year out that way, casting an immediate pall on the Giants’ Super Bowl trophy. He did what he could to disrupt training camp. Then he got himself suspended for neglecting to attend a meeting — whining that he had to take his kid to school. If ever there was a player who looks ready to join T.O. in Dallas, Plax is it.

6) Jeremy Shockey
The talented and whiny tight end cried his way out of New York, then took up where he left off in New Orleans. He whined about the team doctors. He whined about the Giants. And he kept right on dropping passes and missing games because of injuries, helping the Saints to a very disappointing, non-playoff season.

7) John Daly
There was the smashed camera in Australia, the drunken arrest in a Hooters’ parking lot, and a missed tee time at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill tournament. Naturally, none of it was his fault. It wasn’t even the fault of the beer he consumes by the keg. It’s just people not understanding how tough it is to be a highly paid and popular sports icon whose hobbies are gambling, drinking and marrying women who make the Wicked Witch of the West look like Mother Teresa.

8) Stephon Marbury
The Knicks got a new coach and new offense, but Marbury kept his same loser attitude. Instead of getting punished in some way, he was rewarded by being paid to sit in street clothes and watch the games from the stands. Still, he whined that he wanted to play. So when coach Mike D’Antoni offered him a chance to do just that, he refused. Then he cried that none of it was his fault.

9) BOCOG
We can’t have an Olympic year without an Olympic whiner, and the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee stepped right into the role. The organization’s representatives whined about the noticing that the smog in Beijing was thick enough to eat. They whined about the media reporting on the arrests of protestors. They whined that the media that painted such a positive picture of the job they did on the Games didn’t like them. Oh, please.

10) Manny Ramirez
It wasn’t easy deciding who to leave out of our list, and the final spot came down to Manny and Jose Canseco. We decided Canseco’s whining is so old and stale it’s not worthy of our scorn. Manny, on the other hand, kncked down the Red Sox traveling secretary, then, under the tutelage of the Dark Lord, a.k.a. agent Scott Boras, whined his way out of Boston, accusing the town that treated him so well of not deserving a person of his great talents. Manny was pretty happy when he forced a trade to the Dodgers. He’s not nearly as happy seeing that few teams want to bid for his services – something about general managers not wanting a whining jerk in the clubhouse.